Lesson 3 builds upon the knowledge learnt in the previous two lessons. This lesson teaches your classes how to create 3D models and develop their basic CAD skills using the free programme TinkerCAD. If you have taught the free introductory tutorial from lesson 1, that will act as a good starting point to build on.
Students will be shown the dashboard of TinkerCAD where their 3D models will be saved and how to ‘create a new design’ from the dashboard. They will also learn the concept of a workplane, how to zoom in and out, the concept of the view cube and a recap of how to create and edit a basic shape. Furthermore, they will learn how to use the measuring tool to ensure accuracy when designing 3D models and will be challenged with creating a simple storage container with a snap fit lid. This will involve them designing two models on one workplane to given measurements. They will also learn how to switch between perspective view and orthographic view to enable them to create 3D models with ease.
With this lesson pack there are accompanying video tutorials for the teacher and students to watch. The videos can be pre-loaded onto your schools computers so if students need more time to learn the basic concepts, they can refer to the video and work at their own pace.
Included is an example STL file of the design that is used in the lesson so the teacher can print this off as an examples for students to refer to. If you 3D print the file, students can use this to check their measurements of their digital 3D model against the printed physical example.
There is a student help sheet with all the features used during the lesson and a lesson task instruction sheet.
Like in previous lessons the homework has an answer sheet so can be peer assessed or self assessed. There two options for teachers and schools, either buy a copy of the files to download, this will give you complete editing control over the files, or subscribe to access. Subscribing allows you to teach the curriculum from our teacher portal and download worksheets and STL files and gives you the latest updates to the curriculum.