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Module 2, week 1

This week, we worked on 3D design with a laser cutter. Since primary is in the middle of a plants unit, I thought it would be nice to create a flower puzzle. Using Inkscape, I designed my flower. The leaves and flower were found on an image search, but the rest was designed by me (as you can probably tell).

Transfering the file from Inkscape to whatever weird program our laser cutter uses was not easy. Multiple aspects changed when transfering the file, such as the leaves completely disappeared, and some lines were connected that were not supposed to be connected. The hardest thing we had to do was to make sure the flower’s middle part was not fully cut out, because it had one line connecting the entire outside and middle. This proved to be quite challenging to edit using the PCs program, but after some time we figured out how to cut the lines at certain places to seperate them. Printing the file went fine.

After printing, I tried to put the pieces together. Sadly, I was under the impression that the board was 3MM thick, so all the gaps I made were 3.1MM wide. This turned out to not be the case though, as the wood was actually 2MM. This made the puzzle impossible to stand up beyond the base pieces (soil).

If time allows, I’d love to try to print this again with 3MM board to see if the pieces would fit in properly and stand up correctly. I should also rearrange the bottom piece’s holes so that the two boards pieces that are poking out don’t push the other board away. But, I still think this can be a fun, and super challenging puzzle, for my students to put together. Perhaps we can glue it all when the students are bored. I’d also like the students to label each part and color it if possible.

Reflection Questions

  1. How your press-fit can be utilized in education? How other teachers could use it?

  2. What has been your experience using Project Based Learning / Problem based learning in the past? What were the main challenges? How DF can support Project Based Learning / Problem Based learning?

  3. When organizing DF activities with kids, What are the aspects that you think should be prepared beforehand? What aspects can be improvised?