Tip #1 Laser Cutting Snap-Fit Boxes



Using Corel and the laser cutter makes crafting precise snap fit joints for assembling boxes more simpler than doing the carpentry by hand. However, working in the digital medium can make constraints less obvious and it’s easy to make some simple geometry or math mistakes. We didn’t realize some of these until we cut out our box on cardboard.…

This week we decided to converge on creating a system for graphical interpretation and diagramming. We thought the task might be having kids explain their data interpretation process by capturing "snapshots" of their process along the way. We starting building our functional prototype which included a 1) mounted projector for overlaying images onto the paper and 2) Wiimote for pen tracking, 3) we also created an prototype infrared pen/physical pen by taping a fine point marker to a wood…

We started out by brainstorming some ideas but found we were getting carried away exploring a lot of different interaction techniques. We decided to refocus and start by brainstorming learning domains we wanted pursue instead and then come up with techniques appropriate for the type of learning we wanted to support. Some of the topics we came up with were:

• Maps/world geography + Google Earth?
• • mercator projections and…

The last time, I left off with finished cardboard prototypes that were ready for user testing with Ellie. I stopped by to present what I had and to have her try out the set I made. At first she was excited about putting the blocks together and assembling the sandwich but lost interest in the shapes. Instead she incorporated the cardboard sandwich pieces with other aspects of her play. For Ellie, it's more about the story behind preparing fake food and the make-believe. She likes to pretend…