I’ve had my 3D printer for almost two years now and I still love it. While it is fun to find things to print on Thingiverse, this is really more like slow-motion toy shopping.
Yes, you can learn more about 3D printing when you print downloaded models but I get the most enjoyment from creating and modifying my own designs.
Below is an example:
Last October I fell and broke my wrist. To put everything back together, I had to have surgery so some screws and plates could be used to fix the break. That was the bad news.
The good news is that I got a CT scan of my wrist and the clinic gave me a DVD of all the data.
During my surgery recovery time I decided to see if I could find a way to 3D print my broken bone. After trying several options, I was able to convert my CT scan data into an STL file for 3D printing.
If you’d like to try this yourself, you will need to install some software to get started but all the instructions can be found here and in the video tutorial below.
Recently I spent an afternoon getting to know Carvey (from Inventables) with help from Brian Bartel.
You can watch our adventure below:
It’s easy to see Carvey stealing the show but the other hidden gem from Inventables is Easel. This is the software that helps you get your designs ready for carving.
Using CNC to carve a little turkey for #thanksgiving pic.twitter.com/n8WPaQ0bnr
— Dale Basler @dalebasler@mastodon.social (@Basler) November 23, 2016
Easel is web-based and free to use. You can create designs from scratch or import your own images. The software is intuitive and is worth checking out even if you don’t have a Carvey.
The whole experience was a refreshing change from 3D printing. I look forward to seeing what students can create with tools like these.
A few weeks ago I attend an EdCamp where the subject of 3D printing at the elementary level was discussed.
I’ve spent the last few years getting my feet wet in this area and here is what I had to share:
Hidden in the details of each Pokémon is a lesson starter on the metric system, estimation, volume, and density.
Watch the video below to learn more:
Download the worksheet and slides to get started.
Update:
Here are some new things people sent me after the post that can help us teach with
5 Ways to Use Pokemon Go & Google Tools https://t.co/kFEAcnvwwt
Shoutouts to @Braz74 & @MatthewFarber #gbl #games4ed pic.twitter.com/cvgNhAknTY— Jonathan Spike (@jonathanspike) July 29, 2016
Other Links:
Recently, I have been completely absorbed by a new topic: data sonification.
My obsession began after listening to an episode of the O’Reilly Hardware Podcast. In the episode, guest Cameron Turner explained how researchers are turning on microphones to collect and analyze sounds coming from things like air conditioner units and commuter trains.
Another example explains how we can take data and convert it into sound. Turner shares the scenario of a data center where the silent internet traffic data is converted into sound to create a system for alerts and monitoring.
If you do a little digging online, you will find all sorts of beautiful examples of data sonification. From the movement of fish to the colors used in famous paintings, data sonification is helping us find new ways to observe the world. In a recent episode of NPR’s Science Friday, you can hear how scientists are developing new ways to use this data analysis technique.
As a science teacher, I often helped students use visual tools, such as graphs and drawings, to understand the data they collected. The chance to add an audio component to help solidify student understanding interests me. I see data sonification as a way for students who are visually impaired to make new observations.
Intrigued by the idea of turning data into sound, I decided to create my own sonifications. I found a free program called Sonification Sandbox that does exactly what I needed.
In the video below, I demonstrate it in action.
I’ve seen some great models of topography at Thingiverse. Below is a model of the U.S. that I use in schools regularly.
I decided to make a model for my city- Appleton WI. I used Terrain2STL to get started. It is an easy to use website that lets you select an area on Google Maps and create an STL for download.
From here, I could have sent the file straight to the printer but there is a problem with my city- it’s SO flat.
To make my city’s model a bit more exciting, I needed to exaggerate the elevation so we could see more of the features around the river. To make the adjustments, I used Meshmixer from Autodesk. Meshmixer is an essential multitool for modifying 3D models.
First, I adjusted the scaling in the vertical so it was 20 times larger than the longitude and the latitude by using the Transform tool in Meshmixer.
This made the base of the model 20 times larger too. I used the Plane Cut tool in Meshmixer to trim down the base.
That’s it! I exported the file and sent it off to the printer. You can download your own copy.
Ask your students how much they paid to watch the Super Bowl on TV and you’ll probably get a whole lot of blank stares.
The Super Bowl provides us hours of sports entertainment and even has a short concert in the middle. All of this is free to anyone with a television and an antenna.
Of course, some of the adults watching understand that it’s not completely free. High stakes commercials are rolled out during the big game with the hopes that we keep brand names like Kia, Budweiser, Pepsi, Skittles, and Snickers in our minds for the rest of the year. Our entertainment world is fused with branding with the intent to make us all life-long customers.
Sometimes the branding in our entertainment gets out of hand. Some viewers cringe when product placement is jammed into their favorite story line. Others identify with their favorite character’s taste in products and begin to notice those brands in the real world. Mission accomplished for the advertisers.
TV news reporting is where things get even trickier. Journalism is supposed to inform us with unbiased facts about our world. However, we begin to question the integrity of the journalism when we sense that the reporting may have been influence by a brand.
The advertising that enters our homes can be a challenge for parents but we can turn off the TV. When advertising enters the classroom our options become murky.
Children spend a large amount of their childhood in school. Brands are unavoidable when they are promoted by teachers for the next school fundraiser or flashing in the margins of the latest digital tool that they have been assigned to use. Things get downright despicable when the lessons present students with a commercial to watch before they work through the next level of a so-called online learning game.
To often, commercialism in the classroom comes down to one word: free.
Teachers, already strapped for time, take a glancing look at a free online service and push it out to students. They may even tell students to create an account with the service while overlooking the fact that the service isn’t free at all. The students are the product. The service is free because, through branding, it is helping advertisers convert our students into customers for life. The students’ information and page views are providing the funds that keeps the free service free.
These are dangerous waters for schools to be in. When a service trades even a little bit of school time to promote branding, we should question the educational integrity of that service. When a child’s learning is laced with messages of consumerism that promote the idea that happiness is reached through consumption, we should question how these messages affect the child’s well-being.
Education isn’t entertainment. Unlike the Super Bowl, students cannot leave the room for the commercials. Parents aren’t there to hit the off switch. It’s up to teachers to make sure students are on the right channel.
The concept of 3D modeling can be a challenge for young students. They may have little to no experience with the idea of 3D. To change this, teachers can build upon the prior knowledge students already possess.
However, almost all of our students have experience with crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Creations done with these tools are done in two dimensions. Starting with a drawing is an excellent place to introduce the term dimension and the directions labeled X and Y.
The next step is to give students an experience with computer aided drawing (CAD). I like to use Google Drawings because it is free to use, easy to learn, offers a vast variety of fonts, and is already available to many schools as a part of Google Apps for Education.
Before diving into a tool like Google Drawing, I feel it is important to have a discussion with students about how the features in computer aided drawing (CAD) programs can help the creative process. For example, last year I worked with fourth graders that were creating a variety of U.S. maps. We encouraged the students to experiment with different styles and colors. The students learned that trying out different ideas in a digital drawing was much easier since it didn’t mean that that they had to start over.
To move to the third dimension, students need to move their 2D drawings into a 3D modeling tool. For 3D design, I like to use Tinkercad. It also is free and easy to use. Works created in Google Drawings can be saved as a .svg file that can be imported into Tinkercad. Once in Tinkercad, designs can be stretched in the third dimension- the Z direction. Below is a video demonstration of this process.
Fewer students feel overwhelmed when they enter gradually into the world of 3D designing and modeling. By providing students a way to transition from drawings on paper to Google Drawings to Tinkercad, they develop a foundation that often strengthens their confidence to attempt more complex designs.
UPDATE 3/24/18: Get New Sign in Screens – Google has updated the Chromebook sign in screens with a new look. The style used in the old screens are still used for signing in to the Chrome browser, so I made a few adjustments to them so they can be used to create custom Chrome sign in documents. I have created new Chromebook sign in screens and you can find them here.
I can never get good pictures of the Chromebook sign in screens so I decided to recreate them.
The screens are:
They were all created in Google Drawings so you can edit the text to display your school’s domain.
See them all here.
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