No Matter How Small

I learned something "small" yesterday. It isn't mind blowing or earth shattering, but for my students and I it is an inch of learning that has opened up a highway for us. My students spent some time learning to use Tikercad, a simple, online 3D design and 3d printing tool for anyone and everyone. We got to the point where they wanted to start printing some of their creations but without an input device attached to our 3D printer we had to figure out how to get Tinkercad designs to print on our MakerBot printer. 

A couple of emails and some time to play with the MakerBot software on my home computer and voila - success! I learned how to convert common 3D files into ones that MakerBot recognizes. That afternoon I returned to the classroom and shared my learning with the students. 

I provided them with every detail of the process I went through to solve the problem that we faced. I wanted them to see that the obstacle placed in front of us could be overcome with some time and energy. I wanted them to hear (and they have heard me talk about it) that we could work through this and that our journey this year would involve many obstacles - and that the obstacles we work through will lead to a feeling of success and satisfaction. 

After all my blabbing, they wanted to know what file I converted in order to print via our USB flash drive. Here it is:

  

It's a bobble head Creeper - a Minecraft character! How could I not oblige my students, they have a love and fascination for Minecraft!! There are three parts to it and it took a couple of hours to print it out. 

Stay tuned for more good learning and some artifacts of our journey!