Have curriculum ideas? Share them here!

Thanks for exploring SketchUp For Schools! As you may already know, we have developed grade-level specific curriculum to get you started.

We’re working on developing more of these, but in the meantime, we’d love to hear what your students are working on! If you’ve created any interesting SketchUp courses or projects for your class, please feel free to share your idea(s) here.

You can share a simple explanation, any relevant SketchUp files using Google Drive or Dropbox, and/or any PDFs documenting your projects. To add a file directly to your reply, click on the seventh icon and click “Upload” after you’ve selected your file.

We look forward to seeing what you’re working on!

I posted some information earlier here.

Here’s a screen shot of the final result the students were working toward. They started the course using T-squares and paper to draw the same drawing, so it was neat to come full circle in the end with SketchUp.

Unfortunately, there was no way to print this out to scale to compare with their original drawing.

If you want to see any of the instruction videos I created, I can probably arrange that.

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I work at Trimble on something that we call Project Spectrum. Project Spectrum is an extensive program covering all things related to our autism outreach. My favorite activity that I get to work on is the classes that we hold from time to time for students on the autism spectrum. We don’t follow a traditional curriculum but have found a slightly different method that works for the class quite well. I want to share it in case anyone finds it helpful.

When I hold a class I try to focus on teaching the tools in SketchUp rather than a project. I let the students individually decide what they want to create (within reason) and try to tailor the lesson of the each class to the tools that will be the most helpful in that project. I have had students decide to do all sorts of different projects, some of the more notable projects I have seen over the years are hotels, restaurants, campgrounds, and underground disaster shelters. By letting the students decide on what they want to work on for the next few class periods, they tend to be more motivated to create something new and unique.

Due to the smaller class size that I tend to have (usually less than 10 students) I am able to set aside a small block of time for the students to present their latest changes to their project to the class. This lets them show their classmates what they have added or changed in their models. This can drive innovation, if a student sees a technique or idea that they like, they sometimes will try and include it in their future projects. It also starts some small talk and other interactions (usually fairly rare with individuals on the autism spectrum).

Obviously, this is not an approach that will work for all teachers and students. Grading projects like this is not really something that can be done uniformly due to the unique nature of each student’s project.

If anyone would like to discuss what I consider the key elements to making a class like this a success I would be glad to expand on this post with a follow up and answer any questions that you may have. Just reply to this topic and I will be glad to respond.

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I teach the program by having the kids recreate the drawings in videos 1-4, but since we don’t have enough bandwidth to run both SketchUp for Schools and the learning videos, I narrate and do the drawings “live” myself.

My youngest kids then draw a birdhouse and create shop drawings and expected to build it from their drawings. They have to document any changes (“change orders”) between their drawings and the final project.

Kids who are retaking the class draw a table adapted from the video 4 drawing, but including mortise and tenon joinery and a dovetailed drawer. (I wish they had time to build this but they don’t in the time I have available)

Advanced kids draw a 12x16 “vacation cabin” from the ground up, creating foundation piers, girders, joists, floor decking, framing and sheathing the walls, rafters or trusses etc. then adding appliances and furnishings. They can draw the cabin they want but they have to create components that match real building materials, doors, windows, fixture and appliances.

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@ctdahle Thanks for sharing your lesson plan ideas! If you are having trouble streaming the SketchUp for Schools tutorial videos, you can download them to your computer from our Vimeo channel here

Also, you should consider entering the Edu Ascent Educator Competition! We are sending the top three finalists on an all expense paid trip to 3D Basecamp in Palm Springs, CA!

My lesson was mostly in the form of video tutorials. Is there a way to submit them?

Steve, I have jumped into SUfS with both feet and I am swimming as hard as I can to make it work because it is really the only viable option I have here. But you better believe I am not happy about it. I’ll waste most of the summer re-writing every lesson as well as my CNC and 3d printing tool chain.

I’ll do this because instead of the old, fast, reliable version of the program, loaded onto each of my second-hand lab computers, I have to accommodate an online version of SketchUp that will shut down every time my school’s overloaded network, with it’s aging routers, scavenged servers and dodgy internet connection gets a hiccup.

Cloud based software may be just fine for you up there in Boulder, but for those of us in rural schools where a bozo with a back hoe can kill the entire region’s internet access for days, cloud based software is a nightmare. After my experience this afternoon, I’m counting up T-squares and compasses.

You may call it “SketchUp for Schools” but you sure didn’t consider the needs of students or teachers when you decided to dump it on us. Small thanks indeed to the people who are training the workers that will use your software.

Thanks for your feedback – it certainly helps us as we continue developing products for schools. We recognize that no single solution will be a perfect fit for all schools. We found that with the majority of schools switching to Chromebooks, a cloud based solution allows us to reach the greatest number of students and teachers regardless of the hardware available to them.

SketchUp for Schools is actively being developed with these needs in mind, and includes resources like lesson plans, in app tutorials and .stl export to help facilitate common classroom challenges. If you continue to have trouble connecting to SketchUp for Schools on your district network and want to discuss alternative options, feel free to contact me directly.

Is there somewhere I can find lessons plans or a curriculum? I found the video tutorials, but I’m knew at this and need a semester long curriculum.

@asistek You can find SketchUp for Schools lesson plans on our curriculum page here:SketchUp for Schools - Product | SketchUp

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I have put my old and new video lessons here for anyone to use. The kids liked learning this way.

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