Our STEM team — ninth-graders from a local high school — chose to face the war head-on, through the lens of mental health. Having spent the start of the year learning physical computing and digital fabrication, the students met with a psychologist to learn about innovative approaches to treating people coping with mental health challenges. They then put their new knowledge to work, developing technological aids for those coping with anxiety and trauma: devices for EMDR therapists, smart bracelets that help regulate breathing, and more.
The Soul Bird: Technology That Hugs
Coping with the Soul Bird, Too
The Educational Dimension: Combining coding and digital fabrication with psychological insight and neuroscience. Learning about empathy and designing for a specific, unique need.
The Industrial Dimension: Developing Health-Tech products, with careful attention to a user interface that is sensitive and adapted to the challenge.
The Community Dimension: Supporting those affected by anxiety, out of a desire to help rebuild the personal and communal resilience damaged by the war.
The Connection/The Experience: “Hands busy with soldering and code. Hearts with the future users, who will be able to breathe a little easier in a moment of anxiety. Technology with a soul.”
