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Design
& Make
Pupils
are familiar with wordprocessors, spreadsheets and databases, but using
aspexTabsMST
enables them to encounter the computer as a design and manufacturing
tool as well.
aspexTabsMST
Overview
aspexTabsMST
is used to design a 3D
model on the computer screen using a series of simple shapes.
The model can be viewed from any angle or distance and the results printed
as nets which can be folded and assembled into a real world
object.
Shapes
When
using aspexTabsMST you are presented with a range of simple geometric shapes to
draw on the screen. The shape is shown instantly as a 3D object in the
view window. You can colour it, move it, rotate it, stretch it, and view it from
any angle. Many simple shapes can be combined to make a model - a
complex shape such as a house, spaceship, or anything else you can think
of.
Nets
When
the model has been created on screen, you can manufacture it. aspexTabsMST
automatically generates nets which can be positioned on the screen ready
to print out, cut out and build.
Keeping things simple
A design project does not need to complicated, the best projects are
simple ones. A simple project might consist of two shapes, a cuboid and a
wedge shape joined together to make a farmhouse.
Another
idea is to build a cuboid and a cylinder of similar dimensions and then to
compare their volumes practically by filling them with rice.
A project like this takes the pupils through all the stages of the
design process from thinking about a problem to manufacturing an object to
solve the problem.
The aim of such projects is not to produce elaborate 3D models but to
take pupils through the whole design process.
Even making a tissue holder from a pentagonal prism requires pupils to
think about packaging. They need to discuss their ideas, plan and draw the
package, change it, make it, and evaluate it to see how well it serves its
purpose.
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