Prosthetic Possibilities: Where Science Meets Imagination

In my 3rd and 4th grade classroom, students are putting their creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills to work. As part of our unit on body systems, we’ve been diving deep into how the skeletal and muscular systems function — and how they support movement and everyday activity.

To bring this learning to life, students are working through a design thinking challenge focused on prosthetic devices. Their goal is to create thoughtful, useful designs that improve the lives of individuals who use prosthetics in real-world situations.

Students are using the design thinking steps to complete this challenge. They started by identifying a problem. 

Each student group was given one of the following unique scenarios to design for:

• Person A – Needs a prosthetic for their lower arm and loves rock climbing

• Person B – Needs a prosthetic foot and has two large dogs they walk regularly

• Person C – Needs a prosthetic hand and enjoys fishing with their grandpa

• Person D – Needs a prosthetic for their lower leg and enjoys bike rides with siblings.

Students then researched prosthetics and the activity related to the problem. They practiced empathy by imagining themselves in the shoes of someone using a prosthetic. Moving forward, students generated creative ideas, evaluated options, and began building their designs. This challenge scenario encouraged students to think deeply about function, comfort, movement, and adaptability, all while considering the person behind the need. 

I've included their sketch designs below, but they can't wait to begin building their prototypes!

A snap on that goes on the prosthetic. It is grippy so that I won't slide off of the rocks. 

Magnetized foot and pedals.  

A robot hand and it has an auto realer and a retractable rod. 

A movement tracking, retractable leash. It will stop if the dog goes too fast.