Experiences

Computer, material science and ergonomics

Maria Deptuła-Chocholska

Poland

Primary school

ICT

Teaching in class

Direct

How to arouse ambitious boys’ interest in clothing, fabrics, and girls’ interest in design of everyday objects and ergonomics? Give them a new non-standard working tool...
Topics on clothes, history of dress, functions of clothing, construction of woven and knitted fabrics are included in curriculum of technical education. Without sexism we could say that we can gain the interest of schoolgirls but boys usually treat it as boring. During the technology classes students sew, embroider and cut. As it is well known, however, not all have such a skill. For some sewing a button will remain a problem till the end of his/her life. Similarly, the principles of rectangular projection, dimensioning technical drawing and practical application of technical documentation in life. The theory is often confusing and not very interesting. For ambitious students, that have problems with these themes I recommend Blender3D tool. This programme is quite difficult to use, therefore the students who use it should be skilled in use of ICT. Blender3D is a free programme for three-dimensional design. It has a lot of features for editing objects that allow to obtain almost any shape. Editing of nets is based on the vertices, edges and polygons so one can create virtually everything in it. I used it for work with children to design historical outfits and the results were beyond my expectations. With poorly drawn sketches we created fantastic creations with detailed textures and weaves of fabrics. The same appeared to designing interiors that should took into account the principles of ergonomics and proper workplace lighting. I must admit that students have a lot of problems with drawing the interior of their room in perspective. However, in the Blender it goes much better. They can create any shape of furniture, colour and direction of light incidence. I emphasize, however, that this is not an easy programme, so it can be introduced as an additional task for volunteers. This method, although not suitable for all, certainly develops interest in design and aspects of material science.