A collaborative activity in our STEM environment coupled Technology, Art and Engineering to design, create and launch....Rockets! We began the design process by using a 3D, or CAD program, TinkerCAD, offered through AutoDesk (https://www.tinkercad.com/). This was the first experience designing in this type of program for our K-5 Students and TinkerCAD was perfect for the task. It was easy to drag shapes to the platform and make changes to size, depth, height and color. Students were encouraged to perfect their designs, as the best in their teams would be selected for modeling in Art, using a large assortment of materials. The Rockets were then launched in a whole-School Engineering event. And it all started with a digital sphere, cylinder, pyramids and a few wedges!
Since I initially blogged this, it wasn't necessary to have an account. But since then, changes to the program have taken place. Accounts are free, but require an adult approval before the Student can get on and get working. I still believe it's worth it for this type of design and 3D experience. A word of caution: just be prepared to jump through some frustrating hoops. Realistically, I recommend this for 2nd through 5th Grade Students.
Other ideas for TinkerCAD:
* Design houses
* Design communities.
* A study of shapes, size, height, width, color
* Math - digital tangrams
Happy Tinkering!
Elana Moore
