3D Printing
You’ve likely heard of 3D printing and the phenomenal ways it’s helped some people, for example, live with a prosthetic arm. Nowadays, some schools have embraced 3D printing technology, allowing students to design and create physical objects. It starts from an early age. This hands-on experience enhances their creativity and understanding of manufacturing processes.
According to Form Labs, this helps improve both participation and engagement. They partnered with Tech Boston Academy, where, they spent 13 weeks with a project-based course where students designed, modeled, and 3D printed a tool. They wrote, “The students were able to problem-solve and use CAD skills to develop a solution, then bring their ideas into reality with the Formlabs resin 3D printers. One student said that the aspect they enjoyed the most “was the ability to materialize physical objects inside my mind into a real thing that I could hold or touch.” This also made a lot of headway during the pandemic, when they couldn’t physically be together to create something. Architecture professor Michael Silver said, “We were able to continue to make physical objects during the period of quarantine. 3D printing gave us the ability to still physically implement a prototype during quarantine with everybody only meeting through Zoom and doing remote learning.” This has shaped the way kids are learning in the classroom (Form Labs).