Back to School: Desmos Keychains and Culture

For two days in December, I got to co-teach with a guy I hope to be in fifteen years. Mr. Bonneville is an Integrated II Honors teacher, but it isn't his content knowledge that I aim to have. He drives a fast car, but I'm not asking for his keys. He teaches six periods (with no prep--it's exhausting), but it's not his schedule that I'm seeking.

Mr. Bonneville has created an environment in which his students feel safe, can take risks, and cares about each and every one of them. Even in my best days, I don't know that every one of my students felt that way.

So when Mr. Bonneville asked if I would like to work with him and his students on a 3D printing lesson, I immediately said YES.

The objective:

Create a keychain using a series of Desmos functions.

That's basically it. With such ambiguity, there was going to be a wide array of products and questions, so I put together a guideline for the students. 

bit.ly/mathematicalkeychain

I designed a sample keychain that I was (and still am) pretty darn proud of.

I can hear you laughing. Hey, I thought it was good, OK?

It's very similar to a project done by Fawn Nguyen and a bunch of other teachers called Des-Man, but this was wide open. The extra push for the students was that, for those who wanted to hold their project in their hands, I would use my 3D printer and give them an actual product.

And then, Mr. Bonneville and I started seeing student products on Desmos:

Students were given the assignment before Thanksgiving break, and some of them really took advantage of the time off. Others used their time in class and still managed to create incredible designs.

Some students put together designs with over 300 formulas!

I came in with the 3D printer after each class had spent a day (ONE DAY) designing and walked them through how to get their design from Desmos into Tinkercad, then from Tinkercad into the 3D printer. Yep, a group of sophomores learned the process for a brand new style of production in a matter of 51 minutes. We had some hiccups, as would be expected when learning something new, but the culture of the classroom allowed for that to be natural.

Let me rewind a bit. That silly pig face that I shared was something that I am proud of. I worked hard on that. What these students created blew me away, every single time I opened them up or walked by their computer screen.

Each class was thrilled to submit their project, knowing that the printer was in the back of the room to create a purple representation of it in real time. 

And then the hard work on my end picked up, printing out over 175 products that students had submitted (there are over 200 students on the roster, but not all wanted a printed version). There were plenty of problems, as would be expected by such a large print, but all were well worth it when I had the chance to hand over a purple keychain that they could be proud of. Some students came in during passing periods to check on the status of the project, while others said that their design would be a Christmas gift for a family member. Wow.

It was all worth it. Every moment. Here are some products:

Something that I would do differently the next time this goes around would be to have students partner up. I wanted each student to take ownership of the project, to have pride in what they were doing, and enjoy it... Nah, maybe I wouldn't partner them up; the extra work on my end was worthwhile.

If you are interested in trying this out with your students, I would be more than happy to chat. 

Above all the cool designs and the formulas is the feeling in Mr. Bonneville's classroom any time they walk through the doors. His kids love coming to class, and that couldn't be made more clear, keychain or not.

***UPDATE***

I asked the students for some feedback, and I'll leave it below. Let's just say that they enjoyed the project.

​Happy "Keychain and Culture" Fishing