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By Aspex Software
Bring STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) alive! - Press Release
29 Jan 2010
Children’s Engineering for Primary and Secondary Schools
Design your idea, print it, and manufacture it with the aid of an inexpensive Craft ROBO or Silhouette Fabrication machine.
The brand new educational software from Aspex, FabLab ModelMaker,
is designed to connect to a Craft Robo /
Silhouette which is an inexpensive fabricating machine. With ModelMaker and
the Craft Robo / Silhouette you can not only design a shape or model on your home or
classroom computer, you can also CUT IT OUT automatically so that it is
ready to be folded and glued together.
Teachers are excited because FabLab ModelMaker takes the process of design on the
classroom computer a step further, to making and trimming. In this way
children will get experience of the way engineering and manufacturing are
carried out in industry. With ModelMaker and the Craft Robo/ Silhouette
Children’s Engineering is now accessible in the average primary classroom.
We launched FabLab ModelMaker with the Craft Robo/ Silhouette fabrication
machine at the NTLS summit in Hawai'i on Jan 7 / 8 2010. In no time at all teachers
and educators alike were involved in discussing design ideas for a cereal packet,
they
enjoyed arguing about a theme for their cereal, deciding on colours, shapes
and texures for the packet. It was soon manufactured, cut out and sitting on
the desk!
Delegates at the summit were treated to the spectacle of a class
of 4th graders enthusiastically designing and manufacturing cereal packets of their own; it
was fantastic!
Teachers see so much potential in this technology to deliver the neglected
STEM subjects in a new, fresh way and really get children involved and
excited. Designing and making their own ideas is a practical way to
stimulate children’s creativity and reinforce their knowledge in the STEM
subject areas. For example designing a cereal packet gives a practical
reason for using the math of volume and shape and demonstrates the
connections between math technology and engineering.
FabLab
ModelMaker is Children’s Engineering in action, and educators are excited
about FabLab ModelMaker!
About Aspex Software
Founded in 1994 aspex is a provider of educational software to schools
and home users. The software is content free, and so rich and colourful that
the education element just happens while the children are having fun!
tags:
STEM educational software,
children's
educational software, childrens engineering
software, easy
3D software,
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