The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Printing the Future in 3D: Lesson 2 of 3: Drafting an STL

Printing the Future in 3D (Lesson 2 of 3: Drafting an STL)

A 6th/7th/8th grade STEM lesson

Casey Yu, PhD

6/26/23

Notes for teachers

• This is a three part lesson plan - the first is brainstorming, the second is designing and printing, and the third is iteration and presentation
• Lesson 1 and Lesson 3 here
• You do NOT need a 3D printer to complete this - keep the focus on designing and creativity (or you can have them create items out of found materials instead of printing it out)
• For this part of the tutorial, you should create a Tinkercad account and familiarize yourself with it before introducing it to students. See SLIDE XYZ for more information

List of Materials

• Group Planning Project Sheet (editable, make a copy for your own Google drive)
• Tinkercad accounts for teacher and students
• Internet-capable computer, tablet (iPad or Android compatible)
• Apple pencil or stylus (optional)
• 3D printers and filament

Standards

Educational Technology: Knowledge Constructor

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6-8.4.a. Students engage in a design process for generating and testing ideas and developing innovative products to solve problems.

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Educational Technology: �Innovative Designer

6-8.4.c. Students engage in a design process to develop, test, and revise prototypes, embrace the iterative process of trial and error, and understand setbacks as potential opportunities for improvement.

Objective(s):

Today students will create a draft of their 3d printed objects using Tinkercad’s drawing software based on their finalized project ideas.

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Today students will successfully export an STL (stereolithographic file) to format in 3D slicing software

Agenda (2 classes, appx 50 minutes each)

Day 1:

• Introduction (5-10 minutes)
• Explore Tinkercad (10-15 minutes)
• Online Tutorials (15-30 minutes)

Day 2:

• Student work time (30-40 minutes)
• Export file (10 minutes)
• Wrap-Up/Review (5 minutes)

Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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Driving Questions:

• How does Tinkercad work?

Teachers, when you create an account, you will be able to create individual classes - I strongly suggest you do so in order to keep track of your student accounts and creations. A tutorial and workflow on how to create a class account can be found here.

• What if I make a mistake?

I find that students can be hesitant about making mistakes or messing up - nothing can’t be undone and they cannot break Tinkercad! Some pep talking here would help them tremendously!

Explore Tinkercad & Online Tutorials

• Tinkercad has an extensive tutorial library that students should familiarize themselves with so they gain muscle memory in learning how to move and change objects to create their own.
• On the Learning Center Page, have students complete the first 11 tutorials (they go by quickly! You can also make these a part of warm-up exercises as well).
• Link to tutorial on how to access these is here.
• I tell students that they are welcome to HELP other classmates by talking them through the instructions but not taking over their devices and doing it for them!

Student Work Time

• Once students have completed the tutorials, they can get to work on creating their designs
• It might be helpful for one student in a group to create a version and all others can watch along, OR have each student in a group create their own idea of what their design will look like and then the students can tweak the designs together.
• This step may take more than one day depending on the comfort level of everyone involved.
• You can add in as many drafts or revisions as you’d like - I had mine do one draft, submit their STL, and then revise after receiving feedback for their final draft.

Exporting Files

• Students should export their drafts as STL files
• If you use something like Canvas, you can have them upload their STL files to their assignment (restrict the file type to ONLY accept STLs).
• Depending on who creates the final draft, you should also make sure students end up sharing their drafts with each other so they can use in the event someone is absent on submission day.
• Tutorial to create and export files is here

Assessment

Formative:

• As you walk around the room, check in on students and ask them follow up questions about the design program - students may not remember some of the tutorial exercises, so if they, for example, have a question about placing an object, refer them back to that tutorial or demonstrate on your own device
• Have students explain what each of their prototypes are and ask them for details - so if they don’t know the answers to them, they can start working on figuring that out.

Summative:

• All students will have successfully completed all 11 tutorials in the Tinkercad Learning Center
• All students will have successfully created a prototype design in STL format

Differentiation

• Look at examples of other classes or other designs - check out the Tinkercad gallery for designs other students across the world have created - this may help students get inspired or think about their objects in a different light
• Have students sketch instead of write if that makes it easier for them
• If you have a set of building blocks or Legos, have students start thinking about what their objects will look like in 3 dimensions.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

• You can repeat this creation process a few times after you’ve had students develop a first draft - to extend this out they can print a prototype, revise and repeat the process again
• You can have students give feedback to other students’ prototypes
• Students can combine their objects with another group’s to create something beyond what the individual groups came up with