Three-dimensional Picto-reconstructive Tinkering

Tool for Creative Teaching

Sylvia Stavridi
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Sylvia.stavridi@bibalex.org

Abstract – Since 3D printing technologies have become vital to the future of creative
industries, 3DP project-based learning has endeavored to switch education into a more
in-depth memorable learning process for innovative research experiments.
The capability of 3D printing technologies is not simply translating plane geometry
(2D) into solid geometry (3D), but it also reconnects the physical and digital worlds
to effectively refocusing on the true potential of the “tangible” reality behind abstract
geometry within the medium of 3D design and printing.
The chapter provides a historical context for the implementation of 3D printing as a
means for altering the abstract theory into physical reality in order to help middle-
school students figure out perceptions, design solutions to problems, and become
creative action-makers. The chapter furthermore examines how transferring 3D
pictographic abstract geometrics to tactile solid objects by building them up in layers
enhancing students’ memorization, developing their spatial structuring skills in
geometric reasoning and building a much deeper understanding of abstract
representations of geometrical concepts.

Keywords - 3D Printing, Abstract Representations, Creative Teaching, Middle-

School Students.

1 Introduction
The accelerating rate of technological remodeling opens up new horizons in the

context of visual cultural interpretation and creates new revenue models in harnessing

creativity in education. 3D printing (3DP) also known as Three-dimensional additive

manufacturing (3DAM) technology has been extensively used for designing and

customized prototyping in the fields of engineering and technology. Recently the use
of 3DP knowledge construction in art educational contexts has expanded new

prospects of artistic creativity to make art practice a more participatory

interdisciplinary experience. Living in a rapidly changing culture, 3DP experiential

learning has been widely shown to play a vital role to the future of creative industries

that fall under the sector of arts and design in all its forms in earning experiences. 3D

modeling and printing tools change the way 21st century middle-school students learn,

create and play. The cultural approaches for 3DP development are helping to drive 3D

printing conceptual practices in the creative sector through art-inspired innovation that

can inspire students to naturally engage in design thinking processes, that generates

their awareness to think spatially. This activity of making sense of physical

interpretations, such as meaning making and brainstorming to simulate physically

realistic environments where 3DP technology takes shape by combining imagination

with technology. Modern educational theory has stressed the mature adoption and

implementation of 3DP-based teaching practices in active learning. However, a well-

integrated use of such technology is required of teachers to foster digital-creativity and

to reform their teaching method to bring classroom activities out of traditional settings.

This chapter aims at introducing the creative educational aspect of 3DP as a tool and

a necessary process for creating learning that revolves around art, design, and technology

and provides suggestions for transforming common class environment into a 3DP state-

of-the art edu-cultural venue for the delivery of creative teaching and learning.

The chapter is divided into three main sections. The first section reviews the

literature on the artistic process of Geometric Abstractionism and its relationship to

technology. Abstractionism as one of the most influential contemporary art movements

of the 20th century is conceived as an approach to creative teaching and learning that can

provide teachers and educators with opportunities for using emergent methods of

teaching with cultural tools to adjust to the changes in technology. Section two presents

3DP technology as a means in assisting the process of visually touching and

physically seeing concepts in abstract design demonstrating how the increased

tangible mediation in the creative exploratory process in geometric abstractionism

inspires students to physically experiment conceptual non-representational

composition and become better spatial thinkers. Section 3 depicts how employing the

creative 3DP aspect in art-tinkering experiences can make learning more competitive

and efficient. While addressing the creation process of tangible geometric models for the

teaching of mathematics through 3DP-application and geometric abstractionism,

emphasis on the aesthetic values of 3DP in art and design activities has been adapted for

middle-school students (grade 6-8) based on both, the scope of curriculum and their

thinking ability. Students at that age are capable of deductive and logical reasoning

(Piaget,1964), they begin to learn about transformations in geometry, explore the

properties of geometric figures, and transfer their perceptual understanding in

forming relationships beyond concept models.

2 A Roadmap Towards 3DP: Geometric Abstractionism and 3D

Metaphysical Visualizations

Although, 3D learning environments provide 3D virtual spaces highly valuable for

simulations to activate the teaching-learning process, some students may find it easily

accessible with 3D learning while others may need more interventions to actively
engage. In accordance, the quick development of technology brings insightful

customized learning tools: such as 3D modeling and printing.

3DP or 3DAM is associated with potentially strong stimuli for capturing the visual

complexities involved in the abstract depiction of space and depth as well as the value

of abstract creative conceptual ideas. 3DP reflects not only the technology but the process

to spatial conceptual visualization by building simple three-dimensional physical

interpretations of reality available to touch, often referred to as tangible realism. According

to 3DPrinting.com (n.d.), 3DP is an additive manufacturing process of producing three-

dimensional solid objects from a digital file, creating a tangible visual image by adding

layer by layer of plastic offering new possibilities to simulate physically realistic

environments, where 3DP processes take shape by capturing imagination with

technology. Given the feasibility of 3DP potential in school settings, middle-school

students (grade 6-8) are motivated to freely experiment and produce exciting

conceptual results. Therefore, incorporating 3DP in contemporary abstractionism

helps them express their creative perceptions: translate their abstract ideas into visual

images and then re-create them into tangible forms.

John Dewey (1934) has observed in his aesthetics studies on the nature of art that

experiencing in art intelligently increases the visual perception of students to think

effectively in terms of symbols and mathematical. The presentation of the visual

elements in abstract art (e.g., color, shape, form, color, composition and space) alters the

ability to view, think, and feel. That’s why, when looking at an abstract representation,

the brain instinctively searches for signs of rhythm and order to try to make spatial

sense of the artwork’s composition. The employment of pure abstraction in design

discloses the undrawn boundaries between the painted reality of the real object and the

sculpted object. At the same level, architecture refines form, tone and texture and uses

the extensive circle of visibility and intimate circle of touch-ability to extract the

essence of the representational forms in an inspirational manner (Unwin, 1997).

On the one hand, abstract art can be considered a powerful medium of expression

but at the same time a very poor motor of visual communication for those who have

problems with ideation or spatial-relation reasoning. The formal qualities of abstract

artwork -line, color, texture, pictorial space import visual complexity to the work.

Abstract shapes may be mentally recognizable in form, but are not literary conveying

the appropriate and useful tangible representation view of concepts and ideas. Ursyn

(2013) argued that teaching abstract concepts in geometry increases cognitive

consignment but reduces visual communication. This means, going from concrete to

abstract can be more mentally or visually recognizable but not necessarily as

simplified nor as comprehensible.

In a combined digital and physical learning environment, the abstract becomes

more concrete and easier to perceive, ideate and apprehend. A dedicated exploration

aspired to a purer simplification of pictorial space as well as of every nuance of

geometry, line, color acknowledge the transformational geometry in the mental

representation view of concepts. 3DP conveys symbolizing thoughts or ideas and

provides many ways for visualizing an idea (Yang et al., 2011; Yavuz & Shadmand,

2014). The physical 3D representation of a geometric abstract shape allows for visual

communication of abstract ideas. Combined with 3DP, reductive geometric principles

in abstractionism make abstract art the ideal visual mode to create new exciting
learning facilities to translate information and knowledge into a form and decompose

the input physical shape or object into pieces to simplify the shape.

2.1 The Aesthetics of Form and Composition

Contemporary Abstractionism is a freely motive, pure, and dynamic abstract art form,

which reflects the practitioner’s orientation towards the aesthetics of abstraction with

geometric language, in other words translating ideas into form or making imageries on a

flat surface that appear three-dimensional. Geometric Abstractionism has been referred to

the reduction of non-objective art principles to its fundamental geometric shapes and lines

(Popa, 2015). Abstractionists believed deeply in: the purity and simplicity potential of

abstract art as a creative force, which was the premise upon which they based much of

their artworks. They aspired to a purer simplification in using a visual language of

shape, form, color and line to create a pictorial illusory space, non-representational

composition of the visual reality in a movement initiated in the mid-20th century

known as Abstractionism (1870-2000) explosively escalated from the commercial

world to propose an art of structuring and mechanical layout most suitable in case of

art design and engineering mass production.

Piaget (1964) clarified that Middle-school students at the age of eleven and up

enjoy forming concepts, looking for relationships, and extending their knowledge

beyond concept models in more effective ways as they begin to think abstractly, the

way in which radical reduction of form and color can render structural dynamism and

reaffirm to them that they are capable of deductive and logical reasoning. Through

geometric abstract language, students can read meaning, or rather a form of perception

based on context or an image relationship to other elements, its relative size,

placement, or importance, the ability to understand and solve descriptive geometrical

problems. Abstract geometric art or geometric Abstractionism offers new directions in

encouraging creative development of the logically-mathematically-oriented middle-

school students (grade 6-8). Thus, it is worth digressing to discuss the role of

Abstractionism movement as an avenue into direct aesthetic experience in design,

where forms have been simplified or schematized to emerge thinking.

The data under study is adopted from Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866–1944) and

Piet Mondrian’s (1872–1944) geometrical abstract concepts. Kandinsky is commonly

regarded as the founder of Abstractionism and the theorist of using the language of the

reducing philosophy: “reduction of color and form generates more purely abstract

language of design” where geometrical forms create innovative ways of thinking and

new subjective ways of representing space. Mondrian is the main creator of geometric

abstract language. He expressively simplified the characteristics of abstract geometric

art into their fundamental basic vertical and horizontal elements and reduced his

shapes to lines and rectangles. Although Mondrian’s geometrical abstract art is

associated only with two-dimensional (2D) representation, he experimented with

architectural aspects in some of his work.

The pure study of forms, lines, and color in Mondrian’s inspirational geometric

abstract art capture the underlying structure and transformations of geometry concepts

into geometric shapes. As Jaffe (1969) and Bois (1987) noted, in terms of pictorial

language of generic abstraction: “the separation of space, color, and form”, is

considered the point of departure for the analysis of geometric decompositions in

building forms. Mondrian’s philosophical studies were based on geometric

abstraction: he eliminates all representational components and reduces his painting to

its basic elements: straight lines, plane surfaces, geometric shapes, and primary bold

colors by choosing one from the basic or primary colors (red, yellow, and blue)

combined with the three neutrals, non-colors (black, gray, and white) so as the viewers

are encouraged to interpret it through their understanding of representational forms.

2.2 Three-Dimensional Conceptual Visualization and Abstract

Geometric Forms

Nersessian (2002) and Laurence & Margolis (2012) explored the philosophical

implications of Abstractionism, they rationalize that although the process of

abstraction is not yet very clear, but is the solution to complexity and that reasoning

via generic abstraction is crucial in constructing a generic mental model. In this way,

when examined more closely, abstraction in its various forms reflects the purity and

simplicity of a generic geometric transformation that unifies a wide range of natural

and abstract shapes. For instance, the Abstractionism aesthetic experience is concerned

with increasing conception awareness of line, form, design, and their dynamics; the

relationship horizontal/vertical and the spatial interplay between the pictorial parts of

an abstract composition.

Regarded from a certain perspective, geometrical abstraction could be referred

to as conceptualism for its spiritual approach to representing concepts as a

reconfiguration or mental representations of reality while the visual language or

characteristics of geometric abstraction is the basis for identifying the geometrization

of forms between conceived form and perceived form, which in turn unfolds spatial

depth and dynamism in composition (Popa, 2015).

 As acknowledged by (Unwin, 1997) the processes of discovery, exploration,

memorizing, responding, and creation are commonly involved in architecture.

Furthermore, Magnani (2012) has reported that the value of combining the meaning-

making practices of architecture via their relation to geometric forms and

iconic/geometrical representations assist as visual stimuli and/or inferences to reach

for ingenious ideas and capture the meanings of concepts. For that reason, geometric

interaction in space gives an accessible transfer for middle-school students (grade 6-8)

to allow them become more focused, and to improve and develop their skills of visually

analyzing shape construction of building façades into square composition. From art

education perspective, the interpretation of the compositions of Mondrian and

Kandinsky to architecture by creating a variety of primary patterns interlinked with

the geometry allows for much more interactive visual learning approaches to

understanding the roots of ideas and their changes (Style, 2015).

Considering the effectiveness of maximizing the comprehensibility within

representation to emerge thinking, geometric forms as abstract ideas play an important

part in architectural design; the circle and the square are pure, abstract, shapes that

have a symbolic power to be used independently or related to various geometries of

being. Walker et al. (2011) have shown a link between practices in architectural design

and the ability to improve geometric reasoning and mentally re-envision complex

architectural structure of compositions.

According to the findings of the previous study (Stavridi, 2015), middle-school

students (grade 6-8) are considered an appropriate age group for the introduction of

architectural design education that focusses on model building, as part of the training
in expression and creativity. With particular reference to the perception of abstraction

in forms and space, the artwork activity relates to buildings and constructions. Middle-

school students (grade 6-8) will learn to incorporate visualization with analytical

reasoning to enhance the visualizing of symbolic/abstract ideas and convert them into

representations in order to understand them.

Recent research done at the National Institutes of Health indicates that

exercising a visual skill can make the brain's motor map expand. Middle-school

students (grade 6-8) who are visual thinkers will often be good at drawing, designing,

construction and building things with building blocks such as Lego's. According to

this view, teaching abstract geometry and its simplified abstract form can make

architectural components easier to study, to inspect, and to grasp in order to give

meaning to ideas and feelings so their designing mind can adopt towards the conditions

within which architecture is done (Kaplan, 2016; Fodor, 1987).

In accordance with interactive learning technology such as 3DP technology,

students’ attention will be focused on the process of looking at the mental composition

giving more possibilities to understand abstract thinking in its different forms of realism

and representation, justify the structuring of forms producing the tangible sensation of

vision, optics or science of eternal forms. At the same time the exploitation of abstract

reasoning in architecture can provide activities that are exploratory and highly

structured in order to enhance the connection between “form” and “meaning” to solve

problems within the context of a given medium.

2.3 (3DP) Art-Based Learners into Young Designers and Engineers

Referring to the British art historian Herbert Read (1893-1968), who has advocated for art

and has specialized in interpreting and analyzing the abstract movement in art, abstract

artist working in industry is to be generally called the “designer”. Hence, visualizing

different states of mind in abstract paintings is the contemporary picto-revitalization of

industrial design and in which compositional orientation, according to Cai (2011), is

viewed as a valuable activity to the systematic approach to design, with the artist (in our

case, middle-school student (grade 6-8)) serving as engineer.

In a previous study (Stavridi, 2015) based on the exploration of rethinking the world

of edu-technology through reasonably connecting visual art education to content of other

subject areas for teachers and educators to apply imaginative processes to reach innovative

solutions across multidisciplinary academic disciplines. Some preliminary findings from

the mix: “technology + visual arts” methods and the promoting of interdisciplinary thinking

approach in creative integrated curriculum were discussed. Interviewing twenty

participants: science/math teachers, IT specialists, and art educators by the author, it was

found that creative thinking of students is fostered by means of introducing architectural

design education that focusses on model building. The following experimental project

further explores the factors and key considerations for the successful adoption of 3DP

learning environment as multifunctional tool with creative applications across science,

engineering, art, and design and stresses on the effectiveness of the (A) in STEAM

education (Science, Technology, Engineering, (A)rt, and Math).

20th-century German philosopher Ernst Cassirer explicates that science gives us

order in thoughts while art gives us order in the realization of visible, tangible and audible
appearances. So as vision is a synthetic sense and touch is analytic (Celani et al., 2013)

incorporating visualization with tactual perception in architectural design exploration by

means of 3D printing helps to enhance the comprehensive representations of abstract ideas,

and this touch-ability is to be another facet of 3DP educational process. 3DP drives the

observer into a state of reflection to look in depth at the facts and draw new

conclusions, it revives critical thinking in design and problem-solving processes.

Building 3D models has been determined to be effective in supporting design learning

(Segerman, 2016; Ree, 2011). Employing tactile form shaping, facilitates the students’

exploration process, especially students with visual impairments, not only as a process to

simplify the visual complexity of a design but as a necessity to maximize the tactility

analytics approach of these three-dimensional (3D) explorations. Kaplan et al. (2015)

define the tactile visualization to be the representations of ideas generated in a person’s

mind based on a sense of touch. Making abstraction art more reachable involves the

use of translational aspects as a concept for understanding both visual creativity and

societal transformation. Two dimensional virtual representations are not sufficient to

successfully convey the structural details of the design and their relation to other

aspects of the model. Thereby transferring 3D pictographic abstract geometrics to tactile

solid objects by building them up in layers refocuses on content not context and promotes

a constructive approach to enhancing students’ memorization. The predictive capacity of

3D additive manufacturing pedagogically aims at providing opportunities to support the

development of visual spatial reasoning: not just developing their spatial structuring skills

in geometric reasoning, but also building a much deeper understanding of visual

representations of abstract geometrical concepts (Stavridi, 2017).

 In terms of characteristics, Industrialism could be Abstractionism as abstract art is

concerned with the production of various basic geometric shapes (the circle, the square, the

triangle, etc.) whereas for design perspective in which art, functionality, and technology

coexist. Dabrowski (1985) observed that abstract art was formed from modern industrial

materials as an attempt to integrate art, design, and architecture in order to affect the

exterior appearance of the physical form. Thus, the perception of the basically composition

of geometric design -understood here as a cognitive and dynamic process of one’s sense-

making of the world around- matching 3D-print modeling in modern, non-object/abstract

art, shows that 3D representational paintings heighten the perception of reality to a clearer

understanding of forms in compositions of geometric balance. As such, the reflective

practice in the digital realm by representing the concepts of geometric abstract art in

physical forms and carrying these 3D models into reality by means of 3DP promote the

integration of art, architecture, and design and provides uncommon provocative acts of

reflective tinkering: exploration, memorizing, responding, and creation or seeing, thinking,

and making.

3 3D Printing Perception of Creative Transfer of Learning

Living in a time of highly emergent technologies and anchored by the successful feasibility

of 3DP productiveness, techniques and materials, many leading edu-technological

companies are eager to evolve their services around 3DP technology, and most, if not all,

edu-cultural organizations and institutions experiment an increasing digital cultural

adaptability in incorporating the functionality of 3DP technology into their instructional

strategies. In order to tackle the 3DP technology and its implementation in the creative

educational sector, one must firstly fairly understand the implications of 3D printing
evolving in teaching and learning and how to cultivate interest and increase abilities in such

innovative interactive physical computing that transcends the boundaries of real/virtual

space.

In the recent years, 3DP emerging technology or rapid prototyping has gained

popularity and becomes extensively applicable in innovative ways to economically sweep

through classrooms as creative alternative to current practices in teaching. Informal

learning, training and experimenting in ‘thinking in three dimensions’ 3DP with 3D

printing is invaluable in order to feel risk-free and confident enough to focus on creative

content, rather than struggle with the process. As new 3DP inspiring applications are being

demonstrated across a range of creative industries each day, a growing culture of hands-on

digital making, e-designing, and e-creating in turn add new dimensions to the creative

education worldwide and increase the freedom of action to engage young digital generation

in the learning process. We may define the 3DP process as the creative progressive practice

of idea generation, more specifically, clearly envisioning what one is designing through

actually creating it (Clinton & Hokanson, 2012).

3DP or 3DAM technology evolution seems to mark the “Next Industrial Revolution”

(Markillie, 2012; Divbyz.com, 2018) as it reflects the process of “developing” three-

dimensional prototypes, tools, and in-process iterateration of producing solid objects

(physical models) from digital files (computer-aided design) which compromises a better

software control basically for “Touch-and-Feel” in order to create a tangible visual image

by adding layer by layer of plastic filament (Coon et al., 2016). In other words, 3DP

accentuates the “freedom of creation” (Faludi et al., 2015), which in turn redefines the

meaning of the five values of Business Model Innovation: value proposition, value
creation, value capture, value distribution and value delivery. 3DP represents a meaningful

value to proposition, artistic creation, and knowledge innovation as educators and

developers can create three-dimensional models and products created in various

techniques: 3D-generating or 3D-scanning and made in a variety of materials and colors

merely designed to enhance education. Raynaa & Striukova (2016) explained that rapid

prototyping immensely affects the business model innovation of creating whenever

engaged within a non- traditional practice, positively affects the ability to diversify the

dynamicity of the way creation and digital innovation take place within the field of

education. Rapid prototyping improves both: the product and the service offering, such as

the ability to offer more affordable and customized learning objects using any 3D printer

at a fast and affordable way, easily redesign more flexible, cost-effective, and customizes

services (Ford & Despeisse, 2016; Leering, 2017). Moreover, the novelty of the 3DP

process realizes the delivery value by transforming a conceptual idea into a tangible

innovation that circulates as non-commercial open-source to serve more target market

segments (Al-Ani, 2013; Dickel et al., 2016).

3.1 Dramatic Changes in Contemporary Visual Art Education

Referring to Mitchell (2010) that while engagement with digital art itself inhabits technical

complexities that enforce innovative ideas to remain “concept-only”, there are various

defined cases of where 3DP technology has been applied for young learners to overcome

the barriers to engagement in the arts and improve their 3D art skills by means of increased

tangible mediation.

In light of the current technological changes, incorporating 3DP technology into

creative curriculum requires a visionary idea, state-of-the art technology, and innovative
knowledge to implement it. Aligned with the characteristics of Creative Exploratory

Process in multi-setting digital co-creating: uutilizing discovery, dynamic and constantly

changeable knowledge, high involvement, active-interactivity, creative inter-thinking,

teachers and educators have to think “outside the box” in developing deeper problem-based

instructional design that goes well beyond traditional activities in which students let their

imagination run wild.

▪ Giving more focus on learning, not logistics.

▪ Maintaining the students’ engagement and keeping them motivated during the process.

▪ Finding the appropriate standards and reliable sources for creating the printed artworks.

▪ Differentiating instruction and tailoring the content to support the individual needs and

abilities of the students.

Introducing 3D printing in this way to 21st century digital young makers encourages

them to have a more complex vision of design, closely observe and rediscover the

consistent geometric shapes embedded in the work of art. Producing the haptic/tangible

sensation of vision, the adoption of 3DP mediation gives them the possibility of

understanding abstraction as a manifestation of real space. Virtual abstract ideas

represented spatially on the screen may be either recognizable in three-dimensional, or

distorted. Besides, some abstract concepts are difficult to thoroughly explain and analyze.

The simple strategy of visualizing representations of concepts in abstract design whereas,

geometric ideas give form to the design is a common need of simplifying meaning in visual

display of transformational geometry (Ursyn, 2013; Kolisky 2014). McCullough (1996)

explicated that the three-dimensional entities of the form are often very visually complex

using either 2D or 3D digital mediated shapes once the physical aspects of the persuasive
design are being reduced. Thus, 3D-printed models are needed for the explanation of

abstract concepts in design learning in order to effectively dominate the complex structure

and at the same time they provide the tactile input as the basis for design reduction.

3D printed models are becoming invaluable tools for informing lots of contents,

clarifying the structure of complex relationships, and transmitting ideas. The embodied

experiences of physical objects and spatial / tactile senses broaden the exploratory vision.

Building 3D models in integrative interfaces (physical and digital) has been proven to be

useful to enhance visuospatial understanding and anatomical design knowledge (Henry,

2016; Ree, 2011; Segerman, 2016). Students with visual perception problems may either

have some difficulty in visualizing concepts or mentally making transformation of abstract

3D ideas in geometry. The hyper visibility of making 3D-printed models of abstract

geometric/ mathematical drawings will help middle-school students (grade 6-8) to explore

design principals and the boundaries of design thinking in architectural design or

engineering-related subjects in deep detail: they can see how the process works, test

thinking and develop symbolic thought in order to achieve a better understanding of

structural and analytical design modeling (Bertol, 2015): translate knowledge into

innovative compositional aspects within 2D plane presentations or digital compositions

within 3D structures lack of tangible realism.

In conclusion, the potentially strong stimuli associated in interactive three-

dimensional system “3DP edu-making” activity affords a remarkable divergence of

opportunities to support student-directed exploration, metacognitive reflection and

problem solving. Shifting from 3D digital designing on screen-based medium to additive

3D-printed models, they will be able to experimentally learn to physically compose and
manipulate abstract geometric forms while building them up in layers and where

knowledge is validated through ‘in-touch’ practice to fully understand the concept of

architectural representation in buildings.

Figure 1. Wassily Kandinsky, Figure 2. 3D MODELING OF KANDINSKY’S

Composition VIII, 1923 COMPOSITION VIII
(Guggenheim Museum, n.d.)

3DP technology is a means to “visually touching” and” physically seeing” objects,

bridges the learning process from theoretical concepts into practical applications, increases

3D visualization skills, and emphasizes learning through the iterative design process.

Employing 3D printers as a pedagogical tool has emphasized learning through the

principles of freedom, openness, and learning how. Figure 1 & 2 illustrate the first steps in

creating a successful interpreted works of art by transforming the design content of

Kandinsky’s Composition VIII famous painting into three-dimensional geometric models,

where shapes in the painting are geometrically depicted in terms of linear compositions to

tangible 3D hybrid models (Stavridi, 2017) as shown in Figure 3. 3DP processes give more

attention to the modeling progression of design principles thus facilitates the visual
processing of shape. Such interpretation of lines, shapes, and colors facilitates the process

of visually understanding the concept of Abstractionism in contemporary art.

The capability of 3D printing is not to simply translate plane geometry (2D) into

solid geometry (3D), but to refocus attention on the true potential of the ‘tangible’ reality

behind abstract geometry within the medium of three-dimensional design.

Figure 3. 3DP Translation of Kandinsky’s Composition VIII

Figure 3 demonstrates the shift from designing on screen-based medium to modeling

and composing 3D-printed abstract geometric forms of real design as an effective learning

instrument that students can use to build the perspectival reality of the virtual world and

blurs the lines and barriers between the space between cyberspace and physical reality

(3ders, 2018). Accordingly, building 3D-printed models enables students with visual‑

perception problems to visualize the reality of the basic hidden forms in design, where the

knowledge of transformational geometry is validated through “in-touch” practice (Stavridi,

2017; Weber et al., 2017; Yildirim, 2018).

As a result, 3D printers are a vital benefit in changing the arty process in creative

education and highlighting the student’s creative skills. Combining the art with technology,

3D printers offer multi-dimensional perspectives to creative learning (Pantazis &

Priavolou, 2017) and open up a new world of ideas and possibilities for all ages.
4 How to Successfully Develop Effective 3DP Technology-Based
Learning Activity?
The radically growing technology of 3DP learning environments opens-up unseen

opportunity to higher visible foreseen benefits and enforces for a call for changes in the

way we develop and design arty learning activities. Further evidence for the

transformational impact of the new technologies in reforming the “EduArt” aspect;

balancing entertainment technology and education and reconnecting visual art, geometry,

and digital technologies through 3D printing. The researcher was particularly interested to

contribute a 3DP project-based learning strategy as a pedagogical tool to introduce middle-

school students (grade 6-8) to the creative side of geometric abstraction. Addressing the

potential benefit of applying 3DP technology to convert constructivist learning into action

for teaching thinking. 3D printing technique is successful in the case of abstract geometry

to gain design concepts, such as in the work generated by Kandinsky or Mondrian, for

middle-school students (grade 6-8) to learn STEAM concepts via a process referred to as

3DP tinkering, in which they combine design with technical and functional solutions.

4.1 Practical Hands-On 3DP Based Art Approach

Learning by technology is changing rapidly, this change calls for today’s digital cultural

organizations to develop their educational deliverable services that can transform learning

into an active catalyst. On this approach, some concepts depend upon capitalizing the

provision of 3DP in supporting 21st century pedagogies so as to provide in-depth learning

visual art and active co-construction of cross-disciplinary activities. Tinkering is the

conceptual pattern of “making” or “exploiting” community-based innovations (Ferdinand,

2017). Most soft and interpersonal-spectrum of skills are featuring in “tinkering/making”.

It could also be defined as the act, which thrives on the unexpected ideas that makes
learning an open platform with limitless to student expression. According to the architect

Louis Sullivan’s principle of “form-follows-function” (1896), tinkering process involves

ideation, collaborative engagement, free experimentation for new possibilities, and finally

unpredicted advantage output.

Whereas the artistic market is the dominant responsiveness of a creative maker

community, tinkering is the highlighted skill of an innovative community (Ferdinand,

2017; Meyer, 2006). Learning by 3DP technology for a reflective tinkering process is

critical for deep understanding because it is through the doing of a task, that prompts

students to digitally experiment and tinker to then become “Tech-inclined Tinkerers” in

learning (Kwon, 2017): they will creatively and clearly connect informal understanding of

perceptions to concrete reality and generate ideas in an explorative envisioned realism. In

this context, designing in 3DP technology and building a manipulative 3D-printed model

that go beyond a printout of a rendered image can be very valuable in order to achieve

solutions that support the development of visual-spatial reasoning: geometry, spatial sense,

and measurement. From an educational perspective, these tasks: ideating, modeling, and

linking them with the aesthetic field of making, presenting, and evaluating, support the

creative process.

4.2 Conceptual Framework

Designing in evolutionary 3DP acquisition is an iterative process (Costantino, 2015) where

students develop concepts through research, reflection, drawing, studio model making, and

workshop prototyping. The aim of 3DP method for educating students in contemporary

Abstractionism is to analyze abstract concepts in geometric art and explore the effective
design principles for creating a collaborative design/make project to bridge the gap between

virtual model in cyberspace and tactile-based virtual reality.

4.3 Methodology

Within the framework of constructionism in non-formal context and 3DP freedoms, the

activities are carried out through constructivist, reflective practices, in which teacher-

centered knowledge is replaced by student-centered approaches (Prater, 2001) that

emphasize the active and constructed character of knowledge converted into touchable 3D-

printed versions. Serving as an experiential study focusing on using 3DP technology to

support the development of spatial conceptual visualization, we attempted to run our

experimental project using the design-based thinking methodology to shaping meaning into

expressive and comprehensible ideas by the use of imagination to reconstruct painting’s

compositions into a new breed of design thinking. The aim of the haptics exploratory-

based project was to perceive to what extent the ability to actually make something tangible

can make ideas less abstract for better understanding and retention of spatial information

and relationships between entities. 3DP system not only increase STEM engagement but

also supports the creation of innocuous dynamics 3D creative learning environment that

value imagination, experimentation, and innovation.

The instructional activities are designed to indicate that 3DP process is the key

driver for maintaining deep engagement and to facilitate full integration of design thinking

which involves imaging, ideating, modeling, and link them with the aesthetic field of

making, presenting, and evaluating. A defined set of broad guidelines to ensure a well-

reformed approach to effective instructional activities with the best age-appropriate 3DP

applications should encompass the following:

 ▪ Open-ended 2D design drawing based on the representations of abstract geometric

ideas in spatial symbols depicted in contemporary architectural abstractionists’

compositions with clearly defined geometric design constraints and goals.

▪ Creative thinking design-inclusion that leads to more visual-spatial ability.

▪ Technology education concepts; educational, entertaining, and empowering.

▪ No limits on the depth of tinkering.

4.4 Experimentation and Engagement

Within a domain at three levels of representation: original artwork observation, mediate

perceptual architecture model, and 3D-printed scale models, Middle-school students (grade

6-8) are expected to demonstrate the ability to: maintain the project's architectural

integrities from conception to realization, show a response from direct observation,

manipulate 2D and 3D objects and 3D model geometric relationships, translate ideas into

different touchable forms, experiment and test their architectural design process, and

evaluate in a continuum.

To impart a greater acute level of 3DP-experiment, a step by step approach is

adopted to convey understanding on: 3D spatial awareness, components visualization, and

analytical reasoning, we will target explicitly the representation of geometric abstracts in

spatial symbols in Kandinsky and Mondrian’s architectural compositions to create in the

mind of the student the perceptions and senses of basic concepts in architecture. While

transforming the plane design into a physical object, students’ motivations can be associated

to those of Kandinsky or Mondrian, but the design solution and its function will be

different.
Divided into small groups, students are tasked to make models, transforming their

“thoughts into things”, collaboratively, they design and produce 3D prototypes with the

aid of 3D design platform applications and 3D desktop printers. Through the observation

of the interference of the painted and unpainted area of the entire work of art, the students

are involved in the development of the idea, they will learn to describe forms and shapes

in composition, and how artists used abstract features of geometry to generate patterns

entangled with the geometry. Students may pick up a flat 2D abstract design of modeling

that allows them to articulate their own understanding of the painting and insightfully

create their unique three-dimensional printed art-form. They will work their architectural

design with a CAD program breaking down the original artwork into basic geometric

shapes as a primary design feature, each entity will be a printable model. The approach

remains constructionist in core, with sort of understanding the structure of abstract

geometric design, each team is taking part in the design process. The final 3D tactile art-

print shall be a combination of assembled geometric forms.

4.5 Implementation

▪ Context: As a response to the growing creative 3DP industry, the goal is to provide

unique active-art learning practices and boost STEM skills with the art maker hub,

both for-profit and non-profit approaches. The implementation’s context is based on

the simulation capability of the spatial design process of traditional model making

into 3D-printed reality by creating models of building designs with a sense of “scale”

and “touch” (See Figure 5 & 6). In a context where creation goes beyond seeing and

learning, giving an open-ended project with the extra motivation to support young
 community in participating in the art, students will be tinkering and experimenting

with abstract art concepts while making inspirational 3D-printed design.

▪ Practices: Applying critical and creative thinking to geometric visual art digital

practice: the focus is to reflect on the artistic process and to define the 3DP geometric

art-based design programs appropriate for students, in which the students create 3D

designs with basic age-appropriate artwork software1, then 3D model2 with digital

sculpting application to 3D-print. In their next step, they create their own hands-on

manipulatives via additive digital fabrication techniques.

▪ Result: learning modern skills like CAD/CAM, modeling, prototyping and testing,

and doggedness. 3DP service delivers the most customizable business model to

young design learners, particularly to youngsters with special needs to design and

collaborate on 3DP projects. In the context of employing advanced technologies for

the comprehension of spatial understanding and visual communication of abstract

concepts and the analysis of abstract geometric art, the benefits 3DP offers can be

very valuable for the students to encouragingly learn academic concepts.

1
Tinkercad, SketchUp, Autodesk Fusion360, OpensCAD, 123D Catch, Thingiverse or
2D programs like 2D Design V2,InkScape, 2DCAD software, and Paint.net, or online
3D-printing services for open sources of STL files: Shapeways, i.materialise, and
Sculpteo.
2
Slicing tools: Cura, Sculptris, Zbrush.
Figure 4. Piet Mondrian, Figure 5. Side view using TinkerCad pro.
Composition in Red, Blue, and
Yellow, 1937-42 (MOMA, n.d.)

The architectural design setting of the buildings is based on simplifying geometric

models in 3D basic geometric blocks (See Figure 5) while 3D prototyping was introduced

in arts to show projects in physical 3D forms with detailed design exploration (See Figure

6). Different heights, areas, colors, and shapes are modified to realize the model with

children-friendly modeling software, such as Tinkercad, SketchUp, or Autodesk

Fusion360, and turn them into 3D printed reality after deciding what filament types (PLA,

Flexible, or wood) to use to 3D print the model to get a sense of scale and feel.

Figure 6. A 3D assembled model built up according to the abstract rules

in Piet Mondrian’s geometric compositions
 What is the return on investing in prototyping for abstract ideas by means of 3DP

technology? The goal of bringing such technology into extracurricular activities is to

demonstrate how 3DP technology modifies the characterization of ‘learning-teaching’

routes in order to achieve more coherence in the learning content. The response reflects the

general focus of this study, which is to provide an interactive creative learning environment

for contemporary visual art. 3DP is an effective learning tool to see objects in different

perspectives (Peppler & Bender, 2013). Being a valuable tool, it facilitates the process that

motivates students to easily make connections between the abstract artwork they are

viewing and math, leading students to recognize that the shapes geometrically have

different lengths, widths, areas, and perimeters.

5 Conclusion

Investing in a 3D printing facility as an advanced craft technology to develop unique

scheme offerings evolves new possibilities for art and design education. As it will open

and expand futuristic routes to creative ways of educating students in 3DP art–based

activities. In the last decade 3DP technology has exploded onto the edu-culture mainstream

scene enforcing teachers and educators to integrate three-dimensional printing and specific

art movement into their curriculum, creating creative design processes that encourage

students to reflect, absorb discoveries, and adapt practices.

In response to the challenges of the on-going 3DP digital revolution, this chapter has

not intended to be an inclusive literature review on 3DP creative learning tools. It is an

exploratory hypothetical experimentation that provides a wider context for making better

use of creative research evidence to support ongoing improvements and visionary ideas in

3DP art and design education for the practice of different disciplines. It is recommended
that instructional training time be offered to teachers and educators to familiarize and

update themselves with 3DP technological initiatives in order to adapt and overcome the

complexities of 3DP technology in education: on how to conduct the processes of their

educational activities, so that they can benefit from such recreation opportunities, matching

geometric abstraction and 3D print modeling and reflect on the benefits of exploiting 3DP

technology in creating aesthetically, meaningful simulated learning experiences.

As a fundamental aspect in educational schemes, teaching by means of prevailing 3DP

technology-based activities emits a positive influence on the involvement of the students

in the design processes and their understanding of aesthetic perception towards visual

culture and design. Currently, much research relates primarily to the improvement of

STEM instruction however, little research has been done related to the development of 3DP

applications in art education and even less research regarding proper pedagogy of using

3DP technology. Specialization with regards to 3DP integration in art and design to elevate

visual-tactual perception, geometry conceptual thinking, and architectural design

exploration are mandatory for all those involved in academic discipline teaching.

Accordingly, further in-depth analysis and more research on the techno-effective

pedagogies in artistic contexts are required to understand broadly the relation between, the

effective exploitation of 3DP technology related to the training in visual art, involved in

the appreciation of the contemporary abstract art style and creative learning.
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