Manufacturing and Production - PROSTHETIST

Creating a Facebook page for Local Hero

 Primary Middle 

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

1. Read the following article from the Sydney Morning Herald April 2015:

3. Using the information from the SMH article, create a Facebook Page about Greg.

4.

With a partner, discuss what you feel about Greg and his work.

What work would you like to do to contribute to the world?

Socratic Seminar: Do we really dehumanise ourselves when we give our bodies new, unnatural functions?

Middle Secondary

Philosophy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. As a class, read the following article from The Conversation 6 September 2016

An excerpt from the article to concentrate on is...

 "Some philosophers consider human enhancement morally objectionable because they, too, believe that the attempt to extend our physical and cognitive capacities beyond “normal” limits is unnatural. For philosophers such as Michael Sandel, Francis Fukuyama, and Jürgen Habermas, human enhancement is a threat to our shared human nature. But do we really dehumanise ourselves when we give our bodies new, unnatural functions?

After all, the functional approach of a century ago, which was criticised by artists and intellectuals of the time, is on the rise again. Many of the latest, state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs do not purport to emulate the anatomy of the human body. They look quite unnatural. But today, unlike a century ago, the reception seems to be more positive.

Flex-Foot Cheetah prosthetic legs, or “blades” developed by Van Phillips, don’t look like human limbs – and make amputees run even faster than many non-enhanced athletes – but no one would say that they dehumanise the paralympic athletes who use them. The prosthetic arms designed by Carlos Torres have been designed to function as a LEGO toy, but no one would suggest that they dehumanise children. And next October, Switzerland is going to host the Cybathlon – the first cyborg Olympics. The participants will have to steer their machine-like bodies through a series of challenging tasks. They call themselves pilots rather than athletes – but they do not seem less human for that." (Source: The Conversation)

2.  There are some very interesting research developments "bringing together cognitive neuroscience and biomedical engineering" in the creation of prostheses. Read the following article from The Conversation 13 September 2016

3. Set up a Philosophy Circle or Socratic Seminar.

a. All students are to have read both articles for discussion [not debate!]

b. Students are to analyse and take notes from the two articles.

c. Divide all the students into two groups - one in the inner circle and the outer circle.

d. The inner circle students take it in turns to read a passage out loud and then engage in a discussion of the text for 10 minutes while the outer circle observes the human behaviour and performance of the inner circle. The inner circle is to show their reasoning and use the word "because" at all times. They are to only build on each other's ideas acknowledging the previous person's reasons before developing the reasoning further.

e. Following this discussion of the text, the outer circle then assesses the inner circle's performance and offers ten minutes of feedback for the inner circle.

f. Students in the inner and outer circle now exchange roles and positions within the classroom.

g. The process is repeated. The pattern of Discussion - Feedback - Discussion - Feedback is essential. However, the feedback is about the thinking and reasoning of the inner circle.

Discuss the question:

4. Resources for setting up a Socratic Seminar:

a. Read, write, think: Socratic Seminar
b. The Socratic Circle

Engineer a Cane (developed by Try Engineering.org)

Primary Middle  Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking
Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Cooperative Learning Activity

Lesson focuses on how engineers improve assistive devices such as a cane to meet the needs of the elderly. Students work in teams to re-engineer a cane for a “client.” They are assigned a client profile, develop a design to suit the needs of the user, and those in older grades build a working prototype of their design.

Teacher

Local Copy: Full Lesson Plan (PDF)

Local Copy: Student Worksheets (Word)

Modelling the Human Hand (developed by Ben Rerden, Ambrose Treacy College, Qld)

Middle  Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Cooperative Learning Activity

Target Group: Year 9
Length: 6 weeks

Modelling the human hand is a 6-week lesson series for Year 9 students investigating the structure of the human hand and understanding how this structure enables movement.

Comprehensive lesson at Lesson Plan - on this website

Original lesson plan: CSIRO, Modelling the human hand [PDF]

This lesson is also within this website at:
a. Robotic & Mechatronics Engineer
b. Biomedical Engineer

Team Designing a Prosthetic Leg for Surfing - WebQuest

 Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Cooperative Learning Activity

Teacher

On the Job has investigated the resources provided and has provide a more up-to-date list as this WebQuest was created several years ago. Click here for the new set of resources [in Notepad].

Target Group: Years 9 - 10 studying Design & Technology.

1. Look over the whole of this WebQuest created by Patrick Twyford: Team Designing a Prosthetic Leg for Surfing

Form a team of four students. Allocate the following perspectives: Prosthesis Technician, Materials Engineer, Ergonomics Specialist, and, Product Designer.

2. Look at the Task and the expectations of the WebQuest. Investigate the Evaluation before you commence as this will give you a good idea of the way you will be assessed.

3. Follow the instructions within the Process and use your new Resources to carry out the Task.

New Resources