A group of creative, engineering-minded sixth graders put their skills and interest to work, designing prosthetic limbs from simple materials.
All they needed was a little motivation and direction and the group of Smith Middle School STEM Club members twisted and taped plastic bottles and cardboard into functioning hands, arms and legs.
Their creations were at least mostly functional.
Killeen ISD special education assistive technologist Melinda Wright brought the opportunity from a University of Texas teacher research training experience to the Smith STEM Academy and teacher Thaijon Bolton.
During seven days spread over two weeks with an interruption from the winter storm, students learned about bioelectronic engineering and nanotechnology.
They tried out a prosthetic hand and claw device to understand the feeling of using their muscles to pick something up the way someone would without a functioning hand.
After learning the basics, the students worked in groups to come up with their own assistive prosthetic device using recycled materials and adhesives.
Bolton said he was impressed with students’ interest and creativity.
The sixth-grade inventors presented their projects after school Wednesday.
Ezekiel Reya-Wong showed taped-together water bottles with pencils functioning as joints. “It was fun,” he said. “I like to create. It was challenging to find the right parts to get it together.”
Brianna Jayne demonstrated a prosthetic leg with similar taped-together plastic bottles and a larger plastic container that worked as a support.
“I liked it,” she said. “I got to be creative and build something to help people.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people who can’t move well,” said Jeremiah Burciaga. “I liked this project because it was a chance to be creative and to find help for the future.”
“They did an amazing job,” said Wright, who joined the students in going through the lessons and the creative project. “They were very articulate about the whole design process and explaining their ideas.”