By Beth Lawing, Seventh-Grade Science Teacher
It was the last week of May, and a hush fell over the Bissell Campus Courtyard as our seventh graders prepared for the ultimate test of their engineering designs. Weeks of researching, sketching prototypes, and carefully constructing multiple helmet models had led up to this moment. Their faces were a mix of nervous anticipation and eager excitement as their helmet designs were put to the test: Protect a person’s “brain” from concussion after an eight-foot drop.
While this culminating event was a highlight for the students, it wouldn’t have had such a significant impact without the many adults in our community who lent their support. As a teacher and advisor, I am always telling my students that Country Day is a “Community of Caring.” From start to finish, this is a story of both engaged learning and community.
The journey to our Helmet Drop began in the spring of 2024, when my teaching partner, Science Department Chair Janice Palmer, and I learned about an engineering unit called “Put a Lid on It,” developed by the Museum of Science (MOS) in Boston. I drafted a grant proposal to attend MOS’s engineering conference for Middle School teachers, and the Parents’ Association graciously allocated the funds. Meanwhile, Janice spoke with Middle School parent Dr. Amy McLaughlin, an ER physician, who enthusiastically agreed to lead a presentation about the brain.
At the conference, not only did we discover hands-on engineering activities to implement in our classrooms, but we also made connections with other STEM leaders, who gave us terrific ideas for award-winning children’s books and informative Smithsonian videos to incorporate into our engineering lessons. After each day of teacher training, Janice and I walked around the heart of Boston while strategizing about the scope and sequence of the unit, becoming even better friends with each step. We asked ourselves many questions. What if we got different types of helmets for the kids to examine? What if we invited more guest speakers to visit?
Energized and excited, upon our return, we called for reinforcement from our amazing Community of Caring. Athletic Director Masanori Toguchi helped us secure football, baseball, and lacrosse helmets to examine. Seventh-grade parents shared their construction helmets and ice hockey helmets. People were so interested in helping us that I decided to dream bigger. I contacted Director of Alumni Relations (and my former student) Drew Witman ’06 to ask whether he thought Alumnus of the Year and reigning Daytona 500 champion William Byron ’16 might loan us a NASCAR helmet.
As we collaborated, I could tell the engineering gears were spinning in Drew’s head, too. He mentioned that we had neurosurgeons in the community who he thought would enjoy being guest speakers. Drew reached out to Dr. Harrison Farber ’08 at Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine, who happily agreed to come and speak to our seventh graders about his life as a brain surgeon.
Learning from Experts
Dr. McLaughlin kicked things off by creatively turning the seventh graders into fourth-year medical students in her simulation of life as an ER doctor treating a young head injury patient—first as if he were wearing a helmet and then if he were not. Dr. McLaughlin also taught the students what to look for in a CT scan, and they quickly realized that brains begin to bleed, and the hemispheres of the brain are not symmetrical following a head trauma without a helmet.
The next day, Middle School Athletic Trainer Jason Farmer led a discussion about concussions, which are a very real part of seventh-grade life. Interestingly, the highest number of sustained concussions occurs in our population during recess time or off-campus, not during structured school practices or school competitions.
Lastly, Dr. Farber shared his path to becoming a neurosurgeon. He started shadowing doctors when he was in Upper School at Country Day, and he encouraged the students, regardless of their interests, to seek out an internship with experts once they were in high school. Dr. Farber also explained how identifying a patient’s “elegant regions of the brain” helps him know where to cut and why his patients are still awake during brain surgery.
And yes, William Byron did lend us one of his NASCAR helmets. I envisioned William picking up a spare from his garage floor, so you can imagine my total shock when Drew presented me with the helmet that William wore during the Daytona 500! Needless to say, the students felt so special to have access to this helmet. They were amazed at the lightness and how much padding he needed to wear while driving more than 130 miles per hour.
Putting Knowledge to the Test
With brain research and helmet analysis under their belts, the students were ready to become teams of biomedical engineers who could plan, design, and build! As a test run, each engineering group examined materials they could use to create a mini helmet that would protect a “small skull filled with brains” (actually, a dried jumbo pasta shell filled with potato flakes, sand, and warm water). The teams perfected thumbnail sketches, talked through design matrices, and created team sketches. When their prototypes were ready, they dropped their Pasta Helmet Heads from five feet onto a concrete floor and examined the damage.
With learnings from the prototypes, the students spent their last week as seventh graders going back through the engineering design process to build life-sized helmets—this time with a budget of $10 in materials, which included foil trays, bubble wrap, quilt batting, pipe cleaners, and more. Working with budget and time constraints gave the project a real-world feel and required the teams to work even harder on their collaboration skills. The students were ready for the final helmet drop, and Janice and I were thankful for one more adult who helped make this unit such a success.
Middle School Maintenance Supervisor Richard Marsh, using high-jump equipment, creatively rigged a contraption that could handle the specifications required for our engineering capstone project: the eight-foot Helmet Drop. Team by team, the students strapped their helmets to a mannequin head that hung upside down—the variety of designs stretched from no-nonsense to whimsical. Inside each helmet, we taped two red paintballs to simulate the brain. A countdown ensued, and the mannequin’s head plummeted toward the concrete! Would their helmets (and their brains) be able to sustain such a punishing impact?
When their helmets absorbed the impact successfully, the students enthusiastically celebrated with each other. Next, they discussed iterations, such as changing the design of their helmet strap, which they could make to improve their overall helmet design.
Sophia ParkikhSeventh-grade Student
I love how instead of an end-of-unit test, we had a creative project that let us express all our unique ways of processing and applying the information we learned. By far, this has been my favorite unit!!”
This unit reminded us that students love many things about engineering. They love problem-solving. They love the independence that engineering projects give them. From design conception to materials testing, they are the ones calling the shots for how to build their prototypes. They love handling manipulatives and collaborating as their creative sparks fly. And they love having guest speakers come and talk to them about the real world.
Thanks to our Community of Caring, our seventh graders have learned for themselves why it is critical to wear a helmet in the right situations to reduce the chances of brain injuries and fatalities. Next time they go for a bike ride or sign up for a contact sport, we hope they will Put a Lid on It!