3D PRINTING IN THE CURRICULUM WORKSHOP

Emily Letras of The Bryn Mawr School recently hosted an AIMS workshop, 3D Printing in the Curriculum.  The half-day workshop was a great way to learn more about 3D printing, to get ideas for meaningfully incorporating 3D printing into the curriculum and to meet others from around the area that are interested in doing the same.

Emily divided the workshop up into three sections - STATIONS where we could explore for ourselves different aspects of 3D printing (including why prints typically fail), scanning and tinkering, TINKERCAD time to explore computer modeling and finally we heard from teachers who shared CURRICULAR EXAMPLES of how they have used computer modeling and 3D printing in their classes. Emily ended the workshop by sharing a variety of phenomenal RESOURCES.

I was especially impressed that Emily repeatedly talked about how important it is to remember that a 3D printer is just one tool in a larger project. It is a useful was to accomplish a goal within the context of a larger project, but like any technology the goal of the project is what is most important. Why are the students using the 3D printer? What curricular goal does it accomplish? We shouldn't be printing just for the sake of printing, anymore than we should be using any type of technology just for the sake of technology.

"A 3D printer is just one tool in a larger project – A useful way to accomplish a goal with in the context of a larger project"

CURRICULAR EXAMPLES

GEOMETRY - to explore scale and proportion Bryn Mawr students designed, modeled and printed furniture for a doll house. The students were able to quickly see if there errors in their calculation and had the additional benefit of giving their final product to the lower school students.

ENGINEERING - Bryn Mawr students were given the option of using the 3D printer to create models for design projects. While some students chose to create models out of all sorts of materials, some students chose to 3D model (using Blender or TinkerCad) and print their designs.

GEOMETRY - to gain a better understanding of fractals 8th grade Holton students modeled and printed sierpinski triangles (check out the full post here)

HISTORY - As part of an intense, 9th grade history project where students create museum exhibits, students were given the option to 3D model and print their models rather than make them by hand. Students created aqueducts, the Colosseum, and a variety of architectural features.

RESOURCES

Emily's Site - information and resources from the 3D Printing Workshop. Information on choosing a printer, filament, software, scanning, and curriculum. [https://sites.google.com/site/aims3dprintingworkshop/home]

The Digital Harbor Foundation - a foundation that "fosters innovation, tech advancement, and entrepreneurship by helping youth develop digital age skills through maker activities and tech workforce readiness" 
[http://www.digitalharbor.org] 

TinkerCAD - free, easy to use 3D modeling software. After creating an account and logging in, click on the "LEARN" tab at the top of the page to go through step-by-step lessons to quickly become a TinkerCAD master!
[https://www.tinkercad.com/]

Doodle Fab Ninja - possibly the coolest thing ever! Easily convert a JPEG to a SVG file that can be imported into TinkerCAD for modification before printing.  Anything from hand drawn images to logos and typeface can quickly and easily be turned into files ready to print.
[http://www.doodlefab.ninja/]

For more great resources and tips about all things technology, follow Emily on twitter @emilyletras! 

Emily, thanks again for a great workshop!