Go Build Something

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[Best practice]

The workshop is designed for classroom educators to acquire insights on fabrication design and to give hands-on experiences with 3D printing that together can form the basis for a didactic redesign. The focus is on the learner, who through a playful and experimental approach creates knowledge and concrete products.

Place: Session A – 11:00 at INCUBA 129.

Introduction and Background
I
n many schools, students experience learning environments where they spend a lot of time listening to the teacher’s presentations and instructions, on writing texts and preparing for the next test. At certain times during the year pupils experience a break in structures, e.g. when there are project weeks, theme weeks, or the like. It is often here that the students are given the opportunity to turn ideas into actions and concrete products.

Many teachers are therefore eager to shorten the distance between talking and doing. A good idea is only useful if it is translated into something concrete and other people relate to it. It is therefore important that the school can provide learning environments and fabrication designs that promote this approach.

Already Dewey (1903) emphasized how important it is that children make their own experience based on their actions and by trial and error. This makes failing an important part of learning. Our experience is that children are motivated for learning by solving problems based on real-life situations and by creating and providing concrete solutions.

About the Workshop
The workshop is designed for school teachers and educators, designers and practitioners who work with children attending the 4th to 9th grade. Max. 10 – 12 participants. The workshop has an academic focus on mathematics and technology understanding and will cover partly an brush up on fabrication design processes and structured design methods and partly give hands on experience with 3D printing using the software TinkerCad and Minecraft.

The workshop will focus on fabrication design processes that approach the maker process by trying to answer the question: why you should talk less and do more. Steps on the way are a) starting small by making a first prototype, a sketch or something else b) failing fast, because failing is a part of the process, it’s an experiment c) ask for help. Because you don’t know everything yourself.

A approx. 30 minutes reflection will be a part of the workshop to discuss how to “do more” and “talk less”.

Materials:
TinkerCad, Minecraft and 3D print on Makerbot2

Outcome:
This workshop is designed for classroom educators to acquire concrete tools for teaching students to become engineering designers

Learning outcome:

  • Try out different kinds of design processes, both intuitive and problem-solving
  • Perform simple sketches to use for your workflow
  • Pitch ideas and present products

About the Workshop Facilitator
Peter Kessel is part of an ICT taskforce in the municipality of Aarhus. The taskforce is one of a number of measures in Aarhus that are taken to ensure the optimization of teachers skills and competences. It includes work-based learning and involvement of resource persons for new inspiration.

In 2013/14, teachers with skills in Danish, English, Mathematics and Music / Art have been part of the taskforce. The aim is that through cooperation, sharing knowledge and inspiration from the outside – including from researchers and developers – the municipality of Aarhus will create a innovative and strong resource team to support schools in the pedagogical and didactic use of ICT.

Peter Kessel is a also a teacher at Risskov skole. He teaches 4th – 6th graders. He has various experience with fabrication design, both on a school-level as a practionar close to the children and on a municipal level by sharing knowledge and networking across schools in Aarhus. Besides that he works with games in education and is at the moment focusing on the potentials in Minecraft EDU.