Design Thinking Thought Leadership
Be inspired by our expert learning team as they share the latest on Design Thinking
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Learning at Home | Coronavirus | COVID-19 | Resources for Teachers and Parents
To the worldwide Makers Empire community, At Makers Empire, we've been shocked and concerned as we've witnessed the distressing effects of the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Makers Empire is used by 1+ million users in 40+ countries who create 90,000 new 3D designs every day. Many of these countries are already experiencing or planning for school closures....
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Failing to Succeed: 6 Habits of Successful 'Failers' That Teachers Should Know
This post is by Mandi Dimitriadis, Makers Empire's Director of Learning (pictured above, left). I spend a lot of time talking with teachers about the important role failure can play in learning. Backed by Carol Dweck’s mindset research and armed with all sorts of anecdotes about the power of design thinking, I can often...
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Competitions, Challenges & Experiences Your Students Will Love | Design Thinking | STEM
At Makers Empire, we want to help children become creators, innovators and problem solvers so they can adapt and thrive in a dynamic world. We do this by equipping educators with the tools, resources and support they need to embrace creativity and making in education for improved student performance, engagement and learning. We've created this...
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Want to be inspired? Watch These 5 Great TED Talks for Teachers
Looking to motivate and engage your students? Wanting to dive deeper into pedagogy? Keen to be inspired by a new idea? Feeling tired and in need of a mental pick-me-up? May we suggest watching a TED Talk or 5? TED is a not for profit that shares pioneering ideas through short, engaging talks. The TED...
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8 Ways Teachers and Students Can Benefit From Gamification in the Classroom
Makers Empire 3D is not a video game. It’s specialised 3D modelling software carefully designed to help K-8 students develop Design Thinking skills in order to solve real-world problems. Our 3D design app and Learning by Design program were recently the subject of a 12-month Macquarie University study into primary schools makerspaces, so we are...
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What is Design Thinking? A Handy Guide for Teachers
In this post, Mandi Dimitriadis, Director of Learning at Makers Empire, will help you understand more about Design Thinking. You’ll get to know what Design Thinking is, why Design Thinking is important, the phases of the Design Thinking process and how you might teach your students how to use Design Thinking to reframe problems and...
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Lesson Plan Library with 130+ Lesson Plans
Aligned to Australian Common Core Standards, Australian Curriculum, Next Generation Science Standards
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ENTREPRENEURS UNITED
- Grade/s: 7, 8
- Subject/s: Tech., Economics
- Type: Lesson Plan
Students investigate the attributes and skills of successful entrepeneurs. They use design thinking processes to plan an entrepeneurial venture and develop 3D printed prototypes of their ideas.
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BUILDING RENOVATIONS
- Grade/s: 7
- Subject/s: Maths, Engineering
- Type: Unit Plan
Students design a 3D model of a house. They are then required to make renovations to their house design by making selected geometric changes to their houses.
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DESIGN A PRODUCT
- Grade/s: 6
- Subject/s: Technologies
- Type: Lesson Plan
In this lesson, students will learn how to design, make and sell a 3D printed product. A great exercise for students to learn about product design, prototyping, entrepreneurship and marketing.
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NATURAL DISASTERS
- Grade/s: 6
- Subject/s: Science, Technologies
- Type: Lesson Plan
Students identify and study problems caused by natural disasters. They devise solutions to these problems and then design and 3D print their practical remedies.
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School Case Studies
Discover how these teachers and students are using Makers Empire in the classroom
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How a Teacher Uses 3D Printing To Teach Entrepreneurship & STEM | Design Thinking | PBL
Luke Drain is a classroom teacher at Carlingford West Public School in Sydney. Luke came to teaching after studying IT and was fortunate to secure a position at Carlingford West shortly after he finished his degree. We spoke to Luke recently about how he is using 3D printing and Makers Empire to engage students in...
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How a teacher and his entrepreneurial 9Y0 use 3D printing at school and in their business
Jay Wright is the SET, STLAN and Technologies Teacher at Vale View State School in Queensland, Australia and a new Makers Empire ambassador. Previously, Jay worked at Freshwater State School and Bambi Bilingual Kindergarten in Japan. We recently spoke with Jay about his teaching career, his 3D printing journey, how he's using Makers Empire in...
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How 3D Printing United My Class (and Helped Us Raise Funds for a Local Hospital!)
This guest post was written by Canadian grade 4/5 teacher, Jeff Hennigar. We are excited to share Jeff's story and hope that it inspires you as much as it inspires us. You can follow Jeff on Twitter here. Our 3D Printing Project by Jeff Hennigar We held a Make Sale at BLT Senior Elementary School's...
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7 ways schools are teaching Design Thinking using 3D Printing
Design thinking is a growing strategy for teaching at all levels. But what exactly is design thinking? Why is it important? Design thinking is a process for solving problems that involves asking questions, empathizing, experimenting and hands on testing. There are defined steps in the design thinking process: Empathize --> Define --> Ideate --> Prototype...
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How Birdwood Primary School students solved a sticky problem with 3D printing
Wondering how to use 3D printing to teach STEM subjects, design thinking and 21st century skills? Be inspired by this new interview with Bianca Laister, the Deputy Principal and Student Wellbeing Coordinator at Birdwood Primary School, a school in regional South Australia. Prior to completing Makers Empire's Learning by Design course as part of the...
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How Forbes Primary School students use 3D printing to solve a common classroom issue
At Forbes Primary School in South Australia, students have embraced 3D printing as a way to solve a common classroom problem. Every teacher and student knows the frustration students face when searching for their own bag within a sea of identical or similar looking bags. So the students at Forbes Primary School decided to use...
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Design Thinking Competitions
Browse our past Design Thinking competitions and check out the winning entries
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Winners of the Bully Busters 3D Design Competition | Design Thinking Challenge
Every month, Makers Empire runs an in-app competition so that students can test their Design Thinking and 3D design skills against their peers from all over the world. We are glad to announce the winners of Makers Empire's Bully Busters competition, which ran in March 2020. This was the Bully Busters design brief for students:...
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Winners of the Year of the Rat Design Thinking Competition
Every month, Makers Empire runs an in-app competition so that students can test their Design Thinking and 3D design skills against their peers from all over the world. We are glad to announce the winners of Makers Empire's Year of the Rat Design Thinking competition, which ran in January and February 2020. This was the...
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Winners of the Makers Empire x Toyota Dream Car Design Thinking Competition
Every month, Makers Empire runs an in-app competition so that students can test their Design Thinking and 3D design skills against their peers from all over the world. We are glad to announce the winners of the Makers Empire x Toyota Dream Car competition which ran in February and March. This was the design brief...
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