Notes from Day 2 of #Construct3D hosted by @DukeU. #MakerEd #STEMed #STEAM

“Today we program computers and machines. Tomorrow we will program matter itself.” @SkylarTibbits of @MIT‘s Self-Assembly Lab #Construct3D pic.twitter.com/8SMbaBJW5i

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) May 6, 2017

I am thoroughly enjoying this inaugural #Construct3D conference, and I hope to return for additional annual events to follow! Today offered a great lineup of sessions for teachers, makers, K-12 (elementary, middle, and upper), college, grad school, STEM, STEAM, low tech, high tech, formal ed (schools), informal ed (libraries, afterschool programs), software, hardware, and more. Day 2 including another jam-packed schedule of speakers and workshops. See the full line-up here: https://construct3d2017.sched.com/

This morning’s keynote was delivered by Skylar Tibbits of MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab! He shared many awesome futuristic projects with smart materials that he and/or the lab have designed/created/explored including:
1. Fluid assembly furniture
2. 4D printing explorations (materials changes over time – just like Slaughterhouse Five)
3. Programmable materials
4. Aerial assemblies of weather balloons
5. Auxetic materials
6. Rapid liquid printing
7. Rock printing
Skylar’s last slide stated, “Today we program computers and machines. Tomorrow we will program matter itself.”

Following the keynote, I remained in the ballroom for Eric Schimelpfenig‘s session entitled, My Making Journey. Eric described himself as a lackluster student who nevertheless amassed an impressive repertoire of skills which he now puts to use as a digital designer and fabricator. Eric’s website is full of his work and passion projects. Here’s a time-lapse video of Eric assembly the foosball table he designed in Sketchup…

Next, I went downstairs towards Tim Pelton’s Whittling, Learning and Engaging with 3D Printing in Elementary School. Among much other information delivered, Tim shared the story of Austin’s Butterfly and how it evolved via critique & multiple drafts. https://vimeo.com/38247060

I headed next door to play with Sharri Duncan, Joanna McCumber, and a whole lot of 3D pens and filament in their 3D Drawing at Our Fingertips session. Their slides are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u6zAkjwMRpgBeP6hXBJ4wVCPfuKFCg7PjVn8y5R0_gY/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00

Following this, I attended Using 3D Printed Surfaces in an Inquiry Style Multivariable Calculus Course with Michael Gagliardo. Back in my Bryn Mawr College days, I used #Mathematica in Multivariable Calculus to design 3D digital models of graphs that we could then view on a 2D computer screen. Nowadays, it’s a simple matter to print these graphs in various materials and hold them in your hands. The future is awesome!

After this was a great talk by Tom Burtonwood about his work, Beyond the Inflection Point – Lessons Learned from 3D Printing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Tom’s notes from the session are here. Also, he has an assortment of his projects on his website here: http://tomburtonwood.com/

Then I stopped by Josh Burker‘s session, Bits From Atoms: Logo and FabricationBits From Atoms: Logo and Fabrication. I’m a huge fan of Josh and his inspiring personal and school projects. His resources from today’s workshop can be found here: http://joshburker.pbworks.com/w/page/117371211/Bits%20to%20Atoms%3A%20Logo%20and%20Fabrication%20-%20Construct3D

I then headed over to a much-anticipated talk from Corinne Takara, CAD Design and 3D Printing as Community and Culture Building Tools. I was made aware of Corinne’s inspirational work through many tweets I saw retweeted by other Maker Educators who I follow. Meeting her in person was a thrill! Among many incredible projects, Corinne shared about her work with a mobile maker cart in Japantown, San Jose, where she had visitors design and create netsuke (obi ornaments traditionally worn by men), a project getting people to design personalized skulls (calaveras) celebrating the life of  a deceased loved one for Dia de Los Muertos, and her mycelium chandelier project. Check out Corinne’s glorious work on her site: http://www.okadadesign.com/ The slides from her impressive session are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_RQS03QhVxXLbjYOfTBfD9YGM3fHH000dGNrmI2QgJw/mobilepresent?slide=id.p

I’m bummed I missed Justin Riley‘s session, It’s Turtle Graphics All The Way Down. We chatted later, and he helped me compare and contrast BeetleBlocks and BlocksCAD. Based on his extensive knowledge and experience using BeetleBlocks with middle schoolers, I agree that it’s a more age-appropriate tool. Also, here is a link to his session’s slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XfZSRYLQlUH8zVlFyAA8mkdptH8sHRW-EVsWWesegOU/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.phttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XfZSRYLQlUH8zVlFyAA8mkdptH8sHRW-EVsWWesegOU/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.p

Comparing @BlocksCAD and @BeetleBlocks with @KarenBlumberg #Construct3D #Construct3D2017 pic.twitter.com/JXhanMefhs

— Justin Riley (@20hz20khz) May 6, 2017

Next up was a session by Mark Peeters, OpenSCAD Makes Coding, Math and 3D Printing Accessible to Elementary Students. His resources are in a Google Drive Folder here: tinyurl.com/kxseykr Mark shared a mindblowingly simple trick for folding paper to represent a 3D axis! The PDF of his template is in his resources folder.

I then went upstairs to hear from the inimitable Tim Cooper about Creating a 3D Printing Culture in Your School. Among other projects, Tim shared that since his students wear uniforms, some of them 3D designed and printed tie-clips and bowties for themselves and the community.

At this point, I rushed out to a hallway to join Melda Yildiz‘s SpeedTECH Conference at New York Institute of Technology (via Zoom video conferencing) and gush about edcamp for 5 minutes. It’s kinda remarkable to me that I remembered AND made it on time. Yay!

Thrilled to share about #edcamp and @edcampnyc with @myildiz‘s @NYIT SpeedTECH Conference participants! #edchat #whyiedcamp @EdcampUSA pic.twitter.com/X9FMxMWWtO

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) May 6, 2017

After this escalation to my heart rate, I popped in on Anna Engelke session, Outside the Box: Teaching 3D Printing with Low-Tech STEM Activities. I love a balance between high-tech and low-tech, and Anna had a few stations to explore different ways to address possible limitations with time, tools, and other resources. One table had to keep a pen upright at the center of a “wheel” of strings held by each participant, They were tasked with writing on a piece of paper as a collaborative effort. Such a great team building activity!​

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After this, I stopped by 3D Printing in the Art Room with Wendy Aracich. Wendy shared awesome student projects for elementary, middle, and upper schoolers using Tinkercad, Inkscape, Blender, and Sculptris. She also shared slides of thought-provoking artists and works to inspire her students. Wendy shared her slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11DFNQ3ow3SVXa7J7irKg8TcR08t3eEPm-4pEa4G-ua8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00

Finally, it was time for dinner and pre-dinner PechaKucha talks — 20 images, 20 seconds per image, no clickers. We were lucky to hear from the following great minds:

• Corinne Takara shared about how the design and prototyping process is often more important than the final product in her presentation Elevating the Process Over the Print/ Guiding K-12 Students in 3D Printing Challenges
• Cole Takara (Corinne’s son) offered incredible examples of his exploration with 3D printing and designs based on his research in the Humanities in his talk, Blending 3D Printing and Humanities, a Student’s Perspective (side note, Cole is in 10th grade and began 3D designing/printing in 7th grade)
• Josh Ajima brought it all home with his presentation, 0 Things, and how he and his students promote social justice and awareness by posting designs to Thingiverse where previously there were 0 results from a search. Check out his Thingiverse postings here: https://www.thingiverse.com/DesignMakeTeach/about

Wonderful @PechaKucha talks from @CorinneTakara @TakaraCole @DesignMakeTeach to close out Day 2 of #Construct3D! #edchat #MakerEd #STEAM pic.twitter.com/nlFJyMMwdO

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) May 7, 2017

There was a lovely gift to attendees flickering around the lobby and dining areas: Holey Cylinder 3D printing votive candles designed by Christopher Hanusa, aka Math Art Shop, and printed at Duke’s CoLab Studio…

#HoleyCylinder 3D printed votive candle holders designed in #Mathematica by @mathartshop for #Construct3D participants! #artsed #STEMed pic.twitter.com/R62CvLo8V6

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) May 6, 2017

And now, after a 16-hour day of learning, sharing, and networking, I’m officially tired and closing my laptop for the night.