How wearable tech can combat Parkinson’s disease

Suitable for 14 to 19-year-olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom or shared with students online.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Biology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• These resources explain the work of Professor Fay Horak, at the Balance Disorders Laboratory at Oregon Health & Science University in the US, who is investigating how exercise regimes and wearable technologies can help people with Parkinson’s disease to regain mobility and autonomy.
• This resource contains an interview with Fay, providing an insight into careers in neuroscience.
• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Fay’s research, and tasks them to explore physical therapy solutions for a neurological disorder.
• The animation summarises Fay’s research and is accompanied by a script.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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