Doctoral students help Glencoe junior high schoolers build therapy toys for children

Local middle-school students recently had a chance to help their peers.

Through Project Lead the Way in Glencoe District 35, seventh- and eighth-graders designed and built prototypes for toys to aid children who need occupational therapy.

On March 17 in Central School’s Misner Auditorium, the Glencoe students presented their therapeutic toys to occupational therapy students from University of Illinois at Chicago.

Project Lead the Way, which is utilized by schools nationwide, is a program that provides educators with the tools to encourage STEM-related instruction, from design to engineering to match and science.

Groups of Glencoe students created toys to support a specific therapeutic need. Among the creations were: Shape, Teacup, Color Match to help children with hand-eye coordination and Basket Hoops to aid in wrist extension.

Thanks to Glencoe teacher Clair Dukes and UIC’s Dr. Ashley Stoffel, during the creation process, UIC doctoral students provided the Glencoe students with feedback on how to improve their prototypes, and then on March 17 visited with the students to view and discuss the prototypes, according to information from Glencoe D35.

“Central students engaged in all elements of the design process including challenging assumptions, redefining problems, and creating innovative solutions to prototype and test,” according to a district press release.

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