Kae Shigeta has been teaching as an ICT integration specialist at the Canadian Academy, an international school in Japan, for 19 years. Previously, she was a Japanese language teacher. We recently spoke with Kae about how she is using Makers Empire to enhance learning across the different grade levels. She also shared her top tips for integrating technology into the classroom.
Makers Empire and the International Baccalaureate
The Canadian Academy uses Makers Empire in alignment with the International Baccalaureate curriculum. The curriculum is organized six transdisciplinary themes: 1) Who we are; 2) Where we are in place and time; 3) How we express ourselves; 4) How the world works; 5) How we organize ourselves; and 6) Sharing the planet.
The app is used in the “How We Express Ourselves” unit, which focuses on architecture.
“After exploring the beauty of architecture through Google Earth and reading books, students create 3D objects, such as chairs and lamps, placing them inside miniature versions of their own rooms. They also took a picture of miniature rooms with the AR feature in the app,” explains Kae.
Helping Year 1s Explore Digital Citizenship
In 2024, Year 1 students embarked on a journey into digital citizenship using Makers Empire.
Kae explains, “Students created keychains featuring the unique characters from the videos by Common Sense Education, emphasising the critical aspects of Digital Citizenship.”
Year 2s Embracing Design Thinking
Year 2 students fully immersed themselves in a Design Thinking unit. The theme in 2024 is “What would be great to have in the art teacher’s room?”
“Students visited the art teacher, conducting interviews to gather insights,” explains Kae.
“Working in groups, they then 3D designed a single item, created a prototype, and engaged in reflection to refine their designs,” she adds.
Last year, she had a guest engineer introduce 3D design for Year 2 students as a part of the design thinking unit.The visiting engineer and 3D designer sparked excitement in Year 2 students by sharing their passion for the field and showcasing the fascinating world of materials like carbon fibers and wood-like filaments, as well as innovative 3D designs.
One of the challenges students face is difficulty in grasping the actual size of their designs on screen. It is also a good chance for students to design through trial and error.
Kae says, “a student once designed a pencil holder, but due to a sizing error, it couldn’t hold any pencils.”
She told her students that they would print exactly what they designed in the app to encourage students to figure things out by testing different approaches.
After School Maker Club for Year 3-5 Students
Students in year 3 to 5 often use Makers Empire during the after-school Makers Club held in the makerspace that Kae manages.
“Makers Empire allows them to design their favorite objects and bring them to life with 3D printing such as cookie cutters and Christmas ornaments,” says Kae.
“Many students eagerly look forward to the 3D printing,” she adds.
Benefits of Makers Empire
Kae thinks the biggest benefit of Makers Empire is the teacher dashboard which enables her to manage everything from a single browser-based interface.
“It is easy to adjust student settings, quickly award tokens, resolve login issues, and manage my workflow effectively,” she says.
“Although I can’t meet with my students every day, I can check a student’s progress and encourage them to finish by dues. Gone are the days of manually sending and managing individual files,” she adds.
Other than that, the students’ enthusiasm for using the Makers Empire app is clear, and it’s become a favorite activity among the students in extra time.
“Some students love progressing through the challenge courses, while others enjoy sharing their designs to earn tokens by ‘selling’ them to peers,” says Kae.
Parent Sessions: Exploring 3D design printing
In November 2023, Kae hosted a special session on 3D design, 3D printing and AI for her students’ parents. First, they heard from their children who shared how they had been using Makers Empire. They were then able to try designing in 3D in Makers Empire themselves.
Kae explains, “despite being held on a weekday, we had an impressive turnout of around 20 parents, (who were) eager to learn. They dived into activities like designing Christmas keychains. The parents became so engrossed in the 3D design app.”
Kae’s Top Tips for Integrating Technology into the Classroom
- Create a network to support you. Simply introducing technology isn’t enough as placing the burden on a single teacher can lead to unsustainable outcomes.Create a network of teachers around you with similar interests and goals.
- Ask for support from vendors. The current 3D printing partner of the school, Ultimaker offered valuable training sessions for both students and parents.
- Stay updated on global STEM education trends. Kae attended a design teacher’s gathering in South Korea, which made her realise the importance of introducing advanced practices.
All photos courtesy of the Canadian Academy, Japan.
Takumi Amano, Intern
Takumi is in his fourth year studying a Bachelor of Political Science and Economics, majoring Policy Design at the Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan. He took a gap year to explore the possibilities of the design thinking that empowers children’s confidence by learning programs. In 2023, he got the Japanese government scholarship so he started studying Education, Design thinking and Entrepreneurship at Griffith University in Brisbane as a study abroad student. He then joined Makers Empire as an intern in 2024.
