Week 5 & 6: 6th Grade Prosthetic Projects
It is a very exciting part of the year for STEM! Last week, all 6th Grade STEM classes began their first themed unit: Animal Prosthetics! The sixth graders delved into the topic of biomechanical engineering and learned about the different problems engineers solve in regards to health and safety. They learned about that engineers can not only help people, but they can help animals too!
Students read an article about a bald eagle named Beauty, who unfortunately was injured by poachers in 2005 and lost the top half of her beak. As a result, Beauty was unable to eat or preen her feathers. The design challenge that was presented to the sixth graders was to create a model prosthetic beak using only the following materials: 2 pipe cleaners, 2 Popsicle sticks, 10 tooth picks, aluminum foil, construction paper, tape, glue, and a plastic cup (to model the remaining portion of Beauty's beak).
Students worked in groups and conducted all steps of the Engineering Design Process to achieve this task. During Ask, students learned that all prosthetics should be durable, functional, comfortable, and easy to attach. During Imagine, students brainstormed multiple solutions. During Plan, students practiced their technical drawing skills and produced an orthographic projection of their model. Groups worked together to Create their model in a limited time frame. After, students Tested and made Improvements to see if their beaks could pick up objects (eat) and untangle a braid of strings (preen). Finally, students Shared their beaks with the class to communicate various ideas and give each other constructive feedback and suggestions.
In the coming weeks, students will continue to work in groups to explore other animals' stories and prosthetics!
