3DUX UNIVERSITY GOLD STAR PROJECT:
Guanacaste Region, costa rica
Costa Rica is a wonderful country in Central America with Pacific Ocean surf beaches on the west and the Atlantic Ocean beaches with white sand on the east.
Mount Arenal is one of the most famous and beautiful volcanos in Costa Rica
Always nice to wake up with the sloths. They always seem happy and content (and super-slow). They are usually found hanging upside down in trees.
Costa Rican coffee is some of the best in the world. The 3DuxDesign Team visited the plantation that picks and processes much of the coffee you can buy at Costco.
The Costa Rican culture is rich with celebrations and traditions like Guanacaste Day with dancers dressed in vibrantly colored dresses that flow.
about the culture
Famous for being the happiest country in the world, the people of Costa Rica are welcoming and friendly. Costa Ricans are peace-loving and also take great pride in their efforts at sustainability. The official language is Spanish (since the country was colonized by Spain way back in the 1500's with Christopher Columbus). The Costa Rican people affectionately refer to themselves as "Ticos". One of the favorite sayings is "Pura Vida" which means" pure life" but in Costa Rica, it is more than just a saying—it really is a whole way of life. The country is lush with wildlife, tropical forest and beautiful beaches.
So enamored by our young Costa Rican Kindergarten Students' work, the 3DuxDesign Team just HAD to take a trip down to see what this country is all about. and boy were we happy we did....
- Wildlife even at the airport
- The Student Community Project
- See the buildings
- 3Dux visits a coffee plantation
As soon as we got off the airplane, 3Dux cofounders Ayana and Ethan were welcomed by a giant sloth. So, if you kids think that owning your own business gets you out of having to pose for embarrassing family vacation photos, think again!
This project was done by a Kindergarten class from the Guanacaste Region. They were learning about towns and the services they have that benefit the people who live there. We loved how well each building was put together and the neat and orderly urban design.
The traditional Costa Rican town has a plaza in the center with a soccer field. On the western side of the plaza is the church. The class visited 4 towns in our area and made a chart to compare them.
Sustainability is very important to Costa Ricans and the children in this school learn a lot about how to protect the environment. This group of students learned about recycling and created a poster. The students in this school used recycled cardboard for their 3DuxDesign community.
The kindergarten class is getting started for the project and learning about the 5 different angles used in the 3Dux kits
It makes sense that one of the first buildings they created was a school
A residential space. We were super-impressed that these little makers mastered the geometry needed to create an A-frame house.
The younger students practiced their fine motor skills with the teacher.
The students showed us hoe most rural communities in Costa Rica have a central square with a church.
and a playgrounds with swings and a lot of plants. Many also have a soccer field right in the town square.
The whole process In a nut shell (actually, a coffee bean).
All coffee in Costa Rica is grown and processed in the hills at higher elevations and lower air temperatures. Volcanic soil make for a ribust flavorful coffee.
Our tour guide showed us how to determine the different grades of coffee beans and how they relate to the flavor and quality.
Our tour guide explained how coffee is grown, picked and dried naturally by the sun.
At the end of the tour we got to relax and enjoy the taste of freshly brewed, home grown coffee.
And a word from a very proud teacher... "Our friends at 3DuxDesign invited us to participate in their global initiative to have students represent their communities using cardboard and 3Dux clips. During the theme of Origins, Kindergarten students studied the concept of a town and the services it provides to its members. The children visited 4 local towns and compared the features of each. Then they represented a town using recycled cardboard and the 3Dux clips. They were able to integrate the skills of describing, comparing and contrasting, writing, counting, graphing, and an introduction to map skills into the Social Studies standard of understanding the features of a town".
design • build • share • collaborate
Architecture, Design Thinking, and the 3Dux Creators
Architecture brings open-ended creativity and design thinking to traditional STEM learning.
We are a team of designers, educators, architects, engineers, artists and other thought leaders having some serious fun educating the next generation. Our project-based workshops inspire children to define problems, collaboratively explore solutions, create, and reevaluate. 3Dux classes incorporate a wide range of topics including sustainability, urban planning, and social equity for a more holistic approach to STEM learning.
NYU Medical School trained pediatrician and co-developer of 3DuxDesign, Marci Klein, M.D. brings over 20 years experience in both clinical and academic medicine with a focus on community health, patient education, and early childhood development