Work in Progress: Evaluation of Biomechanics Activities at a College-Wide Engineering Outreach Event

Abstract

Jarred Kaiser is a post-doctoral researcher at Boston University. He has previously earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University (B.S.) and University of Wisconsin -Madison (M.S., Ph.D.). His research focuses on imaging the multiscalar effects of altered mechanics due to injury/surgery on tissue health. Joseph Towles PhD, University of Wisconsin -MadisonJoseph Towles is a Faculty Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Joe completed his PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University and a research post-doctoral fellowship in the Sensory Motor Performance Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of engineering education and neuromuscular biomechanics. With respect to engineering education, Joe focuses on assessment and evaluation of student learning; and innovation and research in approaches to enhance student learning. Concerning neuromuscular biomechanics, Joe's research interests are in translational studies aimed at elucidating the mechanics and control of the hand following neurologic and musculoskeletal injury with the goal of developing innovative rehabilitative and surgical interventions that improve grasp function. Computational and experimental approaches are used to investigate intrinsic characteristics of muscles, neuromuscular control and sensorimotor integration in the context of functional restoration of grasp.

An Innovative Low Cost Educational Underwater Robotics Platform for Promoting Engineering Interest among Secondary School Students

“…As a result, the workshop presented in this article was born. Similar activities with interesting results can be found in [5,6], where the realization of parallel events or activities to teach engineering principles demonstrate the potential for hands-on, biomechanicsbased activities to engage students. Also, Ref.…”

Impact of biomechanics-based activities on situational and individual interest among K-12 students

“…In this study, we explored the impact of biomechanics-based activities on situational and individual interest among K-12 students while considering gender, grade-level and ethnicity. Our results suggest that biomechanics-based activities can engage students at high and low levels of interest in biomechanics, similar to the finding from a previous study in our group (Francis et al, 2016), and can positively impact their consideration of careers in engineering. We were unable to engage low individual-interest girls more than boys, and ethnicity and grade-level were not influential factors.…”

“…Biomechanics is a highly relatable, interdisciplinary field with ties to engineering, medicine, and athletics. In a previous study (Francis et al, 2016), we found biomechanics-based activities had potential for teaching biomechanics to 5 th -8 th grade students with presumably varying interest levels and demographic backgrounds. Our current study investigated the impact of similar biomechanics-based activities on situational and individual interest among K-12 students while considering gender, grade-level, and ethnicity.…”

Intervention designed to increase interest in engineering for low-interest, K-12 girls did so for boys and girls

“…Biomechanics is a highly relatable, interdisciplinary field with ties to engineering, medicine, and athletics. Previous studies at a college-wide engineering outreach event (Francis et al, 2016;Francis et al, 2017) have demonstrated the potential for hands-on, biomechanics-based activities to teach engineering principles to K-12 students. A recent study (Francis et al, 2017) indicated that boys participating in these activities had a higher interest in engineering than girls.…”