In my undergrad studies I had the pleasure of prototyping and 3D printing iterations of my projects precisely down to the millimeter of specifications. However, due to there being only one 3D printer at my school and the fact it takes a while for each print job, this week I’ll be looking at other purposes of the 3D printer in classrooms. Path Finder Learning (2013) has posted some ideas for printing manipulatives, such as switching gears or factors and Abraham Lincoln’s head scan in various scales. This greatly interests me because I’ll teach a unit on forces and simple machines. Having students understand, design and print their own gears for factors is something I will be investigating as part of my class’s STEM learning. On the other hand, the video also mentioned an online library of STL files that are free to download. These files can be modified with various 3D design softwares and can be printed by most 3D printers. Although I do not wish students to simply print the works of others, I am knowledgeable in some simple machine parts like the gears and their teeth and rack and pinions. With these I aim to arm my students with knowledge on how to put parts together for their need rather than printing something pre-designed and premade. Not mentioned in the video but available online is the vast amount of resources and communities of users that are willing to help and discuss projects of perfectly random strangers. Students can seek out answers on their own at home without having only one teacher as their only source of knowledge will accelerate their learning beyond that of a traditional classroom.

In the class I am observing, the students are currently working on their science fair projects. If only they had the knowledge and took advantage of the 3D printer to prototype their experiments. It is considerably cheaper to print their own parts but the main take away is the customization. Gears of any size can be printed and tested with the rest of their experiment quickly for example without multiple visits to a hardware store. Skills and knowledge to prototyping that’s cheap and quick will be an asset for students as they grow into a world where 3D printing is becoming more common and not just in the school classroom.

Path Finder Learning. (2013, December 30). 3D Printing in K-12 Education: Part 1 [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9raogfvBdA

In the class I am observing, the students are currently working on their science fair projects. If only they had the knowledge and took advantage of the 3D printer to prototype their experiments. It is considerably cheaper to print their own parts but the main take away is the customization. Gears of any size can be printed and tested with the rest of their experiment quickly for example without multiple visits to a hardware store. Skills and knowledge to prototyping that’s cheap and quick will be an asset for students as they grow into a world where 3D printing is becoming more common and not just in the school classroom.

Path Finder Learning. (2013, December 30). 3D Printing in K-12 Education: Part 1 [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9raogfvBdA