5-E CLASSROOM STEM ACTIVITY: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND INSULIN PUMPS

Transcription

1 5-E CLASSROOM STEM ACTIVITY: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND INSULIN PUMPS Dr. Candace Walkington, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Southern Methodist University

2 BIOTECH // OAKLAND RAIDERS MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE BY ELLEN EGLEY I don t usually associate cheerleading with medical science, so I wasn t sure what to expect when I interviewed Wendy, who has been a professional cheerleader for the last seven years. I was pleasantly surprised when Wendy shattered this stereotype and began speaking about her two passions: cheering and biomedical engineering. I have always been very interested in the way the human body works. From a very young age I was fascinated by diseases and healing, and for a very long time I wanted to be a medical doctor. However, as I was growing up and taking more and more science classes leading up to college, I realized that I didn t want to just study medicine. I wanted an opportunity to make medical advances that would help people. Medical doctors obviously get to help people, but I was very interested in the engineering aspect of medicine and medical careers. That s what led me to biomedical engineering, explained Wendy. I had heard the term biomedical engineering before, but wasn t sure what all it encompassed. It turns out that biomedical engineering is a huge field that includes everything from tissue engineering - which is where you literally build the tissues of the body, including bones, muscles, and cartilage - to medical device design, imaging technologies like MRIs, and even work in pharmaceuticals and drug delivery. Obviously success in a field this complex requires determination and a great education. Once Wendy completed her bachelor s degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, she immediately went on to graduate school at the University of California, Davis and is also getting a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, with a focus on articular cartilage, which is the glassy substance that coats the surface of your moving joints. The work Wendy is doing now is specifically on the cartilage found in the knee. While Wendy has experienced great success so far in her career as a biomedical engineer, she has also had to overcome many obstacles, including her own expectations. Wendy admitted that the hardest thing for me so far on my professional journey was realizing that the things I am learning and doing are hard, and that it s ok if I don t get it the first time. Understanding complex scientific concepts takes time and hard work, just like developing any other skill. I had to give myself permission to fail, and then learn from that failure and find a way to grow from it. I think a lot of people - young women, especially - get really discouraged from pursuing science and the STEM careers in general because they don t want to fail, so they stop trying. 8 EARLY SPRING 2016 // STEMJOBS.COM

3 I DIDN T WANT TO JUST STUDY MEDICINE. I WANTED AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MEDICAL ADVANCES THAT WOULD HELP PEOPLE. Raiderette Wendy Years of Cheering: 14 (7 years of cheering professionally, the last 3 with the Raiderettes) Lab Experience: 8 years as a graduate school researcher and Ph.D. candidate STEM Type: Advisor There are obviously still some biases out there about women in STEM subjects and STEM careers, including my own. As a woman who embraces and promotes women in STEM, I thought of myself as an advocate for women like Wendy, but even I was prone to stereotyping. No one really thought of me as someone who could have a career in science growing up. I was on my dance team and loved figure skating and was very physically active, and I was also very interested in style and fashion. For many people, someone with those types of interests and hobbies fits into a very specific mold, and it wasn t one that included being a scientist. At first I had trouble reconciling those two perceived halves of myself, but I was fortunate to have a mentor during an internship who was a medical doctor and graduated with a chemical engineering degree from Georgia Tech while being the featured twirler at Georgia Tech, and even went on to be Miss Georgia in the 1970s. I really felt like if she could do all of that, I could too, and I started to believe in myself a lot more. Now I try to do a lot of mentorship and outreach so that I can show people that you can be whatever you want to be, and that you can t let other people define what you are capable of based on certain biases or assumptions about you, stated Wendy. So what advice does this cheerleader, mentor, and biomedical engineer have for students in middle or high school? Get out into the real world, pursue your passions, find mentors in the fields in which you are interested, and get your hands dirty. Reading a calculus book is only interesting to a few people, so don t think that you re not good at math or science based on those types of experiences. Creativity is also very important, so find a creative outlet that can help you manage stress and find balance. For me, that s leaving the lab and dancing with the Raiderettes, who just happen to be 34 of my closest friends. Pursuing both interests helps me maintain my sanity and my passion for each. Don t be afraid to find your own path and blaze your own trail by being true to yourself, advised Wendy. I m sure that there are many more Wendys out there; people who are refusing to be defined according to what other people think they should be based on biases or preconceived notions. As Wendy proves in her everyday life, anyone can have a scientific mind - or a mathematical mind, or a creative mind, or a technological mind - if they have the passion and perseverance to apply themselves and learn from their failures. Find your passion, and you will find a way to do what you love. STEMJOBS.COM // EARLY SPRING

4 5-E CLASSROOM STEM ACTIVITY: BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND INSULIN PUMPS Here are some ideas for how middle school teachers could use this story as a launching point for integrated STEM learning. Our activities follow the 5-E Learning Cycle Model. Part 1: Engage 1 2 Have students read the STEM Jobs article More Than Just a Pretty Face. Say to students: The article discusses how biomedical engineers are involved in the design of medical devices. What are some medical devices that people wear every day? Does anyone know someone who has an insulin pump? How do these pumps work? What disease are they for, and how do they help manage the disease? 3 Show the video on insulin pumps that can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources. 4 Ask students: Why do people with diabetes need a pump to deliver their insulin? What purpose does insulin serve in the body? How is insulin important to getting energy to the cells in your body? 5 Show students the video that can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources. 6 7 Ask students: What do you think are some of the benefits of using an insulin pump compared to daily insulin injections? Why might some people decide to get a pump or not get a pump? What factors about the person s lifestyle and preferences matter? You can also show students the animation of how a pump works that can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources. Introduce the students to the terminology basal rate and bolus dose since they are likely to see those terms in their research. Resources can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources. Part 2: Explore 1 2 Break students up into groups of 4 and give each group the following prompt: A friend of your family has had Type I diabetes since he was a child, and has recently begun to consider getting an insulin pump instead of doing daily insulin injections. You are fresh out of college with your biomedical engineering degree, and he comes to you for advice. He is wondering if a pump is a good decision for him his blood sugar has been relatively well-controlled with injections, he is 40 years old and weighs 220 pounds, and he eats a moderately healthy diet. However, he wonders if the convenience of the pump might improve his lifestyle and further stabilize his blood sugar. Conduct research on the pros and cons of using an insulin pump for Type I diabetes, compared to daily injections, and come up with a presentation to show your family friend. This presentation should be in whatever format you think your family friend would understand best, whether it be a PowerPoint, written report, comparison chart, or video. It should be easily understandable by someone who does not have a background in biology or biomedical engineering, with helpful images and diagrams. Your presentation should also describe how insulin helps the cells in your body utilize sugar from food for energy, in order to remind him how the insulin from the pump will help his body. Resources can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources. 1 STEMjobs.com Biomedical Engineering and Insulin Pumps

5 Part 3: Explain Have each group show their presentations to the class. If desired, have another teacher or staff member from the school attend the presentations and act as the family friend from the prompt. After all the presentations are over, have that person make a decision about whether or not they would choose to use an insulin pump, and why or why not, based on the information they had communicated to them during the presentations. During and after the presentations, discuss with the class: 1) What additional information about your family friend would it be good to know to help him decide if an insulin pump is right for him? 2) What do you think is the most important advantage of using the pump? What is the most important disadvantage? 3) If the choice was yours, would you use a pump? Why or why not? 4) What is the difference between basal and bolus? How is basal rate determined? How do users of the pump determine what amount to bolus for before meals? What factors do they need to consider? 5) How do people with diabetes determine what their current blood sugar level is? What is a good target blood sugar level for a diabetic? What unit is blood sugar measured in? Part 4: Elaborate Have students reconvene in their groups and give them the following scenario: Your family friend has decided to get an insulin pump, and needs your help to determine how much he should bolus for before each meal he eats. In your groups, come up with a sample menu for what he eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a typical day, and use online databases (like the one found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources) of nutritional information to determine how many carbs are in each meal. Let him know how much he needs to bolus for each meal, and be sure to explain the calculation in detail so that he understands it and can do similar calculations on his own. Assume that his blood sugar is exactly at the desired level of 110 mg/dl before each meal. Hint: You will need to figure out your family friend s insulin to carb ratio, and multiply this ratio by the number of carbs he eats. While there are different ways to approximate his insulin to carb ratio, one way is to take 2000 and divide it by his weight in pounds this will tell you how many carbs will be disposed of by 1 unit of insulin (resources can be found at edu.stemjobs.com/teacher-resources). Part 5: Evaluate Give students the following homework assignment: Create a multimedia poster (using a site like glogster.com) that addresses the following question: How do biomedical engineers design medical devices that make people s lives better? The poster should not focus on insulin pumps exclusively, and should display or consider other devices like hearing aids, prosthetics, catheters, protective eyewear, etc. 2 STEMjobs.com Biomedical Engineering and Insulin Pumps

6 Standards Addressed: Common Core Math Standards CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.2. Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities. CCSS.Math.Content.7.NS.A.3. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers. Next Generation Science Standards MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism. MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. Cross-Curricular Connections (National Health Education Standards) Standard 3: Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information, products, and services to enhance health. Standard 5: Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Math 6.5.A represent mathematical and real-world problems involving ratios and rates using scale factors, tables, graphs, and proportions 7.3.B apply and extend previous understandings of operations to solve problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of rational numbers 7.4.D solve problems involving ratios, rates, and percents, including multi-step problems involving percent increase and percent decrease, and financial literacy problems Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Science 6.2.A plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making observations, asking well-defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology 7.2.A plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making observations, asking well-defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology 7.12.B identify the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, and endocrine systems 8.2.A plan and implement comparative and descriptive investigations by making observations, asking well-defined questions, and using appropriate equipment and technology 3 STEMjobs.com Biomedical Engineering and Insulin Pumps