3D printers and CAD (Computer Aided Design) at primary school level? – That works very well and makes sense. <\/p>\n
As part of a project week at the Volketswil ZH elementary school, we carried out a similar project. The aim was to give the pupils (SuS) of the 4th-6th elementary school an imaginative and playful first approach to CAD & 3D printing. We did this over the course of 4 x 1 days with mixed groups of around 15 pupils. In total, around 60 pupils were able to actively discover and work with these new technologies. <\/p>\n
Create your own little mythical creature!<\/strong><\/p>\n The topic of mythical creatures had already been worked on in different ways beforehand, which is why we decided on this topic in consultation with the teacher. It also offers a great deal of creative freedom for the pupils and you can’t do anything “wrong”. We also decided to use sculpting software for our first contact with CAD programs. In contrast to constructive CAD programs, this allows free design via drag and drop and does not require any basic mathematical knowledge. <\/p>\n To find ideas and so that the pupils get a feel for the body as well as for modeling, we first let them shape their mythical creatures with modeling clay. This was followed by an introduction to the sculpting software and plenty of time to try things out. <\/p>\n