Lessonplan For Teaching SketchUp To Grade/Middle School Ages
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Adam
I have taught SU to a few 6th to 8th graders and found that once i've given them the basics of how SU works I let them loose to play.
A few months ago at a summer camp (computer camp) I let the kids design their own space ship (space ship won by vote) and I must say they learned a lot and had a great time doing so, so I would try make the experiance as fun as possible initially, let their imagination loose on a subject that will captivate them. -
If they can use a mouse they can learn SU all by them little selves.
I think the most valuable thing you could do would have a projector setup so that when one student learns a cool trick they can demonstrate it to the others. Vice versa, if they get stuck they can demonstrate what they are having problems with and see if any other student knows how to do it.
Give them a "project" model, then let them at it. Give them the choice to get that model really really good or do a basic one and then allow them have their head. Some sort of recognition for good models would be in order.
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I think one of the most important things is to teach them how to navigate with the mouse (Scroll wheel/ Shift + Scroll...). if they are confident within the environment and know how to move, it makes it so much easier to model. when you change your point of view all the time you get a much better sense of 3D space.
show them the absolute basics:
- closing an outline of lines creates a face
- push/pull faces to volumes
- if you don't want a face, simply delete it (the edges will remain)
and when you show them the trick how to create a pitched roof simply by moving the central line up, they will start shouting excitedly "how did you do that???"
make sure you explain to them the importance of inferencing (draw along the right axes).
and as the others said - let them loose, let them play and questions will come... -
Yes, navigation is essential - we tend to forget about it since it's already in our fingertips.
When I showed SU to my 10-y-o nephew (and yes, the pthched roof trick, too), his question was "oka but can you make a house with wall thickness?".
So don't get surprised if they are more mature to the job than one would expect from their age. With my friend, we were trying to introduce SU to kids of 7/8 to about 17 only for about an hour or two each group and they did an excellent job, really! (Certainly not everybod was etremely interested but you can always expect that).
And it was during a Roman re-enactment camp (we were modeling Roman fortresses while wearing tunicas and togas
) so they didn't even come to use computers. -
Several years ago one of our very active forum members, Kevin Gentry, wrote a sylabus for a sketchup class he taught in a local school. I haven't thought about him for a while - curious as to what happened to him.
Kevin distributed the outline freely so I am sure he wouldn't mind me posting it here. The outline was for a much earlier version of SU but his lessons on the basics and the methodology might be helpful to you to create your own course of study. Good starting point.
Kevin, if you are out there - Hi and Happy New Year- thanks again for all the early contributions.
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Bonnie Roskes has published a series of Children's SketchUp books with exactly the sorts of projects you would be interested in. Some of the files for the book are up on 3D warehouse. Search on "Bonnie Roskes".
Bonnie worked together with teachers in a number of disciplines to come up with just the right excercises to teach some very specific concepts. Transparent to the kids because they are just having fun.Here is a link to the books: http://www.f1help.biz/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi
PS> Solo I would appreciate further input about your "camp experience" because I have sold a license ( only a single one so far) to a local camp run by a community college for a SketchUp camp. The camp is full days for 5 days and there are 2 different curricula: one for ages 9-11 and another for 12-14. I haven't written it yet but any input from you would be much appreciated. I intend to kid test it once it is written. I expect to have a number of demos by the councellors where the kids follow. Some "assignments" where they learn and then a selection from at least 5 different projects they can work on on their own as a "final". The councellors need to be trained on best methods for completing all of the projects to be able to help the kids and I am providing live tech support.
So, if you, or anyone with such experience, can provide me with that, I would appreciate! -
Hi Adam, hi folks.
As was written, show them the inferencing system and, most important, teach them patience. Tell them to wait for that half second to get the pop-up message and visual clue that tells "endpoint", "midpoint", "on face", "center", etc. to be certain that a line, for example, start or end at the appropriate position.
Tell them about what SketchUp (SU) is showing on the screen when you are using a tool (at lower left under the model window). This is often overlooked by many, judging by the number of questions asked on the various forums dedicated to SU. This is well covered in the help and the User Guide available in PDF.
I would suggest dowloading this file and havind it available for the students. Personnaly, I have a shortcut on my desktop for that file.
Show them the use of the VCB, now Dimension window in SU 7.
Just ideas.
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Hey thank you all for your responses. I am teaching this coming Tuesday for about an hour. Thank you all for your help, this really does help me! I will let you know how it goes afterwards.
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Good luck! I know my 4 year old loves SU. I think the older kids will too!
Chris
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@unknownuser said:
If they can use a mouse they can learn SU all by them little selves
This is really bad advice. Don't rely on students teaching themselves anything useful, they won't thank you for it and if the other teachers notice you won't have a job for long. There is nothing more demoralising to a student than making time-wasting mistakes that could have been avoided with better tuition. While experimentation is great, a well structured lesson plan with clearly defined objectives is important.
I think we hear far too often that Sketchup is "so easy". It might be easier to learn than most 3d CAD apps but to a total novice the learning curve should not be underestimated.
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I had a similar experience with another 'simple' cad system.
A colleague of mine started a first session which was a bit similar to 'let them see what it can do and let them loose on it'.
Although the kids enjoyed it, it ended up as very unfocused and they did not really achieve anything constructive.
For the second group I first had a discussion with them about something they would be familiar with that was not too difficult to visualise and understand - in this case it was a storage box for their bedroom to lock away all the things they did not want their mum and dad or siblings to have access to.
I then took them through a step by step process creating a simple box with a lid. When it was finished we went through the drawing changing it by re-colouring it, changing the shape of the lid and putting partitions inside. Then I left them with a project to create their own interpretation of something similar but using their own design.The kids really enjoyed it, and one of them even went as far as changing the subject of his drawing and instead he had a go at creating a wardrobe (primitive but effective), and the rest of them then wanted a go at doing the same.
Finally I gave them a project with no guidance on producing it on the PC - to create a shelving system with a 'desk top' for their computer or TV. We discussed what it should be like it and I sketched one on the blackboard following suggestions from them, then left them the task of reproducing something similar on the PC. Some of the results were very inventive - some were also rather amusing.
What I took away from that session was the opinion that if you give them a focus and some guidance, but leave them to explore their own ideas using something familiar to them, they move on very quickly and enjoy applying their own creativity.
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Chris,
You mentioned something that got my attention-a 4 year old. I have one also. From the Boot Camp etc. I know you are up there in knowledge of computers and SU. Is there anything you can tell that might deviate from the norm regarding things you did/do to bring your child along with computers? What types of things are you doing in relation to SU to generate a good start? My child is finally moving beyound pushing every buttom in site to see what will happen and we are thinking about a computer and SU as a preference instead of war games. My only fear is that he may leap frog ahead of me real quick. So, I would like to know your thoughts so I can better determine what to give and hold back for his benefit and my protection.
blair
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I wish I knew the answers to all those great questions. Right now she plays a few Nick Jr. games and that kind of stuff. But I too would prefer that she do things like SketchUp instead of that. So as it stands, we let her use the computer to paint in photoshop with my tablet. She likes to draw people and trees. She's good enough to be able to delete everything, save a file, change color and brushes. I haven't spent enough time with her in sketchUp though. she can draw shapes and push/pull them and color things. But I normally have to help her change tool between line, rectangle, circle, paint bucket. But she really has taken to it quite well and very fast. I like her working in a 3d app like SU. Seems like it should help her with spacial skills and stuff. So from what I've read in this thread, I should have a few lessons worked out for her to try and finish. THen maybe she'd learn even faster. I like the idea. I wish she was a little older and better at SU. Then I could have her making all my SU models for school
I guess I'll have plenty of time in my post-collegiate professional career to put her to good use though 
Chris
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Chris,
Thanks for responding! You have given me some ideas. I never thought of PS but it seems like a natural and not as messy as my early ons. Knowing what your daughter is doing, and can do, in SU is very helpful also. I definitely agree about spatial relationships and such.
If you ever come up with some lessons and have time to share I would really appreciate knowing about some of the lessons you develop. First off I will try them and if I have reasonable learning success I will pass along what little I master to boy wonder and let him have a go at it. The hard parts I will try to discuss with him so he can explain the how to’s later. Rubies seem to have a big future. As soon as he can read a few more words I think I will try to find him a good book about that stuff.
blair
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@linea said:
@unknownuser said:
If they can use a mouse they can learn SU all by them little selves
This is really bad advice. Don't rely on students teaching themselves anything useful, they won't thank you for it and if the other teachers notice you won't have a job for long.
he he... I didn't mean to just walk in, sit down, put your feet up on the desk, pull your hat over your eyes and nod off.
The project I mentioned in my post would be something like a bird house or a rabbit hutch. If they already do woodworking then get one of the plans they have made already. The first thing I made in woodwork was a pencil box.
That way they already have a reference and measurements of what they are going to create in SU.
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My wife and I have 3 older kids, ages 10-12 whom we teach at home full time. Part of their curriculum the past two years has been learning Sketchup. I think there are a lot of great mathematical and analytical problem solving techniques that can be gained through using sketchup. This year, we decided to incorporate sketchup into a bigger "major" for each of the kids. We had each child pick a subject of interest. My youngest daughter wants to be a veterinarian, so her curriculum was structured around biology and animal studies. We incorporated sketchup by having her design and build an animal rescue center. She had to do a few weeks of paper sketching before even beginning in SU. My older daughter is involved in riding and boarding horses, so that was her "major" and she used Sketchup to model an entire horse farm. My son wants to be an animator, so he used SU for conceptualizing his story boards, but used Silo for all his character modeling.
I also educate other "adults" in my field about using SU, and I can tell you that my kids picked it up in a tenth of the time as the adults. I think fundamentally, kids are more apt to get it, as technology is something that is ingrained from the time they were born. Don't underestimate the level at which kids can understand. My 11 year old son has now produced several animations in 3ds Max and my 12 year old daughter is a Pro at Photoshop. It's all about raising "no limit" kids.
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Hey all,
So today was the hour run-down with the fourth grade class. Overall it went very well, the kids were absolutely pumped about the software. First of all I went through and explained why we would use software such as SU and what it is used for. Next I explained where you may use it in a job. We opened up the program and I showed them the basic tools (rec, line, circle, push/pull.) I taught they about the X & Y axis and used the push/pull tool to demonstrate the third, Z, axis. They were really pumped about the push/pull tool. I had them use these tools to create a cube and then add a roof. They were really excited about this. I really ran out of time and was hoping that I could have them put brick and shingles on the roof but it didn't work out. I showed them a couple things on the projector, like downloading a semi off the 3DWH and then scaled the house to fit the semi. This really showed them the importance of scale and measurements. I was hoping to have more time to let them loose.
I would say about half of the group of 18 was following really well and could have gone much faster. This was the toughest part of the class, challenging all of the students and meeting them where they are skill-wise. I finished off by showing them the Massive Black video which really got them excited.I told them that they draw all of their characters and vehicles using the same tools that we learned about and they were pretty surprised about that. They all wrote down the address to download it from and hopefully they will go home and play with it. I recommended them to keep their eyes open and try draw everyday objects that you may find in your house or outside and not to be afraid to play with it and, at times, fail.
It was a fun experience and makes my respect teachers that much more
Thanks all for your responses and tips, really did help! -
nice to hear that your class was a success. hopefully we got some new followers in our religious course
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Anyone know of any new books or information developed or being developed that is dedicated to the use of SketchUP for children? My boy wonder (by association I naturally think this way) is 5 years old now, reading pretty well and clicking everywhere in SU but we need a plan and some methodical lessons to work from. He seems to learn quick and I look forward to his learning all he can very soon so he can start teaching me some stuff.
I am aware of Bonnie Roskes but not sure what she has going these days. I have emailed her but the emails don't get through. I have called and left a message, phone number and email address but have not received a reply.
I am looking for any and everything avaliable. Any information offered will be helpful and appreciated.
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Blair, Bonnie is still very much active with her SketchUp Books, particularly the ones for children.
Is is possible you have old out of date contact information.She has a fairly new website and her contact information is on this page of here site:
http://www.3dvinci.net/ccp0-contact/KHXCseo.htmlLast week was a religious holiday so perhaps she was unavailable at the time. I am sure if you have the correct contact info, you will definitely hear from her. Her books are the best bet.
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