CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING

Early Childhood
18
Drawing to Learn!
by Karla Rosas, K9 Teacher
Two years ago early childhood invited Sylvia Chard, a founder
of The Project Approach, to come to Guadalajara and talk to
us about the importance of drawing with our students. Sylvia
believes that if children from a very young age learn how to
draw something they will better understand their immediate
environment. She views drawing as a form of communication
that allows the child to study his or her surroundings and
how things are made or how they work.
In Kinder 9, students have used drawing and sketching to
study our environment. We studied the life cycle of plants
and the parts of a plant. Students observed potted plants,
pineapple, corn, carrots, and the growth of lima bean seeds
over several weeks and then were asked to produce the
details they found in their drawings. They noticed the
patterns and shapes found in these fruits and vegetables.
While doing this, the children began to make detailed
observations of what they saw. Josh said, “Look the corn must
have over 100 seeds on it.” and Maria pointed out that the
pattern in the pineapple is “diamond-shaped.”
We also used the observational drawing technique to study
Betta fish. The children observed two types of Siamese
fighting fish. We looked at the two fish and the children
began to notice the shape of the fins were different. Andrés
stated, “The big fish has fins that are oval and the little fish
has pointy fins.” We then sketched both fish and focused on
these details that were observed by Andrés. The children
learned that by closely observing fish fins you can define
what type of fish it might be.
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Observational drawing has become a regular activity in our
classroom. It challenges the children to produce detailed and
quality drawings that allow them to reflect on what they are
observing, but also on their drawing capabilities. As a group
we have discussed drawing and how it helps us learn. Iñigo
said, “Writing is drawing letters, but drawing lets you draw
anything you want!” Camila stated, “When you draw
something you learn about it.” Valeria said, “You can draw
what you see or what is in your head.” This statement from
Valeria led us to the topic of using drawing as tool for
different learning styles. The children understand how this
form of communication helps them learn, but to further
investigate drawing, we did an experiment in the classroom.
Kinder students are encouraged to learn many words for
each letter of the alphabet. We introduce and expose them to
vocabulary using different techniques and strategies such as
reading books, creating lists, playing games and drawing
pictures. To help the children understand the benefits of
drawing we did an activity in the classroom. We first used a
standardized worksheet that required the children to look at
a group of pictures and color the ones that started with the
letter H or cross out the ones that did not.
The children worked for approximately twenty minutes on
the activity. The next day when I asked the students during
circle time to please help me name vocabulary starting with
the letter H, the only word they could think of was “house,”
which is found on the alphabet strip. I reminded the children
of the activity we had done the day before and asked them
again why they could not remember any of the pictures from
the worksheet. They themselves were surprised they were
not able to come up with more vocabulary.
I proposed that instead of using a worksheet to learn the
vocabulary we try a different activity. This time we tried it
with the letter C. I asked the children, “What do you think
would happen if you drew pictures of things that started with
the letter C?” Alex answered, “We will remember them
because we drew them.” So we tried it. First, I asked the
children to look around the classroom and name things that
started with the letter C. The students listed items like cat,
cookie, cake, Camila, car, etc. Then we gave them a piece of
paper and they drew three things starting with that letter.
The next day the children were able to remember several
vocabulary words to represent the letter C. They were
amazed and proud of themselves!
Through drawing the children have discovered they can
learn about their environment, or express their ideas.
Drawing is not just an art form, but a way to communicate
what the child sees and the thought process of learning. Or
as Iñigo said, “So we can have fun learning!”
High School
9 TH GRADE HONORS GEOMETRY STUDENTS SECURE
3D PRINTER DONATION FOR ASFG by Renata Rodríguez, HS Student
When our Honors Geometry teacher, Rhett Butler, talked to my class
about 3D printing, I had never heard of it before. In fact, except for a
couple of my classmates, no one had heard about it. So Rhett gave us a
brief overview, basically getting across the fact that 3D printing is a
developing technology that gives designers the ability to turn a virtual
digital 3D model (e.g. SketchUp or AutoCad) into a solid, physical 3D
model. Our homework for the evening was to learn more about the
technology as it would be the topic of our quarter project.
We learned that 3D printing is based on the concept of additive
manufacturing (AM) where the digital model is interpreted as a series of
cross-sections by the printing software. The printer takes the software’s
instructions and constructs the physical model layer-by-layer. Though
several techniques can be utilized, one popular 3D printer design
employs a nozzle similar to an ink-jet printer. The major difference is
that this nozzle contains a heating element to melt a plastic filament
that is fed to the printer from a coil. The nozzle is under precise
numerical control and lays down successive layers of beads of the
plastic, which quickly solidify after being extruded from the nozzle.
Though 3D printing has been around since the mid-1990s, it hasn’t
been until the last couple of years that it has reached the do-it-yourself
hobbyist level with relatively inexpensive, desktop-sized machines. Nike
uses 3D printers to create multi-colored prototypes of shoes. The
automotive and aviation industries use 3D printers to make parts.
Physicians are using it to make prosthetics, hearing aids, artificial teeth,
and bone grafts, as well as replicate models of organs, tumors, and other
anatomical structures. The technology has even made it into pop
culture when Britney Spears featured 3D printers in her music video of
Scream and Shout. Many manufacturing experts believe that we are in
the midst of an industrial revolution and it won’t be long before
consumers are downloading plans for printing 3D products in their own
homes. Manufacturers will produce products on-demand rather than in
large runs, improving inventory management and reducing warehouse
space. People in remote locations (e.g. on the moon) could fabricate
objects that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Lastly, 3D printing
can save money and material over subtractive manufacturing
techniques in which expensive material (e.g. titanium) is cut, drilled, or
milled, as very little raw material is wasted.
We assumed our project would be a “research paper”, but then Dr. Butler
asked us: “When was the last time you gave a high-stakes presentation
aimed at persuading a stranger to your way of thinking?” A few of us
mentioned our Model United Nations (MUN) experience, but our
teacher was unimpressed and reminded us that during an MUN
simulation we were not “really” a group of delegates representing
different nations; we were only pretending to be. He promised that this
project would be authentic and that ASFG students’ access to a 3D
printer depended on us. A meeting would be arranged with a local
entrepreneur interested in supporting the acquisition of a 3D printer
and the strength of our presentation would determine whether or not
he would grant the request or not. The pressure was on.
The essential questions to be answered in our presentation were:
• What is 3D printing and why is it something that ASFG 9 th grade
Mr. Timothy Willing
and students
Photo: Juan Alarcon
students should learn?
• How difficult is it to learn the software and hardware basics of 3D
printing? Are ASFG 9th grade students up to the task?
• What make and model 3D printer do we want and why?
Deep down we had doubts that our teacher would find a suitable patron
for the project, but unbeknownst to us, Dr. Butler had already made
contact with Mr. Timothy Willing, an ASFG parent and General Director
& President, Miller Packaging, and an expert in plastics. It turned out
that Mr. Willing is enthusiastic about 3D printing and is highly
interested in seeing our student community have access to the
technology. All we had to do was convince him that we were
adequately prepared to make use of the gift and the printer would be
ours.
We started off the presentation process by breaking up into groups of
three or four students and presenting in class. Ms. Jennie Kies, ASFG
Middle School Technology teacher, had experience with 3D printing at
her previous school in Iowa and attended the sessions to give us
valuable feedback. As if planned beforehand, each group seemed to
focus on a different aspect of 3D printing and broadened our fund of
knowledge. While one group became adept in the details of the
printing process, another group downloaded proprietary software and
began experimenting with virtual models and “preparing” them for
printing. Numerous connections were made to ASFG’s Learning Goals
and each group made a strong case for the feasibility of a 3D printer at
our school. After each group had presented, we voted to select a seven
student all-star team who would make the decisive presentation to Mr.
Willing in the Board Room. The students chosen to deliver this
presentation were: Paloma Calderon, Sabrina Cuevas, Rodrigo Díaz,
Francis McCann, Luciana Méndez, Daniel Soberanes, and me, Renata
Rodríguez.
The presentation took place on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 in the
Pink Palace. Mr. McGrath, Deputy Director General, presided. The whole
meeting was nerve-racking, but our presentations went smoothly and
honestly seemed to impress Mr. Willing. A rather lengthy
question-and-answer session followed the formal presentation where
numerous and detailed specifications of the various 3D printer models
were discussed. At the end of the evening, Mr. Willing was gracious
enough to agree to support the acquisition of ASFG’s first 3D printer and
thanked us for our enthusiasm and preparation. Significantly, through
his donation and our hard work, ASFG will be the first high school in
Guadalajara to own this technology.
Presently, Mr. Willing and ASFG faculty and administrators are
evaluating the current 3D printer options to select the best printer for
our school. Thank you Mr. Willing!
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