Body-Powered Prosthesis Project to Promote Learning of Human-Centered Design in a Pre-College Engineering Camp

The goal of this study is to understand whether a body powered prosthesis prototype project is associated with a change in students' knowledge of bioengineering, specifically regarding human centered design. Seven high school students participated in the prosthesis project for Valparaiso University’s 5-day summer engineering camp. They were split into 3 groups and tasked with creating a hand for a bypass prosthesis that they would wear to complete events in a Cybathlon. They were given special tasks to accomplish by user personas played by research assistants to simulate client interaction and feedback. Students were exposed to actual prosthesis users as well as prosthetists throughout the design process. Data was collected via a KWL (know, want to know, learn) survey in which the students wrote down what they knew about bioengineering and wanted to know about bioengineering prior to the camp activities and then once again after. The data reported that the number of references to human involvement increased from 3 to 4 after the camp. The 3 references prior to the camp could suggest a prior knowledge of human centered design in those students. The increase of 1 indicates that a larger pool of data is needed in order to more accurately conclude on the effectiveness of the activities in shifting their view of bioengineering to a human centered mindset. Further research should be designed to capture information on participants’ exposure to human centered principles as part of their education experience prior to project participation.