Makeshop Monday: Fabricatio with AP Latin

One of the first 3D printing projects in the maker space this year was Mrs. Reagle's AP Latin class. When they came in with a piece to print, it quickly became apparent that these students were very invested in the project they were completing and that it was much larger in scope than just a small bust of Caesar. Caesar was just the final touch for a much larger project based on Trajan's column. For those of you who are unfamiliar (as I was before speaking with these young ladies), Trajan's column is kind of like an ancient comic strip - it has an artistic depiction of a series of battles fought and won by the Romans. Similarly, the students' column has a panel that winds around it telling a story, although their column tells the story of the Gallic Wars (as related by Caesar). The six students (Becca Volk, Hannah Shoeppner, Molly Rind, Chloe Mellon, Abby Oberdick and Christina Tuccillo) and their teacher (Mrs. Melissa Reagle) sat down with me to talk about their project and its impact on their understanding of the story they had translated.

ARC: So how did you approach this project? What was the process you went through from assignment to completion?

CT: Well first we translated a chapter from the text. 

BV: Then we each selected a portion to draw.

CT: And we colored in our sections as well.

BV: Then we built it.

ARC: What was the difference between completing this project and writing a paper?

AO: This was much more exciting - [as students] we write a lot of papers so it can get repetitive

MR: Plus I was much more immersed in the story 

The column is impressive - it stands at almost 6 feet tall and has illustrations covering the entire structure. Although their Caesar is pretty small in comparison, he makes for a fitting finial atop the reproduction of Trajan's column.  In addition to building and illustrating the column, Mrs. Reagle also asked her students to write a Latin composition about their section so the students were responsible for their construction and also for a written component as well.