Having 3D printers in our school is a a wonderful thing, it feels like the future. To be able to print out pre-made objects is fun. Printing out self made objects is is exciting. Printing out student objects is amazing!
This past school year was very much a learning process for us. Taking an idea from concept to an actual object you can hold in your hands is quite a process. We have had both successes and failures and the students have probably learned more than me about 3D printing and design.
Premade 3D object printing out from Thingiverse
Student created designs using Tinkercad being printed
Teacher created object created in Tinkercad
More student desgins printing out
Our printers are Makerbot Replicator+ models and so far have been reliable as well as accurate. We have made some plastic spaghetti but not much! We have been using the free web based software from Tinkerad to design our projects in. The students quickly learned how to manipulate their designs in 3D, spatial recognition is much more natural for them then the adults. Could it be the video games?
You must be logged in to post a comment.