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Week 8

Assignments

  • [ ] Task 1: [Create the mold]
  • [ ] Task 2: [Cook biomaterial]

Process

  • Steps followed The task of creating a mold felt easier this time because it wasn’t the first time that I would be working with the 3D printer or the laser cutter. For the activity I noticed that the wood would be a difficult mold to take out the biomaterial so I decided to use a 3D printed mold of a brick that would form a little pathway on the floor. The floor tiles would have small things that represent each student so that all together can reach one final destination.

First I selected the type of tile I wanted my students to have. For this, I used the website thingverse which has different items already designed so we can just print them. Using the app crreality I made the file for the 3D printer.

Once that was created, it was time to learn a new WORD Biomaterial. I had never even heard about biomaterials so I felt a little bad about it. The course provided us with a lot of information and even recepies to create our own biomaterials. I thought it would be a good idea to learn from what other people have done so I started searching on YouTube for videos of people who have made biomaterials and how has it worked for them. It was very education and also entertaning to see all the things that can be created. Some videos even had examples of what would happen with other biomaterials combined and how long they would last. One channel that I found particularlly interesting was Giestas who is a high school teacher of art and design who creates things and makes experiments with biomaterials. I found it very interesting and it really got my curiosity and motivated me to try for myself.

  • Photos / screenshots of key stages
  • https://photos.app.goo.gl/yfMpLN2uB2npTeqPA
  • Challenges and solutions

Reflection

- Have you considered sustainable practices in your teaching in the pasts? How? What aspects do you think should be improved in your own teaching environment? I hadn’t really thought about sistainable practices in my teaching in a very formal way. I always thought of ways in which we could use recicled material for our small projects, or having things that can help our school. But during our classes I learned that, in Spain sustainability is a very important part of the lesson plan and it’s even included in it. I think that it would be a very important way of teaching it to our students. If we don’t plan for it it’s easier for it to slip out and not be taught. I think that’s the aspect that should be improved in my teaching, Not just me thinking about sustainability but thinking of ways to add it to my planning and teaching it to my students.

- How Digital Fabrication might support sustainable practices? When using Digital Fabrication what actions you can take to support sustainable practices. Digital Fabrication supports sustainable practices by having materials that are already in our lab to be used for a better purpose. If we don’t need to buy things and instead we just create them ourselves we are not only learning supporting sustainability, we are avoiding extra materail and waste. The polution of creating it in big factories, the shipping and delivery of the materials is avoided by Digital Fabrication.

- How could you integrate both culturally reflective learning and digital fabrication in your environment? Could you come up with some project ideas using digital fabrication in which cultural diversity of students is highlighted? I believe that integrating cilturally reflective learning and digital fabrication would be possible by using simple ideas like 3D printer. In order for students to create something that represents their culture firsts they would have to reflect in who they are and where their family comes from. After that, they could design a small symbol that represents them and their culture taking into account all the things they learned about themselves. I feel like this is one of those lessons in which your students could teach you more than you teach them.

Tools

  • Tools or software used https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=floor+tile+mold&page=1
  • References or tutorials followed
  • https://www.youtube.com/@giestas