Curriculum Background and Context
(By Rich Lehrer with assistance from Justine Diamond, created through generous support and funding from The Enable Community Foundation)
A note from Rich Lehrer (parts of which were originally published in the Enabling The Future Blog, “Raptor Hacking and The Grab-Tor”):
As the father of a child with an upper limb difference, one of the first educators to have his students build a 3D printed device for a child, the former Education Coordinator of the eNABLE Educators’ Exchange and the Enable Community Foundation, and a STEM and PBL teacher with more than a few teaching years under his belt, I, to put it mildly, have spent a lot of time over the past 4 years thinking about 3D printed hands and their place in educational programs.
3D printed hand building projects in K-12 classrooms have been getting a lot of attention for the past several years…and deservedly so. They provide a window into the potential that this incredible new technology holds, they provide jumping off points for conversations about STEM and human centered design, and the tantalizing prospect of students creating a device that a child with an upper limb difference might actually use provides a level of authenticity that is difficult to match.
But, speaking personally, since my students at Brookwood School in Massachusetts first started creating 3D printed hands for my son, Max, in 2013, the journey we have been on has been a delightfully challenging one. For us to get to a point where the devices that students create actually work and provide him with not just socio-emotional benefits, but also increased functionality as well, has been really hard – and has taken years, multiple iterations informed by regular feedback, the deep involvement of me as his father, and the oversight of medical professionals…and we still feel like we are just at the beginning of this work.
This being said, there is no denying that 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques are revolutionizing global health systems. Great interest is being seen in the 3D printed Assistive Devices movement due to the potential for a wide range of people to be able to receive cheap, easily customized technologies and many makers, including novice designers, builders, and even students, to produce devices that have the potential to effect positive change in a recipient’s life. The eNABLE movement, including a number of organizations that have evolved and spun off from this movement, including Enabling the Future and The Enable Community Foundation, have been at the forefront of the 3D Printed Assistive Device movement since 2014.
Undoubtedly, in spite of the inherent challenges in creating useful devices for recipients, there is incredible value in having students print and build devices that may be of use to other people. Through this work, students are provided with a window into an incredibly authentic application of many of the STEM concepts and 21st century skills they are being taught. Additionally, device recipients have their interest sparked and have a tangible object that offers a glimpse into what is possible when they receive one of these devices, regardless of its functionality.
The following curriculum is intended to provide a framework through which student may become intimately familiar with the use of Assistive Device creation in the classroom and aware of the larger “digital humanitarian” movement, at the forefront of which eNABLE stands. I developed this curriculum in my capacity as the former Education Coordinator of the eNABLE Educator Exchange and then the Enable Community Foundation from July 2015 to January 2017, and received invaluable assistance in its creation from ECF Special Projects manager, Justine Diamond.
Note from Rich Lehrer: This curriculum is intended only to introduce students to the 3D printed prosthetics movement and intentionally makes no recommendations regarding an issue that is currently being hotly debated around the world: the giving of devices produced by students to child recipients. Students at Brookwood School have been creating devices for my son for nearly 4 years, and so I have seen the potential of this work to be successful - but this work has been hard...and has taken many years, and has necessitated the involvement of health care professionals, and my involvement as Max's parent and quality control agent. Schools interested in exploring the possibility of finding actual recipients for their devices should thoroughly research the pros and cons of crowd sourced and created devices and, if interested in finding out more, should consider contacting Jen Owen at Enabling The Future to find out about more about their school chapters program. Regardless of the involvement any school has with an actual recipient, however, it is my personal belief that no child, regardless of whether they have an upper limb difference or not, should use a 3D printed assistive device without first consulting a medical professional regarding the apparent appropriateness of the use of said device. eNABLE hands are not medical grade prosthetics and should be treated as such.
As a National Faculty member for the Buck Institute for education, as a workshop facilitator for the Principals Training Center, and as the Innovation Coordinator for Brookwood School, I am a firm believer in the power of Project Based Learning - an educational pedagogy in which students engage in a deep, long term study framed by an authentic problem or driving question that often results in a high quality, publicly presented final student product. PBL often exists within a context of an extended cycle of inquiry that can last weeks or months. As school situations vary greatly, I originally divided each of the modules of this curriculum into 3-lesson, stand-alone modules that may be implemented by formal and informal educators in a manner that suits their education setting and students and which may be woven into a rigorous PBL unit.
This curriculum is open source and free for all to use providing proper attribution is included. Please feel free to adapt this curriculum to meet your needs and to contact Rich Lehrer should you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions.
A note from Rich Lehrer (parts of which were originally published in the Enabling The Future Blog, “Raptor Hacking and The Grab-Tor”):
As the father of a child with an upper limb difference, one of the first educators to have his students build a 3D printed device for a child, the former Education Coordinator of the eNABLE Educators’ Exchange and the Enable Community Foundation, and a STEM and PBL teacher with more than a few teaching years under his belt, I, to put it mildly, have spent a lot of time over the past 4 years thinking about 3D printed hands and their place in educational programs.
3D printed hand building projects in K-12 classrooms have been getting a lot of attention for the past several years…and deservedly so. They provide a window into the potential that this incredible new technology holds, they provide jumping off points for conversations about STEM and human centered design, and the tantalizing prospect of students creating a device that a child with an upper limb difference might actually use provides a level of authenticity that is difficult to match.
But, speaking personally, since my students at Brookwood School in Massachusetts first started creating 3D printed hands for my son, Max, in 2013, the journey we have been on has been a delightfully challenging one. For us to get to a point where the devices that students create actually work and provide him with not just socio-emotional benefits, but also increased functionality as well, has been really hard – and has taken years, multiple iterations informed by regular feedback, the deep involvement of me as his father, and the oversight of medical professionals…and we still feel like we are just at the beginning of this work.
This being said, there is no denying that 3D printing and other additive manufacturing techniques are revolutionizing global health systems. Great interest is being seen in the 3D printed Assistive Devices movement due to the potential for a wide range of people to be able to receive cheap, easily customized technologies and many makers, including novice designers, builders, and even students, to produce devices that have the potential to effect positive change in a recipient’s life. The eNABLE movement, including a number of organizations that have evolved and spun off from this movement, including Enabling the Future and The Enable Community Foundation, have been at the forefront of the 3D Printed Assistive Device movement since 2014.
Undoubtedly, in spite of the inherent challenges in creating useful devices for recipients, there is incredible value in having students print and build devices that may be of use to other people. Through this work, students are provided with a window into an incredibly authentic application of many of the STEM concepts and 21st century skills they are being taught. Additionally, device recipients have their interest sparked and have a tangible object that offers a glimpse into what is possible when they receive one of these devices, regardless of its functionality.
The following curriculum is intended to provide a framework through which student may become intimately familiar with the use of Assistive Device creation in the classroom and aware of the larger “digital humanitarian” movement, at the forefront of which eNABLE stands. I developed this curriculum in my capacity as the former Education Coordinator of the eNABLE Educator Exchange and then the Enable Community Foundation from July 2015 to January 2017, and received invaluable assistance in its creation from ECF Special Projects manager, Justine Diamond.
Note from Rich Lehrer: This curriculum is intended only to introduce students to the 3D printed prosthetics movement and intentionally makes no recommendations regarding an issue that is currently being hotly debated around the world: the giving of devices produced by students to child recipients. Students at Brookwood School have been creating devices for my son for nearly 4 years, and so I have seen the potential of this work to be successful - but this work has been hard...and has taken many years, and has necessitated the involvement of health care professionals, and my involvement as Max's parent and quality control agent. Schools interested in exploring the possibility of finding actual recipients for their devices should thoroughly research the pros and cons of crowd sourced and created devices and, if interested in finding out more, should consider contacting Jen Owen at Enabling The Future to find out about more about their school chapters program. Regardless of the involvement any school has with an actual recipient, however, it is my personal belief that no child, regardless of whether they have an upper limb difference or not, should use a 3D printed assistive device without first consulting a medical professional regarding the apparent appropriateness of the use of said device. eNABLE hands are not medical grade prosthetics and should be treated as such.
As a National Faculty member for the Buck Institute for education, as a workshop facilitator for the Principals Training Center, and as the Innovation Coordinator for Brookwood School, I am a firm believer in the power of Project Based Learning - an educational pedagogy in which students engage in a deep, long term study framed by an authentic problem or driving question that often results in a high quality, publicly presented final student product. PBL often exists within a context of an extended cycle of inquiry that can last weeks or months. As school situations vary greatly, I originally divided each of the modules of this curriculum into 3-lesson, stand-alone modules that may be implemented by formal and informal educators in a manner that suits their education setting and students and which may be woven into a rigorous PBL unit.
This curriculum is open source and free for all to use providing proper attribution is included. Please feel free to adapt this curriculum to meet your needs and to contact Rich Lehrer should you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions.