Ok, SketchUp Forums, you have not let me down yet!
My students have been working on the SketchUp Fundamentals from Sketchup Campus.
They finished the quick start videos and modeled the accompanying playground. For a project, I had them complete 3 other playground structures.
Now they are finishing the videos and activities from âCore Conceptsâ, âPush/Pullâ, and âAccuracyâ.
My Question:
What would be a good project for them to work on after completing these modules? It would be nice if the project allowed for students to practice the skills that were covered in the aforementioned videos.
In the past, after these videos, I had students work on converting a picture of a floor plan to a house. However, I think that would be better as a later/final project.
Other projects I have students work on are
Modeling one object in the classroom
Model their bedroom with furniture using tags to show different layouts
The final project has always been to model something of their choosing.
How old are the students youâre working with? What is the class youâre teaching? If itâs an industrial arts type of class, maybe give them a choice of some different machine parts to model. There are a number of good sources for dimensioned drawings that could be used for this.
Maybe they could model some sort of simple Rube Goldberg type machine
I imagine it would make assessment very straight forward to have a âtemplateâ to followâŚbut I dont know many highschool kids who are inspired by random machine parts or want spend days to model a stool.
Iâve done the âmodel your roomâ one before. It works pretty well and is easy enough to assess, but some kids will have very simple rooms (bed, desk, lamp) and others will have highly complex ones. Modelling the classroom is okay but not terribly exciting (unless you make it a design comp and then let the students actually reconfigure the room afterwards, according to the winning design).
Tiny homes or dog/pet houses is a good one. Objects of that size are more intuitive because youâre working at a familiar (human) scale.
Iâve done Trucks before as lessons (much easier than cars because trucks are much more rectilinear).
Itâs good to have projects that utilise a combination of simple geometry + a few organic shapes, some images, , and than a couple of layers of organisation (eg Trailer unit is a Component, and wheels also components and are nestedâŚand try different combinations of trailers/wheels using Tags/Scenes).
Modelling from a photograph isnât probably a great way to learn good modelling practice, itâs more likely to be a technical scaled 2d drawing or a real object that you can measure, replicate and then modify in 3d. Modelling a photo is essentially tracing over something which doenst encourage the process of building objects using individual parts.
Modelling a street scene using Street View (google earth style) is quite good though - you could pick a place like Santorino or Mykonos which has a lot of fun geometry to explore. Give the kids a travel lesson at the same time.
A few other ideas:
Model your dream workspace - eg desk, monitors, computer, plants, art, stereo speakers, maybe some food, a seat for your pet, designer chair, cool lightingâŚ
Model a skateboard/scooter park with modular ramps, rails, paths, etc.
Model a soapbox derby car (has machine parts and stuff)
A garden or pool design (or beach resort).
The Winterblues beach house sketchup competition was a good one (a few years back).
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