3rd Grade 3D Project

You need to see how 3rd graders and Kindergartners have worked together on our first real-world 3D printing project.  I'm kind of mad at myself for missing the first part, and not capturing all of their amazing conversations on video.

It all began last Friday...

Mr. Clemons' third graders met Mrs. Young's kindergartners in our outdoor classroom to discuss geometric shapes.  Working in teams, third graders interviewed a team of kindergartners about the geometric shape they were studying in class.  Kindergartners had to answer questions, like:  How many sides does it have?  How many angles does it have?  Will it roll?  Third graders had to take good notes and ask all the questions they needed to be confident that they could identify the shape and make a model of it.  

Today, third graders came to the library to learn how to use AutoDesk123D to draw the shape, change the dimensions, and rotate the viewing field so that they could show their "customers" how it looked from all points of view, including the bottom, top, and all sides.  They had their notes from the meeting last Friday, and could be heard explaining to each other and referring back to their notes about whether or not the design was correct.  

Then, we brought the kindergartners to the library to meet with the product designers.  They were so excited to see their shapes and give feedback - "Can you make it bigger?" and ask questions about what would happen next.  Third graders demonstrated their products to the kindergartners in exceptionally clear, confident language while answering all their questions and responding to their requests, when feasible because, um... "No, we can't make it as big as you!"

Shame on me for not getting better video footage.  Here's a small example of the amazing learning experience.  The girl talking in this video is also using the mouse to rotate the image.

We are in the middle of taking the ACT Aspire this week, and the fact that the test will never be able to measure the kind of learning and skills that are on display in our Kindergarten-3rd Grade 3D printing project makes me sad for all those people who think they can judge a school, a teacher, or a student based solely on those scores.