Tinkercad offers a powerful, free way to work with computer-aided design, or CAD, for students of a wide range of ages. But it does more.
The art of 3D design using digital software tools has been an expensive and computing-intensive task. Now Tinkercad is here to help make this fun and smart way of working accessible to everyone.
This can be used to teach CAD specifically, perhaps in a shop class, but is also useful for art classes, physics, math, and more. Designs can be used or 3D printed for real-world use, helping students create professionally from scratch. But it does more with circuits and coding skills built in as well, making it a powerful STEM teaching tool.
This guide aims to lay out everything you need to know about Tinkercad to help you decide if it could benefit your class.
What is Tinkercad?
Tinkercad is a software platform that enables the design and manipulation of 3D images using CAD, coding, and circuitry.
Tinkercad works as a web and smartphone application, so it does not consume computing resources and, because it is free, can be accessible to a wide range of students from almost any device. This allows the student to design, edit and print 3D objects and offers the possibility of working with virtual circuits and learning code using blocks.
In its most basic form, this allows students to create shapes and then combine them to create more complex objects. If your school does not have a 3D printer, this need not be a problem as it is also possible to order 3D prints of designs as required.
It's all focused on education, so there's a dashboard so teachers can create lessons and classes, share them, and monitor them as needed.
How does Tinkercad work?
Tinkercad is a free web tool, so you simply need to go to the site or download the app, register for free and you can start designing and editing right away.
Tinkercad is divided into three STEM-friendly sections: 3D design, circuits, and code blocks. The first is for pure CAD work, the second for building and testing physical and electronic style circuits, and the third is for writing coding using block-based code.
Teachers can assign tasks or classes to groups or individuals and then monitor progress as students complete the tasks. Helpfully, all of this is aligned with the ISTA, Common Core, and NGSS standards to make hitting those important markers even easier for educators.
Using sample videos, teachers can give students ideas for potential projects, which they can then work on in class and outside of the classroom using their own devices and logins.
What are the best features of Tinkercad?
Tinkercad is very easy to use, making it attractive to students in grades 3 and up, but offers enough complexity to serve students older than 12th grade as well.
Tinkercad allows you to generate designs in Minecraft, which is a great way to get students excited about working with the software. They can also 3D print their creations for an even more satisfying physical end result from their efforts.
The availability of structured mini-lessons makes this a great way to get started and introduce students to CAD. They can learn at their own pace in a way that builds confidence, especially when they make fun creations that leave them wanting to do more.
The Tinkercad community is popular and active, so students can share and use designs with and from others to get more out of the tool. This can help save time, building on the work of others, but can also be useful for teaching collaboration and breaking down projects.
Resources for teachers are plentiful with the ability to create classes, add students, import and share designs with groups. Helpfully, there are also lesson plans and tutorials available to simplify teaching any of the three functions.
How much does Tinkercad cost?
Tinkercad is totally free Web application and downloadable application for smartphone and tablet. You only need to register with an email address to take full advantage of the service and start using it ad-free. The fact that work can be saved and accessed across devices free of charge is a really powerful feature here.
Best Tinkercad Tips and Tricks
Build for Minecraft
Start designing with a Minecraft end result in mind so that students get excited and engaged with this new tool from the beginning.
Print
Be sure to use the 3D printing option to get real results from the designs so students can see the impact their ideas can have. It's fun to create phone cases.
Solve a problem
Find a real-world problem and assign students the task of solving it with their designs, perhaps working in groups to achieve the ideal result.
