Not just a 3D printed object

Good evening,

There was a post on the digital technologies group this week;

Has anyone got a Level 2 assessment that could include 3D printing? It doesn't need to be DT standard. Could be Generic or other.

as well as

I have access to a small 3D printer for the first time this year. I would love some ideas for my Year 10 class on items they could make in SketchUp and 3D print. So far they have printed their name and a little person which I found the idea for on www.thingiverse.com. I would like to utilise the printer more and would love to know what others are doing. Any ideas, advice? Thanks

It is great to see teachers starting to embrace new technologies in their classroom. This started a conversation at school around how do we use 3D printers, is it an outcome that people just want to develop? or should we be looking at the innovation, engagement with learners, inspiring students to look at social good?

I have a students in my WALLE module, LEGO EV3 robotics where students are developing concepts of understanding of automated systems. This students loves to have something tactile with him, it is a way of him being able to concentrate better in class.

Another student has tactile putty with him and is developing his own spinners. Both of these students have some form of learning difficulty.

 

 
We have talked about fitgit cubes and other outcomes throughout the year, but when these emails came through, I started to think, not only of our students who are in our classrooms, but other students as well.

How could Technology Achievement Standards work to help students develop an understanding of their fellow students, but also assist to help better learning outcomes.

Through our Innovate Learning Environment I was able to go have a conversation with them about the idea. It just so happened that most of the gear on the desk was yo yo's fidget spinners, tactile putty, it helped the conversation start. What amazed me was that the class went quiet while the students spoke, the teachers, teacher aides and other students all started listening to what was being talked about and said. Some teachers also talked about how they have had to adapt to change as normally they would have banned these items from class. However through the conversation that we were having, it highlighted how its helped them to concentrate. How it was different from the pen clicking and the finger strumming.

Some of my thoughts that have lead me to this idea.
The ideas come from my students around concentration, entertainment, keeping focus, tactile, simple rather than complicated, Quiet (imagine clicking the pen, or tapping fingers)

The ideas come from the fidget widget, yo yo's, tactile putty, spinners. This is not around a distraction, but as a way to help them maintain focus within the classroom.

Stakeholders can be the ADHD kids in class or school.

Looking at the prototyping assessment for Technology Level 2 - Prototyping, allows for this type of development to happen. It could be used at other NCEA Levels as well.

Developing a Resource called the fidget widget.This assessment activity requires you to make and trial a prototype from a teacher-approved brief. The prototype is to develop a design outcome that helps students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or Poor Gross Motor Control (Weak muscles, struggle to do activity for a long period of time).

Upon completing this activity, you will submit:

• your prototype
• evidence of how you selected suitable materials, components, tools, and equipment
• evidence of how you used the results of ongoing testing and stakeholder feedback to make and refine your prototype
• evidence of trialling your garment to justify its fitness for purpose, including an explanation of any decisions you made to accept and/or modify your prototype.

Developing an idea for a need or opportunity is what Technology is about. The Technology essence statement:

Technology is intervention by design: the use of practical and intellectual resources to develop products and systems (technological outcomes) that expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities. Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of technological practice. Quality outcomes result from thinking and practices that are informed, critical, and creative.

Technology makes enterprising use of its own particular knowledge and skills, together with those of other disciplines. Graphics and other forms of visual representation offer important tools for exploration and communication.

Technology is never static. It is influenced by and in turn impacts on the cultural, ethical, environmental, political, and economic conditions of the day.

When you read the statement and think about what the idea is about, students can see opportunities and start to think of the ideas, rather than just develop a 3D printed outcome.

I attach the following Technology_Level_2_Prototyping Achievement Standard Assessment, it would have to be modified to work within your school, but I hope it would provide an idea of the potential for students.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7XxvF_5OWc_Y0gwbHNOclBVaGdhZHdSeTlNZ3JIWHdiQ1Vv

Lower levels

Since we are looking at technological products from the curriculum have developed a focus around transformation and manipulation of plastics. First we are looking at the different filaments that can be used, how they are made and the lifecycle of them.

This then leads to an activity that is being developed by the Print Lab, Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/weareprintlab/
In this lesson plan, students will design and 3D print a 1:50000 scale model of Mount Everest and its surroundings. Each student will be assigned a contour map to analyse before designing it in 3D and preparing it for 3D printing. 16 tiles will be created that assemble to form the 3D contour model.

This leads to a social good project around community and infrastructure, similar to getting students interested in their community project that happened in Christchurch a number of years ago that led to the the Margaret Mahy Playground being formulated and constructed. What is it that students see as needed in their community. This is getting students to look at what is required as part of a community, where it should be placed. This is getting students to create concepts, prototype and refine their designs that they will develop their classroom community for as each student will be required to develop a different part or function.

Another idea is to look at individual towns/cities of New Zealand and find the symbol that they are famous for, develop a map of New Zealand and use the 3D Printed symbols to help students identify the town/city.

Hope this gives you some different ideas.

Beginning

Tomorrow, I start my third school as a teaching staff member. Ever since the day in the classroom I have been wondering how will I work in this environment? How will we work together to create learning with students? What will the learning look like?

It was rather interesting when I received the email about the induction at school. It was over three days. Normally induction in schools for new teachers have felt like lets cram as much information in a day as possible. What is the vision of the school, the staff handbook, get given your equipment and then you are have a teacher only day.

This was not the case at HPSS.

Induction - Day One
Vision and Values

Being a Learning Coach

Restorative Practice

Induction - Day Two
Being a Module Teacher

Assessment and Reporting Processes

Intro to Big Projects

Induction - Day Three
Being a Project Facilitator

Blended Learning Tools - Moodle/Google

Throughout these days I have had the questions I went in answered, but also importantly, I have raised more questions as well. This is different, this is a good type of different. I can now see that these days have been pivotal in developing the growth mindset needed.

Which was interesting, as I sat on Thursday night in a Twitter #edchatnz session, which looked at: Let's talk about growth mindsets. 

Teacher Only Day
Having the vision set out and looking at what a Growth Mindset is and how we need to be developing this as teachers as well as with our learners. Looking at Warm, Demanding and Balance and what it means for us as a staff. It seems that our principal looks at this as part of his survey of how he is going.

The teacher only day allowed us to get to know each other on staff, a great way was the one minute intro, in which we had to develop a slide to go into the presentation. To see staff interests, highlights of life and aspects about them that would take normally half a year to know. 

Looking at the teaching, I have a Specialist Learning Module, or a SLM in school language that I am working on with an English teacher. This has been on mind as soon as we received the piece of paper during our induction. How am I going to Digital Technologies with a Technology focus with an English teacher. I have been racking my brain for days, thinking about websites, print media, sound and video First thought was movie trailers on what they were creating. However we have to look at how to include Characteristics of Technology with a theme of Culture and Diversity. It wasn't until I sat down with one of the new teachers and we started talking about static images, though it now visual images in English that I got thinking about Comic Books, what is students could create a comic book page showing the theme as part of their english work. With this, we have an idea. Now to name the unit. I look forward to these as we develop our ideas and thinking throughout the year.

I have been thinking about a number of things throughout the induction, but there in lies a problem... I am the new guy. In reidteacher's blog he talks about the same issue. Being a new person, how do you suggest new ideas, new thinking. It is human nature to sit back and see what is happening and be a little bit more comfortable before offering new ideas.

What is one of those ideas, it is seeing where a students technological literacy lies... I know schools look at e-asTTLE tests, and IKAN tests for mathematics. However, where does a students technological literacy lie. This is somethig that me and another teacher have been looking at for a while. Skills are not enough for what is required for scholarship and higher level. We need students who can look and understand Technological Practice, Technological Knowledge and Nature of Technology.

I look forward to the challenges that start tomorrow, I think the first one could be how to do a film challenge in the rain around the community. Bring a Jacket!