The Serpent Slayer and 3D Printing

thingiverse

This project will help students illustrate their schema and creativity involving villains and monsters in fairy tales and fantastic stories. Print Settings Printer Brand: MakerBot Printer: MakerBot Replicator 2 Rafts: Yes Supports: Yes Custom Section Project Guidelines Overview and Background Students will design their own serpent-like antagonists based on the stories they have read in The Serpent Slayer. Students will learn what goes into a villain, why a larger or monstrous creature is usually the villain of folktales and how an artists’ interpretation can help enhance or detract from an author’s story. After students have brainstormed some designs based off the templates I will provide for them in ThinkCad they will spend some time in each class further developing pieces of their villains (head, body and feet). After all the pieces have been printed students will assemble their creature with assembly and tolerance procedures. Simultaneously students will be writing their own folktales based on their villains, using the same structure and morals they read about in the short stories the class read earlier. Students can also write backstories for their villains which would allow them to flesh out the world they have begun to create. Objectives Students will learn what goes into making an antagonist truly scary or worth worrying about. Students will design and create their own serpent-like antagonists. Students will understand the basics of 3D printing, design and tolerance. Audiences Elementary students in grades 4 and 5. While this lesson is focused on a specific book – The Serpent Slayer, its core objectives can be applied to most stories with a larger-than-life antagonist. Subjects This lesson ties into Reading / Language Arts, technology and art. Skills Learned CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.B Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. Lesson/Activity Breakdown Make sure TinkerCad is available on a set of computers reserved before the lesson. Introduce the lesson after we have finished reading a story or two, including but not limited to the titular Serpent Slayer. Review the schema and information we’ve gathered about monsters and villains in folktales. Their size, demeanor, shape, attitudes and anything else we can gleam from their appearances as well as actions. Introduce the project and its parameters. Each student will be given a few templates; everyone will be starting with the same basic building blocks. Over the next few days we will we be designing our villains piece by piece based on our previous designs. Introduce/review the tools needed to create the villains students planned out. Students will complete the heads portion, save them to their computers and email them to their teacher. The teacher will begin printing them after class, hopefully in time for the next lesson. After looking at their headpieces students can notice any mistakes or things they would like to do differently. Afterwards students can begin to design the body portion. Upon completion of the body, they will repeat the aforementioned process to deliver their designs to their teachers. The teacher will begin printing them out as illustrated previously. Students will begin designing the feet/extremities of their villains. After they have sent them to the teacher they can begin brainstorming their stories. As a class, go over what a story needs. SWBS – Somebody (protagonist) Wanted (goal) But (conflict) So (resolution). While everything is being printed or fixed students will begin to write their stories on their computers using Microsoft Word. When students have completed their first drafts, they will buddy-edit before starting on their second drat. After a second drat and a second revision, students can begin their final draft. When students complete their stories the class will reassemble to review or introduce tolerance and assembly. Upon completion of the assignment students should have their own folktale and a villain to go with it. Duration This lesson could take as little as one week if everything were streamlined, but it could also be stretched out over an entire unit of short stories or folk and fairy tales. Preparation Students should be able to identify antagonists, character traits (both inside and outside) and be able to breakdown a story using the SWBS model. Rubric and Assessment Students should have a completed villain and story by the end of the assessment. Students can also grade on how well students were able to identify character traits and how well they implemented them in their model and story. Materials Teachers will need access to computers with internet capabilities, email or Drop Box accounts and a 3D printer.