It’s time to move on from worksheets and passive listening. Envision a learning environment where creativity explodes, and students are intrinsically motivated to conquer learning prompts and challenges like never before. That’s the power of gamification, and 3D pens are the ultimate tools to bring it to life!

A Winning Combination: Gamification & 3D Pens

At its core, gamification is about taking the elements and principles of games and applying them to real-world activities – in this case, the classroom.

Unlocking New Lessons

Interested in taking the leap and bringing this dynamic duo to your classroom? We’ve got you covered. Here are some gamified activity ideas using 3D pens:

Objective-Based Challenges:

Frame learning objectives as quests! For example, in a geometry lesson, the “quest” could be to design a specific geometric shape with accurate dimensions to earn “geometric gems” (points or small rewards).

Badge Systems (Tangible Badges!):

Students can create badges to represent mastery of a concept or skill instead of using digital badges. Imagine a “History Hero” badge for completing a timeline project or a “Science Superstar” badge for a successful experiment model.

Collaborative Builds for XP:

Divide students into teams and assign them a 3D design challenge related to the lesson. The team with the most accurate, creative, or functional build earns points or privileges. Think of designing a model of the water cycle or a historical landmark.

Escape the Classroom:

Create a series of clues or puzzles students need to solve related to the curriculum. The final clue could require them to 3D draw a specific object that “unlocks” the next stage or a small reward.

Boss Battles (Knowledge Checks):

At the end of a unit, present a complex challenge or problem related to the material. Students can use their 3D pens to represent their solution visually. Successfully presenting and explaining their creation “defeats the boss” and helps them earn rewards.

Personalized Tokens:

Offer students different learning pathways with reading challenges, for example. As they complete their reading and comprehension tasks, they can draw a small 3D token representing their progress.

The Future is 3D Gamification!

Integrating 3D pens with gamification offers a powerful and engaging way to bring learning to life in your classroom. It fosters creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration and presents learning in a format we know students enjoy. So, get your 3Doodler 3D pens, unleash your inner game designer, and watch your students level up their education in exciting new ways!

The post Leveling Up: Bring Gamification to the Classroom with 3D Pens first appeared on 3Doodler.

What is Algorithmic Art?

You’ve likely seen this type of artwork and didn’t even realize you were looking at mathematical thinking in an art form! The approach uses a system of rules and parameters to generate complex and often intricate forms.

Parametric design uses variables you set, instead of directly drawing every line, and it’s often used in architecture and engineering to create optimal structures. In this process, changing one parameter could alter the entire design. For example, imagine a spiraling tower where simple numbers control the radius of each level and twists or turns!

Algorithmic art, on the other hand, uses a set of instructions to generate unique patterns and create artwork. Natural patterns, mathematical equations, or even abstract concepts can help inform the direction of a particular design. As you expand your thinking, you could create intricate branching structures or fascinating geometric patterns, all based on mathematical sequences.

Instead of complex software, using a 3D pen for this process enables tangible artistic creation that is accessible, unique, and allows for experimentation!

Getting Started: Simple Algorithmic 3D Pen Creations

Let’s get those creative juices flowing with a few quick and easy ways to get started. Get your 3Doodler 3D pen and plenty of colorful filament, and find a clean surface.

Geometric Progressions: Create art with sequences where each term is found by multiplying the previous term by a constant factor! You can use geometric progressionto create repeating patterns where the size or scale of the elements decreases or increases. For example, draw the circles with your 3D pen, making each one incrementally larger. Connect the shapes to form an expanding structure like a cone.

Fractals: These are geometric shapes that exhibit self-similarity, meaning they have the same pattern at different scales. For example, the Koch Snowflakeis a fractal curve created using an equilateral triangle, and each successive stage is formed by adding outward bends to each side of the previous stage, making smaller equilateral triangles.

Mathematical Sequence: There are many mathematical sequences that you can apply to art. The most commonly referenced is the Fibonacci Sequence, which is used to create a spiral by drawing squares with side lengths corresponding to the Fibonacci numbers.

More Tips for Success!

Combining the creative outlet of 3D drawing with the logical nature of parametric and algorithmic design allows you to explore new dimensions of artistic expression — the only limit is your imagination.

Remember to start with simple patterns and basic rules before you increase the complexity. Sketch your ideas with intention and map out how your design will progress. And, most importantly, don’t forget to embrace imperfection. The beauty of art lies in its organic nature, and creating with a 3D pen is no different. Remember that slight variations in your design add character and interest.

The post Go Beyond Doodling: Explore Mathematics in Art With 3D Pens! first appeared on 3Doodler.

Biomimicry, or biomimetics, draws inspiration from nature to solve challenges and design new technologies. It’s an exciting way to approach problems, and using 3Doodler 3D printing pens makes it easy to break down the concept into small lessons for students to explore. We’ve pulled together a few examples to encourage students to experiment with biomimicry using their 3D pens in the classroom!

Students can study the Fibonacci sequence with our lesson plan and use their 3Doodler 3D pens to practice building interconnected lines to form a net-like structure and create a working model.

In addition, students can discuss how spiders use different silks for different purposes, and how this translates to using different 3D pen filament types for different structural properties. How would they apply their learning to real-world problems?

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Patterns & Structure: Seashells

Seashells often exhibit spiral growth patterns and can show the Fibonacci sequence but also feature strong, curved layered structures. Studying these patterns and exploring ways to apply them to real-world problems is helpful. For example, students can explore how seashells are formed through biomineralization and how their shapes provide protection and structural support.

Invite students to learn more about shell structure and design by creating models with their 3D pens. It’s an easy way to study the science behind shells and have fun!

See The Tutorial

Color, Camouflage & Symmetry: Butterflies

According to the Smithsonian, there are approximately 17,500 species of butterflies in the world. Butterflies come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes. They are beautiful and curious insects with a lot to teach us, from the unique ways they use color to camouflage themselves from predators to their ability to repel water and dirt.

For younger students, butterflies offer an excellent lesson in symmetry. The 3Doodler lesson plan invites students to study the symmetry of Monarch butterflies and create their own butterflies to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

Older students could have an opportunity to research different butterfly species and identify their unique characteristics. They can connect their learning to real-world applications and identify opportunities for biomimicry. Examples include self-cleaning surfaces to repel dust and debris, aerodynamic design for aircraft, or using color for textiles and technology.

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The post Bio-Inspired Builds: 3D Printing Pens and the Wonders of Nature first appeared on 3Doodler.

This annual event pulls together the brightest minds in education. It offers educators a deep dive into areas that interest them, with solutions and ideas to make progress.

While discussion around AI unsurprisingly took center stage, the breakout sessions focused more on boosting accessibility, play, and collaboration in schools. Catch a brief overview of this year’s event here and read on for our key takeaways from the educators we met with and sessions we attended.

Accessibility & Social-Emotional Learning as a Priority

Educators continue to prioritize social-emotional learning in the classroom. The strategies they rely on encourage students to develop emotional intelligence, resilience, build empathy, and create positive relationships.

One classroom example for younger students included Build Me “Emotions” by Lego Education, enabling students to share their emotions through hands-on building and play. Older students may enjoy an opportunity to introduce themselves to their peers at the beginning of the year. This can be a small, but valuable step towards getting to know each other (and how to pronounce names!) while also building a classroom community.

Accessibility tools are a game changer for many students. Unique tools by Apple and Microsoft make learning much more approachable for various audiences, including built-in tools for those who need visual, hearing, cognitive, or mobility support.

Melissa Stark, a Special Education Teacher and Instructional Technology Coach in New York City’s Department of Education, shared these tools and other critical tips to make learning more accessible during her ISTE presentation.

Importance of Play

A common theme that emerged as the event progressed was the importance of play-based activities, especially given the last few years of disruption brought on by the pandemic and distance learning.

One glance around the ISTE Playground, and it was clear to see how play could boost learning outcomes. Gamification was a clear focus, which adds gamelike elements to increase motivation and engagement.

Teachers are creating interactive and immersive learning experiences and boosting play with a host of learning tools like Class VR, Book Creator, and KinderLab Robotics, to name a few.

Collaboration Through Industrial Design Labs & Makerspaces

Several educators we spoke with explained their role in organizing maker spaces, fab labs, and industrial design labs. No matter what it’s called in your school, these spaces and the people who lead them are incredible. They provide students with an area at school that offers a break from the pressure of strict academic work and allow for more creative, hands-on learning.

Johanna Marshall, a teacher at Ridley High School in Pennsylvania, shared a session with her students to explain how they took an outdated industrial design lab and transformed it into a welcoming, student-centered maker space where everyone could contribute.

Students formed a Girls Who Code club and worked collaboratively to create working mazes. Later in the year, students made functional interlocking stools that tested their skills.

Lessons shared for those looking to create their own maker space included starting where you and your students are, only accepting useful donations, buying equipment with product support, and asking for help when you need it.

Inspirational as always, ISTE 2023 was a great reminder for all of us to focus on what’s possible and to celebrate student achievement at every opportunity.

The post ISTE 2023 Key Takeaways and Promising Practices first appeared on 3Doodler.

Science, math, and technological literacy help us engage in engineering and solve problems to help those around us. So let’s learn more about these fields and see how we can contribute with 3Doodler tools as an early introduction to 3D printing, creative problem-solving, and breaking down how things work.

Change Makers

Engineer’s Week began in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) to highlight engineers’ critical role in society. The week coincides with President George Washington’s birthday, as he is often described as America’s first engineer. But engineers go much further back in history, and their contributions are vast.

Look around you and imagine for a moment all the things in your life that engineers have played a part in creating. The list is endless. Engineers have contributed many ways to improve lives, from electricity to the telephone, cars, airplanes, and computers.

Meeting an engineer is one way to help demystify the field and learn more about what engineers do. DiscoverE, the organization that sponsors Engineers Week, hosts monthly Chats with Change Makers to speak with a real-life engineer and learn about a new field. Explore past episodes or join the next one live to learn more about technology fields.

Creating the Future

In addition to meeting engineers, young people can explore the various engineering disciplines at school or home with easy-to-follow lessons. This week we’re sharing a few challenging and fun engineering lessons to build and test designs in 3D.

The engineering design process offers a way of thinking that you can apply to solve a problem. Each step provides new information about the situation and encourages you to think critically about how you might solve it. Engineers often repeat the process to come up with the best possible solution. Working as a team, you can share ideas and find new perspectives by involving others.

The Engineer Girl offers a simple way to think about the engineering design process. It’s also a great place to start exploring careers in engineering and learning more about the field.

Design Like an Engineer

Working with friends has never been better as students explore STEM-focused design challenges that span sports, architecture, and design. These 3Doodler lesson plans will inspire critical thinking and opportunities to apply the engineering design process.

Grade K-2: STEM Doodle Hockey

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Grade 3-5: STEM Doodle Engineering Challenge

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Grade 6-8: STEAM Design Challenge

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The post It’s Engineers Week! first appeared on 3Doodler.

To build a functional bridge, it’s important to have an understanding in the basics of physics, Newton’s Laws, the properties of matter, and other factors that inform us of our physical world, but it can be challenging to see how they all work together at the same time. The best way to learn about bridges is to build a model of one – a perfect project based learning (PBL) activity. That’s just what students do in Glenn Couture’s high school classes. Explore Glenn’s PBL tips and access a roundup of 3Doodler K-12 lessons to bring PBL to your learning environment.

PBL to Engage Students

Glenn Couture teaches honors and AP physics at a high school in Norwalk, Connecticut. During the school year he guides students through a wide range of topics, including kinematics, the relationship between work, power and energy, waveforms, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, electricity, and light.

Couture guides students to make models using 3Doodler pens

A key part of teaching these topics is taking abstract descriptions of how physics work and letting students explore them hands-on through PBL. Couture caps off many of his curricular units with  projects that enable students to apply what they’ve learned to a real-world problem. Students demonstrate their understanding of complex topics by creating their own 3D models. This application of difficult concepts ensures students build confidence, express creativity, and offers tools for visual learners.

3D Application in Chemistry Class

Couture used 3Doodler pens in a unique chemistry project to build models of a side-face molecule placement crystal.

A Doodled visualization of molecules in a crystal lattice

“In chemistry, solids form crystals,” he explained while showing off the cube, a helpful tool for visualizing the relationship between molecules in a crystal lattice.

With 3Doodler students have the advantage of creating a 3D model by hand, which they then use to study the stability of various crystal types.

“I sometimes find that students have difficulty taking a concept from 2D to 3D and vice versa,” Couture added. He feels that 3Doodler pens are the ideal tools to bridge that gap.

Jumpstart PBL with 3Doodler K-12 Lessons.

Doodle Wheelers (Force and Motion)

Recommended grades: K-2
Learn about: Simple machines, force and motion
Overview: In this activity, students explore the size of wheels and their effects on force and motion. Students will design and create one small-wheeled racer and one large-wheeled racer using clothespins and a 3Doodler pen.

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STEM: Earth’s Structure and Beyond!

Recommended grades: 3-5
Learn about: Structure of Earth and other planets
Overview: Students will create 3D models of cross-sections of planets and compare and contrast the structures and layers of them. Students will record their observations of the differences of cross-sections of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

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STEM: Bridging the Gap

Recommended grades: 6-8
Learn about: Physics, STEM
Overview: In this activity, students will work to design a bridge and test its ability to bear weight when spanning a gap of 20 cm using a 3Doodler and no other materials.

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3D Atoms

Recommended grades: 9-12
Learn about: Rutherford atom model
Overview: In this activity, students will work to create a Rutherford model of an atom in 3D with the 3Doodler pen. Students will study their models and identify the part of an atom. They will share their work and to demonstrate their comprehension of atom structure.

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Are you inspired by Glenn Couture’s use of PBL to enhance learning and comprehension? How do you incorporate PBL in your lesson plans? Our community of parents and teachers want to know. Share your thoughts with us on social media, and be sure to tag us!

@3Doodler #3Doodler #3DoodlerEDU #WhatWillYouCreate #ProjectBasedLearning #PBL

The post The Case for Project Based Learning in 3D first appeared on 3Doodler.

A recent Microsoft study indicated that a girl’s level of interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) rises steadily until age 11, and then declines, most markedly by age 15. I refer to these as the “wonder” years, because I wonder why more people haven’t noticed it or done something about it!

One of the best tools in my teaching arsenal is the 3Doodler Start. I’d like to “draw” upon my own success with the 3Doodler and share why it’s an important tool for all of your students, but especially your young girls. The 3Doodler is a way to inspire and engage our girls in STEM at an early age, while cultivating a platform that will sustain their interest throughout higher education and life. Learning with a 3Doodler nurtures creative thinking, as students design original works or repurpose information and ideas into new creations. It is an artistic form of expression that appeals to girls, while developing their voice not only within the design community, but in our world at large. Being a flexible, fluent thinker is a valuable commodity in any field or endeavor they may pursue.

Through using 3Doodler pens in the classroom, students practice “design thinking,” a process of iteration that entails asking questions, brainstorming, planning, testing and retesting. This logical thought process is effective and visually concrete with 3Doodler pens. A larger design problem is broken down into smaller, more manageable sub-problems.

In our classroom, you will see girls designing plans, sketching models, drawing flowcharts, building, and playing with ideas not only in their minds, but with their hands. They make predictions. They make inferences. They make repairs. They cultivate strong visual-spatial abilities because their thought processes are being enacted right before their eyes. And all of this happens as they are “playing.” As girls enter adolescence with its rapid changes and choices, the dramatic effects of a strong thought process are witnessed by an improved ability to make important decisions, ones that may alter life outcomes.

With 3Doodler pens, girls get practice in solving problems, making mathematic calculations and taking risks within open-ended challenges that allow for more than one solution. They cultivate a tolerance for ambiguity and build perseverance. They develop what my grandfather used to refer to as “true grit,” a kind of spunk and resilient nature best cultivated through experience with failure. Psychologist, Carol Dweck, coined the term “growth-mindset” as the ability to reframe failure as an opportunity for learning. With the constant barrage of perfection displayed by the media, our girls are in danger of becoming complacent rather than risk making mistakes. 3Doodler pens draw new pathways that embolden girls to dare, to try again, to go out on a ledge, knowing that the only true risk they face are the lessons lost by quitting.

Artful creation, such as with 3Doodler pens, does not demand perfection. It celebrates inspiration born through determination. It makes us smile, even as we’re trying again and again.

And somewhere along the line, they begin to realize that they can solve most of life’s problems if they can see the “shapes” and “patterns” within it, which take the form of problems, ideas and choices. 3Doodler pens nurture the ability to problem-solve through analyzing, synthesizing and transferring knowledge to abstract learning. 3Doodler pens are a valuable tool for all students, but for our girls, it is the shape of things to come.

Julia Dweck is a public school teacher who works with students in grades K-5, focusing on the importance of creative and open-ended thinking. Julia is the 2016 winner of the Da Vinci Science Award for her innovative integration of technology in the classroom.

She serves as a school resource and exemplar for inventive implementation of the arts and sciences. Julia encourages her students, friends, and peers to take risks, whenever possible, in order to grow. Follow her on Twitter @GiftedTawk

The post 3Doodler Bridges Gender Gap in STEM first appeared on 3Doodler.

Upon first glance, Oletha and Blair’s classrooms are quite different. Oletha Walker is a charismatic Challenge Resource and Project learning teacher of a young and dynamic group of students from grades 3-5. Her class is all about getting messy and having fun while learning. Blair Cochran is an outstanding high school Science teacher, with an ambitious group of students who are passionate about the subject. He leads his students to delve deeper into a topic, to ensure they truly understand it. Despite their differences, they have one thing is common: both classrooms enjoy hands-on learning experiences.

Visualizing concepts in 3D with Oletha’s class

Oletha is a strong believer in the benefits of hands-on learning to help engage both the left and right side of the brain. She believes it encourages trial and error, embracing and learning from mistakes, and trying again.

With the 3Doodler Start Learning Pack, Oletha’s students are able to put their thoughts into something that’s visual and tangible.

This is not new to them, as Oletha’s classroom is equipped with a traditional 3D printer – which sounds very cool. In practice however, Oletha found herself having to sit next to the printer to keep the students away from it due to its heat warnings. Her students could only standby and wait for a single print to be shared with the whole class.

“The 3Doodler frees up time” – Oletha

Ever since introducing the 3Doodler to her class, every student has access to their own tool and is able to quickly and easily create their own item. There is no concern over anyone being injured, because the pens’ tips don’t reach high temperatures. Now Oletha has the freedom to circle around the class, guiding, monitoring, and giving feedback. More of her lesson plans can be accomplished because the students are able to work quickly and analyze and revise their designs before class time is over, as there is no downtime waiting for the printer to complete the layering. “As we all know, there is never enough time in one class to accomplish all that you would want,” Oletha commented.

Design, Build, Modify

In one of her classes, Oletha’s students were tasked with designing their own aquaponics system that could be used in someone’s apartment. Traditionally, a lesson like this would be limited to drawings, but with the 3Doodler, this lesson went to a whole new dimension. Her students were able to demonstrate their ideas more accurately with their 3D designs, make needed modifications, and build discourse around what they were designing.

What’s next?

For the next school year, Oletha is excited to have the entire school reimagine their town. Each person will imagine a futuristic version of their town and then create a model using the 3Doodler. This will be displayed so visitors to the school can see how the students envision their town to become.

Exploring and testing new learnings in Blair’s class

A typical lesson in Blair’s class goes like this: the class discusses the new topic for 10 minutes, then actively explores that topic further (which can take on a bunch of different formats), followed by some reading up and videos to strengthen their understanding of it. Blair likes to break down the topics into bite-sized chunks so the students can focus on a single understanding and how it is linked to other ideas.

What Blair’s students love the most about using the 3Doodler is the ability to physically create what they have pictured in their mind. When it comes to exploring a new topic, the students are able to ‘sketch’ their understanding of it and test it out. Moreover, Blair appreciates how easy the students have found this tool is to use.

Connecting the dots

During a lesson on circuits, students used the 3Doodler to create 3D models of voltage in a circuit. Blair has found that students typically struggle conceptually with this unit. What Blair has done for years is draw the circuit and have the students draw the 3D images of the voltage. With the 3Doodler, the students were able to physically create these plots instead. “I believe that the ability to create these models gave the students a new way to access the concept, and thus provided more students a pathway to learning,” Blair commented.

What’s next?

For the next school year, Blair is looking forward to incorporating the 3Doodler Learning Packs into the school’s MakerSpace and more of his classroom units.

The post Learning how to learn with 3Doodler Learning Packs first appeared on 3Doodler.

A first glance of our Learning Packs

Designed with teachers, for their classrooms

We have spent countless hours working on the redesigned Learning Packs, with the outcome of an easier, better experience for teachers and their student users. Finally, with the launch of these products today, we’d like to share the thinking behind the new design!

All our 3D pens are made to be as simple and easy to learn as possible, avoiding obstacles between a user and their ability to create. This quality had to be carried through every aspect of the new EDU Learning Pack product experience, from the moment the teacher and students open their boxes, to when they make their first doodle. And what better way to truly understand the needs of teachers and students in the classroom, than to ask teachers?

3 Design Thinking Pillars

After numerous consultations with teachers who use the 3Doodler, it became clear to us that there were 3 consistent themes in what they were looking for:

Simple to understand

“If they don’t use it, lose it.” The first step to making our Learning Packs more valuable, was by removing components that don’t add value for teachers. We took out what they thought was least useful in the EDU Bundle, making room for more items, such as education-specific learning materials and robust containers.

With the contents that remained, we redesigned the creatives, the wording, and the overall layout, to make the information more clear, concise, and easily digestible. We also learned that teachers and students find it easier to process images rather than words alone, so we added more visual examples, and less text, in our guides.

Efficient use of time

Teachers are busy people. Finding the time to plan a new lesson is a challenge, let alone to introduce a whole new way of enabling student learning. To overcome this, we had to find a solution that helped teachers save time – before, during, and after the class. An important component in saving time for teachers was to make the Learning Packs extremely accessible to students, so that they could take charge of their own learning journey with 3Doodler.

The new Learning Pack contains a Teachers’ Kit, Students’ Kits, and a Filament Kit. Before class, the teacher can familiarize him/herself with the Teachers’ Kit, which comes with a checklist of items to go through, a cheatsheet, and lesson plans and activity guides. During the lesson, the class can refer to a specially designed poster (included in the Learning Pack) on doodling basics. A troubleshooting guide and set of tools is also available for quick fixes. By creating multiple easy-to-grab Student Kits, students can help themselves to their own pens and accessories, and grab filaments from the huge assortment available in the Filaments Kit.

Separating out the kits this way makes the material management easier for the teacher. They no longer need to spend time on distributing the tools and figuring out all the components, eliminating confusion and chances of errors. Student teams will also appreciate a sense of ownership over their own kits! After the lesson, students simply have to return all materials into their compartments, ready for the next class.

Friendly and intuitive to all

The Activity Guide and free lesson plans, tutorials, and stencils on our website have all been designed with teachers, and with the aim to inspire everyone to create, no matter their age or artistic ability. Building a dinosaur fossil may appear overly ambitious, but not if you have a stencil you could print and use. A roller coaster model seems impossible to make? Not if you can follow a step-by-step guide.

There are ideas for everyone, and limitless things to create, play with, and learn from. All it takes is to start.

The post Introducing the new 3Doodler EDU Learning Packs first appeared on 3Doodler.

I challenged students to think beyond what they’ve read and seen to come up with their own ideas. “Think like a Doodler!” I told them! My students immediately understood the meaning of this directive, because doodling has been at the heart of so many of our classroom activities. Through their doodling experiences, my students have learned the following:

Doodling is Inquiry-Based

We always begin doodling by posing a question or problem. This is followed by a design process that paves the way to new learning. Within this format, the teacher serves as the guide, while students take the lead, doodling their ideas, testing them, improving them and retesting them in a fun, motivating fashion. Problems spawn solutions.

Doodling to Connect The Dots

Doodling is a physical experience that taps into prior learning while building neural pathways. I call this “connective learning,” because doodling bridges the old with the new, conflating the two into sparkling innovations. Doodlers know that great ideas come from thinking across experiences. Leonardo Da Vinci would have made a great doodler in the way he stemmed the tides of disciplines, like anatomy, geology, and mathematics in his inventions.

One Doodle in a Million

Doodles come in all different shapes and sizes. There has never been (and never will be) a one-size-fits-all approach to doodling in our room. Students are amazed at the range of solutions generated by their peers when given a doodle-design challenge. Doodling is an open-ended way of thinking that encourages a vast array of opinions and perspectives nurturing a growing bank of possibilities.

Empathic-Doodlers

Doodling enhances thought through feelings. Doodlers are receptive to the needs of others, connecting in ways that go beyond words. When you doodle, you open your heart to different perspectives, cultures, and ways of being. Characteristics like kindness and compassion not only generate ideas, they enhance our world.

For students to think like Doodlers, teachers must allow them the freedom to expand their frame of mind, nurturing a new language of invention that embraces doodles of all shapes, sizes, and color. Doodlers know that great ideas result from a diversity of lines and textures, awakening our creative spirit.

So, when was the last time you encouraged your students to think like a Doodler?

Julia Dweck is a public school teacher who works with students in grades K-5, focusing on the importance of creative and open-ended thinking. Julia is the 2016 winner of the Da Vinci Science Award for her innovative integration of technology in the classroom.

She serves as a school resource and exemplar for inventive implementation of the arts and sciences. Julia encourages her students, friends, and peers to take risks, whenever possible, in order to grow. Follow her on Twitter @GiftedTawk

The post Think Like A Doodler first appeared on 3Doodler.