SketchUp Challenges

This assignment isn't incredibly fun, but it's satisfying, and it gives good basic SketchUp practice for the students. I give them 25 orthographic drawings of somewhat simple shapes, and they have to model them to scale in SketchUp. They get two points per object, but they're only required to make 15 objects. Any more than that and they get extra credit. Here are three examples of the drawing they get and the model they're supposed to create from it:

There are a million different ways to go about modeling something, and these challenges force the students to start seeing that.

SketchUp Cubescape

To give kids practice moving objects within a 3D workspace, I came up with the "cubescape" assignment. They draw a cube, turn it into a component, then copy it multiple times and move them around the space in a pleasing manner. Finally they choose a style and send me a PNG of the best viewpoint. Here are a few favorites from the last time I did it:

The assignment is so simple, yet open enough to encourage a good deal of variety. I love seeing how  12-15 year olds can interpret the idea in so many different ways. I haven't yet added elements and principles of design to my curriculum, but this assignment could easily demonstrate unity/harmony, contrast, scale, rhythm, line, and color.

Hall Pass Designs

I give my students two hall passes per term to do anything they need to: get a book, use the bathroom, visit the vending machines, etc. So why not spend 15 minutes to make them pretty?

Pen Tool Practice: Monopoly Monopoly

The Pen Tool is one of the best things in Illustrator, it just takes a lot of practice to get used to it. A good way to practice is to trace pictures with it, but just telling kids, "Hey, trace these pictures because vector symbols are cool," doesn't work. So I came up with the Monopoly monopoly assignment. Kids who like Monopoly will enjoy it because they get to create custom properties, and kids who don't like Monopoly might still enjoy tracing things they love and seeing them in a row.

In the end they have to trace four different objects for the monopoly, plus choosing a font for the spaces. Naturally I chose rally as my theme.

Teaching Typography: Hello My Name Is...

I found this project in a design book, and I modified it to fit my junior high needs. It's simple: the nametag says, "Hello, my name is ________________ and I'm a cowboy." Or alien, or robot, or magician, etc. At this level, the most I expect from them is choosing an appropriate font for the career/personality and maybe a color, and the assignment takes about a day. Further up I'm sure you could expect more and give more time.

The result for my students, I hope, is that they think a little bit more about what font they choose in the future. Heck, for some students, merely the fact that they're changing the font is success.

P.S. During this assignment, students finally noticed my Never use this font poster. Double success.