Caliper Practice Block

thingiverse

This block is a tool I use in my middle school classroom. We use it to practice Vernier caliper skills after the students have learned how to use them with other objects. You can use it as a performance assessment--you can print blocks that are scaled differently to make it impossible to copy at the same table. For example: if you have six tables, with four students each, you can print out six blue blocks at 75% scale, 6 red blocks at 100% and so on so each student gets a block with different dimensions. It allows the use of all of the tools on the caliper--depth of hole, outside and inside diameters, step height as well as the lenth, width and depth of the block. The prints you see are printed with an Ultimaker 2+. Print Settings Printer Brand: Ultimaker Printer: Ultimaker 2 Infill: 8 How I Designed This Autodesk Inventor I used Autodesk Inventor to design the practice block. Standards NGSS Overview and Background Practice Using a Caliper I teach with the PLTW curriculum, so I use the PLTW D&M curricular materials to teach the kids how to use a dial caliper. Then, they practice with some everyday objects I have in the classroom. This block is designed to allow students to practice using all of the functions of a caliper. Lesson Plan and Activity Use as a performance assessment. After you print out the blocks, measure them to create an answer key. This block is a tool I use in my middle school classroom. We use it to practice Vernier caliper skills after the students have learned how to use them with other objects. You can use it as a performance assessment--you can print blocks that are scaled differently to make it impossible to copy at the same table. For example: if you have six tables, with four students each, you can print out six blue blocks at 75% scale, 6 red blocks at 100% and so on so each student gets a block with different dimensions. It allows the use of all of the tools on the caliper--depth of hole, outside and inside diameters, step height as well as the lenth, width and depth of the block. The prints you see are printed with an Ultimaker 2+. I used a very low infill and low shell depth to increase the speed of printing. They are low quality, as you can see. I also attached the Inventor part file for you to use in Autodesk Inventor if you would like to create a working drawing of the part. You can also ask me to do it if you want one... Materials Needed One block per student or pair of students. One Caliper per student. You might choose to create a working drawing in Inventor to have the kids fill in the blanks.