Saturday, February 25, 2017

Design Process & 3D Printing & Tinkercad....Oh My!

It. Is Hard!

And I have to teach this stuff!!

Playing around in Tinkercad, working on designing my first item for the 3D printer.... Playing is serious business!

The same can be said about swirling around the design process.

I am finding that I am really hitting the wall with my spatially-inept self. This is not one of my innate talents! My 9th grader and my 5th grader were totally running laps around me as I was showing them my Tinkercad-antics. Simultaneously, they were teaching me.

I think it's the same thing that makes me feel seasick when I watch them play & build & navigate Minecraft. I don't have "that" vision.  I was always the Algebra Gal, not the Geometry Girl. It's playing out here and now as I'm trying to take shapes and turn into real pictures.

I feel topsy, turvy, and all over.  Especially when I flip it around, feeling upside down, trying to get my shapes to all land on the same plane.

Yet, eventually--remarkably--they did! Right there in the middle of feeling like a complete failure at this technology, All of a sudden, my own personal lightbulb went on.  I'm doing it! I feel kind of like a rock star (while simultaneously about ready to pull out my hair!!)

There's merit in learning new skills and doing, making, tinkering, & innovating. 

The challenge and frustration is part of the process. The glee of tackling a challenge is just right on the other side.

From here, I have a few weeks to practice and wrap my head around designing in 3D in order to get it under my belt enough to teach 2nd and 3rd graders. I can do this. Yes! I can do this, and it feels pretty good! Not to mention... it builds my awareness of how challenging it can be to learn new tasks. That lesson of empathy might be the most important thing to learn yet--for teachers and, well, just plain everyone!

Tinkercad logo from https://twitter.com/tinkercad; "EcoLeader" image from my creation on Tinkercad.com; Design Process poster from PBS's Design Squad  http://mpt.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/adptech12.sci.engin.design.dsposter/the-design-process-poster/

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