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International Journal of Education and Pedagogy (IJEAP) eISSN: 2682-8464 [Vol. 2 No. 3 September 2020]

Journal website: http://myjms.moe.gov.my/index.php/ijeap

3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 3D PRINTING IN THE CLASSROOM

Aimi Nabila Anizaim^1*, Nelysa Nurshafira Mohd Roslan² and Asrul Hafiz Huliman Hami Ahmad³

1 2 3 Faculty of Film Theatre and Animation, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA

*Corresponding author: aiminabila@uitm.edu.my

Article Information:

Article history:

Received date : 6 August 2020 Revised date : 7 August 2020 Accepted date : 7 August 2020 Published date : 27 September 2020

To cite this document:

Anizaim, A., Mohd Roslan, N., &

Ahmad, A. (2020). 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF 3D PRINTING IN THE CLASSROOM.

International Journal Of Education And Pedagogy, 2(3), 83-88.

Abstract: In todays scenario, teaching methods in the classroom has to move towards equipping students to cope with currents technology. Thus, this paper is exploring one of a few methods that educational technologies currently changing the way of students learn in classroom by running a start-up 3D animation workshop to see how young kid students able to embrace and cope with the presence of 3d technology syllabus in their classroom. This 3D animation workshop has been organized by the Animation Department from the Faculty of Film Theatre and Animation, University Technology Mara (UiTM) and the targeted participants were primary and secondary school students between the ages of 10 to 15 years old. The participants of this workshop has worked closely with the experts in 3D animation industry to link and explore the participant’s creativity in a more fun learning classroom.

The contents throughout the workshop has covered the basic knowledge of 3D animation software at the beginner level and the end result of this workshop has been manifested into a 3D model by using the provided 3D printing facilities. This workshop has offered the first-hand exposure and interactive experiences by bringing creative imagination into reality to the participants. This approached has motivating all the participants to become more enthusiasm in technology and makes the learning experience certainly more fun.

Keywords: 3D Animation Workshop, 3D Printing, Education.

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1. Introduction

In the current digital age, the input and output of the information can be nothing short of an instant gratification, since most of the school kids nowadays are more interested to play with technology in their learning process. The injection used of technology in the classroom can shaping a significantly different kind of learning environment compared to the traditional teaching methods besides offering the students with the latest opportunities and unique experiences that they need and deserve.

The concept of this research by conducting a 3D animation workshop is one of the many means to support Malaysia government’s that emphasising more to nurture Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) in education system. It is believable that 3D animation industry can offer a rich way to enhance and reinforce the interest of STEM within young generation. This program’s primary objective is to explore a few of the possibility of the technology in 3D animation that can change the way school kids learn. Besides, the output from this research is looking on the possibility of Malaysian young kids to adapt with the syllabus of animation production pipeline which normally learns at higher institution but testing them at the lower age since this method has been practically used abroad but none is applicable among the young age students in Malaysia.

The participants that were joining this workshop were among the primary and secondary school students between the ages of 10 to 15 years old. The contents throughout the workshop covered on the basic knowledge on 3D animation software at the beginner level by doing modelling of an animal based on the creativity of the student’s design. Later, the participants were given the opportunities to print their 3D model design physically using 3D printer.

2. Literature Review

According to Jeffrey Lipton, a former project lead of Fab@Home, it is important to introduce digital education in classroom for students to engage directly with resolving actual problems and indirectly will change the boring subject into something more fun and interactive (Petch, 2016).

The goal of education as a path to employment or to personal fulfilment is still debated that today’s workforce required more focus on lifetime learning and reskilling. Especially on the rising of complex and interrelated systems when most people prefer to use products on world subscription, cloud-based services that require constant engagement and higher degree problem-solving savvy.

Thus, educational system need to catch up with this scenarios and equip the students well (Swearer, 2017).

In the article, The Future Jobs (PDF) on January 2016 by World Economic Forum, within the four years, 3D printing will be partially responsible for a situation in which “more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today (Petch, 2016).

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More educators need to fully connect with students particularly when teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects. Disengagement with students will cause the lack of attention. Poor motivation ad decresed academic performance. The educators need to be more creative to capture students’s imaginantion and attention (Steer, 2017).

2.1 Problem Statement

Technology is everywhere and its presence covers in almost every part of our daily routines and deploying technologies in the classroom is getting a lot of attention. This research paper is looking on the side of educators to explore the possibility and adaptable of having 3D animation syllabus among the Malaysian young school kids even the subjects are mostly teaching at higher education level. The question arose when this method has wide spready used abroad but none in local education system has leaved a big question. Currently, the syllabus only been introduced at secondary school rather than primary ones. Does this scenario happened due to this teaching method isn’t relevant to apply in Malaysia or does it because of the adaptability of our young kids to catch up with technology that lead to this situation?

4. Results and Discussion

This research is useful for the development of children’s problem solving ability, presentation of ideas, digestion of information and the promotion of 3D Visual Presentation technology in the education system. Through 3D animation workshop, a general awareness of the 3D animation industry in Malaysia among the children can be developed and learning process would be more interactive in classroom.

During the previous 3D animation workshop in 2017, a quick survey was distributed and analyzed during the session. The results of the survey highlighted the main issue that participants faced;

which was the software. The software that were used before was Autodesk Maya. The interface was too complicated and hard for the participants to catch up and understand the 3D modeling process, even at the beginner level. Fig 1 shows the interface that were used in the previous 3D Animation workshop.

Fig 1. Fig 2.

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While in Fig 2, the software that will be used in 3D Animation workshop is still Autodesk Maya, however the interface was simplify so that it will be easier to understand by the youngsters. It is best to teach the participants the latest and mostly used software in the industry from the early stage. The next level will come after during the learning process if they pursue their interest in 3D animation courses in the future.

Fig 3.

Fig 4.

During the two days 3D animation workshop, the participants were first exposed to the basic step in designing an object by doing a quick sketch. The sketches will help them to come out with a few ideas and imagination of what they wanted to create later using 3D software. Then they continued working with their sketches design into 3D modelling in Autodesk Maya. They learned to work with 3D spaces layout and discovered the best practices for 3D creation. Ample time were given for the participants to set up their 3D model for the 3D printing process. These steps were closely guided by the instructors. It took a few hours to print their model out according to the numbers of polygons of the model. The final execution of the 3D printed model continued to art colouring. Participants were given a set of acrylic colours and markers to design their 3D printed model. This workshop aims to not burden the participants with the complexity of 3D animation process. Those hands-on activities helped all participants to enjoy their lesson throughout 2 days

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animation workshop despite all the difficulties in handling the 3D software. All the activities were shown in Fig 3-4.

Throughout this workshop, it is observed that the participants were very motivated in all activities and keep on exploring all the functionality of all buttons and interfaces that presence in 3D software. They instantly become an active learner among their peer and they were more honing their skills in problem solving, collaboration, civic awareness, ethics and media literacy throughout the lesson.

5. Conclusion

It is now common to see young kids at the spectator’s seat of 3D presentation technology; i.e.

Children’s Cartoon flicks, games and others. They have yet to fully exposed used this 3D technology in the classroom to present ideas and imaginations of their own. This workshop and research have proven and spark the interest among young kids and teach them what, why and how to use this platform in classroom despite the difficulties and unfamiliar to the tools. This approach benefits from the participant’s insights and at the same time show how education should keep revolving and stay relevant for the world of today. It is mutually beneficial experience as the instructor also has stepping into the role od the encourager, adviser and coacher at the same time rather than being a teacher.

The effectiveness of this research will be focused on both the moderators and students. The final outcomes would be helping the teachers to deliver a better explanation with a relative ease with more interactive class room activities. Thus it will enhance learning by doing, providing a tool for hands-on experience on the printed models. These models can be used in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The implementation of 3D in the classroom will help to engage the reluctant students to stay focus in class. Their learning environment will be more interactive and fun since youngster nowadays are taught to use computers at a very early age.

3D printing is an effective aid in evolution of new ideas or imagination of the students. The students also will develop their spatial skill through technology, focusing on empathy, teamwork, and problem solving.

To conclude, technology is moving frontier by its own and keep continuing to evolve. While the future is unknown, we believe in leveraging technology to create personalized approaches and solutions.

6. Acknowledgement

We thank Faculty of Film, Theater and Animation for giving us advise and permissions to use all the facilities in the faculty to continue our research, 3D Animation Workshop: The Implementation of 3D Printing in The Classroom. Thank you to the organizer of International Conference on Business, Technology, Tourism, Education, Culture and Social Science 2020 (BISTEC2020) for accepting our paper into the conference.

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We would like to express our sincere gratitude to for all the supports especially in terms of financial and also guidance throughout our journey. We thank our colleague Dr Mohd Syuhaidi Abu Bakar, our Research Coordinator FiTA, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research.

We would also like to show our gratitude to Dato Professor Dr. A. Razak Mohaideen for sharing his pearls of wisdom with us during the course of this research. We are also immensely grateful to Dr Norman Yusoff, the Head of Center of Postgraduate Studies, for his comments on an earlier version of the manuscript, although any errors are our own and should not tarnish the reputations of these esteemed person.

Lastly, we would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the completion of this research.

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Invest in STEM education, says Sultan Nazrin. (2017, August 21). [Online]. Retrieved August 30, 2017, from The Malay Mail Online: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/

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