Week 2

Assignments

1. Design and cut a sticker (or heat transfer) for your classroom/context that reflects your understanding of the maker mindset /maker movement in education.
2. Document in your Learning Diary a description of the process and at least 2 photos. (We prefer to see you in a photo as well!)
3. Copy and paste Student Agreement text in your Student Agrermment page inside about section of your website.
4. Answer the following reflection questions:
   • Based on this week experience, What are some opportunties to integrate this technology in the classroom? How do you think it could support your teaching?
   • Shortly describe an educational activity in which you could use a vinyl cutter. Explain how would you implement each one of the steps of the design process model explained in the Master Class. Do not forget to discuss about learning objectives.
   • In which part of the digital fabrication continuum (DF for kids to DF by kids) would you feel more comfortable? Why?

Process

I had a fair bit of prior experience using the vinyl cutter, so the biggest challenge was coming up with what kind of sticker would be useful for my classroom. My grade 9 class is currently working on a unit for the musculoskeletal system, so I decided to make a sticker design that is a cross-sectional view of a human femur.

I traced the shape of a femur in Illustrator using shapes manipulated with the Pen and Direct Select tools. I created separate layers for marrow and cartilage, and then I set to creating a trabecular pattern inside of the ‘spongy’ layer of internal bone. This was a process which involved creating a circle, then adjusting point position, scale, and rotation to make a pseudorandom pattern. After creating a texture sample I liked, I cloned the sample, making small adjustments to the pattern so as to appear natural and not repetitive.

At a vinyl station in the LCC Fab Lab, I booted up Silhouette Studio (which was broken on this particular computer; I chose to reinstall rather than moving to another station) and loaded in the sticker layers individually, as each layer would be cut from a separate colour of vinyl.

The first attempt to cut the bone failed, so I adjusted the settings to apply more force and slightly increase the blade depth. This resulted in a much more successful second attempt, though a small amount of wasted vinyl, as the slight indentation caused by the first cut would have interfered with a second attempt.

After cutting all three pieces of vinyl, it was time for assembly of the sticker. As this was a first test, I didn’t have any particular place to put it… but it had turned out nicely, so I opted to put it on my computer. Most of the assembly was straightforward, however the trabeculae required a few steps to remove. Some stuck to lower layers when the sticker was removed and could thus be disposed of easily, while others held on and required a pick.

Finally, the sticker was completed.

Reflection

1. I’m not sure about this one. I’ll have to reflect further in the future to come up with some ideas.
2. Each student could be assigned a bone in the body to sketch, then we could put the stickers together to form a complete skeleton.
3. I feel much more comfortable on the “by kids” side of the spectrum. I love coaching students in the use of DF and encouraging them to expand on their ideas and to reflect on what they learn through the process, but I’m not really an idea person myself.

Tools

• Adobe Illustrator
• Silhouette Studio
• Silhouette Cameo 4 digital electronic cutter