Information Technology Education

Throughout this school year, my class has been using telepresence to connect with Ari, a student at University of Arizona majoring in Russian.  He has been giving weekly sessions on various aspects of Russian culture, politics, current events, and history.  These have been so inspiring, in fact, that one of my students' companies that called themselves Sug-Art (3D sculptures printed from sugar), decided they wanted to create a prototype of a sugar sculpture modeled after one of Russia's most beloved animated characters - Cheburashka.  This was the biggest challenge so far for my students to design on Tinkercad.  The big ears that stick out to the side were giving them issues... We attempted a total of 11 versions before we finally got Cheburyashka just right.  So many lessons learned along the way and nuances in using Tinkercad.  In the world of education where it seems like things are black and white, right and wrong, it is so refreshing to inspire in my s...

Another student company idea got their inspiration from one that 3D prints edible sugar cake toppers.  They called themselves "Sug-Art" and set off to create a company that custom creates sugar sculptures.  In doing so, they had a lot of research and cost analysis to do.  What better way to do research than to write to the company from whom they got their inspiration?  We got their contact information from their site: http://the-sugar-lab.com/ What started out as a quest to use 3D printing in meaningful ways in the classroom has led to interdisciplinary, authentic inquiry. Here is the students' request for information: Dear Ms. Vonhasseln,   We are third graders in Phoenix, AZ.  We are working on coming up with a business idea as a school project and am interested in your technology for creating sugar art.  We are wondering about what type of machine you use, where and how much the sugar floss costs, and what it would cost to buy a 3D sugar printer. ...