KidZania London STEAMs into October
Launching Friday 5 to Sunday 7 October, KidZania London – the indoor city run by kids at Westfield London, Shepherd’s Bush – will be hosting an action-packed STEAM Week, inspiring kids to develop their skills across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. With 2018 seeing the launch of the government’s Year of Engineering campaign, of which KidZania is an official partner, there has been an increased focus towards recognizing and celebrating STEM subjects and careers spanning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, KidZania also recognises that the demand for arts resources has also rocketed, as teachers are increasingly championing the importance of creative thinking and visual learning in the classroom. The three-day STEAM festival will look to merge these disciplines together, demonstrating that no matter where children’s strengths are, whether its number crunching or a way with words, there are careers and opportunities out there for everyone to explore. From STEAM-themed world record challenges with Guinness World Records Live, to slimy Jelly Belly X-ray operations with PDSA and structure building workshops with Engineering Development Trust, there will be fun and educational workshops to bring the school syllabus to life – whether that’s on a school trip or a weekend visit with the family. Eddie Kemsley, CEO at KidZania comments: “Embracing creativity through the arts is something we positively encourage at KidZania – whether through our Book of The Month Activity with Little Tiger, inspiring even the most reluctant book worms, to our music academy and dance studio. We are hugely excited to be incorporating this into our existing STEM focus, to really demonstrate the wide variety of subjects and career opportunities out there. She continues: Not everyone can be great at numbers or science, but as some of the most innovative engineerable solutions have been developed by creative thinkers, it’s important for us to be able to showcase the importance of arts subjects too.” Exciting partnership activities include: Take the Guinness World Record Challenge 5th – 7th October Does your child have what it takes to be the next Guinness World Record Holder? KidZania’s Guinness World Record Live event will put kids to the test with one of three STEAM-themed world record challenges. Jelly Belly Operation at PDSA – Saturday 6th October Join PDSA for a fun and interactive Jelly Belly Operation. Examine X- rays and find the foreign bodies in our pet patient’s slimy stomach! Design and Build with the Engineering Development Trust 5th – 7th October Come and get involved in one of our fun ‘hands on’, design, build and test challenges with the Engineering Development Trust.. KidZania believes in ‘Learning by Doing’. By bringing the classroom to life in the city, it aims to boost children’s curiosity and imagination through curriculum-based real-life activities. To book tickets for your school trip now, please email schools@kidzania.co.uk or call 0330 131 3335. See KidZania.co.uk for more details. Twitter – @KidZaniaLondon Instagram – @KidZaniaLondon Facebook – /KidZaniaLondon Pricing: Access to all additional activities is included in the entrance price £14 per child. Reduced pricing available for schools with a high Pupil Premium level Learning outcomes: KS1 – KS2 Science KS1 – KS3 Maths, Art, Design & Technology and PSHE About KidZania London: At KidZania London, children can take part in real-life adventures. Spanning across 75,000 square feet, KidZania is an amazing indoor city built just for kids! KidZania provides children with the opportunity try out a variety of real life role-play activities from being a firefighter, journalist to a surgeon. Each role-play is developed to teach kids essential life skills including financial literacy, teamwork and independence. Designed to empower and entertain kids, KidZania gives them the chance to challenge themselves and gets children thinking about which career they may pursue in the future. KidZania is a unique role-play experience for 4-14 year olds, blending learning with reality and entertainment.
DigiLab 3D45 Review: Dremel’s 3D printer is school friendly!
With 3D printing making a splash in industry, schools are beginning to invest in the technology to help prepare students for future careers. But with the cost relatively high and the technology still emerging, is it worth handing over much-needed funding? Here, we review the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 model to explore whether 3D printing is a realistic avenue for schools to explore. Armed with a scraper and two sticks of purple glue, our tech-minded colleague Frank McLaughlin set up the DigiLab, which was generously loaned to us by Dremel (part of the Bosch group). Dremel launched their DigiLab 3D45 at the BETT show recently because it has been designed specifically for schools. Frank had a good knowledge of how 3D printing works – although he had never used a 3D printer before – and informed me that a spool of plastic thread (or filament) was responsible for printing the 3D objects. So we loaded the spool into the side of the machine and threaded the filament into the correct parts. Dremel informed us that an environmentally friendly, plant-based plastic, PLA, can be used with the DigiLab. Creating awe and wonder in DT On reading the easy-to-follow, relatively short set of instructions, we set about choosing a design to build. The touch-screen menu allowed us to easily navigate to a frog model, which the printer informed us would take 1hr 30mins. We took the purple glue stick and lubricated the glass platform to avoid the object from being welded onto the plate. Over the next couple of hours, with the lights dimmed and the printer illuminated like some kind of plastic-melting UFO, staff from around the office bobbed in to express their awe and wonder. Thanks to its fully enclosed see-through chamber, we could see every stage of creation as the hair-thin strands of melted plastic build up the shapes, layer by layer. With cries of “It’s like magic!” and “What else can we make?” it’s clear to see the excitement levels in schools will be piqued with a 3D printer. The possibilities are endless and the only limits are the students’ imagination. The end completion time was extended throughout printing, so the first job ran over our working day. Frog ended up remaining headless, however we were able to see the honeycomb effect within the body of the objects printed – which saves on filament and is fantastically strong. There’s also an integrated camera so students and teachers can monitor and control multiple printers remotely. Frank monitored the printing of the first object – while printing the machine should not be left unattended, something to consider when longer jobs are being built in school hours – and then began creating his own designs including a QA Education logo and a Euromedia heart keyring. As well as a few designs included with the printer to get you started, nets are available on the web if students want a quick start. Designing your own net can be done in a variety of software packages such as Autodesk’s Print Studio. Cross-curricular potential After using the printer and discussing the possibility of creating various objects, we realised that a 3D printer can be fully cross-curricular as well as improving DT and computing skills. Studying business? Make an object to sell at enterprise. Art student? Design your own decorative object. Future engineer? Solve a problem by building a solution. Dremel are keen to impress how important it is that pupils have a good knowledge of 3D design and build. John Kavanagh, Dremel’s global president, said, “3D printers have become an essential teaching tool as the world’s economies gear to the needs of the next industrial revolution. The Dremel DigiLab suite provides the tools and range to inspire children and give them the skills they’ll need for the workplace of the future. The DigiLab 3D45 is the first 3D printer designed to perfectly suit the school environment. It combines simplicity of use and reliability with the capacity to produce advanced designs at a price that schools can afford.” Michael Miller, technology and computer science teacher at Otsego Public Schools in the USA and a Dremel 3D Ambassador, said, “The integration of 3D printing into the classroom, from design and technology to history, inspires students. The Dremel Digilab 3D printing product suite is perfect for introducing children to the basics of 3D design and printing, and enabling them to develop their skills from starting school to heading to university. 3D printing is a great way to close the disconnect between the skills we teach in the classroom and the world of work.” QA Education checks out software, preparation and the scope for students with the Dremel DigiLab 3D45 Here, Frank gives his technical review and suggests how the 3D printer can be operated in DT lessons: • Set-up speed: To set the DigiLab takes hardly any time at all. It is built for easy usage, all of it is pretty much self-explanatory. • Ease of use: The printer is almost plug in and print. It’s so easy to use, you just add the filament, hook the filament to the extruder, calibrate the glass platform (which is literally pressing a button) and you are good to go. • Time: The DigiLab takes around five minutes to heat up before it can begin sculpting. The clock is not always dependable with sculptures sometimes taking up to an extra hour longer than expected. Despite the guesstimates the DigiLab’s speed, for what it prints, is impressive. • Display: The DigiLab utilises a clear and user-friendly interactive touch screen to display how long the sculptures will take to create. It also shows the temperature of the glass platform as well as the temperature of the nozzle. • Noise: The machine is quite loud, as can be expected of a 3D printer, so may need to be sited away from pupils’ desks. • Software: Works best with recommended files .g3drem and these can be created with relative ease with the Autodesk Print Studio. Just