DELPHOS, Ohio (WLIO) — Delphos City Schools seventh graders are using their creativity and problem-solving skills to design toys aimed at helping children with cerebral palsy.
Tuesday marked final project day for the seventh-grade Design and Modeling Engineering class at Delphos Jefferson. Students were assigned a fictional child with cerebral palsy and tasked with developing a toy based on that child’s likes and interests. The goal was to create something fun while also serving as a therapeutic tool.
“The way the program is designed is they're supposed to do their projects and then test them with each other. And I thought they're designed for five year olds. Why do I have 13 year olds testing it? So, I have access to all the five year olds I need. So, I got a hold of the elementary school, and every year the kindergartners come over here and they test out the projects,” says Matt Spencer, STEM and Engineering Teacher, Delphos Jefferson.
The kindergarten students helped evaluate how well the toys met the challenges presented to the seventh graders.
“So, our project is focused on kids with cerebral palsy. Our kid's name is Hannah. Her goal is to walk with a walker. So, we built a vacuum so she could push it and so it can be like fun, but it also can help her get better,” says Lilly Ketcham, Delphos Jefferson 7th Grade.
The kindergarten students helped evaluate how well the toys met the challenges presented to the seventh graders.
“We wanted to inspire the kids. The kid that we got has to be able to walk with a walker, so there's handles on our thing so the kids can walk with it as if it were a walker,” says Rylee Cook, Delphos Jefferson 7th Grade.
“We have them make burgers, and we have an order pad. We have them read, spell and write everything they need to do they make the burger. And then we can see if they like, know the names, see if they can put it back correctly, and have them, like touch it to help their hands move,” says Daisy Raines, Delphos Jefferson 7th Grade.
Students also learned teamwork while developing their projects.
“We're doing operation, but spaghetti themed, so it's basically our person likes spaghetti, so we decided to make operations, since it also likes board games, it's not really that hard to do hard things. It just has to take teamwork,” says Adam Wiseman, Delphos Jefferson 7th Grade.
“I just like learning to work as a team, and like learning how to hook like circuits up and finish like circuits. So, I think that was a pretty fun experience,” says Gabriel Schulte, Delphos Jefferson 7th Grade.
STEM and engineering education at Delphos Jefferson begins in the fifth grade and continues through high school, becoming more advanced at each grade level.
“I tell my students, when they graduate from Delphos City Schools, they have the ability to say, at 18 years old, they have eight years of engineering experience, and a lot of the companies and manufacturing facilities that I speak with their head over heels with what we're doing, and it's fulfilling a need that both my students have and the local businesses have, because kids love this stuff,” adds Spencer.
