Since the start of the fourth quarter, our young designers were immediately engaged in a collaborative problem solving activity - the Instant Design Challenge. After watching the Instant Design Challenge video, students learned about the great need for solutions for patients experiencing the disorder known as Cerebral Palsy (CP).
In this activity teams were challenge to design, test, and build a model solution for patients with the movement disorder. Patients with CP start from a very young age, so the Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) is a support system to help them develop strength in movement and mobility to walk. To stimulate the experience, our 8th graders were asked to imitate collegiate or even professional designers and engineers who work on such real world problems and to elevate their expectations in 21st century skills when building and testing the AFO Prototype.
We hope you enjoy their team designs, models, and innovations!
Our 8th Graders did their best to simulate the collegiate or professional engineering design lab and here is the evidence to prove it. The Design Challenge is a fun learning experience! Let's face it, asking middle school students to act like mature adults is similar to asking a 100 rascal kolohe puppies to sit down nicely and behave like a dozen grumpy old cats, mission impossible. :-)
