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STEM/STEAM

Three Steps to 3D Printing with Young Learners

by Cynthia Ramirez, Guest Author
written by Cynthia Ramirez, Guest Author

Can students in PreK-2nd grades complete 3D printing projects? Yes, it is possible! Allow me to share what I did to integrate 3D printer projects into the curriculum on my campus. To have success, the projects needed to be:

  • Relevant to what students are/were learning
  • Age/grade-level appropriate
  • Made for students to design and manage the printing

Let’s take a moment to walk through the steps taken to achieve these three goals.

Step One: Teacher-Designed Projects

We needed 3D printers to get started, and the Deer Park Education Foundation offered grants. So the engineering lab teacher and I wrote a grant together. As a result of that grant, we were able to take one step closer to achieving our dream of assisting second grade students in learning to use design tools and print in 3D. Here’s our journey.

My First Effort

At first, my colleague and I started with pre-made projects (e.g. Thingiverse). We designed our own projects. When we taught 2D and 3D shape lessons, the 3D printer was our companion. We would wheel it in, and classes had one project each to work on.

Students used an app that is no longer available to take a picture of their drawn shape to convert to 3D. They did not plan or design. To address this, I realized I had to learn more. As a result, I took it upon myself to learn more about using the 3D printer. To do so, we:

The more I learned, the easier it became. For staff and students, I designed and printed small trinkets, awards, and gifts. But the question remained, “How could I support students to become 3D designers?”

Step Two: Student-Designed Projects Printed by Teacher

Cut to: Almost two years in, the engineering teacher no longer could assist me. I had to find a way to get students to be planners, designers, and creators. For one year, the campus implemented a Wednesday schedule with 45-minute enrichment classes.

Step two involved me planning quick, yet printable 3D projects for each grade level. The projects needed to be small enough to print six or more at a time.

To make it work, I set up this process:

  • Students designed in TinkerCAD.
  • I printed the designs students made.

While this was an improvement, the lessons and designs did not align to the class curriculum. I needed to find a way to make 3D printing and curriculum work together, not in parallel. To achieve that goal, I designed lessons that coordinated the two, that is, lessons that aligned 3D printing with classroom learning objectives. As part of the lesson, I did three things:

  • Explained about the project and 3D printing it
  • Taught students the necessary vocabulary
  • Discussed how the printer works

This resulted in some wonderful student creations. See the examples below.

(l-r) Projects for enrichment classes, Pre-K, and first grade.

PreK: PowerPoint and Snowmen

In this lesson, pre-kindergarten students design a snowman in PowerPoint. Then the design is 3D printed.

Kindergarten: Snowmen and TinkerCAD

In this lesson, kindergarten students plan and design a snowman in PowerPoint. Afterwards, they create the snowman in TinkerCAD. Each student receives a printed version of their design.

First Grade: Constellations (TinkerCAD)

Students in first grade rely on PowerPoint to plan out their constellation. Afterwards, they create the design in TinkerCAD. Like the other students, they received a copy of their 3D printed design.

Second Grade: 3D Flowers (TinkerCAD)

COVID-19 interrupted this project. In the project, students would have designed and created a 3D flower. The 3D printed flowers would have served as decoration for the outdoor part of the science lab.

Steps One, Two, and Three with 3D Printing

Blending 3D projects with grade level curriculum didn’t come easy. But I am happy to report it is doable and achievable. In one TCEA session I attended, the presenters said to “start small.” That is what I did, creating small projects for the youngest student in a short amount of time.

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The Epic Fail red basket with several failures in the container.
Good Teaching

One Classroom’s Epic Failure Bucket

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

It has been a couple of years since I met Jenifer Wells along my TCEA PD travels. She is one of those teachers that has epic-sized stories to tell about her classroom. And when you hear about her adventures, your ears perk up and your heart warms. Jenifer is the technology lab teacher in Seguin ISD. Her campus, Rodriguez Elementary, serves kindergarten through fifth grade students.

The story that stuck with me was her Epic Fail Bucket. Yes, you heard that right: EPIC and FAIL in one sentence. She tells me, “My kids need to understand that failing helps them grow and learn.” She continues with, “I don’t want to see failure as a negative or the ending of a process, I want them to see it as just one more step. So when you fail, I want you to do it EPICALLY and learn from it. Then share your epic fails and be proud of them so others can learn from you.”

How Does Jennifer’s Epic Failure Bucket Work?

Jenifer’s students are lucky to be able to design and 3D print on the school’s Dremel printer. When students run a 3D print that messes up in some way, they do not throw it in the garbage. The students take some time to observe what happened to their print. Sometimes, that particular print lands in the Epic Fail Bucket. When other students have a print failure, they visit the bucket and search for a similar failure. Their next step is to seek out the owner and learn how to fix their mistake.

In the bucket of 30 to 40 objects, students will also discover there is more than one way to fix your mistake. If you have three similar failures, the student can search out all three creators and choose which might be the best way to fix their print file. 

Jenifer even has students that have moved on to middle school keep in touch with her. They will come back and ask if their mistake is still in the bucket. They are quite proud of their failure. WOW, I can’t even tell you how much this warms my heart. 

If her present day students pull out an epic fail from a former student, and the student isn’t around anymore. Jenifer will try and remember what went wrong or pull up this particular file in Tinkercad. One other thing I do want to mention is that Jenifer does eventually weed out her Epic Failure Bucket. She can’t keep all of the awesome failures. 

Some of the Fun Names for Their Epic Failures

Going Spaghetti – the filament ends up looking like a bird’s nest.

Humpty Dumpty – a part of the the print falls down.

A white printed item that shows a drip.
Drippy, Photo by Jenifer Wells.

Drippy – a part sticks out too far and is unsupported like an arm on a snowman. Gravity makes it drip down and makes a mess. 

Bonus Tip

To wrap up our conversation, Jenifer shared that their printer started making strange thumping noises. So instead of relying on her district’s tech support, Jenifer and her students went on YouTube and found just the right video where someone else had posted the same problem. Jenifer and her students took the lid off the 3D printer and disassembled a part of their printer. They located the Limit Switch and had their 3D printer back on the track.

A big shout out to Jenifer Wells for being BOLD and sharing her epic failures.

Featured image by Jenifer Wells.

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3D design of a tennis shoe on a computer screen
Coding/Computer Science

3D Tools, Libraries, and Resources

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If your campus or classroom is just beginning to dabble in 3D design, you may think you are limited in the resources available to you. But there are tons of amazing tools and even libraries available for you and your students. Imagine an online library where anyone can browse, share, and remix a 3D object. For example, you might design a tour in Google Tour Builder. Now you can put that into Google’s Poly, an online library, and you have something you can share. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few tools for creating 3D assets (i.e. models, scenes, tours) and examples.

Why Learn to Create 3D Assets?

When students work in virtual words, they are learning to manipulate 3D objects and navigate virtual 3D environments. Minecraft: Education Edition and Sketch Up Pro are two fantastic tools for this. TinkerCAD enables students of all ages to design in 3D. Put those designs in a 3D printer and you have a physical artifact. Don’t forget that 3D printing is about more than small curios. 3D printing houses, bridges, clothes, and even glass objects and more is a reality now.

As the 3D printing industry grows, so do opportunities. It is critical for students to “become fluent with programs and machines for 3D printing.” The Try Engineering Institute points out several important job skills in this area, such as the following:

  • 3D Design: Take a product idea, then make it into something that can come to life. Consider the importance of rapid prototyping for design thinking and engineering design processes.
  • 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Modeling: This involves converting product designs into digital blueprints. These digital blueprints are then used in 3D printers.
  • Biological and Scientific Modeling: Engineers, designers, and modelers design and create 3D-printed organs and more.

Poly Toolkit offers a wealth of resources needed to build augmented reality (AR) applications. This short, 35-minute video will provide some background on the toolkit:

Making the ISTE Student Standards Connections

Wondering how learning 3D design is important from an ISTE Standards perspective? Consider the following relevant standard and indicators:

1. Empowered Learner

1.d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

4. Innovative Designer

4.a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

4.b. Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

4.c. Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

4.d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

5. Computational Thinker

5.a. Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.

5.b. Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

6. Creative Communicator

6.a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.

6.b. Students create original works or responsibly re-purpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Now that you can see the connections, let’s take a look at the evolving tool set and some examples.

What Tools Are Available to Create 3D Assets?

Although I’ve mentioned a few tools for creating 3D assets, others exist. There are some you may be unfamiliar with. Please find a short list below:

  • Poly Toolkit : This cross-platform tool works on Android, iOS, Web, as well as Unity and Unreal. If you’re using Blender, Cinema4D, Maya, or 3dsMax, you can get a plug-in for the Toolkit. Using the web version, you may need some background on Javascript or Python. Don’t know coding? That’s OK. There are simpler tools.
  • Tilt Brush: Do you have access to Google VR on VIVE, Oculus, or Windows Mixed Reality? Then you may want to explore the Tilt Brush Tutorials.
    3d assets
  • Blocks: This tools enables you to create 3D models as well (see image below). The goal is to enable developers to create 3D objects in 3D environment. Then you can publish those.
    3d assets

To be honest, most of the activities and skills needed for this require special equipment. But there is one tool you may already be familiar with. The tool? Google Tour Builder.

Tour Builder

Tour Builder enables students to create a virtual tour of their research data. They can add photos, text, and video as needed. Students use a map-based approach to organize research as location and impact are the two organizing principles. Check out this Getting Started with Google Tour-Builder guide for more information.

Tour Creator

Did you know that you can use Tour Creator to design virtual-reality tours and then publish them on Poly? This means you, as a teacher, can add tours you create to Expeditions. This allows you to guide your students in your class on an Expedition because tours that you add to Expeditions on Poly are auto-added to your Expeditions app.

Publishing Google Tours into the Poly Library

Once you create a Google Tour, you can share it and make it public. That’s important because it will make it available in Poly for students to access. Jen Cauthers suggests these steps:

  1. Log into your account (the same one you would use on your phone).
  2. Go to Poly and click the share button for that tour.
  3. Choose “Expeditions” for the way you want to share the tour.
  4. You should now see the tour you want to share under your tour list in the Expeditions app.

Make the tour public in Poly, then you can share the link with anyone. This means they need not sign in as a Poly Tour designer  to view it. One neat feature is the ability to save items in the Poly library as animated GIFs. Give it a try!

Some Examples

Ready to see some examples? Here are a few to get you started:

  • Lewis and Clark Expedition – In this tour, you see six different landmarks that Lewis and Clark stopped at.
  • Gettysburg Battlefield – Includes seven scenes depicting a tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.
  • Isabel’s Journey – A story of Isabel, who lived in Cuba under Fidel Castro, and left. Some interesting text items illustrate the tour. Great example of how to capture student’s family history. Of course, the source is Alan Gratz’ book, Refugee.

See many more examples are available online in the Poly library. Organized in collections, you’ll find a variety under many headers, including Animal & Pets, Architecture, Art, Culture & Humanity, Food & Drink, Current Events, and more.

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engineering
Good TeachingSTEM/STEAM

Integrating Technology and Engineering into the Science and Math Classroom

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

When I’m talking with teachers, they often share with me that working with the science and math part of the STEM classroom is easy. It is integrating the technology and engineering parts that can cause the most confusion. While it can seem a daunting task, bringing technology and engineering into the classroom can be pretty simple when using the seven-step engineering process for math and science problems.

The Engineering Process

Follow these seven steps to help your students think like engineers. Want to see what a STEM lesson looks like? Click here to download this free STEM Challenge teacher packet.   

Step 1: Define the Problem

As a teacher, we typically think of the problem as the standard(s) we are trying to meet.  While that is a great starting point, STEM is all about integrating real-world problems into the science and math classroom.  Let’s say your standard covers “elapsed time” or “form and function.” Now let’s get creative!  The problem students can solve for in math may be, “How much elapsed time passes in one class, lunch, and your entire school day?”  For our science standard, we may ask, “Can we create prosthetics that help marine animals swim normally after they have lost a limb?”

Step 2: Do Your Research

Now that the problem has been defined, we can begin researching. This is a great time to use technology! Students can use the internet to begin looking more closely at the problem they are trying to solve. In the STEM Challenge download, we used a controlled research method, which means we lead students to the website that we want them to research. Open research, or having students use Google or scientific journals, may also be used during this step of the process.

Step 3: Develop a Solution

Now that students have defined the problem and researched available information, they can begin to develop a solution to the problem. It is important to note that in this step of the process, students should be articulating what they think will work. Collaboration fits in perfectly during this stage. Students can easily work together in Google Docs to share ideas and write out steps to how they can solve the problem.

Step 4: Design a Solution

In this phase, I encourage you to keep your students offline. This is where brainstorming and failing forward should be encouraged. Students should sketch, draw, build, craft, and create in order to test their solution. Think of this stage as the “hands-on” portion of the project. As students work through the solutions on paper or with models, they can go back and alter their solution.

Step 5: Build a Prototype

Now students are ready to design their solution. What software can your students use to create a final product? Going back to our original examples, Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel can be used for students to create a daily schedule. You can even teach them to use the calculation tools to help them determine elapsed time throughout the day.

In our science example, we used a combination of tools. TinkerCAD is used to create the prosthetic piece for the animal.  The 3D model is downloaded into the 3D printer, where it is printed as a real, working part.

Step 6: Test It

Now that the prototype is complete, student engineers must test it! A variety of methods can be used to test the final product: formative assessment, peer assessment, or self-assessment.  To test the elapsed time schedule, students may answer a few questions on a Google Form. You may also have students test each other’s prototypes. Whatever testing method is used, be sure to give students the opportunity to return to their work and figure out how to fix any mistakes.   

Step 7: Evaluate Your Solutions

The final step is to have students evaluate their solution.  This is a perfect opportunity to reflect and have them articulate what they did well and how they would do things differently in the future.

It may seem strange at first, but once you create your first STEM project, you will be surprised at how easy it is to transform your classroom into a STEM classroom!  Remember to download the free STEM Challenge lesson and use this template to guide and build your next STEM project.  

This is a guest blog by Rachel Schell. Rachel is the Technology Coordinator at Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative. She holds two master’s degrees and has more than 10 years of experience as an instructional designer and instructor. Her passion is to help every teacher become the hero in his or her classroom. Follow Rachel and the entire Arch Ford community on Twitter @ArchFordESC for insights, tips, and techniques on using technology and integrating STEM into the classroom.  Have questions? You can reach her by phone or email: rachel.schell@archford.org or 501-328-3565.

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Christmas tree surrounded by gifts that are written in this blog.
RoboticsSTEM/STEAM

Must-Have Maker and Robot Tech Gifts This Holiday

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

Are you pine-ing for some new, must-have makerspace gadgets? Or are you ready to spruce up your program with some awesome robots? Don’t HEMlock and HAW around; check out some fun ideas below that will delight any robotics or maker fan during the holidays. The ideas are divided by cost and there is something for everyone and every budget.

$

Canary Cutters are the best tool I have found for cutting cardboard. A serrated double-edge blade makes cutting straight and curved lines a breeze. The Canary Cutter has a rounded chisel tip and anti-slip handle. Buy a single cutter on Amazon for $6.39 or a set of three for $17.99.

For $6.50, you can buy a package of one hundred 10mm white, red, yellow, green, and blue LED diode lights. You can create wearables or have some fun with the Glow Circuit Assembly from Instructables and Tinkercad.

Make sure you check the dimensions of your projects before ordering. If you are looking for a shorter length LED, check out this deal of 500 LED diode lights for $8.88. The 500 5mm length set comes with one hundred each of red, orange, white, green, and blue lights.

$$

The Straws Builders Construction Building Toy is very popular at Bullard Intermediate School. This 800 set of straws, connectors, and clips is $34.99. The third and fourth graders like to build tall, so if your makerspace has building sets that require the higher the better, this is perfect for you. Consider a purchase of a lightweight step stool with grip rails. Try the Gorilla Ladder at Home Depot. The pricing for this ladder comes in at $34.98.

If you already have an OSMO, try their latest release, Detective Agency for $39. An OSMO works with a Kindle Fire and an iPad. The Detective Agency comes with eight maps, a map holder, and magnifying glass and will allow students to solve mysteries around the world.

Turing Tumble is a new type of game where players (ages 8 to adult) build mechanical computers powered by marbles to solve logic puzzles. Students will discover how computers work and help them start coding and designing algorithms.The $69.95 kit includes ramps, crossovers, bits, interceptors, gears, and gear bits to build marble-powered computers that can generate patterns, do logic, and count.

$$$

The MindWare KEVA planks was one of the first items suggested to me that is a staple when it comes to makerspaces. The Structures 400 piece set on Amazon is $89.95. If you have the money, I would buy two sets. I don’t think you can ever have too many KEVA planks.

Cubelets are the world’s first uniquely designed robot blocks. The individual blocks are robots that snap together with magnets. The Cubelets SIX include a Drive, Flashlight, Distance, Brightness, Passive, and Battery robot blocks for $129.95. Add on a brick adapter for LEGO bricks for $14.99. If the robot blocks are a big hit in your makerspace, you can certainly go for the Cubelets TWELVE for $279.95 for even more coding and design thinking.

LEGO Education has released an early technology and science train set geared for two to five year olds. The train set inspires early learners to explore sequencing, looping, and conditional coding with colored action planks. The planks are laid down inside the train tracks. Each colored plank corresponds to an action. Red is stop. Blue is a water sound. Yellow is music. White is a light. Green is for changing directions. Check out the $189.95 Coding Express train set at this website.

$$$$

The Monoprice Maker Select 3D Printer was only $230 at the time I wrote this blog. It has a heated build plate that measures 8 x 8 with a 7 inch vertical spacing. It is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. This is a great entry 3D printer for educators looking to get into 3D design. However, if you are looking for a 3D printer for your school’s makerspace, this one probably won’t handle high volume demand.

For an entry-level home or education setting, the FlashForge Finder 3D printer is a great low-cost printer at $399. The specs include 1.75 mm PLA for filament, a 5.5 X 5.5 X 5.5 slide-in build plate, and an enclosed design and contained heating components to ensure users of all ages are safe from the high temperatures. Ordering from MatterHackers, you will receive one PLA spool of filament,  free shipping, and great tech support.

$$$$$

If you find some extra money or a great donor, stock your makerspace with a Glowforge. A Glowforge is a 3D laser printer. It uses a laser cutter/engraver technology to shape wood, leather, fabric, and more. A Glowforge Basic runs $2,500 and a Glowforge Pro is only $6,000.

Final Tip

If you can’t find the forest from the trees, which is just a fun way of saying your makerspace is a bit disorderly, this final tip is tree-mendous. Most mavens of makerspaces highly suggest taking your maker equipment out of their original packaging and storing it in rugged containers. The time for great buys on storage is right after the holidays. Walmart, Target, and home improvement must-havestores always have a great selection.

CEEdar later and MAKE it a great holiday,

Peggy

Featured image designed by author.

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make thinking physical
Coding/Computer ScienceSTEM/STEAM

Make Thinking Physical: Coding Your Creations

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

At the recent Elementary Technology Conference, one of my Code Building with Minecraft: Education Edition session participants asked, “Have you heard of CoSpaces?” I confessed that I had not. “It’s a way to introduce students to 3D printing design using block coding,” she responded. Intrigued, I made a mental note to explore this fascinating way to introduce students to coding and 3D printing design. In this blog entry, we’ll explore two tools, including one just released, that empower you and/or your students to use visual programming (a.k.a. “block code”) to create a 3D print design for printing.

Rapid Prototyping

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, Design Thinking Learning, presenting students with problems can introduce them to block coding. What’s more, it can serve as a way to make a real-life connection. Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D printing are two more exciting ways to create rapid prototypes of solutions to human-centered problems.

“Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design data.” Wikipedia

Check out this image (3D Innovations) which highlights rapid prototyping in the K-12 Classroom:

Image Source: 3D Innovations

Learn more about design thinking. Read this short overview.

Tool #1: Prototyping in AR/VR Space

Are you ready to code creations that manifest themselves in augmented reality or virtual reality space? Check out CoSpaces; get an overview in this PDF document. Browser-based CoSpaces works online, so no special software is required. You are able to create in 3D, using block coding to add animations. Enroll in their free online course to learn how to create in CoSpaces.

Watch this quick video:

UQkB92VQSliyTDaU7r3S_CoSpaced%20Sample.mp4

Want to learn more about what’s possible with CoSpaces in the classroom? Read this TCEA blog entry.

Tool #2: TinkerCAD CodeBlocks

You may already know about TinkerCAD as an amazing way to introduce students to 3D print design. Students are able to design in 3D using a beginner tool before they move on to something like Photoshop, SketchUp Pro, etc. This means students can design and fine0tune their designs in digital space before they hit the “PRINT” button. 3D printing has long been a rapid prototyping tool. But what about creating 3D print design using visual programming code?

Released in June, 2018, TinkerCAD CodeBlocks describes itself as “a cool new way to build things in Tinkercad, using blocks of code to bring your imagination to life.”

 

Image Source: TinkerCAD CodeBlocks

Once students have created their code, they can export their creation as a 3D-printable file.

Isn’t that incredible? The interface, when you first jump into the beta CodeBlocker, looks like this:

codeblocker

You can do more than just export your code-based 3D printing designs. You can also share them with others using the handy SHARE button.

Make Thinking Physical: Coding Your Creations

Whether students are coding to create in virtual/augmented reality or design in 3D, they are making important connections. One connection sure to engage them is that students see how code translates into physical creations. The coding process makes thinking visible. The visible creation (e.g. 3D printed design) strengthens student understanding that what’s digital can be made physical. Or, to put it another way, thinking made physical.

 

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lego rocket orange fun brick
STEM/STEAM

Fantastic Nerdy Fun with LEGOs

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

 

Love legos? Check out our upcoming robotics training and workshops:
Intro to Lego EV3 Robotics
Mission Possible Summer Camp: Lego EV3 Robotics in the Classroom

Who doesn’t enjoy playing with LEGOs? There are more choices with LEGO today than when we were kids. There are also more choices as to making designs. If you don’t have an engineer or architect in the family, then consider using one of t

he following tools to convert 3D objects to ones made of LEGO bricks. For easy comparison purposes, we’ll use the same file, Cartoon Rocket by frankvb, with each tool so you can compare the quality and results.

Tinkercad

Tinkercad has to be one of the easiest CAD programs for kids. Students as young as kindergarten and first grade can start creating after learning just two or three simple skills. Plus, the new Brick feature makes it easy to convert your creations to LEGO designs. You have three resolution choices (1x, 2x, or 3x design size) with each increasing resolution making the final design larger. Though you’ll use the most LEGO bricks when using the 3x resolution, others will appreciate your work all the more. To “brickify” your object, just follow these steps:

  1. Load (or create) your 3D object in Tinkercad.
  2. Click on the brick icon in the top right menu area. Tinkercad will render your object. Larger and more complex objects may take a little longer to render.
  3. Select the preferred resolution (1x, 2x, or 3x).
  4. Click on the Layers button to review the design layer by layer. The indicator at the bottom of the design will indicate which layer you are viewing and how many total layers.

Tinkercad does not identify how many bricks you’ll  need, so you’ll have to make an educated guess. Review the online design and construct your piece, scrolling through each layer as you complete it.

Online Voxelizer

Dutch coder and designer Arjan Westerdiep has created Online Voxelizer to help you convert 3D objects to voxels; think of voxels as three-dimensional pixels. One advantage to using Online Voxelizer is that it will identify how many voxels (or 1 x 1 blocks) are used. Begin by opening a .obj or .stl file (remember, the larger the file size, the longer it may take to render/construct your object). Adjust the slider bar (from 1 to 128) to identify the resolution desired. A small slider bar below the resolution slider also allows you to adjust the transparency, which is helpful when identifying internal construction. At the highest resolution (128), the cartoon rocket object was 55 x 55 x 128 bricks and consisted of 18,358 voxels (151,735 voxels if the object was solid and not hollow). Click on the 2D icon to open the layer inspector which will slice the rendering for you; you’ll be able to scroll through each layer and refer to it during construction. There is not a way to download individual layers.

NOTE: I was not successful with Chrome or Firefox and Online Voxelizer. Microsoft Edge browser had no problems running the cloud-based application.

Brickr

Though you may feel like you are having to jump through a few hoops for your final product, Brickr does provide a nice conversion. To begin with, you’ll need an .obj file to upload. Since my original one was .stl, I went to meshconvert.com, uploaded the .stl file, and chose the Wavefront Object .obj format as the output. You are now ready to load your shape into Brickr. You will be prompted to specify the resolution; 30 appears to be the default, but was not acceptable to me. So I reloaded my shape and increased the resolution to 96. The resulting construction was decent. For a layer-by-layer map of how to assemble the bricks, click the “Save Instructions” button (bottom left of dashboard), give it a file name, and select whether you prefer the image layers as png, jpg, or svg format (I recommend png). It may make it easier, prior to saving instructions, to select Random as the brick color as this will help you distinguish different size bricks (and possible postpone getting cross-eyed in the process). You will now have one image for each layer; in my case, I ended up with 33 layers (instead of assembling from bottom-to-top, it sliced the construction from side-to-side.

Tinkercad
(3x resolution, 71 layers)
Tinkercad rendering

Online Voxelizer
(128 resolution, 128 layers)

Brickr
(96 resolution, 33 layers)

Recommendation for LEGOs

If you are wanting to convert a 3D object that the students will work together to construct, I recommend using Brickr. Once you render to brickified model, save the instructions as .png files and then print each of those files. Label each page with the layer (and possibly hole punch to keep in a binder for storing). Divvy out the pages to various groups of students and have them each construct their portion, which will combine with other groups’ work to create the final amazing LEGO construction.

Prior to beginning your project, you might have students measure a LEGO brick and then have them estimate how many bricks it will take to complete the rendering. After they get started, they will definitely want to modify their guess, which is good since that shows they are editing the calculations in their mind and becoming better at spacial reasoning.

Once you convert your object, share a screenshot of it with us. Better yet, share your final LEGO construction (along with how many bricks it took) with #TCEA and #brickify!

 

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3D printing
STEM/STEAM

Bright Ideas for 3D Printing

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

With the cost of 3D printers coming down and the quality going up, it’s no wonder that more and more folks are joining the 3D printing craze. Even if you are a novice at designing in SketchUp, Tinkercad, or Fusion 360, you can find tons of files already created and ready to be downloaded and printed. If you haven’t joined the 3D printing fun yet, then jump over and read our post Easy Answers to FAQs about 3D Printing to get started.

3D Printing Starter Ideas

For some easy and fun 3D printing, I have pulled together a variety of light switches that you can download and print. Even if you don’t want to modify the files, you will find that you, and others, will get a smile each time you use your light switch. Above is the light switch that I modified for our type of plate at work. I set mine so that the switch is to one side in case I wanted to do something fancy on the other side. After you print one out, you will start having new ideas of how you can tweak it. If you plan to print out anything that LEGOs can snap to, be sure to print out a test file first and check to make sure that the pieces can snap on without crowding each other. Though you can create it from scratch, you might find it easier to start with a LEGO baseplate and then cut out the area for your switch(es).

Here is a super simple wall plate for a light switch to start with. Even though it has ON and OFF lightly carved in it, you can  easily fill it in to make a solid plate on which you can add text, objects, etc. Even though this one doesn’t involve LEGOs, you will want to print the first one in draft or quick mode so you can verify that the screws and switch hole line up with yours. No need to spend several hours designing first only to find out later that they apparently have one that doesn’t meet the specs of yours.

If you are into gears, then SRex has designed the Geared Light Switch Plate. This one is for the three-switch plate. Instead of flipping the switch, you crank the appropriate handle to turn the gear that moves the other gear plate to flip the switch. The nice thing about the two outer gears is that there is ample room if you wanted to add text or designs to the inner portion. This is a great switch for a child’s room or the STEM lab.

If you are a science teacher or English teacher, you might be interested in the Frankenstein Light Switch Plate by LoboCNC. Science teachers might like the electricity reference, while English teachers may enjoy just another reference to classic fiction literature. If you don’t have brown filament to use for it, then you might consider painting it before you assemble and install it. LoboCNC gives you several files so you can accommodate single, double, and triple switch plates, as well as one with a paddle-style rocker plate.

Harry Potter fans will enjoy the Harry Potter Light Switch Cover by momofthreeboys. No need for a dual extruder; just use black filament and then carefully paint the letters and lightening bolt with silver. This plate also has three hooks at the bottom (not shown) for you to hang your keys on…or your dragon leash or magic wand. Though I have not printed this plate, it appears that you might want to make the base slightly thicker so the supporting rafts are not apparent or just make sure the plate is solid and does not contain a hollow core.

And no collection would be complete without a Tardis Light Switch by zerocool5878 for all the Dr. Who fans in your classroom or office. Of course you know you have to print some extras for the others to have in their rooms. With just a little searching, you can find all sorts of matching Tardis projects to print.

So which one will you print out first? I bet that if you put it in your classroom, your students will want one and your cool factor will go up a few digits! If so, let us know how it goes…and be sure to share a photo of your final project by emailing it to me at bellis@tcea.org or tweeting it out using the #TCEA and #makers hashtags.

 

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Three Steps to 3D Printing with Young Learners

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3D Printing Projets for Micro:Bit

Bringing Student 3D Creations and STEM to Life

Envision the Future: 3D Printing Apps

Happy 3D Valentine’s Day

Merry 3D Printing from TCEA!

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micro:bit
Coding/Computer ScienceSTEM/STEAM

3D Printing Projects for Micro:Bit

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to explore 3D printing projects for the incredible micro:bit mini-computer? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Learn about micro:bit 3D printed peripherals. Before we jump into 3D printing, let’s take a moment to revisit what a micro:bit is.

Meet Micro:bit

“The Micro Bit (under $24 to start) was designed to encourage children to get actively involved in writing software for computers and building new things, rather than being consumers of media,” says Sebastian Anthony. The process is simple. You could summarize it in this way:

  1. Create code
  2. Save code
  3. Get (a.k.a. download) code
  4. Copy code to the device

You can watch a getting started video series from SparkFun on the device. SparkFun has tons of activities, such as this weather:bit example. Since the micro:bit has been available since 2015, there are many exciting projects and video tutorials available already. The device features its own website, so if you get stuck, you can find assistance. Get the free Microsoft Micro:bit curriculum shared April, 2018.

Want to see a simple project idea? See this Rock-Paper-Scissors game via Matt Moore:

micro:bit

Ready to go bananas over micro:bit? Try this next. As you may have noticed, you will need to learn some coding. Wait, wait, don’t hyperventilate.

micro:bit

The web-based MakeCode editor open on a GNU/Linux computer. See? The editor is cross-platform.

Make Code, Create Magic

Micro:bit is a test kit for various types of coding. Although there are various code editors that work with micro:bit, an excellent choice is Microsoft’s MakeCode. Note that you can use MakeCode, a web-based code editor, on Chromebook and iPad (for iPads, you can use the Bluetooth connection to copy code to the device). MakeCode works in a variety of settings and relies on both block and text editors.  As I mentioned in my Codeate with Minecraft Coding Projects blog entry, MakeCode can be used to build and execute actions in a virtual world. The implications are awesome.

What your students learn in one environment (e.g. micro:bit) are transferable to the other (e.g. Minecraft). For teachers getting started with Minecraft and MakeCode, there’s a course (get the HTML version or OneNote Notebook) written for teachers new to computer science or those who have never taught it. Students learn about events, coordinates, variables, iteration, conditionals, functions, arrays, and more.

Join a BBC:Microbit Community? Are you a teacher and interested in connecting with a vibrant community? Join the BBC micro:bit Facebook group (Hint: The micro:bit has 25 programmable LED lights).

Make Games

“Dad, when I grow up, I want to be a game programmer,” said my son. If micro:bit had been around, the journey might not have ended in failure. From games like FlappyBird to LEGO to Traffic Lights, there are many opportunities for students to succeed (and fail) while making games. Won’t you consider introducing students to coding and making with MakeCode and micro:bit? There are many benefits and the research is just starting to come in.

micro:bit

Photo of Deepah Gandhi’s micro:bit emoji character. This was made at the Microsoft E2 Conference.

Micro:bit and Coding Research

Wondering why even do this? Check out this research from the BBC, which deployed one million devices in the United Kingdom at the seventh grade level:

  • 70% more girls said they would choose Computing as a school subject after using the micro:bit.
  • 90% of students said the micro:bit showed them that anyone can code.
  • 86% of students said the micro:bit made Computer Science more interesting.
  • 85% of teachers agree it has made ICT/Computer Science more enjoyable for their students.
  • Half of teachers who’ve used the micro:bit say they now feel more confident as a teacher, particularly those who say they’re not very confident in teaching Computing.

Creating with the micro:bit and coding editors is possible. You can combine it with other inexpensive technologies like 3D printing.

Micro:bit 3D Printed Peripherals

Now that you’ve had a chance to revisit all the awesomeness that is micro:bit, let’s take a quick look at 3D printed peripherals. Like a naked baby, in its raw form, the micro:bit can be a bit awkward to handle. Wouldn’t it be neat to 3D print a case for the micro:bit? Take a look at some examples below.

micro:bit

Curious about these MyMiniFactory creations? Get the STL file for 3D printing online

You can find these examples online at the MyMiniFactory. Per their website, “MyMiniFactory is a community platform for the sharing of 3D printable files and is the official 3D printing partner for the micro:bit.”

One of my favorite examples includes the egg timer for hard boiled eggs. Like the other examples, you get access to the STL file needed for 3D printing as well as the hex file needed for your micro:bit. Consider these instructions, abbreviated for space.

micro:bitStep 1 : Print your egg timer

Simply download the STL file of the timer on this page.

Step 2: Flash your micro:bit !

You can download the code by clicking on the link below or on the zip file on this page. Click on the button “Compile” to download the code on your computer. Then, drag and drop the file into the micro:bit icon on your computer section.

microbit.co.uk/lwphmuidyq

Isn’t that amazing? Not to be left behind, Thingiverse also features a micro:bit collection.

micro:bit

You can save and open these designs in child-friendly tools like Tinkercad, LeoCAD, or, for older students, AutoDesk’s Fusion 360 or SketchUp Pro (available free via TCEA to public schools). Other tools are available that rely on block coding (just like Scratch and MakeCode), such as BlocksCAD.

Get Started Now

What are you waiting for? The convergence of cheap mini-computers like the micro:bit, web-based code editors like MakeCode with free tutorials, and 3D printed peripherals make classroom learning engaging, educational, and exciting. Perhaps your classroom or school might be interested in creating a smaller version of the micro:bit display shown below?

Featured Image Source

Curious about the 3D printed micro:bit watch case? Learn more here.

Updated: Note that this blog was updated with new resources on 04/05/2018.

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Several colorful andy conversation hearts on a pink plate.
STEM/STEAM

Happy 3D Valentine’s Day!

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

I have finally been bitten by the 3D printing bug. I started out with printing names in 3D, and then moved on to printing all kinds of random items I found in the MOD-T Design Library. BUT, as always, I find myself wondering how does this fit into education? Anytime you learn a new skill, I look for projects that are started from the ground up (as much as possible), easy to design, and allows for a quick response time for students to get their hands on the finished project. You can take me out of the classroom, but I will always hunt for practical and purposeful activities for the elementary students. Which leads me to…

The Inspiration

My colleague, Jennifer Bergland, always has candy conversation hearts this time of year. I was sitting in her office a couple of weeks ago, and, of course, she brings out her stash of little pink boxes. Viola! Why not have a project where students can design their own 3D conversation hearts?

Tinkercad

I use Tinkercad as my software of choice to begin 3D printing. Tinkercad is a great place to start. You will need to create a free account. When you exceed the capacity of this software, I know high schools start to work with Fusion 360 or SketchUp Pro (available free from TCEA).

Four Failures

4 failures to produce a 3-D printed heart.

In my book, FAIL can mean the First Attempt in Learning. I happen to like this one better: Frequent Attempts in Learning. Take a look at the image to see my four fails when trying to 3D print a conversation heart.

Number 1 Fail: The heart was too small.

Number 2 Fail: The heart is still to small. The text would not adhere.

Number 3 Fail: Size was better. The text was still not clear. I needed to change the text.

Number 4 Fail: Increased the size. I used the single letters and scrapped the text tool.

The Steps

Below you will find the detailed steps to get you and your students started with their own hearts. I also recorded a short video (3:40)  on the process.

Step 1: Under Basic Shapes, choose the heart.

Width and length : 49 mm x 41 mm

Depth : 3 mm

Step 2: Under Text, choose your letters.

Tip: I would keep the number to just three to five characters.

Word Suggestions: Mom, Love, BFF, XOXO, Hugs, QT Pie, Smile

Step 3: Align your letters.

Step 4. Group the letters.

Step 5. Leave the default dimensions (width, length, and depth) for the letters.

Step 6. Move and center your word on top of the heart.

Step 7. The word and the heart will be on the same plane and you need to raise the word with the black teardrop tool 3 mm. Leave 1 mm “buried” in the heart.

Step 8. Group the shape and the words together.

Step 9. Save and download the .stl file to print.

The Skills Learned When Using Tinkercad

  • Transferring letters to your workplace
  • Alignment
  • Nudging
  • Adjusting the width, length, and depth
  • Grouping
  • Downloading the file

Happy 3D Printing Valentine’s Day

If you can’t squeeze this in for Valentine’s Day, perhaps a lucky coin with an inscription for St. Patrick’s Day or a special “coin” for Mother’s Day.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Please post your conversation hearts to Twitter with #TCEA and @preimers. I always look forward to seeing student creations.

For more ideas:

Digital Valentine’s Day Activities

Sharing Virtual Valentine’s Cards

Happy 3D Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day Digital Breakout 

Featured Image: Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

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