If you’re looking to learn about the world of 3D design and 3D printing but don’t know where to start, this is the class for you! By the end of the class, not only will you have everything you need to know to move forward with 3D printing, but you’ll also have applied it all to building your own miniature robot model!
In this course, students will learn to play checkers, and then discover that "checkers" is really a whole family of games played differently across the globe: Chinese checkers with its star-shaped board and peg leaps, Fox and Geese where one clever piece outruns many, and homemade variants of our own invention. Along the way we build the thinking skills that live underneath every good move: What might my partner do next? What happens if I plan two moves ahead instead of one? How do I lose a game and still want to play again? In doing so, students practice and develop habits that reach far past the game board, including noticing patterns, spotting a trap before they fall into it, and explaining their reasoning out loud.
Every class is hands-on and social, because checkers can't be learned by listening alone. Each class will open with a short mini-lesson,, then students play in pairs at real boards, solve puzzles as a team, and add to a growing wall of strategies discovered by the class. Students also create and personalize their learning along the way through designed and decorated game pieces, illustrated rule cards for the variants they learn, and, in the final weeks, an original game of their own invention with a hand-drawn board and written rules. The course closes with a friendly family game day, where students teach their grown-ups the games they've explored, including the one they made up themselves.
