FableVision Learning Spotlight Blog

FableVision Learning 2/18/20 FableVision Learning 2/18/20

Fabricating Fun for National Engineers Week

Build a snowman without the frostbite! Watch this quick time-lapse video to see how educators can introduce engineering concepts to young learners with FabMaker Studio.

FabMaker Studio is the first digital fabrication software tool developed specifically for use in the classroom. It is an easy-to-use, web-based program that invites students to experience STEM and STEAM learning in an engaging, personally meaningful way.

For more information, contact us at info@fablevisionlearning.com

Andrea Calvin 12/23/19 Andrea Calvin 12/23/19

Educators Create Bravely in New Hampshire at CMTC with FableVision/Reynolds Center

With the New England snow in full force, FableVision Learning and the Reynolds Center team joined the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference in New Hampshire for two days of creativity, invention, and inspiration.

During hands-on sessions, we introduced our FableVision Learning Creative Tools, Animation-ish and FabMaker Studio. We had a lot of fun exploring STEAM-powered learning by making cubes, exploring shapes and geometry, and understanding the importance of digital storytelling through animation.

From Fireside Chats with Paul Reynolds and Olivia Van Ledtje (LivBits) to Dot Day celebrations, there were many opportunities for a creativity recharge in the FableVision/Reynolds Center Room.

Folks were also invited to take a break from the cold weather and join us for “Creativi-Tea Time.” Hot tea was served during the FableVision Studio produced mini-film festival.

During this time, participants were encouraged to make their own dot to add to our Dot Day wall.

Jane Reynolds 8/1/19 Jane Reynolds 8/1/19

FABClassroom: Physics Club Engineers Solution to Safely Land Lizard

Located in the beautiful Sonoran Desert of Yuma, Arizona, Centennial Middle School is surrounded by colorful sunsets, warm winters and inspiring educators.

Science teacher Kaitlin McGill has been using FabMaker Studio with her Physics Club. She recently shared a bit about the parachute project that required her students to collaborate and design a parachute that can safely land a small plastic lizard on the ground.

How did you pose the parachute challenge to the students? Were there specific parameters?

I introduced them to Newton’s Laws of Motion. We favored the law “An object in motion stays in motion, unless an outside force acts on it”. So, I challenged them with the following: Create a parachute or something that will safely land a small plastic lizard to the ground.

What has been design process on the parachutes?

We have been following the engineering design process.

Problem: Safely get the little plastic lizard to the ground.

Background Research: Students used their iPads to look up what a parachute is and what various parachutes look like. Also, Newton’s Laws of Motion and principals of aerodynamics.

Specify Requirements: Students learned that they needed a parachute that is big enough to support the weight of the small lizard.

Develop and Prototype Solutions: Students made several prototypes, approximately ten. When it did not work, they went back to the drawing board and modified their designs in FabMaker Studio.

Test solutions: Students stood on a step stool or ladder to test the accuracy of their design.

Solutions Met Requirements: Students met the requirement after six weeks of failed attempts.

Communicate the Results: The students discussed why their parachute attempts failed or were successful.

What has been one “aha” moment working with students with Fab@School?

There would be times when the students would feel frustrated with their failing design. They learned that working collaboratively, instead of individually, can create a better design.

How have your students reacted to the program?

Students say “It was cool” “I am able to be creative.” Overall it has had a positive impact on my club.

What advice would you give to someone starting out with Fab@School?

If just starting with Fab@School, give yourself some time. The program is very intuitive; just take a little bit of time to play with it. Also trust your students, with very little instruction they can soar.

What’s next?

Physic’s club will be going off from science and more into history. The students are showing extreme interest in historical locations.

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com. You can also tweet your photos with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring FabMaker Studio, click here.

Jane Reynolds 6/2/19 Jane Reynolds 6/2/19

FABClassroom: Fabricating the City of Ember

For this week's FabClassroom we head over to Boyden Elementary School in Walpole, MA.

Cheryl Ivatts is a fourth grade teacher and her students recently embarked on a Fab@School Maker Studio journey mapping out the City of Ember.

“We are an active, curious fourth grade classroom in Walpole, MA. Letting students create and explore on their own is a driving force in our daily routine. I read the book “City of Ember,” written by Jeanne Duprau as a read-aloud to the class a few months ago. The kids loved the book and were hanging on every word.

With none of the kids having read the book yet they were experiencing it together and trying to unlock the mystery in it. Realizing how much could be done with this story and wanting to let them show their vision I gave them free reign to design a bulletin board to match that vision.

They knew they needed buildings, roads and pipes. Having seen Fabmaker used in the school previously and with the help of Nancy Carroll, our Digital Learning Coach, the kids each designed a building to go on the board. Next they knew they needed lanterns so those were made using the Fabmaker also. The next thing was the pipeworks this was made using the cylinders and then the kids even were able to have blue colored water put in ziploc bags and placed in the pipes!

As I finished reading the book they begged for me to read the next in the series – “The People Of Sparks,” and when I said I would be reading a different book many went out and found the book on their own and read it. I do believe that the excitement around the bulletin board pushed many to read it because they were able to connect to the book on the next level.

One of the aha moments was when they were all working on parts of the board in groups chosen by them and working on building parts of the board thought out by them. Giving up control while showing them the resources available was the best way to unleash their creativity!”

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com You can also tweet your photos with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring Fab@School Maker Studio, click here.

Andrea Calvin 4/17/19 Andrea Calvin 4/17/19

FABClassroom: Olympic Designs at Augustine F. Maloney Elementary

For this week's FabClassroom we head over to Augustine F. Maloney Elementary in Blackstone, MA. Monica Carty is an elementary technology teacher at Blackstone-Millville Regional School District. She has been using Fab@School Maker Studio in her after school STEM club. It has been so successful she will be launching an after-school club just for Fab@School! Monica shares how her students used FabMaker Studio to celebrate the olympics.

Learning about the Olympic sports is always entertaining. However, the question becomes how can it become more engaging? Well why not have the students develop their own Olympic symbols or create an argument for why one of the Fab@School Studio Maker ready-made project would make a better option.

In my technology enrichment block I did just that with a group of third grade students. In their homeroom classes they study all about the Olympic games and the history of the Olympics. Then when they came to the computer lab the review several ready-made projects and choose one to be the next Olympic symbol.

Once they sent it to the cutter some decided to add more colors or features to meet their visions. The only requirement we game the students was they had to be able to explain how it represented the Olympics.

Overall the creative connections the students made were unbelievable! It is amazing how far students will go when given the opportunity to be creative. Thank you Fab@School Maker Studio!

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com. You can also tweet your photos with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring Fab@School Maker Studio, click here.

Jane Reynolds 8/1/18 Jane Reynolds 8/1/18

FABClassrooms Around the World: Part 2

Welcome to the continuation of our international FABClassroom adventure! This is the second of two blog posts highlighting the creativity of students using Fab@School Maker Studio in classrooms around the world to design, invent, and build their own geometric constructions and working machines - or anything else they can imagine. Take another peek at some more exciting projects below!

Burnham Brook School in Canterbury, NH

Students and educators at Burnham Brook School are both using Fab@School Maker Studio in creative and powerful ways. From sculptures in art class to paper masks for students who have dyslexia, Fab@School Maker Studio is empowering everyone to create bravely - even students who have a history of struggling with complex paper art projects. Kim Slayton of Burnham Brook School has even witnessed how Fab@School Maker Studio is empowering students first hand:

“I have a student who, due to birth complications, has only four fingers on one hand. This makes it especially difficult for her to use scissors. She was so excited and amazed when she came across the Fab@School Maker Studio program. She was able to plan and create a very complex paper art project without difficulty [and cut it out with the digital cutter]. It was a great “aha” experience when she finally saw her concept come to life."

Arrowwood Elementary in Highlands Ranch, CO

Arrowwood Elementary is a FABschool, applying and grappling with concepts creatively in order to deepen understanding. As part of this, the older students have been making prisms with Fab@School Maker Studio to be used as manipulatives by younger students, which reinforces both geometry concepts and school community!

Sir Charles Tupper School in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Laura Kennedy’s third grade students not only learned geometry and created bookmarks with Fab@School Maker Studio, but they also developed communication and collaboration skills and self-confidence along the way. Students loved creating projects and even expanded their learning with storytelling, poetry, and nonfiction facts about their design processes. To quote Ms. Kennedy, “Bookmarks might have been the task but confidence was the result.”

Wake County Public School System in Cary, NC

Wake County Public School System students have been busy making everything from story cubes to houses with Fab@School Maker Studio. Third graders have fabricated 3D story cube for writing and digital storytelling; other students created little houses to combine into town and city displays that demonstrate the difference between urban, suburban, and rural communities; and simply looking at pre-made projects with the 3D viewer in Fab@School Maker Studio has allowed students to better understand the difference between 2D and 3D. Even the principal joined in the fun one day with a bright orange crown that he fabricated and wore himself!

Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Yuma in Yuma, AZ

Lesson plans, display models, and curiosity abound at the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Yuma, where Fab@School Maker Studio is so popular that two classes had to be established to meet demand! While many projects have been created so far, Program Director Tania Pavlak also noted that top spinners and a bee are two stand-out favorites.

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school in an blog post too! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com. You can also tweet your photos with the hashtag #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring Fab@School Maker Studio, click here.

Jane Reynolds 7/31/18 Jane Reynolds 7/31/18

FABClassrooms Around the World: Part 1

Fab@School Maker Studio is everywhere - from classrooms across the United States to classrooms across the globe in Canada and Saudi Arabia! Around the world, students of all ages are able to use Fab@School Maker Studio to design, invent, and build their own geometric constructions and working machines - or anything else they can imagine. In fact, there are so many creative FABClassrooms out there creating exciting projects that we had to make a two-part blog series to cover them all - take a look!

STEM Launch K-8 in Thornton, CO

Sixth graders used Fab@School Maker Studio to design tiny house models as part of their math Problem-Based Learning model, which allowed them to meet math standards while grappling with everyday problems. Students found Fab@School Maker Studio to be a perfect fit into their design process and had many positive things to say about working with it!

"FabMaker Studio is easy to use and understand. It's one of the best websites I've used for 3D printing! I love how if I needed a shape I could just grab it and move it. TinkerCad is too sensitive for me." — Logan S.

"This program helped us figure out the measurements and we determined how to scale it down by a third. We really liked the visual that the program gave us." — Eric D.

"I love the magnet tool. It really helped us construct our physical model." — Jeff D.

Boyden School in Walpole, MA

Karen Wolff’s first graders have used Fab@School School Maker to create snow forts and bees! The snow forts were made through experimenting with different types of shapes and prisms, both fabricated in Fab@School Maker Studio. Wolff’s students use the 3D viewer tool to see how different 3D cubes and rectangular prisms connect. The bees were fabricated as part of a lesson on honey bees that covered everything from the sounds in the word “honey” to the life cycle and anatomy of a honey bee!

International Schools Group Dammam in Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Digital Learning Coach Lorrie Cook is introducing students at International Schools Group Dammam to Imaginasium, the new and evolving STEAM lab. At Imaginasium, students are using Fab@School Maker Studio to create paper geometric constructions and working machines. According to Cook, students have clamored to create paper sculptures during their after school activities. One impressively savvy fourth grade girl even took the initiative to learn how to design with Fab@School Maker Studio all on her own!

Castle Rock Middle School in Castle Rock, CO

Students all across Castle Rock Middle School use Fab@School Maker Studio in classes ranging from World Cultures to Science. Eighth graders have designed tiny home interiors for a Sustainability Project, seventh graders have designed a school for a Mars Challenge, and World Cultures students have learned about Japanese culture and paper folding with Fab@School Maker Studio. School librarian Yvonne Miller says that, “The spatial awareness and critical thinking necessary to design a 3D project is challenging to say the least” and that when students use Fab@School Maker Studio “there is definitely a lot of metacognition and visible thinking going on.”

PROJECT EXTRA in Oceanside, NY

PROJECT EXTRA are excited to use Fab@School Maker Studio to participate in their annual Invention Convention at their local library in May. According to Angela Maria Abend, a teacher at PROJECT EXTRA, “This event is held annually and is attended by hundreds of people who share and celebrate the students' creative journey of innovation. Having this equipment in the classroom this year is a definite game changer!”

Andrea Calvin 4/10/18 Andrea Calvin 4/10/18

FABClassroom: “Fab” ulous Cars

Who says learning has to be dry or boring? Or even end with the school bell? Well I do not think that ever has to be the case! In fact, I run an amazing STEM club after school thanks to my school parent organization and Fab@School Maker Studio that say different.

In the past my STEM clubs were always enjoyed by all the students who attended, but this year I stepped it up by adding the use of Fab@School Maker Studio. In the club’s conclusion project students designed, developed, and created balloon powered cars. Students had a wide range of tools and supplies at their disposal. The only requirement was the car had to move by balloon power!

Students quickly went to work developing a sketch, or basic blueprint, and a supply list. From their printing, cutting and building noises filled the room with laughter and smiles. When testing day came no one was nervous because at that point they felt that failure was their learning opportunity.

I highly recommend trying this with your students as you explore several science and engineering standards in your classrooms. If you want to connect to multiple subject areas you can have students do a formal write piece about their experience, or develop a descriptive writing piece for their design. If you are looking to integrate more math calculate distances, movement times, or building expensives is a great option. The fact of the matter the possibilities are only limited by your own creativity!

Andrea Calvin 2/12/18 Andrea Calvin 2/12/18

Explore Math with a Valentine’s Day Explosion Box!

This post was written by Peggy Healy Stearns, Ph.D., the designer of Fab@School Maker Studio and co-founder of the Fab@School coalition.

If you love pop-ups – those playful, joyful constructions that bring books and cards to life – then you’ll probably love “explosion boxes.” These popular 3D paper crafts take pop-ups to a whole new dimension.

Like pop-ups, “explosion boxes” offer an engaging way to invite students into the world of math and engineering. They encourage students to explore and work with measurement, parallel and perpendicular lines, angles, triangles, symmetry, and transformational geometry, all in the context of engaging manipulatives kids design and make themselves.

Although the deepest learning comes when students design from scratch, a Fab@School Maker Studio Ready-Made Project jumpstarts students by providing a model they can explore and customize. Once students understand the shapes, cuts, folds, and angles that make up an explosion box, they are better able to design from scratch.

The simple explosion box shown here is designed to enclose a small Valentine’s Day treat, gift, or note. It can be printed first and then cut, or cut without printing from colored card stock or plain white paper that students decorate themselves.

Encourage students to customize with color, cutouts, and other design elements. Once students have their initial model in hand, ask them to explore their constructions. Use some of the questions below to kickstart a class discussion. Then challenge students to design their own original explosion boxes.

Above, is the template for the Fab@School Explosion Box Ready-Made. Check it out!

Explore the explosion box:

How many faces does your explosion box pattern have? How do you get 9 faces to fold into a square box?
What will fit inside the box?
What is the volume of the box? How many M&M’s, plastic counters, or marbles will fit?
At what angle do the square sides fold? At what angle do the hearts fold?
Can you suggest other shapes or images that would work in place of the hearts?
What do you like best about your explosion box? What would you like to change?

Challenge:

Design 2D, pop-up, or 3D elements scaled to fit inside your explosion box.
Can you resize the box to hold a different object?
Design an original explosion box from scratch for Valentine’s Day or another occasion. Search “explosion box” on the Internet for ideas.
Make a different shaped explosion box. Can you design a box that looks like a building, animal or other object? With a specific purpose or “client” in mind, set criteria and constraints and design a box that meets these guidelines.

Common Core Math Standards [Additional standards apply.]

Next Generation Science Standards

ETS1-1, ETS1-2, ETS1-3

Andrea Calvin 1/10/18 Andrea Calvin 1/10/18

Getting "Messy" with Fab@School at the ED Games Expo

In a room filled with amazing virtual reality stations, impressive mobile apps, and science simulations, we were the “messy table.”

Thank you Fab@School Maker Studio! https://t.co/v1mwayJ11o Ed Games Expo #EDGamesExpo @kencen @IESResearch @sbirgov #KWBpride pic.twitter.com/ItubhDevTT
— Project Discovery (@lsullivan) January 8, 2018

On Monday, Jan. 8, FableVision Learning joined hundreds of game developers at 5th annual ED Games Expo hosted by the U.S. Department of Education at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in DC. The expo was a chance to showcase learning games developed through The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to students from the DC area.

We discovered that in this digital age, youngsters were drawn the tangible. Our table was the busiest of all! Why? We were there to demo Fab@School Maker Studio, an online tool where students design with 2D shapes to create nets that when fabricated using a digital cutter become 3D objects.

The perk - it is all done with paper.

I was inundated with students all lining up to answer one simple question: “What do you want to make”? Everytime the answer was different.

“What do you mean… make?”
“A house.”
“A car.”
“A Mickey Mouse face that has stars instead of circles for ears”
“What can I make?”
“I want what she made, only different.”

The challenge was on and it was only 10 a.m.

Students picked a piece of colored cardstock, mounted it on a sticky mat, and patiently waited for their turn.

A fourth-grade girl was excited to create a dodecahedron - she just loves shapes. But wanted two sides to have a cut-out of a star. This was simple - by dragging a star from the shapes pallet onto her design she was able to see her idea come to fruition digitally and after 50 seconds though the digital cutter - she was folding her geometric shape.

One girl wasn’t impressed with the sunglasses she was wearing and wanted to create her own. As a group of young engineers we examined what shapes were used in the construction of the glasses.

“Maybe two circles with two more circles in the middle to see,” one student suggested.

“Now we need a rectangle to make them connected,” another added.

At the end of the design phase, we had a pretty nifty pair of sunglasses with very long arms. Back in Fab@School, she used the ruler tool to accurately create the perfect pair of sunglasses.

There were oohs and aahs from all folks of ages when the students snapped pulled together six squares and watched as the program’s 3D viewer showed how the shape would fold. One exhibitor remarked that Fab@School was unique because you create 2D nets to create 3D objects instead of building in a 3D environment and having the program flatten it.

Toward the end of the afternoon, teachers were giving the five-minute-until-the-bus-leaves warning to students that had been there for a good part of the day - designing, creating, and getting messy.

We left tired but excited to know we had inspired a few more future engineers.

Jane Reynolds 12/8/17 Jane Reynolds 12/8/17

FABClassroom: Oak Ridge School Students Construct a FAB Paper City

Meet Carly Smith, Art and Technology Teacher at Oak Ridge School. Carly fuses creativity and innovation together every day with her students to program robots, create stop-motion animations, and design in Fab@School Maker Studio.

Can you share a bit about your school and your teaching journey?

I am lucky enough to teach in the elementary school that I attended as a child, so working here feels like coming home. I am in my 8th year at this school and have worn many different hats, from special education teacher to technology integrationist and my current role as a specialist teacher teaching both art and technology. A typical day is never typical! Each day is different and that’s what I like most about my role. My technology classes are working on building computational thinking skills by coding robots so my morning is lots of troubleshooting and runaway robots. My art classes are operating on a choice-based curriculum so in the afternoon I feel like a “creativity coach” teaching mini-lessons, managing the space, and meeting with student-artists.

How are your students using Fab@School Maker Studio?

My students used Fab@School Maker Studio to create houses as part of an architecture project we did last year in art class. We looked at different types of buildings and the students designed their own to become part of a “Paper City." They created everything from monuments, to tent camping sites, to skyscrapers and one student even recreated the Eiffel Tower! After the buildings were fabricated the students used LEDs and coin cell batteries to light up the city. After this first project, some students used the software again to create stencils for an apparel design screenprinting project.

What has been the “aha” moment?

I discovered Fab@School Maker Studio at last year’s MassCUE conference. I was so excited the first time I used it because the options are limited only by the imagination of the designer. The software is the perfect combination of “kid-friendly” without being limiting. I had wanted to bring 3D printing into my classroom, but felt that my students’ experience would be diminished due to the expense of the filament and the time the printing takes for each item. Seeing how fast the paper cutter works combined with the affordability of the paper and cardstock made this so doable for my students and me. My PTA generously purchased the licenses and the paper cutter for my classroom and we began using it with Chromebooks last spring.

How are you integrating Fab@School with your current school curriculum?

This year I am hoping to expand the use of the software by having technology classes fabricate “cars” or “boats” that will be driven by the robots we are learning to program. The robots are waterproof so hopefully students will be able to design and program them to drive on dry land or be propelled through water. Check back with me in a few months and we will see how this grand plan comes to life!

As an Art/Tech teacher you really put the A in STEAM- can you share a bit about your role at Oak Ridge and how you incorporate arts with technology?

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate technology into the art curriculum and vice versa. The technology and art curriculums overlap in so many ways because creative problem solving and the design process are so critical to both content areas. In addition to the 3D design work they have done with Fab@School Maker Studio, my students have used software to edit photos or create unique compositions, iPads to create digital artwork, and digital cameras to learn about perspective, create illusions in photography as well as stop-motion animation.

This year we are experimenting with green screens to add interesting effects to our photos and videos. I find that my job is evolving to the point where I am putting students in the driver’s seat and empowering them to come up with ways to creatively use the technology available to them. I try to learn as much as I can about each tool or device so that I can help to guide them and troubleshoot problems. Often students know what they want the technology to do, and just need help getting there. Experimentation can sometimes feel scary because the teacher has to give up control, but the results are usually far beyond what I would have thought of or expected!

What is next?

I am excited to continue to connect with educators who are using this software because the sharing of ideas is so valuable. I would love to add a second printer so that more students can fabricate within a single class period (wish list item!). I am also open to bringing the software to other teachers in my district as part of a possible makerspace to be built. With this and other technology tools I will continue to be inspired by the creativity of my students!

Get Involved

Is your classroom a FabClassroom? We would love to feature your school in a blog post! To be featured in an upcoming post, send an email to info@fablevisionlearning.com. You can also share your Fab@School Maker Studio creations and ideas on social media with #FabMakerStudio! For more posts featuring Fab@School Maker Studio, click here.

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Want to learn more about Fab@School? Fill out the contact form below and a FableVision Team member will get back to you.

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Andrea Calvin 10/6/17 Andrea Calvin 10/6/17

I Am Peace: Ideas to Share and Spread Positivity With the World

FableVision founder and New York Times picture book author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds has teamed up once again with author Susan Verde who shares our mission to share "stories that matter, stories that move."

Their new book I AM PEACE: A BOOK OF MINDFULNESS (Abrams Books for Young Readers) is a sequel to the book "I AM YOGA." It celebrates the power of connecting to our inner peace and sharing that positive energy with others to inspire world peace.

Share Your Peace!

We are providing free downloadables for you to print and share with your young readers, just click on the images below to download. Students can hold the sign and take a selfie or make a video declaring "I AM PEACE!" to share with the world. We have also included "WE ARE PEACE" if you would like to do a group shot to share on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #IAMPEACE and #WEAREPEACE

I AM PEACE_poster - sign reynolds verde .jpg

Put your peace in action! With Animation-ish it’s never been easier to bring your ideas to life. We would love to see an I AM PEACE video created with Animation-ish!

Design your peace! Fab@School Maker Studio is a perfect tool for cultivating your inventive spirit! With this paper prototyping and fabrication software, flex your design muscles to create your own I AM PEACE pop-up card. Maybe your students can use the card to write to local, state, national, and international leaders to share their concern that peace should be a priority.

For more about I AM PEACE, head over to Peter's blog, The Stellar Cafe.