Science & Biomechanics

Dilan Abeyaratne

Teacher - Science

Brunswick Secondary College was able to secure tickets to the Design Thinking for Prosthesis at GTAC (Gene Technology Access Centre) located in Parkville. 

Our enthusiastic Year 7 & 8 students explored biomechanics and dabbled in designing a prosthesis to meet the needs of an amputee - finding out how medical technologies are creating and supporting better lifestyle opportunities for people living with disabilities. 

The program encompassed two sessions; a virtual session prior to the program at GTAC and then a practical session onsite at GTAC.

During the virtual session, students followed a design thinking process to help them to empathise with amputees in order to define their individual needs and wants.  At the second session they were able to  create their robotic prosthesis, based on the information gathered during the design phase.

Students self-nominated to express interest in attending this activity, and it was great to see students interact with each other across year levels and explore the various ways that Science is contributing to and improving everyday life.

Zoe Keramaris 

Year 8

While at the GTAC day, we were given a task to identify different needs of people who have lost an arm. We were given one person to design an arm for, adding things that would help them to achieve their goals. Once we did that, we got to assemble a small robotic arm which we controlled through an iPad, but we also got to connect to our arm and control it that way!  

James Barwick

Year 8

I enjoyed the GTAC excursion as we were able to observe how Prosthetic limbs are made and used. We were able to learn this from scientists. We also learned how similar they are to animals. We then had a certain problem to try and fix for people e.g. draw a prosthetic hand for a rock climber. After that, we observed how similar this was to nature e.g.  incorporating suction cups that a person can use when climbing which are similar to an Octopus’s tentacles. 

We were also able to build a robot and control it to pick things up and move. Finally, we were able to connect the robot to our arm and control it with our arm. 

This was a very fun excursion and I enjoyed it a lot.