Building Resilience and Creativity: Lower School Girls Grow as Engineers with 3D Design

Our kindergarteners are investigating and solving problems. Here's an example:

After studying birds with their classroom teachers and Ali Chesney, Director of the Hutchison Farm, our girls brainstormed ways they could help birds on the Hutchison campus and across Memphis. To figure out some solutions, girls have been learning about design thinking, a human-centered, problem-solving approach to engineering that involves tackling complex issues and creating solutions. They also use Tinkercad, an online 3D modeling program, as part of the process.

In the Design Lab, they came up with ideas and created paper blueprints before bringing them to life using Tinkercad. This spring, they will use these models to create products such as birdhouses, feeders, nesting centers, or birdbaths, and their creations will go to the Hutchison farm or a local organization.

“Tinkercad provides opportunities for our girls to strengthen their skills of imagination, spatial reasoning, problem-solving, technology use, and geometry, all while being creative,” Stover said. She added that embracing design thinking and Tinkercad fosters creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning, while also preparing our girls for future STEM careers.

Stover has also incorporated Tinkercad to create collaborative experiences in learning. Second graders learn Spanish vocabulary about birthstones with lower school Spanish teacher Kenna Chelsoi, and then they make 3D printed jewelry and write descriptive cards explaining their creations in Spanish to display as part of a jewelry show. Each girl creates several designs of rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and more, and picks her favorite one to print. 

Stover said our girls build character traits like determination and resilience while using Tinkercad. “You have to be precise when using Tinkercad. Girls will often create designs that do not turn out as they planned. These small failures show the girls how important the improvement part of the engineering design process is. If we stop when the design has a flaw, then we will not learn or progress and could miss out on a fabulous creative experience,” she said. “It brings me great joy to see their excitement when they persevere through challenges.”