Professional Development
On March 12, 2018 I attended a Professional Development event at SUNY New Paltz from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm at 
Old Main in the CMC room 215. The program was sponsored by the Office of Education Advising and Kappa Delta Pi. The event was called Tree-house Design Through 3D Printing with Dr. Karen Bell. The event connected to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Arts, Mathematics). It is a learning approach to access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
During this event Dr. Karen Bell explained to us that she had several 3D printed trees. The event started of with her explanation on how they created the 3D trees; it was done through several trial and errors, Dr. Bell started off with just a small branch that she found in her yard and brought it in to have it 3D printed. Once it was printed they wanted to have it standing, so they placed clay on the bottom for it to stand on its own. After, they realized that the tree was still to small they combined two of the 3D printed trees to make it one. It came out the perfect size, but the base was not working very well therefore they had to fix the base once again until it was perfectly balanced.They managed to find one that works perfectly and does not fall over when there are items placed on top of it.
We were told that we must build a new tree-house for the “Lost Boys” because their house fell apart. We had several requirements that we had to follow when it came to building the tree-house:
- The base can only be a max of 60 square units.
- There must be at least one window with exactly 2 square units.
- There must be at least one door with exactly 3 square units.
- The walls must be a minimum of 2 square units high.
Once the tree-house was completed it had to fit at least 20 marbles (lost boys) inside without falling over. We were open to use any material we wished to use: Legos, unit blocks, paper, Popsicle sticks, tape, etc.
I found this task to be quite difficult. I initially attempted to use the unit blocks, but found them difficult to connect therefore I switched to Lego blocks. The Lego blocks were much easier to use, except I had to consistently measure the size to be sure that it was fitting within the requirements that were given to us. I became so focused one using blocks, that I forgot that we could use paper and Popsicle sticks until I noticed someone completed their tree-houses with those materials.
This activity can work extremely well within the Early Childhood and Childhood teaching because of the different concepts that you can tie into it. The first concept that can be used is technology; you could conduct an overall lesson on how the 3D printed tree were created and provide either a live demonstration or a video of it being done. Another concept that can be used is engineering and arts; the students are using skills to construct and design a tree house without it falling over through several materials that were provided to them. They can create the tree-house any way that they wish, and add other parts such as a swing, roof, pool, etc. As well as the concept of math can be used; you are calculating the dimensions of the walls, floor(s), window(s) and door(s) to fit within the requirements given.
Throughout this event I have learned that this activity can work extremely well with students of any grade level. This is a great way to tie in several different concepts into one activity. The 3D printed tree-house design allows for students to work with several manipulative’s. Students can find this activity to be enjoying without realizing that they are actually using their STEAM skills as they are building their tree-house. You can use the 3D printed trees for several other activities as well.