Community reviews for Tinkercad

If you are teaching computer aided design, this can be a great way to introduce the concepts!

My kids have an overwhelmingly favorable response to this tool. The menus are clear and easy to use. This is terrific for a technology lab, math or science classroom, or a design space. Really any teacher that wants students to design something should have this at the ready. The potential for collaboration is awesome. So far we've only had pairs of students work on the same build, but I bet other educators would get a lot out of this feature. It's pretty much like doing CAD in a shared document in GoogleDrive (except with way better looking menus!).

I thoroughly enjoy teaching my kids to use TinkerCAD. It's FREE, which means the price is right for any school budget. The fact that it's entirely online means there's no software to license or install, which keeps our IT department happy. The site does offer a "teacher code" for educators, but nowhere could I find instructions on how students could/should actually USE that code to create a classroom environment or shared object library. I wish they would fix that. It would simplify things enormously.

Tinkercad is an amazing online tool that opens up the world of 3D design and circuitry for students and teachers. The power of any program is what you can create with it, import into it and export out of it. Tinkercad excels in all three of these areas. Clearly, you can create with this program. You can also import different types of files which is how we do our "3D design from any image" project. It encourages students to make unique creations and personalize designs. You can also export as three different file types, which means that students can add their designs to other programs such as AR or VR environments. Besides creating 3D prints they also have a separate tool where students can explore circuitry. This is relatively new and really exciting for teachers and students who want to digitally explore circuits, test them out, and then try to recreate the circuits in the physical world. The circuits students can create start out simple but there are some very advanced tools including programming an Arduino board to control a circuit. One of the great things about Tinkercad are the lessons and support videos. They really help students take charge of their learning. There are lessons for both the 3D design tool as well as the circuitry tool on the website. The lessons walk you through step-by-step and allow you to repeat steps if necessary or make your own personal modifications. When it comes to managing Tinkercad in the classroom they have a simple tool that helps teachers manage students. This is especially useful in terms of privacy and managing their passwords if you work with students under the age of 13. You can create groups and monitor student work. I would love to see more features in this part of the website but it's a good start. Tinkercad is an exceptional online tool that makes 3D design accessible to all students. It is remarkable to see students creating and manipulating shapes to make something that they will eventually hold in their hands. In addition to supporting STEAM initiative it also supports problem-solving and critical thinking skills, plus students learn foundational math and engineering skills. One of the best outcomes of using Tinkercad is the improvement in math skills and how my students relate to math. They have a stronger grasp of the metric system, ratios, and spatial relationships. All of this makes Tinkercad an exciting addition to any classroom.

Tinkercad will be an invaluable tool for my classroom. With so many potential applications, the possibilities for creative learning are endless. I LOVE the fact that my students can make creations to transport into their Minecraft worlds. I am very excited for my students to experience all the possibilities this site has to offer!

Don't let the Grades 6-12 tag fool you. I use Tinkercad on a daily basis with kids as young as 1st grade and they have mastered it and utilize it with ease. It's a super powerful program, intuitive and downright fun. The fact that it's browser based only seals the deal for me.

I love the beginner lessons provided in Tinkercad (much akin to Code and Khan Academy tutorials). Tinkercad is more intuitive than SketchUp and easier to learn which is an excellent asset in educational settings since it is difficult to give up work time to learning curves. Shapes can be stretched, reshaped, copied and pasted, grouped, and varying shapes can be connected to design a new shape. A blank canvas is included as a shape generator, so individual and unique shapes can be created. Shapes can also be imported from designs created in other software, or from URL's. Students can push the limits in Tinkercad and move beyond beginner applicability to more advanced uses. The fact that this program directly allows for a mimic build in Minecraft creates a great connection to the game. Students can design to scale in Tinkercad applying math, technology, and visualization to relate to builds in Minecraft creating a more realistic and relevant experience. Challenges in individual or group development to design a structure that later all class members can recreate in Minecraft is a great way to add STEM skills to Minecraft play. Outside of Minecraft, any or all students can learn STEM or STEAM skills using Tinkercad and the relevant application it can provide. Art teachers can use Tinkercad to have students model from an image or drawing. Other disciplines such as Social Studies can implement the use of Tinkercad in recreating historical or other important structures in history (i.e. bridges, dams, Capitol buildings, etc.) Community shapes add very diverse options for other types of projects not necessarily related to building or structure design. My class has not experienced connectivity issues mentioned previously. I strongly recommend teachers integrate Tinkercad in lessons, for small or large projects.

When we got the printers, I was searching and searching for projects to use with my students. I kept just finding projects that we just needed to print and then tinker around with. While my students did enjoy it, I was looking for more in depth ideas to get them started from the very beginning. That's when I found Tinkercad. It has classes that you can sign up for and work through with the students, or have them do on their own, that start at the very basic steps to a lot more complex. They also have some projects and ideas that you can use to challenge your students. Overall, this has been exactly what I was looking for to help introduce our students to the world of 3D printing and creating. I highly recommend taking a look.

Overall, I feel that Tinkercad is a very effective, accessible tool to use with younger students while also providing opportunity for more complex designs for advanced students. The program teaches 3-D manipulation of forms and seems to be a very good introduction to CAD software. I would like if there were more pre-designed objects to be added to a design. As it stands, Tinkercad has a set of objects that can be added to your design. For my class, I allowed them to use the "Geometric" set of forms (cube, pyramid, cone, rectangular prism, etc.). However, I would have liked to have had some objects that were already made for them. For instance, I could have made columns, windows, or doors and allowed the students to make their own or use mine. This would have given them a little more to start with and would have been particularly helpful for struggling students. Likewise, if the students could make objects and share them with the class to use collaboratively, that would be a great feature. Even as it is, Tinkercad is a very useful piece of web-based software. I particularly enjoyed the fact that it was web-based for a few reasons. Getting things installed on district computers is not always very easy. I was able to grade their buildings from home on my own computer. Laptops were able to be distributed without worrying about having the "right" laptop for each student. Essentially, web-based software stores the designs in a cloud type of format so that you can access the work from any device and edit in on any device. It makes for a very efficient classroom environment. I really like Tinkercad and definitely plan on using it in the future for more projects!

I had not done a lot with a cad program so I was uncertain how using Tinerkercad would work since the students would need to explore and investigate the program. It was a successful experience and even when students didn't know what to do, I suggested they search through the help files or ask another student to assist. One suggestion for the program would be a way for students to determine print time on a 3D printer. Usually, I had students send me files and I would upload them to the Makerbot program to determine the print time. Often, I needed to tell students that they would need to size the project down because it would take too long to print.