At Makers Empire we see lots of great examples of teachers integrating 3D design and printing into different curriculum areas. Here are our top ten design challenge ideas for integrating mathematics with 3D design.
1. Use Makers Empire’s Blocker Module to create shapes and designs that have specific perimeters. What if students were asked to design a scale model of a garden plot that needed to have a perimeter of 20 metres? What if you asked students to design 3 different shapes with a perimeter of 60mm?
2. Experiment with creating solid shapes by combining 2D shapes. A great way for students to investigate faces, vertices and edges.
3. How many different ways can you use triangles to create a 3-dimensional star?
4. Challenge students to design their own 3d printed measurement tools. Can they design a ruler, protractor, blocks that represent standard units, a measuring tool that no one has ever invented before?
5. Use Makers Empire 3D design software as a tool for solving and investigating spatial problems. Can your students design a cube using 27 blocks where every face has 9 different colours?
6. How can your students represent place value using the Blocker Module? What does a really big number such as 896,452 look like when represented by blocks?
7. Create challenges that involve students calculating volume and capacity. What is the capacity of the coffee mug or pencil pot they have designed?
8. How can various fractions be represented as 3D models?
9. Collect data to make class decisions such as the food to have at a class lunch and use Makers Empire 3D design software to represent the data.
10. A shape has 4 sides and 4 angles. If the angles are 400, 350 and 900, what would the fourth angle be? Use the Shaper Module to show what this shape might look like.
More Free Design Challenges using 3D Printing
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Mandi Dimitriadis, DipT. is an experienced classroom teacher who recognises the power of technology to enhance teaching and improve educational outcomes. Mandi has extensive experience with curriculum development and learning, having previously developed programs for the Australian Government’s Department of Education. She is passionate about Design Thinking and how best to prepare today’s students for the future.
