I wanted to start by saying I am in awe of the amazing people on this community site and the things shared.
It can be very difficult to start something and that is exactly where I am at with the Glowforge for my classroom. I have found some topics that may help me but I really wanted to connect with other teachers in one forum or topic area to REALLY share all our experiences we have using the GF in the classroom.
So whether you are a teacher or not, I hope we can connect in this community to help each other grow and have fun!
Starting up: My students each have their own chromebooks.
*I plan to set up one chromebook in my classroom to have students print from
I will create a user profile so I do not have to use my own account on that Chromebook^
I plan to start a club where students can experiment with the glowforge.
Question: I already run an art club but I want a club specifically for the glowforge. What are creative, fun club names for this club? Last year our districts motto dealt with inspiration, innovation and creation. Maybe something that ties that together?
Ideas?Innovation Club
Forging Club
Innovative leaders clubs
???
Also, what would you do about supply cost? If a student wants to print/cut something they pay for the materials?
Can’t wait to meet other teachers with GF’s and hear about and see what you are doing.
Best wishes for your school year! When I was a wee young lass, we had a club in High School that gave us access to wood and metal crafting tools (no lasers then) and we called it Fab Club, Fab short for Fabrication.
(School Mascot ) Forgers works well if the mascot is “Wildcat” or “Badger” or even “lightning” not so much if “Knight” or “Bills” or “Stallions”
Hello, I am an Art teacher for young adults that have autism, I’ve been teaching about 2 year after retiring from the army but do to now being on wheelchair I had to find new way of life so Art it is. Its volunteer program but I knew they love the gf. After doing some wood project and using my brother scan and cut. We sell there Art work and that goes 100 percent to buying more art supplies.
What age kiddos are you teaching? I teach 6th and 8th graders. Wrote a grant for my aerospace module to get the Glowforge… last year was fun, but this year I will really implement the GF as a tool for Flight and Space in Project Lead the Way.
Of course I am a middle schooler at heart… so my focus limited and there are SO MANY things I want to try with the GF!
Tech gave me a Glowforge last year. Wasn’t sure how to implement it into my curriculum(High School Technology & Engineering), and really haven’t as of yet.
I have had a few students excel at Inventor, and create a few assembled projects. But I feel like I am really struggling to get the full use of the GF.
I love having them create in TinkerCAD. It is crazy easy and allows them to export as SVG for bringing into the GF. I am still working on finding the perfect lesson, but this one was pretty cool. Lots of room for them to find the “best” solution to the problem.
Hey there! I run one glowforge in the makerspace, one in the engineering shop, and one at home! I can send you a link to the training video I created, if it’ll help. otherwise it’s pretty open ended and gets a WIDE variety of projects through all three.
Not a teacher myself but the wife is, which is why (mainly an excuse for it) I’ve ordered a GF as I find myself making resources all the time. One of my main duties is cutting paper but often laminated paper. A question I have is can I cut the laminated paper with the laser without poisoning myself or others with the fumes? Thanks and am looking for anything else I can help the wife with using the GF (she teaches primary kids) if anyone has any ideas.
It depends on what you laminate it with. If it is a plastic that contains chlorine you’ll dissolve the inside of your glowforge. If it is a plastic that likes to melt you may be fine, but the edges will look like the edges of a good, grilled cheese sandwich: nice and melty. Or it could be a nice. clean cut.
Look at your laminating material, find out what it is and then search on that.
Hey there! I’m super new! Ordered my GF and not-so-patiently waiting for it to arrive! Would you be willing to send me your video? Trying to read up all about the GF before it arrives so I can start having fun right away! thanks!
I would love to connect. I am a new CTE teacher at a middle school in Washington. I have just recently transitioned to education form Engineering. So I am consumed with creating lessons, figuring out how to engage a classroom of 30 seventh and eighth-grade students.
We have a Glowforge- still getting used to it. But now that school is on, less time to tinker. I am thinking about using Google Drawing, Onshape and Tinker CAD to make svg files. What are you using for your Chromebooks?
I’ve found the key (admittedly I teach the course to surgeons, which is like 8th graders I guess - short attention spans, fool around in class a lot). Anyway, there have been two keys, what I’ve found is break them into areas of interests (no judgement when they make groups). Then you make a prototype of the thing in your topic.
Now the key, when they pick a topic, is then to teach something there. Like say a group of the boys pick atomic bombs. Seems like a perfect time for a physicis/history lesson and some deep research on the manhattan project, and maybe make a replica of fat man or a model of how fission works. The history of the Manhattan project was fascinating (particularly in light of our current anti-immigrant policies; we wouldn’t have the atomic bomb and the Germans would have without that crew). Also fascinating how little bits of knowledge glommed together to form a unified theory, resulting in a glass filled crater in Alamogordo.
For the surgeons we add on, how does this thing get reimbursed/paid for (I.e. what part of the process does it affect, and how will this change It: decrease delays, new surgical techniques possible, etc. it can also be a funny project. I had them create a headphone holder that gripped onto the standardized side rail of the OR table. It was a huge hit, and they had to learn how to translate a blueprint into CAD. And now they have a baseline component that screws onto the OR rail, they can use for other devices.
thanks!