4. Field Activity 02

Please click here to find my field activity!

https://www.scopesdf.org/scopesdf_lesson/winter-3d-snowman/

Reflection questions

1. Student Engagement: How did your students respond to the use of digital fabrication technology? Did it increase their engagement or motivation? Why or why not?

A: Students loved using digital fabrication technology. To be fair, anytime they can use their iPad, they will be very happy. Most of them responded very well to Tinkercad. At first, some grades only wanted to continue using ScratchJr to make things, and they said 3D design was too difficult, but soon they embraced the challenge. What really helped increase their engagement was telling them that we will be printing their snowmen. In reality, we did not have time to print every students snowman, but we picked the best one, edited it a bit so that it could be printed, then printed that one.

1. Student Learning Outcomes: How effectively did the digital fabrication component help students achieve the learning objectives? Were there any unexpected learning outcomes?

A: In this situation, the learning outcome was to learn how to use Tinkercad. Making a snowman was just related to the season that we were in, and about how we were going to give them the snowman as they entered their winter holiday. So, I would say that the digitial fabrication component was the learning objective. What really makes this lesson important is that the students learned how to use Tinkercad and paves the way for them to use it in future units. For example, if they need to make some sort of pyramid to learn about Egypt, they can make one. If they want to build a model of a brain for learning about the nervous system, they can. If there was any unexpected learning outcome, it is for them to treat their iPad responsibily as there are things they enjoy doing on it, and if it breaks, they cannot use it and therefor not have fun learning.

1. Instructional Challenges: What challenges did you face while teaching this lesson, and how did you address them? Were there any specific points where students struggled with the technology or content?

A: While teaching this lesson, the initial phase of getting students into 3D design and away from 2D design was a challenge for some. Many students thought 3D design was too difficult, and to be honest, with an iPad instead of a mouse, it is a challenge. But, we taught the lessons very slow. The first lesson was basically just showing students how to make the different shapes, chansing their sizes, and moving them up and down on the 3D plane. When students got comfortable with that, we learned how to control the different views, how to pitch the camera, and how to use the other tools that Tinkercad has to offer. Once I learned how to use the software, I was able to break it down into steps that allowed the students to learn things slowly which built up their confidence.

1. Teacher Growth: How has this experience changed your perspective on incorporating technology like digital fabrication into your teaching? What skills or strategies have you developed as a result?

A: A major factor of incorporating technology into teaching is just being aware of what technology there is in the present time. So many amazing programs and hardware things are being made specifically for kids to learn, but most of these things are undiscovered. In my previous course about STEAM learning, one of the first things we had to do was sign up for Twitter (X) and follow 5 different STEAM learning accounts to see what is being made that we could possibly use in our classrooms. I did not know Tinkercad was a thing until this year, and while I had previously heard of it, I had always thought it was the same thing Tynker, which is not at all what it is. The skills of making something that can be 3D printed are awesome, and can change lives, and that is an amazing skill to have and to be able to teach students the basics of.