Dr. Tony and 4th and 5th-grade students found the joy of math summer camp through 3D printing. Sometimes, to get children interested in the course content, you have to go outdoors - and that's the aim of the math summer camp.
Dr. Tony partnered with the local school district to lead a group of 4th and 5th graders with math potential in a training camp. The program primarily covers four areas, combining 3D printing, LEGO robotics, hands-on activities, and personalized instruction. The camp runs from 7:30 AM to 1 PM and provides breakfast, lunch, and transportation.
If asking students to do math problems during the summer vacation would lead to widespread complaints, then attending a summer camp is a completely different story! First, they change titles and clothes, making everything easy and relaxed. They also play 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 fascinated by the 3D printers. Dr. Tony recruited the most lively and engaging teachers from his past experiences to teach at the camp and arranged some interesting courses to allow children to use the software freely. She used TinkerCad to inspire students, and the TinkerCad online software also provides free modeling tutorials. After completing the tutorials, students were challenged to create a medal for the camp. Each student designed their own medal, reflecting their unique ideas and personalities. They quickly understood the importance of combining block faces in modeling, and print failures were also a very important part of the learning process.
The biggest benefit of experiencing failed prints or working hard to design prototypes is that the developmental stage of learning and struggle stimulates students' thinking and growth, leading them to find solutions.
When students can solve problems through perseverance 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 go out into the working world, there won't be textbooks for you to flip through to get the right answers." Real-life problems are messy and ill-defined; it's hard to tell if the outcome is right or wrong until you make a decision and try.
The advantage of 3D printing is its low failure cost, allowing students to continuously modify their products and correct errors. For students, this approach is more understandable and realistic than a stack of test papers with red circles indicating their mistakes or a computer calculating their score based on how many questions they answered correctly.
Once students grasp the basics, teachers can make them even more excited by combining 3D printing with Minecraft! They created a world, first creating creatures on graph paper, then using manipulation blocks – and finally, 3D design. Students could then upload their characters to the world and play, while simultaneously printing scaled-down prototypes. To further connect with math, teachers taught them about points, lines, and planes, and asked them to use these codes in their drawings and block creations.
When the miniature models were finished printing, 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 manipulation blocks created in the prototype to understand the cubic measurement units they applied to their designs.
Through this project, students gained a deep understanding of the differences between geometric shapes, surface area, volume, and perimeter, and had a clear concept of planes, vertices, and X, Y coordinates. In addition to experiencing the techniques of building models and 3D printing them, they were also able to see the printers continuously operating the next day.
At the end of the two-week summer camp, students were reluctant to leave and hoped 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 significant part of the planning. We admire the hard work of the teachers, administrators, and students who participated in the camp, and we find the idea of bringing Ultimaker 3D printing into and out of the classroom to be very interesting and practical. Currently, more and more educational institutions are introducing 3D printers, and we hope to soon see Taiwan's own application examples.
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Original Article Link: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/52712-math-camp-having-fun-doing-stuff