Google Sketchup

I want to throw out there that I feel like I’m an architect in an Inception dream: I want some stairs here and a house there and… ;-)

It definitely took some time to figure out this program, but what a cool free resource! I watched the introduction tutorials, which were helpful, but as I started creating I found myself searching youtube for videos on how to do specific skills. Youtube is always a great resource for things like that.

This tool absolutely aligns with 21^st Century Skills and TPCK. It is getting student familiar with new digital resources and giving them easily transferable technology skills. It also isn’t just technology for the sake of technology. It is easy to incorporate many other subject areas creating cross curricular ties.

The curricular model I chose to create had to do with geometric shapes. It is very difficult for my third graders to grasp the concept of 3-D geometric shapes just looking at a picture printed on 2-D paper. This is awesome because it allows students to manipulate space, essentially turning the geometric solid over in their hands. In this model, I made the different categories of geometric solids different colors. I also played with the 3-d text to label the categories. Because it is important for students to understand that geometric solids are named for their bases, I made all the bases red and added an upside-down label that said bases. I love the three dimensional space you have to work with in this program.

I honestly don’t think that I would have my eight year olds creating things in Google Sketchup. Most of them are not developmentally ready for a program such as this. I could see it being an after school club or a gifted extension activity though. I also did some research and found out that students can view Google Sketchups on iPads using the app SightSpace 3D. This is something that I would use with my kids where I create the sketchup and then allow them to view it on iPads. That makes this program much more accessible to my third graders. Another thing I can do with this is creating models of shapes for math to teach volume, so students can actually see the empty space inside a 3-D shape.