Auroa School Kickstarters: Part Two

 Our students are involved in a major school event this year, we are again holding a School Market Day - where students are tasked to use the technology at our school to produce something that features innovation and personalisation.   The entire senior school at Auroa Primary School which runs from Y4-8 are creating projects for this event later in the term, this description and linking is focussing on the videos from our classroom, however if you click on the school link you will see the additional videos on the school page.

Group: The Four Kiwis - Ollie the Octopus

Innovation: Students have used Tinkercad to create an original designed bath toy.   The design for the creatures was created by the students from scratch using the main Tinkercad interface.   

The inspiration for this came from this print idea on our blog from 2023 relating to using the 3D Printer to create bath toys.   These students expanded on this further by taking that idea, based around the fact that with a default twenty per-cent infill that most 3D Prints will float.

Students further used the AR/VR function from the Tinkercad iPad App to generate large scale models of the design.

The students are eight year old students who have been using Tinkercad for the past year in the classroom.  

Personalisation: The bath toys from the outset have had the back of the designs where the students have engraved or sunken in either their initials or their first name.   The idea from the students is for a group of these designs to spell out a name or have a message when they are arranged in sequence.

You can view details of the original project by clicking on this link here.   You can view all of the Kickstarter projects for the school at this link here.

Group: MASM

Innovation: The students were interested in creating a range of candles, which while it was creative didn't particularly tick the other main boxes that were the intention for the project - that was taken care of when the student who has been developing her own version of the flexi-toys wanted to include one, with a personalised name or message, with the purchase - thus ensuring that the innovation is met.

Flexi-animals or linked name shapes have been a mainstay of student designs on this blog for a number of years, this group features a student who has started the process from scratch, designing everything using Tinkercad and following instructional videos previously made by a former student.   

Personalisation: The flexi-animals are customised for the person who purchases them with either a message on the design or a name.  You can click on this link to view this project.

3D Printed Bath Toys

Challenge: To produce a unique Market Day idea or concept to be marketed and sold. 

Background: One of the aspects of the business practise that we are asking the students to consider is how they might be able to market their product and what aspects of its design or functionality are there.

Earlier this year the students in the classroom experimented with some of shapes and objects that were created.  One of the discoveries for this group of students was that the 3D Printed Designs can float in water.  One of the students involved in this wanted to take the idea and look into something that would float in the bath and have interaction with.   The student decided that a design that would have the most appeal to other students would be a shark design.  He was able to locate one and then spent time looking how he could modify or personalise the design.  Sharks were a topic that he was able to locate a lot of information and produce secondary work which is going to be included with the packaging for the animal.

Level of Difficulty: Low - the student has created various versions of the shark himself however he felt that the designs were not satisfactory, hence his reliance on locating a design that he could modify.

Size: The print measured 120mm in length was 30mm across and was 20mm high for the main portions of the print.  This was relevant as something the purchaser would be able to float and interact with in the bath.   It was a size that made handling relatively easy and could of course be modified as required.

Timeframe: Three hours to complete the print.  There was some rafting on the bottom of the print, which reflected in its shape.  The idea for the student is to release several other designs following this shape.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the student: This student is happy with the design and has moved onto the decorating, painting and other aspects of the design - packaging and research into sharks.   The student potentially could refine the design with details but has no intention to do so at this point.