Using 3D Printers to Make Targeted Counting Resources: Counting

Challenge: To produce an active manipulated 3D Print that juniors in the school could use to help with their counting.

Background: As mentioned our students recently ran a business day/marketing day and as a result there was considerable exposure to some of our students 3D Printing throughout the community and our school.  One of the unexpected off shoots of the flexi-animals is that there appeared to be an obvious direction to go in using them to assist with rote counting for junior students (that is students who were as young as five.

Our starting point on this project was using a range of animals that we had previous experience in where we knew the prints would be linked and robust and allow repeated handling.   The challenge was to combine this and something that the junior school teacher would then be happy to use - and wonderfully the teacher concerned has so far asked the students to refine their designs repeatedly.    The teacher is looking for a base ten and five animal but has stressed the importance of the uniformity of the segments of the animal, thus in the example shown left the slug, which had previously worked as an animal only had four segments that were equal size.  The students applied the fifth segment as the tail but it was smaller than the others and the teacher asked for a redesign.

A quick redesign of the slug saw the number five dropped further into the base design.   The students have quickly identified that the numbers will need to be sunk into the design as if they are raised above the design that will be susceptible to being knocked off over time.    A reprint saw the 'five' clearly visible however the teacher strongly felt that the print needed equal segments and asked for a redesign.  A similar fault was found with the bat shown above.   The design was received positively by the test group (ie a group of five year old students at our school) however the teacher who is ultimately going to use the design felt that the body of the bat and the subsequent gap that it presented would prove to be a barrier for the students using the number line to count.   Putting a number in this location meant the number was not suitable either.   The students are moving in the direction of creating a specific item or animal to meet the teachers brief and using the assistance of the student whose work we have featured extensively on this blog.

While the 'counting crocodile design, featured left had the students showing some promise the teacher, while happy with the amounts of segments that were presented (five) was not happy with the texture that was produced by the scales of the crocodile.   They felt that by having the numbers combined with them that they were less visible that if the back was plain and therefore it was not suitable as the counting tool.

Again we cannot say enough positive things about the fact that this teacher is challenging the students to refine and problem solve their design and look at making directed improvements.   It is an excellent learning experience and one that is making the students think critically and redesign their work.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - High.   This project is making something that has a specific purpose requiring specific dimensions and details.   While the prototypes shown in these examples are generic (ie designed from Thingiverse that are freely available) the students are almost certainly going to need to design their own range of linking animals.   The teacher would also like specific skip counting designs such as counting in twos.   This will require a group to make design challenges to meet the brief.

Size:   While there is various current designs in this process, this has been prior to testing to ensure they are printed at a size that suits the (junior) students.  The current slug (which has been enlarged for the numbers) is 150mm long and 20mm across.   The counting crocodile is currently 140mm long, 20mm wide and 15mm high.   The counting bat is currently the largest of the units, being 160mm long, 100 mm high and is 5mm thick.   Again all these sizes are based around getting the numbers correct with a view to counting in blocks of five or ten - once the teacher who is checking is happy with the product.

Timeframe: The slug being the smallest is coming in with a print time of just over one hour.   The crocodile currently is two hours while the bat being the largest is currently just over four.

What we would do differently/next steps for students:   Until the teacher who wants the manipulative created is happy this project will be ongoing.   As mentioned the best aspect is that the teacher has not been happy and has been constantly wanting refinement and improvement.