Submitted by Kjersti Rosen, parent
Last year in 5th grade, my son Xander and his friend Edwin designed a house as a math project in Ms. Miller's math class. The boys enjoyed the project, their house looked good, and now the project has continued and has taken on a life of its own.
Based on the math project house, Xander did a 3D design in TinkerCad, a design program that Mr. Buecler introduced, and Xander worked on at home. Mr. Beucler generously offered to print Xander's project as a test-case prototype on the new 3D printer that the Friends of Baldwin purchased for the school. Mr. Beucler was almost as excited as Xander.
Xander was so excited to see his math project printed in 3D! He couldn't wait for Edwin to see it. Edwin and Xander (both RAUC 6th graders with sisters at Baldwin) were at Baldwin and they ran up the stairs to the library, and looked through the windows at the printer and their printed house. Edwin said, "Wow, that's so cool! You can see the letters of the café and everything!"
They continue examining the house, talking about the design and how the printer works, and what they can do to make the house better. Xander goes home and keeps tinkering on his design (still a work-in-progress). The pictures are of the original math project, and the printed 3D prototype. You can easily see the resemblance.
So, Friends of Baldwin, Miss. Miller, Mr. Beucler and Ms. Kugel, you have inspired one child to take his work further, learn something new and make something pretty cool - and have fun while doing it. THANK YOU. As a parent, I'm grateful for your efforts, because Xander learns best by doing projects and making things. And the way technology is going, 3D design and programming are looking more and more like essential skills for future workers. I think this is a pretty awesome example of an interdisciplinary, student-school-home partnership.