2. Digital fabrication in education¶
This week we worked with making stickers using the vinyl cutter. It was a difficult process but eventually we were able to get it to work. At first, I experimented with different programs to try to figure out how to design a simple logo. At first I used Shapr3D and was able to create our schools logo. The S was surprisingly difficult to cut/measure at the right places!
After making it in Shapr3D, I was recommended to try Tinkercad. I tried making it there as well, but it actually was even more difficult to make the S.
Then, I took these designs to the vinyl cutter to find out that neither of these are the correct filetypes for our Chinese brand vinyl cutter. After an hour of frustration, I gave up and we used the one PC (we all have Mac) that can actually use the correct program for the vinyl cutter. We then tested to see if it would actually worked by typing ISA into the file and printing it. Great sucess!
Since there was only one computer that had the correct program to design anything to be printed, that was all we could do without borrowing someone elses computer all day long.
Reflection¶
In my STEM class here at ISA Liwan primary, I always tell the students that the most important thing from our class is to learn how to be creative and innovative. I want students to feel empowered to make things of their own and not worry about making mistakes. This process is a great way to start learning about making things using technology. If the students are seeing me being a maker and being creative, putting hand made stickers on their notebooks or in the classroom, they will become inspired in their own work as well. In the future, I have some ideas to use this vinyl cutter to create more stickers related to their future learning outcomes. For example, we will be allowing certain plots of land to be used by each class to grow different plants. I hope I can use the laser cutter to create a wooden board and the vinyl cutter to create a sticker that reflects the name of each class. This project inspires me because it’s really the first thing I’ve been able to hold that uses digital fabrication to make. I’ve made lots of photos, designs, scenes using ScrachJr, etc using programs like Photoshop or Canva, but I’ve never made something by myself from start to finish, and then printed it. This opens a new world to me where instead of going to Taobao to buy something, we can make it. It’s even better because it can be customized to what we need. Another example of an educational activity in which we could use a vinyl cutter is to supplement the students learning on what plants need to grow. This can be different based on what grade is learning different things. For example, we can have stickers that reflect the amount of sun a plant needs. So, we can print out 4 different stickers, each sticker showing an amount of sun needed (quarter sun, half sun, etc.) We can also have similar stickers showing how much water the plants need (full cup, 3/4ths a cup, etc.) These stickers could be small and placed on a large popsical stick with the name of the plant and the student growing the plant to help them remember how much to water. This supports the learning outcome of that each student understands what plants need to grow. As of now, I am not very comfortable in any part of the DF continuum. If I had to pick one, I think I am most comfortable with DF for students. I have a few ideas of things that I could make that would enhance their classroom learning, but I am not sure yet how I can teach students how to do their own digital fabrication. There are a lot of basic computer skills our primary students need to learn first before they can try to create their own digital images, stickers, or laser cut materials. Since this is just the first year our students have been allowed into the Fab Lab, we need to teach them safety and standards first, followed by some basic skills, and then they can start to make more things. We will get there one day!