From Europeana to Sketchup

The first implementation of our chosen Europeana Learning Scenario went great, but the results were not very adequate for our projects. That was expected, the scenarios were planned with information processing and research in mind, supporting theoretical and fact-finding work. We need other types of resources, to allow our students to create 3D models. The images found with the chosen theme were not very appealing for our pupils, so we tried another approach.

In our class, we challenge our students to learn 3D modeling and apply the knowledge in projects. With that in mind, we let them loose on the Europeana Collections, with a simple instruction: find an artifact that catches your eye, and recreate it in 3D. We'll 3D print some of them. Even though it's not a very structured activiy, the student took it to heart and my entire class is busy carefully recreating in 3D, using Sketchup,  elements from the european heritage, collected in Europeana.