Translational Orthopaedic Research Laboratory
Part of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill
We once again participated in the NC Science Festival’s SciMatch event to virtually visit two middle school classrooms. We taught them about improving options for treatment following meniscus injury using a hypothetical NC State basketball player as an example. Check out some ‘action shots’ below.
Jacob and Ricky (and Clementine) recently volunteered to help with the Girls Engineering Change Program, which encourages girls in the community to pursue interests in STEM. They hosted about two dozen high school-aged girls to show off our robot (aka Clementine), tell them about what we do, and show them how much fun engineering is.
As in years past, we teamed up with one of the 4th grade teachers at Exploris Elementary School to help with their engineering design unit. We decided to kick off the partnership this year by showing the students some of the different tools that we use in the lab and how we use 3D printing in our research. We tried this once before but had it scheduled for mid-march of 2020, and we all know what happened then… We were glad that they finally made it out to visit the lab and we could show off some of our fun toys!
First we introduced ourselves and talked for a few minutes about what it means to be a biomedical engineering and how we use 3D printing. The fun spinning chairs in the classroom were definitely one of the highlights of the visit.
Then we went back to the lab and had four stations to rotate the kids through.
Ricky showed them how we can use a 3D scanner to digitize objects, such as Mario.
Zack and Margaret showed off one of our 3D printers
Steph and Melika challenged them to think in 3D using WikiStix and a 3D pen.
Matt showed them how we can use the Instron to test material properties of different types of tissue. This one is always a favorite because we get to break things!
Mario was kind enough to model some glasses made with the 3D pen
We’re all excited to be able to partner with Exploris once again and look forward to our future visits.
April is one of our favorite times of the year. The weather starts warming up, flowers start blooming, birds start chirping, and it’s the NC Science Festival! As part of the NC Science Festival, our lab participates in SciMatch which connects scientists with middle school science teachers. The scientists then visit (or, in this case, virtually visit) the school and teach classes for a day. This is TORL’s 6th year participating and 2nd time doing it virtually. We introduce the kids to our research with a hypothetical scenario where a basketball player tears her meniscus. First, we have to learn more about the injury which we do via MRI. Then, once we have a 3D image of the meniscus we can print one on the 3D printer (Activity: kids use Wikistix to try to “3D print” a meniscus). We can also use the scan to make a mold. Then we introduce them to the idea of hydrogels using Instasnow. Much goopier and much messier than actual hydrogels, but also a lot faster and more fun! Finally, we tell them about mechanical testing and then break some stuff on the Instron. It seemed to go over really well, so we may need to adapt it to an in-person format for future years.
We kicked off our engineering design unit with the 4th graders at Exploris Elementary last week. This is our fourth year working with them, and we’re very excited to be back in person! Our six “engineering challenges” were culled from the ones we’ve used in previous years, so you could almost think of it as a “best of” list.
We look forward to seeing the creative ideas that the students come up with!
This year looked a bit different than previous years, but we were so glad to still get to pair up with the amazing 4th graders at Exploris Elementary for their engineering design unit. They had five “big picture” problems that they had to create solutions for and then create a design using Tinkercad. Everyone’s designs were so creative and innovative and we can’t wait to do it again in 2022.
the kids had tons of questions about biomedical engineering that we answered (as best we could)
the winner got a 3D printed baby Yoda as a trophy
Like most things during the COVID-era, our annual SciMatch classroom “visit” went virtual. One silver lining was that we were paired with a great middle school group based in Mt. Airy, NC, much further away than our normal classroom visits.
We talked about the soft tissues in the knee, why they’re important, and how our lab is trying to improve treatment when they’re damaged. Then we had them “3D print” a meniscus using WikiStix. The next day we gave them all an actual 3D printed meniscus mold that they filled with polyacrylate powder(InstaSnow) to get an idea for how we can use 3D printing in biomedical engineering to make a custom meniscus designed especially for a patient.
The WikiStix menisci
The Scenario: (Why do we want to make a customized meniscus?)
Checking out the kids’ InstaSnow menisci
Last year we worked with Annah and Robert’s fourth grade students at Exploris Elementary in downtown Raleigh (read about that here). We had a great time and learned a ton from the students, so when Annah reached out again we jumped at the chance! We once again focused on 3D printing and design, with the students doing an engineering design project designed to address one of five “grand challenges”. We visited their classroom and told them about 3D printing, what it can do, and how we use it in the lab. We also helped them brainstorm some ideas for their challenge and gave them feedback on their prototypes. Today, we got to see the results of their efforts during final pitch presentations. What an amazing group of students and truly inspirational teachers!
See Steph’s tweet about our initial visit here.
And Annah’s tweet about the pitch presentations here.
The students welcomed us with artwork:
The winners with their 3D printed trophies:
Our lab loves doing SciMatch (formerly Invite a Scientist) as part of the North Carolina Science Festival. We have participated since 2016, and loved all the teachers and students that we’ve met. This year, we headed out to Exploris Middle School in Raleigh on Wednesday to spend time with the 6th graders and show them some our awesome science. A great time was had by all, including us and we can’t wait until next year! Check out our tweet about it, or see photos below.
Our lab (@mattbfish) did our #SciMatch visit yesterday at one of @ExplorisSchool‘s 6th-grade classrooms as part of the @ncscifest to do some fun activities and tell them about why we love being scientists! #IMPACTS #ScienceIsFun #SciComm pic.twitter.com/iXQ47R9bnO
— Stephanie Teeter (@SeeStephScience) November 21, 2019
We once again visited Ms. Baumgarten’s class at Apex Middle School. Unlike last time, Ms Baumgarten is now teaching 8th grade science, which means they know about cells/tissues, so we decided to make them honorary doctors and brainstorm how to treat some knee injuries. (we think) they had a great time and we know we did!
See Steph’s tweet here and below:
Our lab group (@mattbfish) had a great time yesterday visiting Sharon Baumgarten’s 8th graders at @apexmscougars to talk to them about why we love science & engineering as part of the @ncscifest Novozymes SciMatch program! #Outreach #SciComm #NextTimeWellTryToRememberToTakePhotos pic.twitter.com/IJqe8Thc1U
— Stephanie Teeter (@SeeStephScience) April 30, 2019