To encourage the students' interactions through the school community, early in the year I approached our school resource teacher if the students could design and 3D print objects that could be useful for the school's special needs students. The problems were presented to the Grade 6 students to design and use the 3D printer for passion projects not only for solving problems, also for serving the community.
The following videos represent the process from iteration of prototyping to the end users.
The passion project for sequencing blocks.
The passion project for Math skills:
Video 1
Video 2
This link is A screencastify of Joshua explaining the changes on the numbers
Through this process of designing the students learned:
- To value each others ideas
- To rely on each other to problem solve
- To initiate and take matter themselves by coaching each other
- To iterate many prototypes through feedback of end user
- To take control in their own hands
- To 3D design by monitoring area, ratio, volume, dimensions, coordinates on the plane and determining their next steps
- To find solutions for the school community (more projects still to be completed)
- To impact others in their community through a process of solving complex problems and that designing is full of iteration
- To impact others by their innovations
- To use the instruments of ideas and technology for a passion
- To commit to a process of creating and orchestrating solutions in a large group task
- To get feedback and insight from the users on next steps
- To initiate innovation of intimacy of consuming time with users and unpacking what works and doesn't work
- To engineer and think together as a process of research that is lead by them, a shift that is usually lead by adults
- To accept diversity of thinking and abilities for designing
- To bring skills together from technology to multidisciplinary by building tensions of thinking
- To experience a process with many intensities for sharing ideas and challenges by getting great insights and solutions in a controlled chaos!
The students independently became equipped with a way of problem solving and continuous exploration with the passion of iteration for success. They mapped their own challenges!
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As educators how are we giving students experiences to connect and understand how to use their talent in serving their community?
