The Grand Challenge
MRIs are frequently used by doctors worldwide to aid with diagnosis of patientsCopyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
This lesson introduces the MRI Safety Grand Challenge question. Students write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they need to know in order to answer the question. Their ideas are shared with the class and recorded. Then students watch a video interview with a real-life researcher to gain a professional perspective on MRI safety and brainstorm for more ideas. Through the associated activity, students visualize magnetic fields.
The MRI was developed by biomedical engineers as a non-invasive imaging tool. An important part of engineering is ensuring the technology is safe to use. Engineers analyze the equipment they design for safety risks and develop a means of preventing dangers. During this lesson, students are prompted to think like safety engineers and generate ideas related to the risks and potential dangers associated with a strong magnetic field—that of an MRI machine.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain the grand challenge problem.
- List what information might be needed to answer the problem.
- Group together similar areas of knowledge needed for the challenge.
- Visualize the shape of a magnetic field.