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According to a survey conducted by the
skills service council, 83% of parents thought teachers should have more
contact with the business world. Business can consist of anything from
selling pork pies to arranging holidays in Jamaica to selling
educational software, but one thing they all have in common in the
twenty-first century is that they rely heavily on computers and IT
skills. See aspex article 'Parents
Value their Children Learning Skills'.
aspex Tabs MST easy 3D modeling
software helps schools to bridge this gap to the business world by
providing children with real hands on experience of design and
manufacturing using computers and IT.
Projects using educational software like this easy 3D software also
foment skills in building community and relations by collaborating and
sharing with children in other other schools, skills that will benefit
each child both personally and in the business world for the rest of
their lives. Indeed the importance of this type of skill building is a recognised part of the curriculum today.
aspexTabsMST is an easy 3D
modeling software for exploring math in a practical way by designing and
handling 3D shapes, their
NETS and seeing their orthographic projection. It
is a 'Design & Make' software, a tool to model an idea quickly on the
computer, print out its NETS and build it into a real world paper model.
A simple project might consist of two shapes, a cube and a wedge shape
joined together to make a farmhouse, and to make a paper model of it. Or how
about making a cuboid and a cylinder of similar dimensions, manufacturing the
paper models and then comparing their volumes practically by filling them with rice.
The results often surprise students! And what about making a 3D cube, and
another cube twice width and height and comparing how much rice each can hold!
A project to make a box employs a lot of maths and design technology skills. 3D shape language and concepts will be
well used: “This a pyramid with a square base", "This is a cube, and
this is a cube NET!", "This is a
prism with 5 sides, a pentagonal prism".
Projects like these take pupils through all the stages of the design
process from thinking about a problem to exploring solutions and then designing
and manufacturing a device to solve the
problem. |
