Dr. Tony and 4th and 5th graders found joy in a math summer camp through 3D printing. Sometimes, to get kids interested in the curriculum, you have to go outside – and that's the purpose of a math summer camp.
Dr. Tony partnered with a local school district to lead a group of 4th and 5th graders with math potential in a training camp. The program primarily covered four areas, combining 3D printing, Lego robotics, hands-on activities, and personalized instruction. The camp ran from 7:30 AM to 1:00 PM, providing breakfast, lunch, and transportation.
If students were to complain about doing math problems during the summer, attending a summer camp is a completely different experience! First, they changed the titles and clothes to make everything easy and relaxed. They also played math-related games (Uno, War, and Mancala) in the morning, followed by a half-hour break; you won't see textbooks or worksheets here; the focus is on "making math fun and integrated into life."
Students were all curious about 3D printers. Dr. Tony recruited the most lively and engaging teachers from his past experiences to teach at the camp, and also arranged some interesting courses for the children to use the software freely. She used TinkerCad to inspire students, and TinkerCad online software also provides free modeling tutorials. After completing the tutorials, students were challenged to make a medal for the camp. Each student designed their own medal to reflect their unique ideas and personalities. They quickly understood the importance of combining blocks in modeling, and print failures were also a very important part of learning.
The biggest benefit of experiencing failed prints or struggling to design prototypes is that the learning and struggling phases stimulate students' thinking and growth, leading them to find solutions.
When students can solve problems by persisting and trying different techniques, these methods create "beneficial competition." This is much better than focusing on getting the "correct answer." Dr. Tony tells his students: "When you enter the workforce, there won't be textbooks for you to flip through to find the right answer." Real-life problems are messy and ill-defined; it's hard to tell if the result is right or wrong until you make a decision and try.
The advantage of 3D printing is its low cost of failure, allowing students to continuously modify their creations and correct errors. For students, this method is more understandable and realistic than a stack of test papers with red circles telling them where they went wrong, or a computer calculating their score based on how many questions they answered correctly.
Once students master the basics, teachers can excite them even more by combining 3D printing and Minecraft! They created a world, first creating creatures on graph paper, then using manipulators – and finally designing in 3D. Finally, students could upload their characters to the world and play, while simultaneously printing miniature prototypes. To further connect with math, the teachers taught them about points, lines, and planes, and asked them to use these codes in their drawings and block creations.
When the miniatures were printed, they encouraged students to create other items, such as hot tubs and playgrounds. They were also asked to calculate the amount of space each character occupied, using the manipulators created in the prototype to understand the cubic measurement units they applied to the design.
Through this project, students will gain a deep understanding of geometric shapes, surface area, volume, and the differences between perimeters, and have a clear concept of planes, vertices, and X, Y coordinates. In addition to experiencing the technology of building models and 3D printing them, they were also able to see the printers running non-stop the next day.
At the end of the two-week summer camp, students were reluctant to leave and wished it could continue throughout the school year. Special thanks to the generous funding from the Lucille B. DuPont Foundation, which enabled them to provide after-school enrichment courses. While many options are being considered, 3D printing will certainly be a major part of the planning. We commend the hard work of the teachers, administrators, and students who participated in the camp, and find the idea of bringing Ultimaker 3D printing into the classroom and extracurricular activities to be very interesting and practical. Currently, more and more educational institutions are introducing 3D printers, and we hope to see Taiwan's own application examples soon.
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Original article link: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/52712-math-camp-having-fun-doing-stuff