Pedro, María and Miguel have been thinking about their new greenhouse for some time. They have just created it in Tinkercad, a versatile tool to get started in the 3D Design that they are still learning to use and really feel very satisfied with the result achieved.
Now is the time to think very carefully about your next steps. Start researching a new off-road vehicle design in Tinkercad 3D? Or perhaps reinforce the electricity supply with a new power plant in the Alpha sector? The truth is that the last electromagnetic storm left half the colony in the dark, so...
This is just one example of the many decisions that Mars Settlers participants must make, a didactic proposal to learn and get started in 3D design with Tinkercad developed by IGNITE Serious Play that intensively uses gamification. Set on Mars, this immersive world puts students in the position of planning and deploying a colony on the red planet, facing all kinds of challenges and dangers.
In this stimulating context, 3D Design becomes a very useful tool because it provides students with the possibility of applying it to challenges that they find meaningful and rewarding.
Get started in 3D Design by playing
Mars Settlers is a semi-cooperative STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) project that challenges its participants to become the first humans to populate the planet Mars by establishing a set of colonies that can develop successfully over time. proving that life on this inhospitable planet is viable.
From the first moment, students will complete the different stages of the Design Thinking methodology, first modeling a ship prototype in Tinkercad 3D for a trip of these characteristics, devising various building designs after prior research, building adapted transports with 3D Design software. to the land, factories, etc.
In this adventure they will not only have to face the harsh conditions of the environment that will test the robustness of their 3D design, but they will also have to establish tough competition with the fearsome Terkus Corporation. Two opposing visions of what the discovery of a new world means, scientific exploration based on knowledge against the indiscriminate exploitation of resources. The success achieved by both sides is reflected week by week in a progress indicator that also highlights those colonies that have obtained the best performance.
A whole training ground for soft skils
The gaming experience offered by Mars Settlers combines progressive learning of design techniques with Tinkercad 3D with the development of a wide variety of soft skills that are exercised in a coordinated manner to successfully overcome the challenges that appear over time. Some of these skills are listed below:
Decision making:
- Each colony (group of students) has a limited number of actions and modeling in Tinkercad that must be carefully planned in order to maintain basic needs and be able to develop.
Flexibility in the face of uncertainty:
- Boys and girls get used to reacting to the unexpected. Every week events occur that affect them in different ways and in response to which they must flexibly modify their plans.
Resilience:
- Sometimes plans don't go as groups expect, or simply an accident can put an end to an elaborate 3D Design. Learning to get up again and rebuild without getting frustrated is a great life lesson.
Teamwork:
- Cooperating is the only possible strategy for each colony to establish itself successfully. From the distribution of 3D Design roles in Tinkercad to the choice of the best models for construction, through prior documentation tasks or the establishment of priorities.
Strategic management:
- Given the limitation of available resources and the conditions of 3D Design, teams must anticipate the consequences of their actions and make the best use of the material generated in Tinkercad, optimizing energy, travel or the availability of materials.
Communication:
- The survival of colonies depends largely on their ability to exchange knowledge. Thus, when a team needs a certain 3D Design technology, it can request it from another colony to build that building. Sometimes they will also have to publish video presentations that will be very important to communicate their progress.
Leadership:
In Mars Settlers, young explorers learn that leading is not about commanding, but rather honing empathy to ensure that each person shines in what they do best, giving each team member the opportunity to contribute.
Coordination:
- Certain complex 3D Design challenges require that various colonies agree and contribute their efforts in a coordinated manner for several weeks to achieve the common goal.
Cooperative 3D design
Throughout this 2019-2020 academic year, various schools have shared the Mars Settlers project, exercising their 3D Design skills with Tinkercad with a very high degree of involvement and a great display of creativity. Distributed among various sectors of the Martian surface, the work groups of various schools have been organized into colonies that, over time, have established intense links of cooperation while, in a certain way, competing among themselves to achieve the best final score.
This has been the case in the case of the groups from Col·legi Montserrat, Escola IPSE, Jesüites Sarrià – Sant Ignasi, Col·legi Xaloc or the school of the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
All of them have recently ended their adventure, leaving behind a fantastic example of their creative talent and their knowledge of the 3D Design techniques with Tinkercad, excited with the idea that thanks to their joint effort and their ability to cooperate they have finally achieved success, overcoming all difficulties.
Next year, new colonists will travel a long journey to explore extensive areas of the red planet and accept challenges that will test their 3D Design skills as a team and individually. The discovery of a new world has only just begun…
