Metric Problems!

I encountered this problem quite heavily in teaching the adult course, but designs made in inches would automatically register in Makerware as millimeters. The problem this year is that designs in Sketchup that students make in inches need to be resized in Makerware. 
It presents a huge problem for pieces that need to be glued together. So I am going to have to actively show students that all designs must be laid out on paper with dimensions in metric form.

T-shirt designs

The t-shirt design competition was a success. The lesson started off with students learning about branding, logos, and name selection. The lesson started off with defining branding, talking about the importance of commercial art in today's economy, and looking at corporate logos and their hidden meanings, Hidden Meaning Logos. I selected three group leaders based on three students who worked hard on the art competition.

There were three parts to the assignment.

1. Create a company name.
2. Create a logo design and draw it on paper first.
3. Draw both on a t-shirt.

There were three groups participating in the mini-challenge of the week. Each group chose company names and designs based on different criteria.  One group chose 4ADiamond, because they all were in fourth grade, had names that start with an A, and wanted to graphically represent something with four sides. Another group picked the name Checkmate, and used a check and a chesspiece in their logo. The third group wanted to create a name that would represent technology, data, and computers. So they chose "tecuter.  " Their design was a puppy holding a laptop, because of the word "cuter." So they brainstormed animals that were cute and decided on a puppy.

Two out of the three group leaders were shy girls, which gave them authority and the opportunity to come out of their shell. The third group, 4ADiamond, had three boys who knew each other on the same grade, so they didn't have the same issues with socialization and gender disparity. The girls who were the leaders of the other two groups had to be told that they were the decision makers.  This gave them some self-confidence and responsibility that they hadn't really experienced in school. 

After they made their t-shirts, the teams were eager to create their designs on Sketchup. Team Checkmate made a design by using the push/pull tool. Team 4ADiamond used text on a rhombus using the text tool and the polygon tool. Team Tecuter designed four different parts, to be glued together: the puppy head, laptop, arms, and legs.

Pictures to follow when they present next week!

3D Printing Year 2

My co-teacher and I began the second year of teaching 3D printing for students. There are marked changes in the group this year.  I don't think the students knew exactly what to expect last year, but this years group are more excited because of last year.  Also, teaching after school on a Wednesday seems to be better than teaching on a Saturday because students are still in the learning zone.


This year, we have put more effort into group learning projects.  The students like working together and were enthusiastic about the projects. We did one project where students had to build a load-bearing standalone structure out of tape and Q-tips.  Students did another project where students had to use buttons to fill a shape on a paper.  Different buttons were given monetary values, and students could not exceed $100 worth of buttons to create their figures.

We did an individual project where students had to draw a picture from an object on sight, but many of the students didn't put as much effort into it.  That was quite disappointing, because some of the students who I know to be good artists showed very little on the page. Part of the competition is design, so I think we will have to revisit the idea that commercial art has value.  Perhaps a t-shirt designing competition is in order.