FDTC instructor patents blood-typing educational model
Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC) Biology instructor Ken Malachowsky recently received a patent for his 3D printed educational model aimed to teach allied health students how blood is typed and what happens during incompatible blood transfusions.
Throughout his years of instructing Anatomy and Physiology, Malachowsky noticed that students typically memorized without truly understanding which blood types were compatible in proper or improper blood transfusions.
In an effort to find a solution to the issue, Malachowsky attended a Human and Physiology conference in 2013 on Process Oriented Guided Learning Inquiry and began formulating a plan for creating a new learning tool that would help students better understand blood types while in the classroom.
“We know that learning occurs better when doing something as opposed to just listening or reading,” Malachowsky said. “I applied that notion to blood transfusions to have the students actually make different blood types and see what happens when compatible and incompatible blood types are mixed together.”
Once Malachowsky conducted his research and developed the idea of visually showing the students what they were being taught, he reached out to the SiMT on FDTC’s campus and began working with the team on a prototype of the classroom materials.
The SiMT 3D printed several iterations of the design that resembled the shapes of red blood cells and antibodies. The individual pieces of the 3D printed materials are color coordinated and can be pieced together, much like a LEGO set. This concept allows students to construct various blood types and visually determine what types of red blood cells constitute a given blood type. The concept illustrates types of allowable antibodies that would be in the blood as well. Students in Malachowsky’s BIO 211 class are currently being taught with this model.
“The SiMT was built to serve the needs of industry and education in our region, and across the country,” said SiMT Vice President Mark Roth. “It’s very exciting for us to assist and support one of FDTC’s own, instructor Ken Malachowsky, in his pursuit of a patent for his revolutionary teaching device.”
In July 2017, Malachowsky filed for the patent, and this past December, he was awarded Patent No. 10,510,269.
Malachowsky said, “I am thrilled to have developed a novel learning tool that can help allied health students understand the difficult topics of blood transfusion and blood typing.”
Malachowsky is reaching out to manufacturers and having his patented learning tool mass produced and sold to educators around the world.
Malachowsky, CEO of 3D Learning Solutions, is originally from Bronx, New York, but he has been living in Florence since 2001.