Augmented Reality, Tech, Art and STEAM

#K12ArtChat has spent at little time focusing on art and tech this month, on December 5th with Art-Tech Teacher Tim Needles and December 12th with the creator of the 3D modeling and Augmented Reality app Morphi, Sophia G. Whether you are extremely comfortable around tech or not sure where to begin, take a listen to the latest Creativity Dept podcast with Tim Needles. As he helps spark some ways to use Augmented Reality in the classroom!

Ever wonder why furniture has a particular shape? Was there more than one function to it? By using these 2 questions as starters for creating conversations with students about furniture design and function.

We start out talking about their least favorite piece of furniture. I would start by asking "Why they do not like it?" or "What would they do to make it better?" Then we take a look at some of the history of furniture design, along with looking at the company Norvanivel https://norvanivel.com. This furniture company creates not just furniture, but furniture for the classroom with multiple functions to it! It is such an amazing thing to see students get really excited when an ottoman is not just a footrest, but can also be a chair that can rock, but also a table for working.

After our discussion about these different kinds of furniture, we start making plans about ways that we can improve that piece we talked about at the beginning that we did not like. Next, we start investigating the app Morphi, which allows the student an opportunity to see their furniture design in a 360-degree view.

After the student has a chance to create their design, they get the chance to see what their piece looks in a realtime space by using the AR (Augmented Reality) feature.

If you have the availability of a 3D printer, you can take it one step further by saving the creation from the device and saving it as an .STL digital file. This allows you to be able to print it and physically hold and manipulate the creation.

I hope this gives you a great jumping-off point to create your own fun and fanciful, functional furniture!