1. Middle School Outreach Steve Johnson Buenaventura Chapter, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society August, 2007

2. Acknowledgements Chapter Officers –Pat Jacobs –Brian Rasnow –Mike Shaw –David Steinmeier IEEE Foundation Grant #2006-007 Cal Lutheran University Students –Joshua Lee * –Thomas Estus * –Gregory Johnson * –Stephen Roberts * –Corey Russo * –Abigail Corrin * Presenters

3. Summary Our chapter introduced biomedical engineering to 7 th grade students through an entertaining road show. We present familiar medical tools, explain how engineers help people by designing them. We have presented the program to over 400 middle- school students in southern California. The presenters are students from the Cal Lutheran University (CLU) student chapter of IEEE-EMBS. The initiative was funded by IEEE Foundation Grant #2006-007.

4. Funding The initiative was conceived, and grant proposal written to the IEEE Foundation in 2005. The IEEE Foundation funded the grant in early 2006. Details of the implementation of the program changed dur- ing development; we kept the IEEE Foundation updated through quarterly progress reports. We received permission to extend expenditures into 2007. We filed a Project Completion Report in 2007, which was accepted at the Foundation’s June meeting.

5. Why Middle School Students? Middle School students are intellectually curious, energetic, and fun. We hoped to harness that sense of enthusiasm through our roadshow. Middle School students are advanced enough to understand basic engineering and scientific principles. After Middle School, kids steer away from engineering, math, and the sciences. We hoped to intervene. In the United States, the 7th grade curriculum is particularly appropriate, as it focuses on physiology, anatomy, and the scientific method.

6. Course Materials Chapter officers prepared the lesson plan using the California standard format. Students at California Lutheran University's Bioengineering Program developed the presentation materials and script, assigned roles, and conducted rehearsals prior to the presentations. The presentation is about 45 minutes long, combining didactic, interactive, and hands-on elements. Lesson Plan and Presentation are available at www.bv-embs-chapter.com

7. ECG Demonstration To make the lesson more tangible, we purchased a BioPac Science Lab kit to display the students' own ECG signals. We had many volunteers during our presentations. The student presenters enjoyed practicing with the ECG.

8. Results School District officials have been enthusiastic! They've been impressed with: –preparation of the lesson plan and presentation materials –alignment with the 7th grade curriculum –use of didactic, interactive, and hands-on learning modes –involvement and leadership of CLU bioengineering students –the fact that we had anticipated their needs in designing this to fit within a 45-minute class period –little advance prep required from the teachers We’ve been invited back for the 2007-2008 school year!