2025 - The Year in Review: Inter school Challenge

 

In November this year as we started the process of wrapping up the year in design and creation we gave the students various challenges based around several themes.  One of these was an inter school challenge.  In this we choose a school and looked at finding out information about the school - but in particular we wanted to focus on looking at producing a likeness or a model of their logo.

Auroa School has a Pukeko as its current mascot.   We have attempted to replicate this ourselves to varying degree of success and we have also looked at other local schools with complicated logos and designs, although in some cases we opted to use the Roland Versa Sign Maker to ensure that we could accurately represent the logo.

In this instance we choose another ADS the Gardens School from Manurewa.  We published two significant post about the process at the time.   

The first phase of the project was looking at the school online - we are a rural school in South Taranaki and the students were interested in the differences with a urban school in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

The logo of the Gardens School is quite distinctive and we spent time with the students using Tinkercad to design the logo.  When the early prototypes had been completed we then spent time to reflect on the design and specifically compare them to the original.   Small details which didn't appear obvious to the students could then be discussed in detail, such as the size of the koru in the design, or the number of 'strikes' or 'flashes' that came off the design.

Once we had started the process the students were tasked with AR/VR projecting their recreated image at different locations around our school.   An example is like shown left where students used their iPads and Tinkercad to project the logo from another school onto our adventure playground.  We also talked with the students about other locations that it might be appropriate to display it at.  This is a process that worked extremely well with our Dolls House Project and also something we are going to complete extensively in 2026.

We have a set of school values at different locations around our school (as shown above the drinking fountain shown left).    In this example students took their 'Gardens School' logo and projected it next to one of the Auroa School values.   When this was then compared back to the original we had a discussion about how the two looked side by side, what adjustments needed to be made etc.

We also spent time looking at the font design and the design of the colour on the design.   While we were looking at a 3D Print, and ultimately did produce a number of them they all came off the same print which was featured on this blog here as this was the best finished product.  This is one thing that we would like to have considered when designing and creation and something that we have come to believe quite strongly that you don't need to produce a 3D Print with every project that you are involved with.   The CAD design opportunities provided with iPads and other technology combined with iPads can mean that there is design opportunities but it doesn't mean everything needs to be printed.  We have created a slideshow of activities that fit this criteria which you can view by clicking on the link here.

One of the awesome aspects of this challenge was that we were constantly able to direct students to what the logo should look like, how it should be represented and how the could define and adapt their designs to fit the desired outcome.

We had a class of seven and eight year olds work on this project as well, a combination of students who had used Tinkercad for two years and novice designers.

Thank you for your visit to this site - we are no longer posting here actively as it is the 2025/6 School Holiday Break.   We are posting reviews, achieves and material that could not be posted during the 2025 School year.   

We are also redesigning and redeveloping this site as well as expanding this digital template as we add significantly to a number of platforms, more of which will be announced in the new year.

3D Printed Key: 2025 Junior Exemplar

 

Challenge: To produce an original piece of work as a gift suitable for another school to use in some way.

Background: We have been wanting to look at working with another school on collaborative projects and including design that could be unique and something special for another school.

As we noted previously we looked at working with another ADS (Apple Distinguished School) from Auckland, New Zealand, The Gardens School.

We had the students create a range of ideas based around the logo of the school - the challenge for the students was to create something featuring the Gardens School logo.   As detailed our students worked in various dimensions of Tinkercad to produce the logo.    We stressed to the students the importance of accurately depicting the logo as closely to the original.  Various versions of the design were attempted by the students and then we used AR/VR to project the ideas around the school at different locations.   This tested the viability of the design.

The colour matching that was available for the project came in the form of the main interface of Tinkercad.  The student relied on scribble from Tinkercad to provide the koru detail.

Level of Difficulty: High - the detail in this project need to be particularly careful and respectful of the logo and its importance to another school, creating something that was not considered close was something that we steered the students away from creation.  This was always intended to be a project where we would have a narrow number of final products eventually 3D Printed.  While this student is a Y4 student (eight year old) they have been constantly creating a high degree of designs throughout the year.

Size: This is something of an oversized keyring as the project currently measures 100mm by 100mm.   The print has an outer rim which is 10mm high on the outside, and 5mm on the inside - this creates a layering affect with the design which is eye catching.   The font is faithful to the original being two regular fonts with the 'Gardens' part of the logo again relying on the student using scribble to create.  This is designed as an oversized keyring for teachers with teachers specifically in mind.  For it to be more practical the project would need to have been reduced in size as it is not intended to be put into a regular pocket.

Cost/Price: Using the reliable feature on the Bambu H2D with regular prices for PLA which we are currently experiencing at $30.00 NZD for a 1kg spool of filament this print requires 36g of filament to complete and this would have an associated cost of $0.90c to complete.   For a full regular roll we would be able to produce 27 units on regular settings and infill.  There is no waste PLA with this print - that is it prints as shown directly onto the plate without the need for any waste plastic support.

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D this print takes just over sixty minutes.  Given the detail with the lettering this would be the best potential result for the machine to complete successfully.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: This is not a project for our own students it is very much intended to be something for the students to do for someone else, and therefore judging its success is very much dependant on others opinions of the final product.

If you use the search bar top right and use the tag 'Keyring' you will see a multitude of projects with this theme.

3D Design: Inter School Challenge

 

Challenge: To produce an authentic version of the logo for another school.

This challenge was based around our junior school students taking a design from another school and taking that design and replicating it in a 3D environment to test our students CAD design skills.

We went through a number of stages with this project.  

The first was we took the logo from a prominent Auckland ADS where we are connected via a staff member.  Our students have no prior knowledge of the school, having not been aware of it or visited it before.  To do that we looked at the school website, discussed the character of the school and used tools such as Google Earth to build some knowledge about the school and the area.   Our school is very much a rural school in New Zealand, the Gardens School is urban in Auckland, New Zealand s largest city.

One of the longest discussions with our students prior to any creation focussed on the logo itself and the different features of it.   We stressed to the students about the different aspects of the design and how we could replicate it authentically.   There are some design tasks in the past that we will not attempt on the basis of making sure that is appropriate to do so. 

When we have been producing iPhone and iPad stands we have occasionally used the Versa Sign Maker to produce a finished product such as shown in this example.  In this instance we wanted to challenge the students design skills to focus on a design we felt they could replicate.

The different aspects of the font, the 'flashes' that were around the koru all proved to be challenging for the students.  We gave them physical copies of the logo and then discussed their attempts.  We focussed on the logo itself, compared it to the original and then looked at positioning, size and detail.  The students were given a free choice with the design template from Tinkercad.   Most opted for 'scribble' which allowed them to attempt the logo, although several also tried to create the logo using the geometric shapes of the main Tinkercad interface.

The feedback given to the students allowed them to modify the designs and swap ideas with each other.  The next step was to take the designs and look at using the AR/VR function of Tinkercad to project them at various locations around our school.  This also allowed the students to experiment with the scale of the designs and how it might look in a different background and environment.   By rotating and flipping the design they also could ask themselves what it might look like from different angles.

An example is like the one shown left, this basic design when projected onto the School field using the Tinkercad App and the students iPad made the object appear several stories high (in this case about 8 metres/26 feet).   There is no green screening etc required to complete this - using the iPad the students can project it at any location and the size of what they can project can be easily manipulated either small and detailed (such as #Tinkercadhunt) or oversized and attention getting (such as Ollie the Octopus).   This also allowed students to again view the design and look at the details when compared to the original.   If you compare the location of the Koru in the design left and the 'flashes' location again refinement can be seen to be needed.  This student also used the ability to change the Tinkercad design colour to accurately depict the colours from the original design.   

The next step was to incorporate the design from the students into something that we would describe as practical.  The starting point for this was the 2025 School Market Day - we created a bank of products from this event each of which could be personalised and these each could be adapted for the school - so we could make a 'The Gardens School' nightlight, glow-in-the-dark Minecraft Garden Nightlight or The Gardens Flexi Christmas Tree, iPad stand etc.

Multiple times we have mentioned on this blog the creation, the designs and the 'making' process which leads the students to create to innovate and make but might not lead each project to a 3D Print and this is another example of this.   We have started the process of selecting certain designs from the class of twenty five to look into aspects of the printing.

There is an entire detailed slideshow showing non 3D Printing projects (which are designed using an iPad and Tinkercad but do not lead to printing) located at the tab here.

The first example show left took one hour on the Bambu H2D and was designed by an eight year old student.   The student used Tinkercad, their iPad, the iPad App and the scratch tool in Tinkercad to produce this print.

We are now using this as an example and taking it back to the original question posed to the students - how close is this to the original? What needs to be refined from the design to make it more accurate? A logical next step for the students would be colour matching with the design - as the Bambu H2D can print multiple colours at one time.   The other other obvious aspect is that the print is currently a static print that is 100mm by 100mm and took one hour to print.   By introducing a hole through the design it would convert easily to a keyring.

However this is all dependent on the print, the project and the process being successful as judged by the school - we want the design, the process to be as authentic and accurate as possible to ensure that is ultimately successful.