Report: Lillian Leptos
This year we have added an exciting new unit to the Year 7 STEAM course.
Our students are engaging in a unit on biomedical engineering. The unit begins with an exploration of a range of body parts and what can happen when they are damaged or rendered inoperable.
The students then went on to undertake a dissection of a chicken foot to get a detailed understanding of the interplay of bones, muscles and tendons. This was preceded by a discussion of the ethics related to working with material that was once a living, breathing creature. The students proceeded with the dissection in a respectful and careful manner, exposing different parts of the foot. It was so exciting to see their eyes widen with wonder as they tugged on the tendons and made the claw curl.
The next stage will involve transferring this knowledge to their design of a biomechanical body part and the building of a prototype. Some students have become so excited at the ideas we are exploring that they have already started elements of their investigations and prototype building outside the classroom.