Thursday, June 27, 2024

Thinking about Assistive Technology

 

In Computer Science, we talk a lot about how we use our technology to solve many of life's problems. One problem we came up with was making technology accessible to everyone. This led to a conversation about Assistive Technology. Assistive Technology is a term for adaptive and rehabilitative devices designed to help people with disabilities who often might have difficulty performing tasks in their daily lives, even with assistance. 7th-grade teams were given the task of brainstorming and developing a prototype of a tool that could assist someone with disabilities. This task required research, data gathering, and then brainstorming some ideas.
Teams then took their ideas to a Paint or Paint 3D program to begin developing. What is exciting is listening to them develop their ideas, with phrasing like "what if we added ____",  and then piecing together a mock-up of their ideas to try it out for themself. This was a testament to true problem-solving and critical thinking. Teams presented their ideas and prototypes to the class. Easily, some of their imaginative ideas could be further developed and used. 

This....is a great idea for