Please join the SCOPES-DF community in supporting teachers and students during this time away from 3D printers, laser cutters, and other beloved digital fabrication tools.

If you have a lesson that can address standards, incorporate Fab I Can Statements, and be done without complete tool access, please share it today.  Fully analog lessons that can teach digital fabrication processes with common items found at home are also welcome.

Be sure to write in the topic field “Unplugged,” so we can feature the lesson in this collection.  You can also “Remix” a lesson from another contributor if you have an idea to make it analog.  Thanks for helping make this time away from our makerspaces more educational and fun.

Unplugged Lesson Collection

Create an Obama Poster

Students will engage with concepts of leadership and service and reflect on MLK and Obama’s legacy in a variety of different ways before creating their own ‘Obama Hope’ poster.

February 17, 2021 computer, Arts, Humanities, Culture, Creativity

Exploring Arduino

This is a 5 days track focus on learning basic circuits theory and fundamentals in addition to Micro-controllers (parts and operation). Also, we will make some advance applications using the…

Digital Circuits

This is a 5 days Track focus on learning basic circuits theory and fundamentals in addition to Micro-controllers ( parts and operation ). Also we will make some applications using…

Mini T-Shirt Cannon

Engineer a mini T-shirt cannon out of a toilet paper roll and rubber bands to shoot marshmallows at a target or into a crowd!   Safety note: This activity requires…

Cardboard Backboard

Learn how to make a cardboard backboard out of household materials. Once assembled, complete the attached statistics worksheet and see how many shots you can make. Apply digital fabrication skills…

Unplugged: Make and Animate- The Thaumatrope

Makers create Thaumatropes with low tech methods and materials. Suitable for fab lab projects from home.

Unplugged: Projecting Geometry for Precision Cutting and Assembly

In this lesson you’ll learn how to make complex and precise geometric assemblies – like the skateboard halfpipe seen here – without the need for a laser cutter. Inherent to…

Unplugged: Design a Biomechanical Cyborg

This activity is a perfect blend of science and creativity as students work with their partner(s) to create their version of a cyborg appendage (or device). This part must mimic the workings…

Unplugged: Cardboard Container

Students are introduced to the Engineering Design Process by creating a cardboard container to hold the contents of their pocket. In this rapid prototyping activity, each step of the EDP…

Unplugged: Makers Making Good- Stopping the Spread

Designed for distance learning, home schooling, and maker machine independent learning. Using household materials, students prototype devices to help stop the spread of infectious diseases.

Coding 3D Models Using Tinkercad Codeblocks

Inspired by contemporary South African baskets and hats, this activity explores craft through computation, 3D modeling and 3D printing. Students will use object-oriented computer programming, meaning they will place a…

Add your ‘unplugged’ lesson here

Be sure to tag your lesson as ‘unplugged’.

We hope you can contribute to the lesson collection!

Community Contributed Digital Fabrication Lessons

Christmas Cards

This series of lessons will take you through how to make a Christmas card using the Brother ScanNCut and the circuit playground express. These lessons can be adapted to be…

December 8, 2024

CO2 Dragsters

In this series of lessons, you will take students through the design and production processes in order to create their own CO2 Dragster. As a class, you will design a…

December 7, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Balsa Glider

Students will design and fabricate a glider. Test its flight, then optimize their design by adjusting the shape of its wings, tail, or body.   This activity will introduce two…

December 3, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Dice

Design your own 3D-printable dice! Use CAD (computer-aided design) software to build out an idea in three dimensions. Choose your dice geometry and decide what to put on each face.…

December 3, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Spinning Tops

Give engineering a spin: experiment with physics while designing and fabricating a custom spinning top! Get hands-on with energy, force, and momentum as you experiment with different 3D-printed designs. How…

December 3, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Botanical Press

Combine art and science: customize and fabricate a botanical press that can be used over and over again to preserve leaves and flowers for crafts or dissection.

December 3, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Stamps

Students will embark on a creative journey to design a personal logo that reflects their (or a brand’s) unique identities and values. By combining graphic design principles with self-reflection, they…

December 3, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Invention Kits

Create your very own invention kit! Design and laser cut a set of two-dimensional shapes that can slot together to make three-dimensional structures.    Finished kits can be used for…

December 2, 2024
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Fab-in-a-Box Pop-Up Cards

Explore math, form, and function while engineering pop-up paper art. Use a vinyl cutter to make two-dimensional artwork “pop!” Add score and cut lines to cardstock to fabricate custom, folding…

December 2, 2024

Fab-in-a-Box Stickers

Design and fabricate your very own custom stickers! Use digital CAD software to bring your ideas to life before cutting them on the vinyl cutter. Whether you’re a budding graphic…

December 2, 2024
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ScaleSpace – Visualizing the Solar System Through 3D Models

In this lesson, students will explore the vastness and diversity of the solar system by creating scale models of planets, moons, and other celestial objects. Using astronomical data, they will…

December 2, 2024
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SHAPE BUILDERS

This lesson is designed to help students deepen their understanding of geometry – shapes and their attributes.     Prior to the lesson, students must have been introduced to the vocabulary…

December 1, 2024

Chemical Bonding Game

Driving Question: How can we, as game designers, create a playable board or computer (Chromebook) game that teaches players the properties, behavior, and structure of ionic and covalent compounds?  …

November 26, 2024
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Human Eye Model: A Hands-On Investigation of the Functions of the Parts of the Eye

This lesson provides students a constructivist approach to learning the functions of the different parts of the human eye. Leading up to this lesson, students learned the properties of light…

November 21, 2024
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Touch Sensor Light

Students develop foundational knowledge and skills in basic electronics, exploring how voltage and electronic components interact to control a system and how energy manipulation impacts these components. Leveraging this understanding,…

November 20, 2024

Cross curricular custom measuring tool

I used this project with my Year 8 class to create a custom measuring tool for a recipe. This is a remix of a lesson available on TinkerCAD – Make…

November 14, 2024
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STANDARDS-ALIGNED

Community contributed lessons aligned with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)  offer formal educators innovative pathways to teaching content knowledge. The Fab I Can Statements are a resource to develop technology-literate learning progressions to align with content standards.

FAB TESTED

Periodically lessons are adapted and tested by the Fab Foundation team based on a call for submissions from fabbers, educators, and makers.  Our inaugural set of lessons for the SCOPES-DF project were Fab Tested in 2016 and are tagged Fab Tested on the website.

OPEN-SOURCE VALUES

Lessons are distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC license, that permits free use and re-purposing by others.