{"id":7474,"date":"2021-02-11T13:28:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T18:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/?p=7474"},"modified":"2021-02-11T13:41:43","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T18:41:43","slug":"3d-design-with-young-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/2021\/02\/11\/3d-design-with-young-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Design with Young Makers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TinkerCad<\/a> remains one of the most powerful and accessible tools out there for design and modeling of 3D objects. When I first learned of TinkerCad, I was thinking of the end-goal to be 3D printing. However, I have reframed this in my mind – the best use of this tool is the visualization<\/em> of 3D models and shapes. Many of our teachers across all grade levels have started to incorporate TinkerCad into their students\u2019 work, just after sketching and often replacing a traditional design blueprint done with graph paper. The result is a polished digital design that allows the student to see and manipulate their idea in three dimensions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine\u2019s Day is coming up and that reminds me of how a\nPreKindergarten class used TinkerCad last year to combine learning of shapes,\ntechnology, and friendship all in one beautiful project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this \u201cFriends Project,\u201d students partnered with someone\nthey do not typically play with during the day. They visited the Innovation Lab\nfor a short 5-minute tutorial on TinkerCad, how to drag and drop shapes from\nthe choice menu, and how to use colors, all controlled by a touch screen so\nthey could easily access the program at a level appropriate for their\nfine-motor control. Partners played around with TinkerCad for a class or two-\nhighly enjoyed by the students, with high engagement. This was also their first\nforay into targeted computer use at School. After this, their classroom\ncomputer was \u201copened\u201d (our Early Childhood terminology for when a station or\narea of the room is available for student exploration), and TinkerCad became an\nexploration choice option during the school day. In the weeks leading up to\nValentine\u2019s Day, students interviewed each other and asked about favorite\nthings, including shapes and colors. Teachers scribed the conversation to\ninclude in documentation for the project. In their next visit to the Lab,\nstudents selected their new friend\u2019s favorite shape and manipulated it in\nTinkerCad to customize the size (i.e. \u201csmall heart\u201d \u201cwide rectangle\u201d or \u201cskinny\ncircle\u201d). I pulled all the student designs onto one printing plane and 3D\nprinted the shapes for the group. After snapping them off the plastic raft,\nstudents used acrylic paint to customize the colors of the shapes to be their\nfriend\u2019s favorite color. (See my note about painting below.) The third visit to\nthe lab involved a trip to the woodshop so students could drill a small hole\nthrough the shape using the Drill Press. Yes, even our youngest makers can use\nthe Drill Press with confidence, clad in safety glasses and with hands-on\nteacher support. We used beads and plastic cordage to create a keychain from\nthe shape. Students used Art time back in their classroom to design and create\ntheir own custom wrapping paper, and exchanged their thoughtful gifts to their\nnew friend on Valentine\u2019s Day. Suuuuuuuuuuuch a sweet project. And think of all\nthe learning, command of software, and responsible use of technology we were\nable to promote through this project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our annual \u201cLiving Zoo\u201d project in 1st<\/sup> grade took\non a new persona last year as the \u201cWorld of Wildlife.\u201d Students used available\nmaterials to create a 12\u201d x 12\u201d model habitat for their animal of study. As you\ncan imagine, imaginations can run wild and creations can grow quickly when a\nchild is given access to a bundle of raw materials and glue. We wanted to slow\nthe process a bit to help the students see how their visualization of their\nproject could become a design, create and make a plan, then construct. Turning\nto TinkerCad, we set up 12\u201d x 12\u201d workplanes, the same size as their provided\nhabitat substrate. Students visited the Innovation lab and received a short\n(5-minute) introduction to the shapes warehouse of TinkerCad and how to zoom,\ndrag, and drop in the program. They then visited Thingiverse and downloaded a\npre-existing design of their chosen animal to place somewhere within their\nworkplane. Using the shapes feature, they were able to create extensive\nblueprints for their habitats and visualize dimensions of all the objects. We paper-printed\na snapshot of their model for each student to have right next to them to use as\na guide as they selected appropriate materials and started their habitat\nconstruction, turning blueprint into constructed model. By adding in this\nplanning and design step, students not only received a boost in their 3D\nvisualization, learned new software, and had a pro-looking printout to include\non their showcase table, but they also had the best habitats we\u2019ve seen in the\nyears of this project. The blueprint model enabled them to focus their physical\ncreation into a beautiful, well-proportioned model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • \"\"<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Other experiences we\u2019ve piloted using TinkerCad in this\nvisualization realm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • 3rd<\/sup> grade science design of owl boxes for native owl species in Ohio <\/li>
    • 7th<\/sup> grade \u201cbridges\u201d elective class design of a load-bearing bridge to be built for the final project<\/li>
    • 7th<\/sup> grade monument project blueprint design of proposed Monuments for the National Mall in Washington DC<\/li>
    • Makerspace Summer Camp teaching of drawing a character \u2013 representing the character in 3D \u2013 3D printing the character<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Logistically, we run a Makerspace account for TinkerCad and\nshare the log in with teachers as they need to use the program for projects.\nEach student receives a workplane with their name. This way we can log in from\nthe Lab and check projects, and students can also work on their project using\nany class iPad set or even at home, as needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      THE ROLE OF PAINTING: We realize how fun it can be for\nstudents to find something in Thingiverse, import it to the MakerBot software,\nand 3D print it out. But when reflecting on this process, the student doesn\u2019t\nhave a huge hand in the \u201cmaking\u201d of the object. However, at a young age, it can\nbe hard to design something that makes a good 3D print file. But we want our\nstudents to have their hands involved in making as much as possible, and find a\nway for those hands to be involved in any project, no matter how minor. A few\nyears ago we realized that acrylic paint does a nice job adhering to the\nprinted plastic. So, if a student truly needs something that has already been\ndesigned by someone else out there in the maker world \u2013 say, for example, a\nmodel of an animal \u2013 they can have it printed in neutral plastic, then use\npaints to customize for their own use. We have found this to be a happy medium\nwhen we want a product that has the perfect appearance of a 3D printed design,\nbut allows students to feel it is their own work. Due to the complexity required\nfor a feasible print design and time it takes to print, we don\u2019t do a lot of mass-3D\nprinting, but when we do, we often ask the students to paint or customize their\nfinal product to make it more their own. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      TinkerCad remains one of the most powerful and accessible tools out there for design and modeling of 3D objects. When I first learned of TinkerCad, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":7475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,67,65,69,64,66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7479,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7474\/revisions\/7479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fabplay.hawken.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}