LESSON (Reimagining Dexterity: Assistive Game Design with Repurposed Operation Games)

Unlock a powerful, hands-on learning experience that merges engineering, neuroscience, and social good with “Reimagining Dexterity: Assistive Game Design with Repurposed Operation Games”. In this activity, students will disassemble classic Operation games and reengineer their components into simpler, custom-designed dexterity games to assist older adults in enhancing manual dexterity. This activity provides students with a unique opportunity to develop a human-centered design mindset, engineering skills, and a deeper understanding of cognitive health.

By the end of this project, students will have created innovative, assistive devices that contribute to the cognitive wellness of elderly individuals. The activity fosters critical STEM skills through practical applications in circuitry, series and parallel circuits, and, if available, Tinkercad and 3D printing for game piece creation.

What’s included in this download:

• Detailed Teacher Instructions: Step-by-step guidelines for setting up, dissecting the Operation games, creating human-centered designs, and reassembling components into new, assistive games.

• Images of Final Projects: Examples of completed student projects to inspire creativity.

• Student Presentation Templates: Templates for students to document their design process and present their finished products.

• Video Examples: Clips showing the process of dismantling the game and reconstructing circuits.

• Research Resources: Curated links to studies and articles on the correlation between manual dexterity and cognitive health.

• Evaluation Rubrics: Clear criteria to assess students’ work in creativity, engineering, and social impact.

Through this project, students learn that they can make a tangible difference in others’ lives by combining empathy with engineering design thinking. Your students will practice circuit design, 3D modeling, and prototyping—all with a focus on creating solutions for real-world needs. Perfect for STEM and social good classes, this activity will help students connect their learning with meaningful service.

Give your students the chance to repurpose, reimagine, and make a difference. Download now and start building a brighter future through design.