As many of you who read this blog know, the work that I have been fortunate to participate in with e-NABLE and 3D printed prosthetics has been personally rewarding and dear to my heart. Just when I think that I have things figured out and that I won't be able to see new outcomes arise out of this project... I am broadsided by another potential avenue to get others involved in sharing their time and abilities. It seems that with each new step something unexpected and heart warming develops from this work.
As of late, I have had the opportunity to meet many young people as well as teachers who are involved in volunteering to create e-NABLE hands for children in need. The creation of a printed hand is the perfect educational experience that combines science and design with community engagement. I have seen a rise in the number of teachers interested in providing learning opportunities that engage applied learning through "making". Of course STEAM and STEM programs characterizes the kinds of activities that administrators are currently interested in and the e-NABLE projects directly feed into these programs. Those of us who remember Art, Music, and Industrial Arts programs from long ago, have known the benefit of these applied learning methods for some time. Regardless of what these programs are called, these experiences are sure to impact students' learning and I am sure that the impact upon their souls will be far reaching beyond the classroom and their time as a student.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been consulting with a few different schools on the creation of hands. I typically get many questions about sizing a hand or checking hand size (from Handomatic files) against the images that we receive when we decide to volunteer to create a hand. Just last week I presented information to two different teachers from two different schools from Wisconsin and Maryland via my lab and Skype. Both teachers thought it was very helpful to share this information with students so I decided to make a simple video that will assist teachers in the classroom. I have a full resolution video that I can post on Dropbox if people need better quality video (just send me an email). This video outlines the CAD program I use along with how to scale .stl hand components against a hand photo. I do not intend to push Rhino as I have no affiliation with the software developers (I just think it is an easy program to use and learn).
I will, however, apologize for my pour speech delivery and lack of comfort in presenting this information. There is just something that is a little uncomfortable about knowing that I'm recoding myself as I speak to my desktop.
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