TEACHING AND LEARNING TECHNOLOGY WITH MOCKUPS

This paper propose the use of mockups manufactured with three-dimensional printer with the purpose of the master’s students acquire the needed knowledge regarding the teaching technologies. The work is focused in the subject "Disciplinary Training Complements in Technology" that is teached in the "Master in Teaching of Obligatory Compulsory Secondary Education and High School Teaching, Professional Training and Language Teaching" in the University of La Rioja.

Educators aim to instill students with the capacity to acquire knowledge and learn on their own. This goal entails greater teacher involvement, as opposed to an expository methodology, since in this case, the teacher must search for and provide a broad range of stimuli to foster student learning in variety of areas. To this end, teachers must employ all the teaching resources necessary to encourage and impel the student to construct his or her own knowledge; one of these resources, and the basis for this study, is the use of mockups as an educational tool. Students learn in a more meaningful way when they plan, design and construct three dimensional mockups that represent a real project or object.

Throughout history, the mockups have been used as a means of representation to show clearly the characteristics of a complex project so that it can be easily understood. Today, mockups are for engineers and other design professionals, an essential and effective tool to project and show ideas, and also it can be an excellent educational material for teaching.

In this paper, three mockups based in solar, eolic and hydraulic energy were created. The design and manufacturing process needed to develop the mockups, provided to the students to acquire knowledge of renewables energy, in a simple and effective way.
The results show that students’ academic achievement is greater and their interest in the subject changes from passive to active behavior their attention is captured. Creating mockups fosters students’ creativity and imagination, and models also represent a tool that helps to achieve the course's objectives.