"One Body, Many Parts" x 3!
It has been a busy few weeks in MegaBloc. On October 12th the MegaBloc class had a guest join us to help kick off our next project. Mr. Brad Haardeng works for Hamilton Health Sciences where he is a Clinical Manager who designs, fits, and customizes prosthetics and orthotics. 
Brad shared his experiences about designing, problem solving, creating, helping people, and the importance of seeing a task from the very beginning, tackling all of the work in the middle, and right through to a successful completion of the job. He also brought in many samples of prosthetics and explained how each was designed and some of the challenges that were faced in each design. A few of the examples that were highlights for the students were the arm and hand for a child that had a motor to open and close and the one with the red maple leaves. This motor is triggered by electrical signals that the remaining muscles still send. The one device with the maple leaves is a special athletic device that can hold a hockey stick. A hockey player will only use this prosthetic while playing, and it allows the athlete to securely hold their stick and still compete in a sport that they enjoy.
The students took advantage of the opportunity to ask Brad questions about design, how long it takes to make things, and how to even begin with some of the bigger tasks. We, as teachers, loved his responses - "You have to break things! You need to push the limits of what you can make. You need to try things, breaks things, and try again." This is a motto that we have encouraged the students to adopt as they are working on their body project.Check out the project!
Coming soon will be a post of projects in progress, pictures, and a special invite to join us for a celebration!
