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I Am A Superhero!

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SEL, Tinkercad, and 3D printing empower students to celebrate their strengths and challenges

Sandee Bisson

The Brandeis School of San Francisco

sbisson@sfbrandeis.org

@mrsbissonsf

My Background and Role

• 25 years teaching in public & private schools
• 18 years teaching MS language arts
• 7 years as a Maker Educator
• I believe making is an expansive language that helps students express knowledge, ideas, and emotions in physical and digital forms.
• I teach all our students in grades K-8 (approximately 340 students)

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Project Context

• K-8 Progressive Jewish Day
• Combined 5th/6th Elective (alternating years of 3D Digital Design & Creative Coding)
• 6 class sessions per year
• about 11 students per session
• Approx 40 students per grade level
• 79 students completed the project last year

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Rationale

• Post-pandemic students needed to reconnect as a learning community
• Students needed to re-see themselves as learners and makers
• 3D thinking/design is great brain work
• helps students in areas such math and science
• Digital design (2D & 3D) has become an essential literacy skill
• Superheroes are cool

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SEL is natural fit in Maker Education

• Makers need a solid foundation in:
• emotional awareness
• emotional management
• mindfulness
• communication skills
• conflict resolution skills
• All of these are core elements of SEL
• We work with IFSEL (Institute For Social Emotional Learning)
• Promoting self-confidence and emotional intelligence is key goal of their 5th/6th curriculum

This Project

Part 1 - Brainstorm personal strengths and challenges

Part 2 - Examine how strengths and challenges can be our superpowers

Part 3 - Analog sketch of super-self that incorporates strengths and weaknesses

Part 4 - Use Tinkercad to design an action figure of their super-self

Part 5 - Print and embellish final design

Part 6 - Reflect & Share

Let’s do it!

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Part 1 - Brainstorm personal strengths and challenges

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• I like to have students start with photo of themselves - found it helps with idea generation
• Use tabloid paper - big paper feels unusual/special

Part 2 - Examine how strengths and challenges can be our superpowers

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Traits Student Identified:

• Shy
• Loves reading
• Pretty good at tech
• Likes sweaters and pants too much.

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Part 3 - Analog sketch of super-self that incorporates strengths and weaknesses

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• Shyness/quietness become stealth & mystery
• Tech skills/booksmarts became the the knowledge to teleport
• Love of pants/sweater become a very cloaked/covered figure

Part 4 - Use Tinkercad to design an action figure of their super-self

Tinkercad.com

Things to consider:

• Time you have for the design process
• Building with shapes vs. manipulating existing templates
• Size you want to print

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Part 5 - Print and embellish final design

Supplies to have:

• angled snips

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• files
• acrylic paint markers - be sure to order the set with lots of skin tones
• hot glue
• googly eyes
• yarn
• fabric scraps

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Part 6 - Reflect & Share

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Reflections We’ve Tried:

• Create a short 6 panel cartoon introducing your character.
• Record a commercial for your action figure.
• Write/act/record an interaction between your action figure and another character
• Use Play -Doh to mold your design journey
• Use Play-Doh to mold an accessory for your character. What need does this accessory meet?
• Sketch your the “lair” in which your superhero self resides

Gallery of Superheroes

Other Subjects

Take the basic SEL principles and digital tools use them in other disciplines:

• In SS design historical figures or landmarks (we can build empathy through fictional characters)
• In LA design a character from a story (we can build empathy/study moral dilemmas with historical characters.
• SEL/Fraction activity in math - The Percentages of Me
• In bio - genetics characters- build a character from punnett square results

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