Dejan Mitrovic, founder and creative director of education startup Kidesign, was one of our first Near Now Fellows. Through our Fellowship he developed Kideville, a curriculum for schools to teach 3D design through making and play.
Kidesign pioneered creative 3D printing workshops for children with schools, museums and galleries.
As 3D printers became more affordable, schools invested in machines but had little access to high quality learning content. Kidesign saw an opportunity to transform their years of experience into creative projects for 3D printing in education.
Kideville
We worked with Dejan to explore his vision and seed fund the prototype Kideville kit. Kidesign also received support from NESTA, Nominet Trust, Mozilla and Autodesk through the Digital Makers programme.
Kideville is a collaborative city design project for children, with a full curriculum for teachers. The curriculum emphasises teamwork, project management and practical skills that equip children for jobs of the future.
Through the design process, Kidesign tested the content with 10 schools across the country.
“It has been a resounding success, both in its educational value and how it has inspired and opened the eyes of a group of 34 nine and ten year old girls into the world of design.“
Margaret Edbrooke, teacher
Redmaids Junior School testing the prototype Kideville curriculum.
“I wanted to become a scientist but now I want to be an architect as well.”
Maria, Year 5 student
“Thank you soooo much for picking us to do Kideville. I am sooo grateful, it was really fun, I didn’t know it would be so enjoyable! It’s really cool to just walk past a year 6 and tell them all about it! The whole idea was mind boggling! How did you create such an inspiring programme?”
Gwennie, Year 5 student
How does Kideville work?
Each student gets a design brief for a building. Teachers guide students through research, ideation, sketching, urban planning, 3D design and printing.
Kideville begins with a board representing an ocean.
An island is crowd-formed, setting the stage for making, as well as obstacles.
Children design their residential houses and settle on the island.
They get introduced to a town planning brief.
Research begins on their building.
Followed by lessons on sketching...
CAD Modelling.
And finally building on the island through 3D printing.
Learning Outcomes
CAD and 3D Printing Skills
Kideville encourages children to connect the physical and digital worlds through making, and learn the value of computer aided design. Through the project, the students will learn about 3D and spacial geometry, and understand scale and proportions in both virtual and real environments.
Design Process
Each student is assigned a creative mission, based on their interests, that takes them through a full design and project management process. The teacher curates this journey that includes research, ideation, sketching, CAD modelling, 3D printing and presenting.
Learning through Making
We believe that the best education is hands-on and that is why Kideville encourages learning through making. Making sketches, making models, making mistakes...and then even more making!
Teamwork
Kideville is highly collaborative. Both teachers and students create the Kideville island and settle upon its shores together. The islanders have to agree on where to place buildings, encouraging children to discuss and share ideas on urban planning.
Kideville Now
Kideville launched with Autodesk at Bett Show, the leading technology education show, in 2015.
Kideville is now available for schools to buy. The Kidesign team has grown and now offers CPD training to help you get started with Kideville, CAD and 3D printing.
The kit has been exhibited all around the world including the Nuremberg International Toy Fair and Innovate 2015.
Selected Press & Awards
3DPrint.Com - Kideville Introduces Children to 3D Design through GamePlay.
3D Print Show - Nominated for the 2014 Educational Excellence Award
Young Foundation - Selected for Young Academy Incubator, supporting early stage social ventures working in education.