LITTLE SILVER: FLOATING BIG IDEAS, IN 3-D
Left: Fourth graders at Little Silver Point Road School attend a “Google hang-out” session with RBR engineering teacher Dan Pearce as part of a 3-D boat printing project. Right: a successful launch for the finished projects.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
What do you do when you have a gifted and talented class that you need to challenge, a math program that needs to be taught to more rigorous standards, and a need to bring more cutting edge technology into your classroom? You combine a math unit on Geometry with a 3D modeling software program, and team with a high school teacher that has the 3D printer to make your students designs a reality. That is what the teachers at Point Road Elementary School (PRS) and Red Bank Regional High School (RBR) in Little Silver did!
PRS teachers Wendy Whittle and Allison Capone introduced the Geometry unit to their fourth grade students, to provide them with a foundation about shapes, angles, and planes. With this knowledge to help guide them, students were introduced to Tinkercad.com, a free online app that the students could use to create 3D models. Tinkercad provides users with self-guided lessons on how to use the program. After the students had completed these lessons, Mrs. Whittle and Mrs. Capone challenged them to design boats that would be tested to see whether they could float and, then, if they could hold extra “cargo” without sinking.
The miniature watercraft designs by Mathias Lazewski and Madelyn Reppert were awarded top honors in the project.