Fablab School - Travel to Tilburg
Third staff training event
Partners and teachers of the Fablab Schools EU project got together in Palermo (Italy) for the third staff training event from 26thFebruary to 2nd March 2018 hosted by CSC Danilo Dolci.
The 26 participants were glad to meet up again and share their experiences of the last four months. During the teachers’ workshop, teachers carried out group exercises based on the Design Cycle developed by the Aarhus University. They were divided into four groups, each one thinking and designing a concrete project related to the 11th Sustainable Development Goals, SDG Sustainable Cities and Communities.
These activities further deepened teachers’ understanding of:
- the six stages of the cycle,
- the importance of the design materials,
- the learning outcomes that students will gain while developing their own projects as well as potential challenges they could face.
The teachers have been also introduced to 3D design tools such as Rhinoceros through a hands-on activity led by the Italian teacher Renato Alessi.
The two schools visited during the event, Liceo Artistico Ragusa-Kiyohara and ITST Vittorio Emanuele III, truly inspired participants. Teachers excitement kept growing as they visited the schools’ workshops, learned about their peers’ teaching experiences with 3D printing and 3D design and the presentation of the Drone laboratory.
Another topic discussed during the workshop was the final manual, for which the teachers have given their feedback on useful templates. Partners and teachers are eager to move to the next phase of the project in which teachers will apply the outcomes of the training on their teaching and twinning sessions for the upcoming three months.
The workshop also gave an opportunity for the partners to meet and discuss management issues such as the specific structure of the manual, the new twinning combinations and the organization of the next meeting.
TWINNING:
After the success of the first twinning sessions, new groups have been formed to proceed with the second part of the twinning. The second twinning phase groups have been divided according to the students’ age groups. This means that all country groups are mixed and students will have the opportunity to talk to new students from different countries. The focus of the twinning will be on the different phases of the design circle and the learning experiences, difficulties and success that the different student have faced during the process.
UPDATES ON SCHOOLS
SPAIN
In The I.E.S Peñamayor, the students have further developed their “Kamishibai” or the paper theatre in order to tell stories. The students have made prototypes of the theatre in the Fablab, reflected upon the results and improved the design when necessary to a final version that was made with a laser cutter. For the final version in real scale the class was divided in groups and two designs were executed out of plywood.
In the same school, another group has been busy with designing and executing T-Shirts and stickers with sustainability slogans, suing the vinyl cutter and serigraphy. With these stickers and T-shirts the students aim for raising more awareness among the rest of the students about sustainability.
At the C.P. Ablaña – La Pereda school, the students developed their ecological orchard and vertical garden even more. The idea behind is that in order to avoid industrial pollution, more products (vegetables) can be grown and consumed at the school. The project is beside the final product, also the possibility to raise awareness about home-grown vegetables.
The students made 6 prototypes in the fablab with the laser cutter. Furthermore, the students made prototypes for plant pots for the vertical garden and a plywood scarecrow to protect the garden from the birds.
At the Colegio Andolina school, the students continued their work on the t-shirts and a serigraphy kit. They learned how to use software such as TinkerCad, Inkscape and 3D objects were printed. In the end many different objects were created, not only for the t-shirts and the serigraphy kit but also for other subjects that the children follow in the school.
At the C.P. E.B Cabañaquinta school, the students have been busy doing various things related to digital fabrication and sustainability. They continued their work on the logo that could represent the school best. It was made into a competition, and the 2 winning designs were made using the fablab machinery. It was designed with Inkscape and executed with the laser cutter to create key rings, t-shirts and coasters, using board, methacrylate and rubber stamps.
In other project, the topic of sustainability was touched upon by the students who designed a irrigation system for a vertical garden in a way that it could be placed in one of the fences of the school garden. They have been making prototypes.
Finally, the students have designed a board game related to the topic of recycling aiming at teaching elementary school children more about sustainability.
ITALY
All students in the Italian schools have continued their work on sustainability, all in their own way.
The students of the Vittorio Emanuel III school have continued their work on sustainability and they have moved to the phase of fabrication and reflection in which they have made drinking dispensers with recycles materials. Another group has been using the design model to think of a solution for the waste of pizza boxes, especially in summer. Although they have started only recently the new circle, students have been thinking about different solutions and options to make a reusable pizza box.
Also at the “Ragusa – Kiyohara” school, the students have been working continuously to realize their ideas. Concetta’s students have been working on the playground objects for children and they have been making prototypes. Giusi’s students have been working more on the school and sustainability, and some of her students have been busy creating an idea on how to restructure and reorganize the school in a way that it is more green and multifunctional. Other students, from the same school, are working on recycling. They look for broken furniture in the school, measure them and redesign them in order to transform them into new objects such as vertical gardens, bottle holders, or even chairs.
DENMARK:
At the “Vejle Midtbyskole” teachers have started from the start the new design circle. In one class, non-Danish students are involved in creating a board game in order to teach Danish language to students who are not Danish. Through the making of this game they combine Danish language and technical skills. After the design brief and fieldstudy of different board games, the students made prototypes using 3D printer and laser cutter.
5th grade students of teacher Nicolaj, at the Sejs School in Silkeborg trying to inspire children to read and keep reading by designing and decorating the Pedogogical Learning Centre. They used software and hardware for the design and execution, and argued for their design choices as well as reflected on their final choices.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The next meeting will be in Tilburg, from 28th May until the 1st of June 2018. This will be the last workshop in which all teachers from the different countries will come together to work on the design model, to learn from each other and the reflect on the project, the twinning and the educational principles that have been tested and developed.
The final conference of the project will be held in Palermo in October 2018. Here the final results of the project will be presented with a focus on the relevance of the 21st century skills, innovation of the school system and the potential of fablab technologies in relation to school education. This will also be the perfect opportunity for the partnership to present the manual on Educational Digital Fabrication. The specific dates will be updated soon.
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