#397: Building Bodies, Building Minds: A Hands-On STEM Activity in Biomechanical Engineering for Elementary Students

This study examines how 10 elementary students engaged in a biomedical engineering activity. Students built spine models, designed prosthetic discs, and tested materials through compression and bending tasks. Reflexive thematic analysis of video and survey data revealed four themes: engineering mindset development, embodied anatomical exploration, material testing through interaction, and social collaboration. The findings suggest that hands-on activities grounded in distributed cognition can support students’ engineering mindsets and understanding of anatomy and material properties.