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Week 3

Assignments

  • [ ] Laser cut classroom resource

Process

  • Created and set up butterfly body and wings PDF files for laser cutting.
  • Using Retina Engrave 3, set up the right Power, Speed and Current settings for cutting bodies in cardboard and wings in vellum.
  • Cut many copies of each file to create a light up butterfly kit.
  • Added lilypad coin cell holders and lights to kit.
  • Created example assembled object.

Reflection

Think on one or two educational activities in which you could integrate the laser cutter at some stage of the activity. Explain briefly the activity. Do not forget to clearly indicate the learning objectives. Creating a map of a state, country or continent. Not only it would help with the learning of geographical locations, but the hands-on way of handling it also adds a dimension of understanding the context and intricacies of how geographical delimitations happen. Reflect on your own practice. When you prepare a lesson activity what are the things that you take into consideration? What are the critical aspects? What additional aspects do you need to take into consideration if you utilize digital fabrication processes? Since I work on a FabLab, the first thing I consider is how a topic can include our digital fabrication tools to be used for both students and teachers, and how this ends up on a fabrication project the students can take home or use in their portfolio. Second to that would be how engaging the activity is, to keep the students concentrated in the material. It is also important to take into account the skill and maturity level of the students, to know how they would engage with the different fabrication tools during the process. Reflect on your past educational activities. How have you considered Socio-Emotional learning (or soft-skills) when preparing the activities? Could you provide some concrete examples? How have you changed your perspective on socio-emotional learning / soft-skill / horizontal competences after this lecture. Self-management and responsible decision making are the basis of what we do. We want our students to be able to learn the tools and then direct themselves in their fabrication processes with us as guides. Lately, this has been a challenge since we’ve found a lack of motivation, respect for the tools and basic skills according to age that are required to be able to work in this way. We have been navigating how to better address this. By working with the Design Thinking method, we also have implemented Social Awareness in a sense into our programs. Understanding these and the other SEL soft-skills by name gives a lot more clarity in how to approach each of them with our students.

Tools

  • Photopea
  • Retina Engrave 3
  • FSL PS48 & PS36 Laser Cutters