I am fortunate that the district where I work has made sure that all schools have 3D printers. The last few were delivered and set up in the school libraries in September.
3D printers can be polarizing - you either love the idea of using them with students or you are adamant it will not happen on your watch. At one of the elementary schools I serve, the art teacher reached out about using these with her learners. We sat down and brainstormed ideas that would have students creating - and printing - something that was standards aligned and age appropriate. Since in the winter, after Christmas break, all of her students create snowflakes using a variety of techniques, we settled on doing this! We discussed which grade level to work with and settled on grade 4 based on their math standards - we could tie in symmetry and angles! We knew we would need to get them into Tinkercad and familiar with this creation tool well before taking them through the design process to create their snowflakes. We started by creating a class. I added the art teacher as a co-teacher. This way, I could add the students. Since the students were under 13, they could not just join with their Google accounts - per the Terms of Service and Privacy policy at Tinkercad. Each had to be manually added and the nicknames customized so they matched the usernames the students were used to using. Next, over the course of four weeks, beginning the week of Thanksgiving, we made sure the students could get logged into Tinkercad. We then started them on the Getting Started tutorials to help them get acquainted with how Tinkercad works. Some students struggled. The reasons varied. For some, it was because they did not read the directions and impulsively started clicking and dragging. And that is OK - that is how some students (and adults) learn! For others, the issue was with fine motor skills - specifically: using a Chromebook track pad instead of a mouse. Once they made it through the first few tutorials, their sense of accomplishment soared! After winter break, the students will finish up the tutorials and begin the process of building their snowflakes. I am working on breaking THIS step by step guide into manageable tutorials with video demonstrations as I try to appeal to all learning modalities in the classrooms. Here is the FIRST ONE for building the center of the snowflake. I can’t wait to see their creations - and I am eager to get these printed so they can have tangible evidence of their accomplishments!
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AuthorJeannie Timken Archives
March 2023
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