Audio Transcript

[00:00:00]
Announcer: You’re listening to the Fizzics Ed Podcast. For hundreds of ideas, free experiments and more, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. And now, here’s your host, Ben Newsome.

[00:00:17]
Ben Newsome: Yes, welcome again to another Fizzics Ed Podcast. Glad to have you on yet again for another chat around STEAM, STEM, and all that sort of stuff. If it’s your first time, welcome. You’re in a spot where we chat about science and education and all that sort of thing, and we have a lot of fun doing it.

[00:00:34]
Ben Newsome: This week, we’re having a bit of a chat around the design technology side of things. We haven’t gone down that way for a little while, and I really wanted to have a chat with Kylie Burrett. Now, she is an amazingly cool educator, but she’s also an award-winning designer. You see, she created the Splat, and if you haven’t heard of the Splat you’re certainly going to hear about it soon. It’s a 3D design tool and I can tell you now, it is making huge waves, not ripples, waves right through schools right across Australia. You see, this device which has been sponsored by Engineers Australia was recently named in 2019 as one of Australia’s top design innovations and was awarded the prestigious Gold Good Design Award. And that’s so cool because what it’s actually about is helping kids really understand mathematics and design and how they come together. And it’s so easy. Even my kids are using it and they love it! And more importantly, it’s about boosting their fundamental visual-spatial skills. And it’s so important.

[00:01:32]
Announcer: This is the Fizzics Ed Podcast. We’re all about science, ed tech and more. To see 100 fun free experiments you can do with your class, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. That’s physics spelled F I Z Z I C S and click 100 free experiments.

[00:01:50]
Kylie Burrett: Thanks Ben, I’m so excited to be talking to you guys today!

[00:01:53]
Ben Newsome: Oh, I’m really, really excited to have a chat with you too. And especially seeing, look at this is the end of the year. I mean, there might be people listening to this at the start of 2020 or another year depending on when they’re listening in, but it has been a very flat out 2019. And I must say, especially for you.

[00:02:10]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, 2019 has been an absolute epic year for us. I think my wheels are a bit wobbly at the end. I’m very, very grateful for all the incredible opportunities that 2019 has presented, but yeah, wow, I’m ready for a break.

[00:02:30]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, tell me about it. We met up at a regional educators meeting I suppose a couple of months ago, and I must say I went, “This what you’re doing is really, really cool to help kids understand design and how to pull things together.” So there’s other people who haven’t met you yet. So Kylie, tell us, what is it that you’ve been doing lately?

[00:02:50]
Kylie Burrett: Okay, so I guess the first part is that I’m a teacher. And for the last couple of years, I have been helping resource STEM projects within schools and helping make innovative programmes. And as part of my journey as a teacher through that process, I was really frustrated around students’ ability to communicate their ideas, particularly visually. And feeling like they had so many great ideas, and they were so quick to go, “Oh, this and this and this is what I’m going to do.” And then they’d give me a scrunched-up bit of paper with a few scratches on it, which I couldn’t make any sense of.

[00:03:29]
Ben Newsome: Sounds like my whiteboard drawings, sorry!

[00:03:33]
Kylie Burrett: And they’d immediately start requesting materials, and then more materials, and then they’d get frustrated that it hadn’t worked. I really felt limited in my capacity to help them as an educator because I wasn’t really exactly sure what it was that they were trying to create because they hadn’t clearly articulated it or they weren’t able to visually draw it or represent it. So it started me on my own design thinking journey and that’s when I came up with what is, it’s sort of like a junior engineering tool. It’s a physical template that fuses art and geometric elements to help students visualise their ideas for STEM.

[00:04:14]
Ben Newsome: And boy, it took off!

[00:04:17]
Kylie Burrett: It did! Well, you know, I think the most amazing thing about design thinking and helping our students with it, it all starts with a problem. And the more authentic that problem is, the bigger the pain point that that causes, the more likely people are going to be delighted when they interact with your product. And I think that’s why it took off because I think as a classroom teacher I knew that there were a lot of other teachers having the same problem. Once I sort of convinced other teachers to have a go, it’s like, “Oh my gosh,” you know, it’s just another order and another order until, like I said, it’s just become, I guess very busy towards the end of the year, and we’re just hanging in there.

[00:05:00]
Ben Newsome: That’s it. I mean, there’d be people here listening in who haven’t come across Splat, but this tool is fantastic. It’s a two-dimensional shape, but I mean, probably you’re the best person to describe it. I mean, I’ve got it in front of me but you know what these holes and bits are about. So maybe describe for people what we’re looking at here.

[00:05:19]
Kylie Burrett: Okay, so basically what you’re looking at is a small plastic template that has been designed to allow students to draw anything they can imagine in 3D. Most designers know that fundamentally we break things down into their geometric origin to start designing. So we look and identify the basic 3D shapes or objects that are required to make that product. And this tool creates all five of those core 3D shapes or objects in 3D. So if you wanted to create a cube, a sphere, a cone, a cylinder, or a square-based pyramid, you could do that with this tool. Then you can learn how to shape those, so basically compose and decompose those objects to create anything that you can possibly imagine.

[00:06:14]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, and it’s so quick to pick up. I mean, it’s got these little notches in it where you can sort of put your pen or your pencil and kind of just move around the object or move the Splat template around your page and everything seems to line up and match, especially when you start sort of thinking that all these little parts have relationships to the other things you’ve been drawing. I’m not describing it very well, but I know that when you had us as teachers sort of having a play with it, it really didn’t take much time at all to create a fairly convincing 3D shape out of nowhere.

[00:06:46]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, so I mean, I am really proud to say that we have kindergarten students across Australia drawing these 3D shapes or objects, and they are rendering them and completing them in exact proportion. It’s so powerful at an early age to be able to complete this skill successfully, so you do have that feeling of empowerment from a young age so that you’re more likely to develop that skill set. It’s almost like if you don’t learn how to do this skill and then you get to high school and you’re all of a sudden in a STEM programme and they’re saying, “Oh, draw this,” or “What’s your idea? Represent it in 3D.” It’s almost like asking a child who’s never learned to ride a bike to ride a bike in front of their class. They’re not confident, they feel very awkward around demonstrating that, and a lot of kids will just say, “Oh, I can’t draw.” And so one of the best things about the tool was, how can we create a tool that gives the student confidence that they can in a very step-by-step simple way? So all five of those 3D shapes can be drawn with a Splat in three easy steps. And I think that’s part of the secret to its success is that all of a sudden it takes away that awkwardness around “I can’t draw” and replaces it with a very simple step-by-step solution.

[00:08:11]
Ben Newsome: Well, that’s it. I mean, this really is a useful tool for STEM and design thinking. Like you said, trying to get your head around how to convey ideas in a 3D object—and let’s be honest, I’m one of those three-dimensionally challenged people—having that as a tool to actually get pen to paper and make sense is so handy, especially when you’re trying to describe something you’re engineering.

[00:08:34]
Ben Newsome: Right in front of me as we’re chatting is one of your resources around the solar car design canvas, and it’s kind of neat. I know that these things get built by kids all the time—solar panels, batteries, little switches, and DC motors to get the car going—but trying to draw that thing is another step altogether. It doesn’t look that hard once you actually start using this device.

[00:09:01]
Kylie Burrett: No, and I think that’s the most profound thing about this. People believe that you’re either born with it or you’re not, but this is a visual literacy behind mathematics. Visual-spatial ability is a fundamental skill that’s best laid down in the early years. We are all born with a mathematical brain capable of learning this. Just as a child may not learn their phonics, if they don’t learn their basic 3D shapes and objects and how to construct and boost that side of their visual-spatial ability, then they won’t go on to progress. It’s not necessarily something that you’re born with.

[00:09:43]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, well, that’s right. And I must say, though, I mean, you’re making a huge dent right across Australia and beyond too. So when did you actually launch this thing?

[00:09:51]
Kylie Burrett: Oh gosh. So we launched, our soft launch was in May last year. So we really have only been in operation with the tool for a year, and most of that I’ve been working in the classroom. So it’s been pretty hectic. I’ve only just stepped away from the classroom last term.

[00:10:13]
Ben Newsome: Oh wow, that’s a huge change. And also, big ups too, because making that step is a huge deal.

[00:10:21]
Kylie Burrett: Oh, it is. I have a lot of respect, obviously, for people that start businesses, and it’s always funny because when you’re a teacher in the classroom, it’s very different to the business world. So it has been very challenging stepping away from the classroom, and I have felt that a lot of teachers have been really supportive of that change for me. So I’m really grateful to those colleagues that have sort of upped me on.

[00:10:51]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, well here’s the thing. I’m just sort of thinking kids could create their 3D objects, pencil to paper type thing, but there’s no reason why they couldn’t then scan that and then start creating digital aspects of that for their 3D printing challenges or whatever it is that they want to do. I mean, it really just comes down to what do you want to do with this thing?

[00:11:08]
Kylie Burrett: Well, that’s right. I think the most important thing to remember is that we live in a 3D world. We think in 3D. So our ability to mentally rotate and conceptualise things visual-spatially is all happening in 3D, except when we go to draw on paper or we’re using a computer screen to do something on CAD. You’ve got to remember that the computer screen and the piece of paper are a 2D surface.

[00:11:36]
Kylie Burrett: So we actually have to take those thoughts that we’re having through the filter of representing them on a 2D surface. And so whether or not you’re doing it on paper or you go to scan it in, the thinking skills behind the actual tool and getting kids to do this only enhances them with their digital capabilities. I mean, that is the end point. We want students to be hopping on computers and not being limited by the software because they don’t have the thinking capacity.

[00:12:07]
Kylie Burrett: So we want to really boost that thinking so that when they are on the computer and they are working on a digital product in terms of a CAD, that they are able to have that thinking that will enable them to take the next step because often times students will still be stuck then with being able to conceptualise and understand what they’re perceiving off a flat 2D screen and what they’re thinking in 3D, if that makes sense.

[00:12:36]
Ben Newsome: No, totally does. I mean, one of the things I really like what you’ve done is create some projects for effectively like design notebooks for kids to sort of get their head around well, what do do with this thing? It’s in my hand, now what? It’s not a bad tool at all.

[00:12:53]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, so basically the idea was, I mean, we’re really passionate about this from a social impact point of view. We’ve had students in Vanuatu that have nothing but a pencil and a piece of paper and literally a table, dirt floors, being able to learn these future-focused skills.

[00:13:13]
Kylie Burrett: And so for us, it’s not about all the bells and whistles, it’s about giving every single child regardless of where they’re at these fundamental skills. And we’re putting out as much free resources as we can. So there are design notebooks, there’s design canvases, there’s more in production for next year. I think we’re up to maybe something like 65 online free tutorials via our YouTube channel.

[00:13:41]
Kylie Burrett: And it gives you the scope of either just learning how to draw and render the objects or 3D shapes, all the way through how to create geometry nets to using the tool to design a rocket, or a diorama scene in perspective. So there’s a broad range of application and we really want students to be able to practise this skill and practise thinking in 3D and then representing in 2D to really build those visual-spatial skills.

[00:14:14]
Ben Newsome: Ah, it’s really fantastic and really great stories to get going. I mean, one of the things I’ve got to ask, I mean, so you’re a primary trained teacher, yeah?

[00:14:22]
Kylie Burrett: So yeah, so I was actually, I started out in science and mathematics. Not as a teacher but studying at university. And that was 25 years ago and it was very intimidating. I was the only girl in the class and I ran off and I swapped over to human movement science. And so for a while I was a K to 12 specialist in PE.

[00:14:50]
Ben Newsome: The kids will change things, let’s be honest. It’s the same here.

[00:14:58]
Kylie Burrett: The kids change everything. These knees don’t want to run quite the way they used to, so I went back and did my Masters of Information Science and started working in the libraries and resourcing STEM programmes. And I guess that’s where my journey’s led me here to developing the tool.

[00:15:18]
Ben Newsome: No, you’ve done it fantastic. And I also see that you’ve worked with ABC TV and the Weta Workshop in NZ. That’s interesting! How did you work with Weta?

[00:15:26]
Kylie Burrett: Oh, okay. One of my greatest memories was working with Weta. For those people who aren’t familiar with Weta, Weta Workshop is an incredible studio based in New Zealand that has won countless BAFTAs and Academy Awards for its work in film around special effects and prop making. They’re most well-known for Lord of the Rings, but there’s so many more shows you’d be blown away by how many movies they’re actually behind out of this really humble, beautiful studio in New Zealand.

[00:16:07]
Kylie Burrett: And so, yes, so when I did my education degree, I was working with ABC and I actually got an opportunity to work with them on a new TV show. And so I actually went over to the workshop and learned how all these incredible engineers bring these ideas to life that you see in film and television and it really changed my life. It was an incredible experience.

[00:16:33]
Ben Newsome: Well, certainly you’re bringing things to life nowadays, especially work with Engineers Australia to get this thing out. I mean, this is just amazingly well done. There’d be people listening in who’d just like to know, “I’ve got this idea and I don’t know what to do with it!” I guess that’s a very broad question, but what would you suggest for teachers in all different persuasions who might be listening in, who have this idea that might help change the world, but not too sure what to do about it next? What would you sort of suggest to them?

[00:17:04]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, I would have to say first of all, is the idea something that just keeps tapping at you, like in your mind. Like, you know, it’s almost like someone’s knocking on the wall of your brain, “You need to do this, you need to do this.” And it’s something that is driven from a point of that you really feel like you’re solving a problem for yourself and so you have a really good understanding of the problem and what you’re trying to solve. And that it’s a shared problem, so that other people also are experiencing this.

[00:17:37]
Kylie Burrett: So that’s basically where I’d start. You have to be really, really passionate, almost slightly crazy to try and attempt to launch a product in the market these days. It is a very difficult market and the education market is super saturated and not many people really want to hear from you. And having the experience of being in a classroom, teachers are always being sold to, you know? And so you really need to make sure that this is an authentic problem that you’re not just trying to deliver something for your own purpose, but it’s got a shared purpose.

[00:18:20]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, I remember a friend of mine just simply just said, “Start with the why.” And that was pretty much the best way to start. I agree with you totally.

[00:18:31]
Kylie Burrett: It is totally the why.

[00:18:33]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, the why, and the rest takes care of itself. Give or take a few sleepless nights and you’re all good! That’s just all part of it.

[00:18:43]
Kylie Burrett: If only it was that easy, Ben. Oh my gosh, the tears that I have shed over this project!

[00:18:47]
Ben Newsome: Nah, that’s it. And actually there’d be other people listening in because clearly you are totally about design in many different ways and you have a real passion for it and clearly got a lot of experience in it too. So, if you had a bunch of kids in front of you, students, you know, maybe upper primary or something like that, and you were starting them on the way to really truly get deep into design thinking itself, what sort of steps would you start those kids off in that journey?

[00:19:15]
Kylie Burrett: Well, what I think is, I think kids naturally switch to this. They’re natural problem solvers, they’re so curious and they’re seeking answers. So I think that jumping in with your students in primary school into design thinking is perfectly matched to them at that age group and it is highly successful when delivered correctly. A highly structured approach I’ve found to be the best way because often times students can feel lost in the process and not fully complete the process correctly.

[00:19:50]
Kylie Burrett: And I really think it’s important not to overwhelm the students. So with the students, I try and look at innovation is very different to invention. And so I try and help my students understand that we could just change something a little bit and all of a sudden that’s innovation. And so if you introduce it to your students that way, “What’s one thing that we could change or that’s difficult in our day that we could just change a little bit and make it better?” And I think that that’s a really great way to jump in, that the problem’s authentic, it’s connected to them, it inspires their curiosity, but it’s something that they can see a feedback loop on immediately. And I think that really whets their appetite for design thinking and it’s amazing where that just naturally then goes, that curiosity.

[00:20:41]
Ben Newsome: Absolutely. I mean, often innovation is the intersection between two different ideas that seem disparate, but turns out they’re not. And smash them together and see what happens.

[00:20:53]
Kylie Burrett: Yes, and I think that’s where you blur the boundaries between two areas, and we’re seeing that a lot more in smart products now. That where you do blur the boundaries, particularly like we have with the Splat 3D design tool, that you find the biggest uptake. It’s where people are most curious. It’s almost like where the contradictions lie, that people find that they’re most drawn to and they’re most curious about. Why? It comes back to the why, Ben.

[00:21:26]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, no, I totally agree. Hey, so with Splat 3D, what are your next steps? So this is time stamping this podcast because I believe that this is going to keep on growing. So, at the end of 2019, you’re planning for next year and doing the bits and pieces that comes with it. So what’s your next, what’s the next things coming up?

[00:21:43]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, so we’re running a fair bit of training next year and we’re already running a pinball fever course, so that’s one of our projects that we’ve been doing. And I guess it’s working more collaboratively with teachers and also building strong partnerships with industry. So we’ll also be working on the SISP programme. So I think you’re familiar with that?

[00:22:07]
Ben Newsome: Yep.

[00:22:08]
Kylie Burrett: But that’s come out, that’s a really innovative education programme that’s come out of regional New South Wales. And that is a wonderful programme so helping students with that, and basically keeping on putting out those free tutorials, those free resources and really trying to support teachers in the classroom to make the most out of their basic design thinking experiences with their students.

[00:22:35]
Ben Newsome: Ah, fantastic. And if you haven’t heard of this SISP programme, that’s the STEM Industry Schools Partnerships programme in New South Wales. And so if you’re overseas just type in S I S P N S W and you’ll find it. It’s run in partnership with Regional Development Australia and it’s really, really cool. And it’s really good that you get involved with that as well. Hey, thank you so much for jumping on this podcast. I mean, there’ll be some people who will be listening in going, “You know what, I really need to reach out to Kylie.” So how would they do that?

[00:23:06]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, so all our social media channels are just @splat3d. So you can look us up on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. And you can always drop me a line at [email protected]. And our website is just splat3d.com. So it’s all pretty straightforward. If you look for Splat 3D hopefully you will find us.

[00:23:36]
Kylie Burrett: And there’s some great projects happening next year through Engineers Australia, through the SISP programme, Google Education have been amazing with their funding and we’ve been doing a lot with that. So yeah, watch out for us. And if you’d love a tutorial placed on our YouTube channel, please write in. We are literally designing things to help teachers in the classroom. And there’s really no restriction on age. So yeah, reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.

[00:24:08]
Ben Newsome: Absolutely. And I couldn’t recommend more going onto the YouTube channel because you can really see how this thing actually helps kids. And there’s lots of different ideas, almost like hacks to use the tool properly, and also just kind of like design ideas going, “You know what, if I did this with my kids around my project, maybe they could do something extra.” So it’s really cool. And thank you very much, Kylie, for popping on in. I know you’ve had a flat out year, I suspect it’s going to be busier next year, but that’s going to come with it. And…

[00:24:36]
Kylie Burrett: Well hopefully the tears!

[00:24:38]
Ben Newsome: Yeah, well, that’s what you need! And absolutely. And to be honest, that’s what the students need. And I mean, one of the things is that because it’s coming from a teaching space, I mean the fact that you made a large size one for teachers to use on their whiteboards while kids are using their little ones, makes a lot of sense. That’s the sort of thing teachers intimately would understand that it’s a useful classroom resource, it’s not just “here’s a piece of plastic just go blind”, you’ve given a bit of thought into the whole structure of it too, it’s a completely built piece of hardware if you want to call it hardware, sort of thing, it’s genuinely useful. It’s really, really cool.

[00:25:12]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, and the projects that we will be doing next year are still coming out of classrooms. So we have four lighthouse schools across Australia that will be working with us. And so these projects are actual case studies that are coming out of classrooms across Australia. And just recently there was a young boy, I think he’s 12, from Western Australia that took out the Engineers Australia Create It competition with his design thinking idea which has been on show in Melbourne last week. And so the projects that we’re doing we’re trying to reflect back to teachers and share what’s happening in other classrooms to build that sense of community around design thinking.

[00:25:54]
Ben Newsome: Ah, it’s so cool. Well done Kylie, have a fantastic morning!

[00:25:58]
Kylie Burrett: Okay, thanks so much Ben. It was great talking to you. I really admire what you do with Fizzics Education. So I really feel humbled that you’ve asked me to be on today.

[00:26:07]
Ben Newsome: Oh no, thanks! Oh shucks. The cheque’s in the mail, Kylie, thank you very much!

[00:26:12]
Kylie Burrett: [Laughs]

[00:26:13]
Ben Newsome: No, no, thank you so much! We’ll catch you soon. And no doubt, if you wanted to actually catch up with Kylie, almost, well not quite weekly because we’re always flat out, but on Thursday evenings 8:30 Eastern Standard Time in Sydney, there’s a Primary STEM Chat and Kylie sometimes pops in on that as well. So look, well done, and no doubt, we’ll see what happens next year!

[00:26:34]
Kylie Burrett: Yeah, send the questions in. I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has.

[00:26:38]
Ben Newsome: Alright, have a fantastic day.

[00:26:40]
Kylie Burrett: Thanks Ben. Alright, talk to you another time. Bye.

[00:26:45]
Announcer: Not all TPL for teachers is as awesome as it could be. I feel like there’s a lot of PowerPoint presentations, a lot of sitting and listening to someone talking. Well, if you want a break from that, Fizzics TPL sessions are fully hands-on, fully integrated with the curriculum and full of amazing science ideas that you can put in your classroom right now.

[00:27:06]
Ben Newsome: Well, there we go, we just heard from Kylie Burrett who you can really tell just loves what she does. She’s doing an amazing job. And how cool is it that this product just exploded right across the country. It’s done an amazing job. And by the way, hats off Kylie, I know that you’re listening on in, you’ve done an amazing job. Setting up a business takes a lot of effort and pulling yourself out of the school system, I mean, that would have taken a bit of courage too. And really well done, and now we’ve got the Splat, this great design tool for kids to use in the classrooms, no matter where they are. It’s brilliant.

[00:27:25]
Ben Newsome: So if you’re curious, definitely jump on a website, splat3d.com, and find out what all the fuss is about. And check out all those YouTube videos, and the how-to’s, and just see how would you implement this in your classroom to help kids with designing their things. It’s really worth it and quite powerful once you embed that into your curriculum. Hey, look, not from me. I hope you’ve had a fantastic week, wherever you’ve been hanging out, and we’ve got more things coming up on the Fizzics Ed podcast. You’ve been listening to me, Ben Newsome, from Fizzics Education. I’ll still be here doing science stuff as always, and I will catch you another time.

[00:27:45]
Announcer: You’ve been listening to another Fizzics Ed Podcast. We’re excited about science. Subscribe to us on iTunes to download the next episode as soon as it’s released. And don’t forget, for hundreds of ideas, free experiments, our new Be Amazing book and more, go to fizzicseducation.com.au. That’s physics spelled F I Z Z I C S.

[00:28:08]
Announcer: This podcast is part of the Australian Educators Online Network. aeon.net.au.

Frequently Asked Questions

Discussion points summarised from the Helping students with design using Splat 3D with AI assistance, verified and edited by Ben Newsome CF

Extra thought ideas to consider

Spatial Reasoning as a Gatekeeper

Consider how lack of spatial literacy might act as a hidden barrier to entry for high-level STEM careers. If we improve spatial skills in primary school, could we significantly increase the diversity and number of students pursuing engineering and architecture in the future?

The Cognitive Load of Drawing

Explore the idea that by reducing the “cognitive load” of the drawing process through tools like the Splat, we actually free up more mental energy for higher-order design thinking and creative problem-solving. Does a physical scaffold lead to more innovative outcomes?

Analog Foundations for Digital Success

Discuss the value of maintaining analog skills in a digital world. Why might a student who can sketch in 3D by hand have a deeper conceptual understanding of a 3D model they create in a CAD programme compared to a student who only uses digital tools?”