Magazine / April, 2013 9
Have you ever witnessed a child watching a 3D printer in action? The awe and amazement is something to behold. Imagine that excitement in your classroom after a student brings to life a character from a book, or creates a symbol for a new political party! As cliche as it may sound, the possibilities are truly endless. 3D printers allow students to model in an entirely different dimension than what they are used to. 3D printers can also be used to create manipulatives that you otherwise might not be able to obtain. For instance, while learning about Shakespeare and the Globe Theater, why not have a 3D version of the playhouse available for students to actually "see" what it was like? As 3D printing grows in popularity, so do the resources and ideas for using the equipment in classrooms. As mentioned in the previous article, Pinterest is a great place to start for ideas. Also, Thingiverse has just launched it's education section full of lesson plans and print files. What I love most about Thingiverse Education is that it offers full lesson plans and not just a trinket to print. Teachers post ways in which they have used 3D printing in their own classrooms. All lesson plans are sorted by subject area and the library is growing daily. If you would like to get your students designing, TinkerCAD is a great place to start. This site offers tutorials to help students understand the 3D design space, then allows them to create using drag-and-drop objects. Ready to get started with 3D printing? Send me an email with your thoughts and ideas!
...for ALL subjects!