Studies have shown that, “when a classroom is ordered and arranged properly, teachers can conduct activities more efficiently” (Schmidt, Urban, Luiselli, White, and Harrignton, p. 2, 2013). Having a tool that can create safe, organized, and, planned classroom environments can aide in a calming environment that students feel ready to learn in. Classrooms should be “organized to showcase, celebrate, and convey messages and content that clearly invite all learners to meaningfully and joyfully participate and learn more” (Routman, p.38, 2018). Having an easy to use cutting machine at an educator’s fingertips can make creating an organized classroom environment much easier.
Many schools, including my own, are investing in Cricut machines for school use as they can serve a variety of purposes and cut down time spent as well as money reimbursed. In my video below, there is an introduction to what a Cricut machine is and how it can aide educators in creating for their classrooms.
References
2022 Cricut Inc. (n.d.). Cricut Home. Retrieved June 17, 2022, from http://www.cricut.com/
Routman, R. (2018). Treating your classroom like ‘prime real estate.’. The Education Digest, 83(9), 34-38.
Schmidt, J. D., Urban, K. D., Luiselli, J. K., White, C., & Harrington, C. (2013). Improving appearance, organization, and safety of special education classrooms: Effects of staff training in a human services setting. Education & Treatment of Children, 36(2), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1353/etc.2013.0012
I think that the “killer app” moment for cricut in classrooms would be if there was a smooth way to print and cut, like a mail merge set of labels. Print name tags in colour, Cricut cuts then out. Print flash cards from tpt, Cricut cuts them out. But right now there is too much “friction” for these types of uses. Speed is also an issue at times. I had a stencil the Cricut was cutting in acetate, and it took an hour to cut, at least that to weed.
Hi Douglas, I agree Cricut is quite time consuming, especially for intricate designs, there is fast mode on the Cricut Maker and Cricut Explore Air 2, that I find helpful. The fast mode allows you to cut and write up to 2x faster. Here is a link to the feature: https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009548953-What-is-Fast-Mode-and-how-do-I-use-it-#cricut-maker. Additionally, I’ve heard the Cricut Maker 3 has also improved on speed, but finding efficient ways to weed is an ongoing process.
Hi Sonia:
Your analysis from an educator’s perspective reminds me of my experience just today, with a 3D printer. I was amazed! Students utilized “Tinkercad” to create a 3D sculpture. Through trial and error, they realize where in their designs were they missing pixels after printing the 3D design. I watched as students failed, reflected and edited their work without the reminder of a teacher. It was all self motivated. The positive reinforcement of the success creation of their design was all the was needed. I believe this is the inquiry based learning that we talk about in education and this is one of the obvious ways that I was able to witness it completely come to life.
I think the difficulty is affordability of such technology. If not for the grants that teachers in our school applied for, we would never be able to afford such technology!