Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Introduction to SketchUp

In my previous posts documenting the journey of our 3D printing education, I discussed the methods I used for discovering and providing some background knowledge to students on our printer.

My 4th graders were incredibly excited to begin learning the 3D design software on our desktop computers. After completing a lot of research, and talking to our district office, I narrowed it down between Tinkercad and SketchUP. I've been familiar with SketchUP from previous projects when I used the software for my students to complete a math project a few years back, and ultimately that was the software we agreed upon to use with our intermediate students for our Makerbot Replicator Mini.

When it came down to introducing the software to my 4th graders, I knew one of the most important things I needed to do was give my students time to PLAY! Before introducing my students to the first couple of tools, I just gave them 15 minutes to explore. Not only does this get some of the curiosity out of their system, but we know that this generation of students learn best by exploring. Once their exploration time was completed. I gave them their first challenge, which consisted of creating some basic geometric 3D shapes. You can grab your own copy, HERE.

The following week, I introduced another challenge in class. Most of my students had even returned announcing how they downloaded the education software at home with their family! For week 5's lesson, my students had more creativity to create, but they had to incorporate more tools and demonstrate what they had learned from the first 3D challenge. I was blown away by what my students were creating. They definitely exceeded my expectations! This made me extremely excited for their 3D project that would be introduced after spring break. Grab your free copy of my 2nd challenge, HERE.


Happy designing!



No comments:

Post a Comment