3D ThinkLink Helps At-Risk Youth Redefine Failure

Failure is not final. We never fail to emphasize that message in our 3D ThinkLink classes. 

A favorite motivational poster in our 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab features a picture of Yoda with this quote: “You want to know the difference between a master and a beginner? The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried.”

In fact, that’s not a line from a Star Wars movie, even though it sure sounds like something Yoda might say. 

But what about “Failure is not an option”? Apollo 13 Flight Director Gene Kranz never said that, either. A screenwriter for the Ron Howard movie came up with the line, but Kranz thought it captured the spirit of NASA’s Mission Control Center so well that he used it as the title of his autobiography. 

What Kranz did tell his team as they scrambled to save the astronauts aboard the crippled spacecraft was: “This crew is coming home … And we must make it happen.” And they did – but not without overcoming plenty of obstacles along the way. They didn’t let failures keep them from ultimately achieving success. 

Fast-forward to the era of private spaceflight. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who recently watched one of his Falcon 9 rockets explode on the launch pad, has declared: "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

In fact, 15Five CEO David Hassell contends that for today’s entrepreneurs, failure is not an option – it’s required. 

These varied views of failure can be difficult to reconcile for the young people we serve. Most of them have experienced a great deal of failure in school and at home. It’s no wonder that they’ve learned to fear failure and to give up when they make mistakes. 

Our 3D ThinkLink Initiative is designed to help at-risk kids redefine failure. We’ve seen how learning 3D design and printing gives them the opportunity to work through problems by trial and error without worrying about flunking a test or being punished. Nobody’s 3D project turn out right the first time. But the inevitable mistakes are always instructive, and sometimes even beautiful. 

Students in 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab

With the CAD software and user-friendly printers we provide for 3D ThinkLink classes along with hands-on help from highly engaged teachers in the classrooms, our students can easily evaluate failures, improve their designs and print again until they’re satisfied with the results. 

The key is for students to develop the confidence to keep trying in the face of failures, knowing that each mistake can lead to improvement. That’s a profoundly different way of thinking for most at-risk youth.  
   
Bob Lenz, Executive Director of the Buck Institute for Education, explained on the Edutopia blog what he means when he says failure is essential to learning.

I'm not talking about dead-end failure, the kind that results in loss of opportunity, regression, or stagnation. Instead, we see failure as an opportunity for students to receive feedback on their strengths as well as their areas of improvement -- all for the purpose of getting better. When reframed as a good, constructive, and essential part of learning, failure is a master teacher.

How do you make failure students' friend? Set a high standard and don't be afraid to tell students that they haven't met it. But in the next breath, give detailed suggestions on what they can do to improve. And, most important -- though so often given short shrift -- allow students the time, space, and support to make the revisions. In such a culture, failure does not mean, "You lose." It means, "You can do better. We believe in you. Here is some feedback: revise, and try again."

That’s why our 3D ThinkLink curriculum includes lots of design lab sessions. Students need time to go through the process of incremental improvement so they can internalize the larger lesson about failure.

3DThinkLink class at the PHILLIPS School

We know it works because of the results we’ve seen. For instance, here’s what a student from our first class for teens with autism at the PHILLIPS School in Annandale, Virginia, told us: 
  
“What I liked about the 3D program was that it taught me that I could innovate. It’s teaching me ‘don’t give up on your design.’ … Like when you lose your data, you can always get it back – just keep going. I am using this now, every day. It is OK to lose data because you can always do it again. It helped me tolerate the loss – to start again, to start over.”

We hear the same thing from other organizations that offer 3D printing programs for at-risk youth. The McCarthy-Dressman Foundation and ChickTech recently provided workshops in app development and 3D printing at Helensview Alternative High School in Portland, Oregon, to help students gain confidence and learn from failures. Surveys done before and after the classes showed a 22 percent increase in students reporting “I can work through problems.”

The PHILLIPS School’s evaluation report included this teacher’s account of the change he saw one student undergo during our pilot project. 

“During the 3rd session, the student suddenly ran back into the classroom, buried his head on the desk and shut down. He would not talk to me. He has a habit of never revealing or identifying the problem. I talked to the 3D Design Teacher who said the student got frustrated trying to create something. Then, during one of the final 3D classes, I was observing the class and this student had stopped working on the project and was doing other things on the computer. When the 3D Design Teacher went to him, the student showed him the project, identified the problem and together they problem solved. The student was able to finish and print his design – this is a major change. I have seen it in other areas as well. The student does not shut down as often.”

The final quotation on this subject comes from a time long before Elon Musk, Gene Kranz and Yoda. “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure,” said Abraham Lincoln. 

It is life-changing when students learn how to use their failures to pave the way to success.

Final Report: 3D ThinkLink Pilot Project at PHILLIPS School Was a Success

by Lynda Mann, YouthQuest Foundation Co-Founder and President

Kudos to the PHILLIPS Programs – Annandale School for their daring pilot of The YouthQuest Foundation’s 3D ThinkLink program for students on the autism spectrum as well as students with mental health issues.  

Luke McHugh (left) and Adam Eldert
work on a 3D design

The 3D ThinkLink program’s core outcomes are to teach critical thinking skills, problem solving, and the resiliency to deal with failure. 

Our unique program delivery vehicle, CAD design and 3D scanning and printing, continues to be highly successful with high school dropouts, however this curriculum was untested with other cohorts.

After exploring possibilities with the PHILLIPS Program personnel, we all felt confident the curriculum and the teaching delivery strategies were highly appropriate for their students. But as we all know, the proof is in the pilot.

Henry Spiegelblatt watches one of
his designs being 3D printed

The PHILLIPS Program Final Evaluation Report says the pilot was a success, especially in the areas of student engagement, curriculum implementation and staff support. 
I honestly believe the increased student engagement and the successful curriculum implementation are both a result of the excellent work done by the PHILLIPS Program’s staff, especially the teaching staff – Samuel Son, Jim Field and Marcel Baynes. Their ability to recognize the innate creativity in these special needs youth, and to use the 3D ThinkLink curriculum as a valuable way for the students to express themselves creatively while facilitating growth in critical thinking and problem solving, was brilliant. 

I say this with confidence because we know all curriculum requirements were fully met. But more importantly, the parents and the students both reported not only increased 3D skills and improved problem solving, but also a greater sense of self-esteem and a higher level of confidence.
   

Samuel Son, Marcel Baynes and
Jim Field in teacher training

And how did this happen? I believe it was because the PHILLIPS Program teachers were highly engaged during their teacher training event, seeking deep knowledge and skills before the pilot launched. This high level of engagement led the teachers to create a collaborative learning environment where students felt their creativity was validated. As one student put it, “It means if you think of something really cool in your head, you can just make it.” Another shared, “Like everybody has a piece of creativity in their brain so you have to find a way to get it out (the creativity) and the class helped me to get it out.”
  
We at YouthQuest salute the PHILLIPS Designing Futures Program (3D Design and Print Program), and especially their teachers, for a job well done!

Student Snapshot: Alycia Freeman

This is the latest in an occasional series about outstanding young people who have completed our 3D ThinkLink class.

Alycia Freeman knew she was headed down the wrong path.

YouthQuest President Lynda Mann presents a
$500 scholarship to Alycia Freeman in June

Like so many of the at-risk teens we serve, Alycia was facing a combination problems at home and at school.

Her dad was doing drugs and her parents divorced when she was 13. She moved five times and skipped school often, spending most days caring for her ailing grandmother, who needed knee-replacement surgery.

“I then started to follow in my father’s footsteps,” Alycia recalled.

After a year of spiraling downward, she decided she had to change her life.

“I knew I had to be successful. I didn’t want to be a product of my environment,” she said.

Alycia enrolled in South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy at the beginning of this year, determined to earn her GED. Instructors recognized her potential and selected her for the 3D ThinkLink training we provide at SCYCA.

Being in our 3D class helped her get re-engaged in education, Alycia wrote in a scholarship-winning essay about her experience. It also inspired her to study surgical technology at Savannah Technical College after completing the ChalleNGe program.

Alycia’s class visited 3D Systems headquarters in Rock Hill, South Carolina, during Vocational Orientation Day in April. She said it was eye-opening to discover how the 3D technology she learned about in class is used in the health care field.

“Being that I took care of my grandmother, I want to help others live a better life in every way possible,” Alycia explained. “3D printing encouraged me to become a surgical nurse. … I’m now motivated and determined to go to school and get into the medical field and actually complete it!”

Student Snapshot: Tyeshia Blackmond

This is the latest in an occasional series about outstanding young people who have completed our 3D ThinkLink class.

“Back home, not too many people believed in me and I often heard what I could not or would not do, but this program has given me more power to prove them wrong,” Tyeshia Blackmond wrote in an essay about her 3D ThinkLink experience.

The youngest of nine children in her family, Tyeshia had quit going to school a couple of years ago and was “hanging out with the wrong crowd.” She enrolled in Washington DC’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy last year in hopes of turning her life around.

Tyeshia said she’s grateful for the opportunity to participate in our 3D program at CGYCA.

“I am aware that everyone does not get a chance to be exposed to this type of technology,” she explained in her essay. “I know of people back home that do not have an idea of what 3D printing pertains to and can do.”

Being in 3D ThinkLink class brought out her creativity and built up her confidence.

“I would have never known I could be so passionate and it has been very empowering to develop such skills,” she said.

Tyeshia, who’s aiming for a career in social work or counseling, was chosen as one of two student speakers at CGYCA’s graduation ceremony in June, 2015. She went on to work as a summer intern at the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. 

Student Snapshot: Adonis Gonzales

This is the first in an occasional series about outstanding young people who have completed our 3D ThinkLink class.

NASA had the Mercury 7 – the first class of American astronauts. YouthQuest has the Original 8 – our first 3D ThinkLink class.

One member of that groundbreaking group is Adonis Gonzales. We met him early in 2013 when he was a 17-year-old Cadet at Maryland’s Freestate ChallNGe Academy.   

He told us he always wanted to become a master electrician. But he had given up on high school, staying home “watching TV or sleeping” instead of going to class. Eventually, he said, the principal told Adonis he’d missed so many days that he couldn’t come back to school. After working a series of brief odd jobs, Adonis realized he needed more education in order to provide “a better future” for himself, his girlfriend and their baby daughter.

Adonis enrolled in Freestate, where instructors recognized his potential and selected him for our 3D ThinkLink pilot project.

“When I first went into the class, I saw the computers and printer and thought that it was going to be too hard,” he said in an interview with the Fairfax Connection. “But then the instructor said that if we could imagine something, then we could create it. The first thing I made was a heart with my daughter’s name on it.”

“Your mind can go farther than you think,” Adonis told us after his class took Vocational Orientation tours of a 3D Systems production facility and Prototype Productions, Inc., in Northern Virginia.

Adonis has been in an electrician apprenticeship program for more than two years and says he uses the problem solving skills he learned in our class to work through obstacles on the job.

“It helps me be creative with my mind and materials around me,” he said about his 3D ThinkLink experience.

Adonis also took our “failure is not final” message to heart. He didn’t pass his GED exam the first time he took it – or the second time. But he didn’t give up and he learned from his mistakes until, on the third try, Adonis earned his GED.

The Original 8 - Freestate ChalleNGe Academy, June 11, 2013

What Can 3D Printing Build? Better Lives for At-Risk Youth

The most important part of our 3D ThinkLink Initiative isn’t 3D printing. It’s all about thinking.

Poor decision-making – what our Co-Founder and President Lynda Mann likes to call “stinkin’ thinkin’” – has led to all sorts of trouble for the at-risk kids we work with. Our project is a fun, hands-on way of showing students how to learn from their mistakes.

A collection of failed phone case prints
in our 3D ThinkLink Creatvity Lab

The process of turning an idea into a 3D-printed object is fraught with failure. 

We have boxes filled with parts that didn’t turn out right the first time, or the second or third or fourth time – and we’re not alone.

In our classes, kids who once quit trying when they failed discover new ways of overcoming obstacles and reaching goals. 

We know our students will benefit from these critical thinking and problem solving skills throughout their lives, even if they don’t continue with 3D printing.

Listen to what some of our students and teachers say about the life lessons learned through the 3D ThinkLink Initiative.