3D MODELING • TEACHER GUIDE

Weeks 1 and 2: CAD Skill Ladder

The first three lessons deliberately reuse the same moves. Students draw a design, model it, then make a model that has to survive the rules of 3D printing.

OPTIONAL WHOLE-GROUP SLIDES

The Canvas pages and recorded videos are the independent and absence route. Download the 39-slide 3D Modeling Foundations deck · Make a Google copy when you want to teach Currency, Coin, Ring, and Favorite Toy from the front of the room. For Dream Room, use the separate scale deck and recorded walkthroughs.

• Launch and skill ladder: slides 1–2
• Currency: slides 3–8
• Coin and CAD basics: slides 9–19
• Ring and print thinking: slides 20–28
• Favorite Toy: slides 29–37
• Dream Room handoff: slides 38–39, then use the separate Dream Room resources below

Lesson 1: Design Your Own Currency

Learning piece: visual symbols, front/back communication, and the difference between a flat drawing and a 3D object.

Teacher move: project two real bills or coins. Ask what makes the value and identity readable before students draw. Leave the checklist on screen while they work.

Lesson 2: Intro to 3D Modeling

Learning piece: CAD represents width, depth, and height. The same design can be built up with solids or carved with Holes.

Teacher move: model one coin live. Stop after cylinder, resize, align, and Group. Students open the Coin Activity you created in your class or start a new 3D design.

Lesson 3: Intro to 3D Printing

Learning piece: a printer builds in layers. Flat bases, supported geometry, accurate diameter, and iteration determine whether the digital ring becomes a physical ring.

Teacher move: calculate one ring diameter with the class before opening Tinkercad. Show a failed print if you have one. A failure gives students something concrete to diagnose.

Queue boundary: students submit a PNG. They leave the model in your Tinkercad class for slicing. Do not promise a same-day print.

Point-of-use language support

Word bank: workplane, rotate, resize, align, Group, Hole, diameter, layer, overhang, slice, iterate

Complete stems: “I used ___ to change ___.” “My model may not print correctly because ___.” “The first change I would test is ___ because ___.”