TECH TOOL BOX
3D PRINTING!
3D printing is a motivational tool for students. When they bring something they've worked on to life and hold it, it gives them a reason to keep learning!
3d Printing ideas for the middle school classroom:
- Projects on VOLUME
- Geography: Make a 3D map of an area. Great for showing mountains, valleys and other topgraphy.
- Catapults
- Fractions and concept of area
- 3d representations of equations to visualize and conceptualize math problems
- Paper airplanes and a passenger where students will need to consider weight, aerodynamics and balance.
- Rock formations: The student’s models could show the differences between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks or the processes that form them.
- Challenge students to solve geometric problems for example: "Come up with a definition of congruence using transformations of plane shapes."
Character Design: Before students begin writing a narrative, challenge them to design a new character. They can then use their design as the basis for writing a great story. The design process helps them get to know their character and collect some great information to bring their story to life.
Choose your own Adventure: Stop before the end of a story you are reading to students. Challenge them to show what they think will happen next.
Direct Me: Use the design environment for students to practice their oral language skills of giving and following directions. One student gives an instruction which the other student needs to add to the design. The students then swap roles. They have to rely on verbal information and are not allowed to look at the design the other person is creating. Great for ESL and Foreign Language Students!
Settings: Ask students to consider various settings from books and stories they have read. How does the author describe places and environments so that the reader can imagine they are there? Create the settings the author describes.
Plot twists: Ask students to identify problems in stories and texts and to create solutions to the problems in 3D.
Describe me: Ask students to write a description of a character. Swap character descriptions and ask another student to create a 3D design of the character based on the description.
Poetic response: After reading poetry out loud to students, have them create a 3D design that demonstrates and responds to the feelings and thoughts evoked by the poem.
AS ALWAYS, I WOULD LOVE TO SUPPORT YOU AS YOU IMPLEMENT DIGITAL LEARNING IN YOUR CLASSROOM!
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