Ewan Rosser, a Grade 4 student, has a complex combination of disabilities that make playing sports and games with his classmates in the school yard difficult.
STEM teacher Ms Sarah Dicker suggested to her STEM students to design devices that “met the need” to allow Ewan to play.
“We believe our designs are quite unique, and I would love to have them manufactured, not just for Ewan, but for kids like Ewan,” she said.
“When we did a bit of research, we found that there weren’t a lot of resources like this for children.”
The ideas for the hand Tramp, and the Mechanical Leg were the results, both of which were finalists in this year’s STEM MAD competition.
“MAD stands for Make A Difference — it’s a competition where the children had to design a prototype with a Catholic focus,” Ms Dicker said.
“Out of the national awards, (Hand Tramp) came first and (Mechanical Leg) was a Top Three finalist in the Best Assistive Device Award category, so we have taken out two awards.”
Ellen Hennessy and Bella Lia designed the winning device, The Hand Tramp.
Ellen said it is hard for Ewan to connect his hand with the ball when playing downball.
“We looked at trampolines and tennis racquets to see if we could put them in our designs,” Ellen said.
“We merged them together to make our prototype that helps him play more independently, and so he can play without his helper hitting the ball for him.”
When the girls found out they had won the top prize, they said they were very excited.
“We thought that we would win, and then we realised how many other entries there were, so our confidence kind of deteriorated there,” Ellen said.
“We were very excited when we found out, we jumped up and hugged each other.”
The Mechanical Leg — designed by Jessica Knight, Elisha Fonseka and Maggie Oliver — aids Ewan in playing football in the school yard.
“Mrs Dicker gave us the option of downball or football, and we chose football,” Maggie said.
“It’s a kicking mechanism. At the moment he uses a hockey stick, and it hurts his back because he has to lean over the wheelchair and push.
“We made it so it’s closer to his arm so he doesn’t have to lean over, and we have bright lights on the ball because he says that bright lights make it easier to see.
“It’s basically like a prosthetic leg for him.”
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