STIC:Earli2016-3Dworkshop
Digital design and fabrication workshop
- Daniel K. Schneider, TECFA, Faculty of psychology and educational sciences, University of Geneva
- Very rough draft
- EARLI Special interest Group “Text and Graphics Comprehension”
- Geneva, July, 2016
Abstract
Physical visualizations (or physicalizations) can promote cognition through a variety of mechanisms, notably easier perception, hands-on manipulation and enhanced interaction with other participants. We can distinguish several types of physical visualizations, according to three dimensions: active/passive, kit/whole, digitally enhanced/non digital. In this workshop we will focus on two kinds of visualizations, non-digital construction kits and whole visualizations.
(1) Construction kits allow creating and manipulating visualizations from building blocks. In education, construction kits, also known as expressive media or manipulatives, allow interactive exploration of designs, concepts and roles. Physical visualizations can for example represent tabular quantitative data or more qualitative data like the state of a project or a system. Construction kits to create such visualization include a set of tokens that can be assembled into something with a new functionality (i.e. visualizations in our case) according to predefined rules. (2) Whole visualizations are created digitally and then rendered entirely by a 3D printer or other fabrication device. Typically, these 3D visualizations are represent quantitative data, e.g. comparative time series, maps or functions with 3 variables.
In this workshop we first will present the concepts of physical visualization and construction kit and discuss a few examples that are either teacher or learner-centric. Then we will introduce some technical principles of digital design and fabrication, before discussing the practical requirements for teachers and/or students to learn and use digital design and fabrication technology. Finally, we will engage participants in some prototyping activity and have some brainstorming about "Comprehension of physicalizations" made with 3D printers.
Provisional program
Construction kits
Some construction kits are tools for data visualization or include some data visualization.
Physical visualization
Properties of a physical visualization kit (Huron 2014)
- A set of basic units or tokens, which can be mapped to data,
- A token grammar, which declares how the attributes of the tokens can signify data,
- An environment in which the tokens can be placed,
- An assembly model, which describes the constraints and freedom with which the tokens can be assembled.
Examples from http://dataphys.org/list/
- 5500 BC – Mesopotamian Clay Tokens
- 2007 – Global Cities: Elevation Maps of City Population
- 2008 – Activity Logging with LEGO Bricks
- 2010 – Data Sculptures in Class
- 2011 – Temperature measurement (Laser cut Time Series)
- 2015 – Touching Air: Necklace Shows Air Pollution
- 2015 – Canadian Federal Election Explained with LEGOs
- 2015 – Passim: Visual Reconceptualisation of Spatial Theories
Examples from thingiverse (3D printable objects repository maintained by a 3D printer vendor)
- Newest learning math items
- Makerbot Academy Math (A competition for building good math manipulables, 2013). The competition page cites Wikipedia's Math Manipulative article.
- Maker Ed Challenge (Feb. 2016)
Digital design and fabrication in education
Places for digital design and fabrication
- Fablabs (are on a mission, rules and minimal set of tools are required)
- Makerspaces (other places for making, various sizes)
- FacLabs (small, university Fablabs)
- Hackerspace (bottom-up organized makerspaces)
- Public Labs (do-it your self science with a political orientation)
- See also: Tour de Fablab
- Examples: MIT (can build almost anything), FabLab Amsterdam (public), FacLab Sergy-Pointoise, Fablab TECFA (my own machines, not a Fablab)
Introduction to 3D printing
- Workflow of 3D printing
Online drawing tools:
- https://www.3dslash.net/ (Mindcraft-like)
- https://www.tinkercad.com/ (Easiest Drawing Tool)
More tools:
Specialized tools for creating visualizations (not yet available)
- MakerVis video: http://www.aviz.fr/makervis
Hands on
Sample visualizations
Shown in the workshop
- Golden Ratio and Fibonacci's Sequence by ypsimon, published Dec 9, 2015. A math manipulative.
- Triangle de Reuleux by Julien DaCosta (coursework)
- Running activity visualization beads by DKS, a simpler version of a necklace described in Stusak, S., Tabard, A., Sauka, F., Khot, R. A., & Butz, A. (2014). Activity sculptures: Exploring the impact of physical visualizations on running activity. IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics, 20(12), 2201-2210. https://www.medien.ifi.lmu.de/pubdb/publications/pub/stusak2014vis/stusak2014vis.pdf
- Lego-compatible thesis project boards by DKS described here, here and in a post paper in french.
HANDS ON: prototyping
Brainstorming
- Imaging a construction kit or an other method to visualize data. Try to find something that visualizes states or achievement of activities
- Discuss your idea with your neighbors
- Create a prototype (at least for an element)
For prototyping, we suggest five options:
In the tradition
- Take a sheet of paper and draw
Parameterization of necklace beads
- Transfer to an education or research subject, i.e. imagine a necklace whose beads encode some "advancement" or achievement information.
- Play with Running activity visualization beads
- Click on customize (green button)
- Select on Customizer (Red app)
Lego sculptures
- Imagine a collection of special-purpose bricks that represent something of interest to education or research work.
- Sculpt cool Lego bricks with 3Dslashable LEGO compatible bricks
- Either use the customize (green button) plus 3D Slash customizer app (registration required)
- Or install the app on your computer: https://www.3dslash.net/features_downloads.php and download an STL file from here
Draw from scratch using an online tool or your cell phone
- Create a system of tokens for an educational or research visualization
- There are several easy options:
- Online (web browser) "easy composition": https://www.tinkercad.com/
- Android "mindcraft-like" app: Qubism (Android PlayStore page)
- Android and IOS "easy composition" app: 3D Creationist (home page, PlayStore page, iTunes page)
- IOS app: Blokify
Resources
3D printing
Below is a selection of tools. Search or this wiki for more.
Online modeling tools
Modeling Tools
- Netfabb Studio Basic - STL positioning/repair (Win/Mac/Linux)
- MeshLab - Mesh repair/merger (Win/Linux)
- Sketchup (3D Modeling tool)
- Sculptris (3D Sculpting tool)
- OpenScad (Win/Mac/Linux). 3D Programming
- Autodesk® 123D™ (Free Autodesk CAD/3D tools for PCs and tablets, large downloads)
Slicing and controlling software
- Repetierhost, a popular program to control 3D printers, also includes an interface to run slicers.
Repositories
- http://thingiverse.com
- Shapeways, a site where people sell their designs (you decide how to render it). You also can upload a model and have it printed
Computerized embroidery
- Computerized embroidery (overview article)
- Stitch Era embroidery software
Design and fabrication in schools
- 3D printers in education
- Fab labs in education
- Discussion
- Impressions de mes cours pilote STIC IV.
EduTechWiki
Overviews
D&T in education
- Fab labs in education
- Computerized embroidery in education
- Design and technology in England's national curriculum
Embroidery
- Computerized embroidery
- Elna 8300 (small embroidery machine)
- Stitch Era embroidery software Tutorials for this software
3D printing
- 3D printing (overview)
- OpenScad beginners tutorial and Doblo factory
- Sketchup 3D printable objects tutorial
Music
Teaching
Other resources
- See various other articles of interest.