Teaching aids for African children

The aids produced thanks to this project are designed for the 1st grade of elementary schools, especially for the 1st - 3rd grade. However, they will also be used in the 4th and 5th grade. Directly within the project, mathematical aids are proposed. They can be used to add, subtract, multiply and divide single-digit and two-digit numbers. However, pupils go on to design and produce language teaching aids. For children from Mozambique it will be for Portuguese language. Of course, this proposal can also be used for any other language – Czech, English, German, etc.

The pupils were first trained by our IT teacher, who completed an online course in 3D printing and modeling. He introduced them to the basic concepts of 3D printing and the programs in which 3D models can be created. In order for all pupils to try to design their own 3D model, they worked in the Tinkercad program, which is the most friendly for beginners and whose basics they were able to learn completely independently with the little help of the teacher. To create the model, they had to able to insert shapes, numbers and the adjustment of their dimensions. They had to suggest the layout of the models on the desktop so that all the numbers and signs for one set could fit on it.

Thanks to this project, pupils will develop problem-solving competences, communicative, civic, but also social competences. The result of the project will be the teaching aids for mathematics, which will children donate to Mozambique. Other identical teaching aids that they will produce will be applicable to Montessori and other regular classes. Pupils have already invented other aids that will be used for teaching mathematics and language both in Africa and in our country, or anywhere in the world.

To create this teaching aid, only the usual equipment of the IT classroom (computers with an Internet connection due to the online program Tinkercad) and a 3D printer were needed.

Five lessons were needed for this project. About further modifications the pupils thought also outside the classroom. 

Printing one set of numbers and signs takes less than 5 hours at 20% fill and 0.15mm print layer height in SPEED mode. Printing of the plate into which the numbers are put, took 1.5 hours at the same setting.

This was the first project – modelling that the pupils created. The pupils were first introduced to the 3D printer, its components and possibilities of use. Then the teacher showed them the programs in which 3D models can be processed, namely Tinkercad and Blender, and their basic functions. 

In the meantime, they attended a lecture on schools in Africa and came up with the idea of making a teaching aid for the children there. This was followed by an electronic correspondence with Mrs. Kučerová, who founded schools in Africa. Pupils learned what children in Mozambique schools would most need in their lessons. . Although these Montessori aids are wooden, due to the local climate, we decided that plastic would be the ideal material for the production of our teaching aid. Processing on a 3D printer is therefore the best choice. Since these are 9th grade pupils, they know very well the Montessori aids that they themselves worked with when they were in the first grade. At the same time, they have verified that the curriculum is better understood when teaching aids are used.

The pupils discussed for a long time what aid would be best linguistically transferable and at the same time thinking what they were able to design and produce independently. The simplest way seemed to be a mathematical aid. There was a discussion about its form. The pupils decided whether the aid would be intended only for addition and subtraction, or also for multiplication and division, whether it would be usable only for single-digit or even double-digit numbers. Furthermore, the pupils considered whether the signs would be directly on the plate or if they would also be on a separate insertion panel, which seemed to be a better option.

Thanks to the basic knowledge of the Tinkercad program, each pupil prepared their own model of a math aid – namely addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of two-digit numbers. In the next lesson, the pupils presented their designs and chose a specific form of the aid. The winning design was transferred to PrusaSlicer, from which was then transferred the generated .gcode file on an SD card to the printer and was printed.

When they saw the real tool, they still wanted to improve it several times. One student, who already has more experience with 3D designs, worked on further improvements. Other modifications were for example: suitably adjusted dimensions, especially reducing the height of the numbers to reduce filament consumption, or changing the color of the digits in PrusaSlicer for better clarity. Meanwhile, others were thinking about what other aids could be designed and manufactured.

The final result – the final aid was created during the 5th lesson. The pupils will definitely continue the production. The produced aids will travel to Africa, but they will also be presented to guides (teachers) from the 1st – 3rd grade of Montessori classes and, according to their interest, they will also produce aids for them. They also plan to ask the guides (teachers) for their possible needs and try to design and manufacture the aids for them.

Work with aids was verified by pupils of the 1st-3rd grade of Montessori classes. The tool was successful. Pupils used it more for addition and subtraction than for multiplication and division. The teachers began to create worksheets for the aid. It will be taken to Africa in March.