Application of active methodologies for teaching 3d modelling and prototyping: an experience report in secondary schools

Abstract

The new secondary education’s main proposal is to provide students with access to science, technology, culture and the world of work, so that these young people can think about organizing their future and life project. A movement that has grown in the context of high school is the so-called “maker culture”. This movement is capable of promoting stimuli for creation, investigation, problem solving and autonomy for students in this environment. With the application of maker culture, the student is motivated to research and go beyond the content that is being explored in the classroom. In this sense, the present work presents a proposal developed with 2nd year high school students from a private school, located in the city of Bagé/RS, in partnership with researchers from a local Federal University. In this proposal, students visited the university’s design laboratory, learned about the functionalities of a 3D printer and learned how to develop prototype models to be printed. Furthermore, they had the opportunity to have their first contact with 3D modeling using CAD software called ‘’librecad’’. Through this practice it was possible to develop skills that enabled them to create different geometries, in addition to expanding their logical and abstract reasoning capacity.