Classroom Activities
Classroom Activity- Exploring the Parameters of the Heart as a Pump
My students will explore the heart as a pump. They will consider the parameters that the heart must maintain in terms of rate of blood flow, pressure, and control of backflow. This will begin to get my students thinking about what a pump does and how it can be simulated. This will lead us into exploring simple machines. The students will explore simple machines and their mechanical advantage. Once the students have some experience with individual simple machines, we will explore how simple machines can be combined into complex machines that magnify or enhance their properties. The students will experiment with motors and pumps to understand how they work. Once the students have some hands-on experience with machines, it is time for them to direct their energy to designing their own artificial heart.
Classroom Activity- Designing an Artificial Heart
The students will utilize their understanding of the heart as a pump and the background information about the parameters of the heart to begin designing their own heart. I will provide the students with a plethora of building materials to spark their imagination. My students will have to figure out how to recognize the simple machines and mechanical advantages contained within the materials. They will work in groups of five and collectively decide how to break the heart into component systems that can be independently solved. The groups will be provided with inventors notebooks where they will document all of their ideas collectively. The creative design process will be a combination of exploring materials and ideas that will allow the students to begin transforming materials in their minds to potential parts of an artificial heart.
Once each group has had an opportunity to explore (and play) with the variety of materials, they will begin to sketch potential ideas for beginning to build their artificial heart. I don't expect a consistent transition point for every group, as they will move from exploring to planning at different times. Some groups may generate their best ideas during the process of interacting with the building materials. Other groups may approach the task primarily from a conceptual point of view. Everyone is different, and those unique styles will be supported in this process.
Classroom Activity- Building an Artificial Heart
My students will be off and running by this point. I expect the classroom to be an eclectic mix of creative exploration into ideas and materials. This is the confluence of creativity and design and background knowledge put into a context of group endeavor towards an attainable but elusive goal! In my experience, this level of challenge, discomfort and excitement leads to remarkable outcomes.
The students will be encouraged to work equitably among their group to draw on the group members strengths. Additionally, my students will be required to document their progress and setbacks as well as their ideas, intentions, and insights. This will occur in their investigators notebooks where the process will be recorded. We will also take photos and videos that can be included in the final presentations of the students' prototypes. The goal is for each team to create a working prototype of a beating heart within the four weeks allocated for the project. I will strongly encourage my students to break the problem into independent systems that can be worked on individually and potentially by part of the group. Going through multiple iterations is also critical. We are not after the prototype only, although it is part of the motivation. Instead we must embrace the process and allow for the revelations that occur from fully engaging our mind and creativity in the process of pragmatic design. I look forward to the "ah-ha" moments that inevitably will occur and I will strive to reinforce my students determination to produce a successful prototype of an artificial heart. Now enjoy building!!!
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