3D Pen Lessons

Review with students diameter and other vocabulary related to spheres and circles learned previously.

Have students practice using 3Doodler Create+ pens: What is filament? What does it mean to extrude filament? What do the buttons do? How do you connect 2 pieces of extruded plastic? Students who have never used a 3Doodler before may want to practice extruding filament.

Pay particular attention to safety precautions while using 3Doodler Create+ pens, especially how to avoid burning yourself. Make sure students do not have pens plugged in across working/walking surfaces. Reinforce that pens should be turned off and unplugged when not in use to avoid potential burns. Keep pens from melting/burning countertops, etc. but setting them down appropriately. NEVER doodle on any surface other than the 3Doodler Doodle Pad.

Pair students together. Let them know they will be designing bubble wands in 2 different shapes. Allow students to make bubbles with the provided bubble wands. Encourage them to pay attention to the design of the wands and what purpose the design may serve. Make sure they use the colored bubble solution and allow the bubbles to land on the long sheets of paper.

Have students record their observations on the worksheet. They must make at least 1 qualitative observation and 1 quantitative observation about the bubbles they blow in this exploration activity.

Have students answer the questions leading up to designing their wands. Encourage them to discuss their ideas with each other. They can then design a quick survey using Google Forms to share with their classmates asking for ideas for their bubble wands. Show students how to view the compiled responses in a Google Sheet once everyone has taken the survey.

Students will use their answers on their worksheets and the results of their surveys to sketch and create their bubble wands using the 3Doodler Create+ pens.

Once wands have been created, students should once again make bubbles with the colored bubble solution (different colored solutions for each shape would be ideal). Students should collect the appropriate data for their worksheets (qualitative and quantitative).

Now that wands are created, allow students to freeze bubbles for measurement. (See dry ice frozen bubbles article in Resources section.) If temperatures are appropriate, allow students to dress warmly and take their experiments outside. Carefully help students measure frozen bubbles.

Note: Freezing bubbles either with dry ice or outside is a precise process. Certain bubble solutions contain too much glycerin to freeze easily and students are often not patient enough to wait for this to happen. Handling frozen bubbles is also quite tricky. The method of measuring bubbles based on the colored ring they leave on the rolled out paper makes a great, simplified alternative.

Once all data has been collected, allow student pairs to record their findings in the class spreadsheet. Have students answer questions reflecting on their experiments/experiences.

Discuss the results of the experiments. Display/discuss the class spreadsheet findings. Compare the class process to how scientists in different locations can work together and share data. Depending upon the skill level of the class, the teacher can demonstrate programming cells to use the observed measurements to calculate other dimensions of spheres.