Lone Star School and STEM School Highlands Ranch third graders just finished collaborating on dinosaur designs ranging from clay, to Legos, to a program called Tinkercad. (3D design, electronics and coding). Lea Wagner from STEM School Highlands Ranch and Tammy Kirchenschlager from Lone Star School were the facilitating teachers.
Lone Star started the lesson with a special guest from the Colorado CattleWomen. We learned where our food comes from as well as many things that contain animal byproducts. (gum, gelatin, glue, and even lipstick).
The ability to collaborate in real-time synchronous learning will allows students to share their work via room-system cameras and mics as well as sharing content across digital platforms.
A few 5th graders came in to lend help with the program.
After the first session, Ms. Kirchenschlager, said that all ten of her students would like to learn about Tinkercad in the same way that we were sharing screens yesterday.
The second session was in THE SYNK. Simultaneously, Ms. Wagner was in her art room with those not using Tinkercad. The students learning Tinkercad took turns sharing their work and asking questions. Below is an example of this student-led discovery process.
Here are a few comments that shed light on what happened and what may be possible with a culture of collaboration across rural and urban schools.
We worked on using Tinkercad to create dinosaurs. Our goal is to be able to 3D print their designs created in Tinkercad. A couple 5th graders who were knowledgeable about Tinkercad were able to help 3rd grade students throughout their process. It was inspiring to see how quickly students accomplished tasks and communicated effectively through zoom. The students really enjoyed meeting and collaborating with students at another school. They were able to see how technology brings people together to help solve problems.
– Lea Wagner
I want to thank you for the wonderful experience. My kids have enjoyed learning about Tinkercad. Through Zoom they learned how to ask questions, share projects and problem solve with other students. My students got excited about learning and became more of a risk taker. They learned about email and how to share a project through email. They learned how to talk about technology and how to take risks. I have been teaching for 29 years. So it was very hard for me to leave my comfort zone and try this. I learned so much and your art teacher Lea was wonderful. I would like to see more break out sessions. So all kids can be learning from each other.
We helped some 3rd graders with Tinkercad (3D modeling). We did it using Zoom and we shared our screens with Ms. K’s class. We learned that with only a little help and a small demonstration, kids can take what we did and apply it to their own projects. They learned how to use Tinkercad more efficiently. The value of collaboration is that we can help kids and they can help us understand what they know and how we can help. I enjoyed helping those kids I think they learned from us. It was pretty cool that we were able to communicate with them and teach them something.
-Dylan & Ben (5th graders)
Senior Tinkercad 3D Modelers
Thank you Ms. Wagner and Ms. Kirchenschlager. These students and teachers are helping to “STEM the GAP” between rural and urban students.
Special thanks also to STEM 3rd-grade homeroom teacher Ryan Thatcher and Lone Star School superintendent and teacher Mike Bowers and Craig Parker.