I am giving a presentation at an education conference about 3dprinting in education and wanted to see what people’s views are to this question. Why should be teach children about 3dprinting?
I have 4 in my classroom and I teach engineering concepts at the high school level. They are worth having however uneducated perceptions on their ability is often the greatest challenge I face.
I have people asking me to print the most ridiculous things; no one considers the time this stuff takes…
I will show the posibilities of 3dprinting, develoop new products/desing without spend a lot of money, infinity modificacions, etc
It would depend on the year level of the student and the commitment level of the teacher, at upper primary level you could download files and talk about math for example how many items would fit in the print area, you could introduce engineering and science concepts, why did this print fail, gravity? design weakness? etc.
At high school you could take this considerably further, you could look at filament chemistry, physics affecting machine and model design, the sky’s the limit, what it gets down to is the commitment and creativity of educators to use 3d printing as a learning tool, I have seen my fair share of teachers use technology as an excuse for being lazy in driving learning, the bottom line is technology is a great learning tool in the hands of a good educator, and a complete waste of time and money in the hands of a poor one.
Well said Richard
My senior year of high school I donated a machine to my old elementary and went on Fridays to help a 3rd grade class use it.
I don’t think the value add is actually the 3d printing, I think it’s more along the lines of showing kids they can make stuff.
We were putting all these ~8 year olds in front of 123d design, and they all loved it. Now they know they can do “work” on a computer that’s more interesting than Microsoft PowerPoint.
We had them form groups and design those little hand spun helicopter toys. Most of them worked pretty well, and afterwards they wanted to make all sorts of mechanical stuff because they thought they could.
I also brought in my Quadcopter with a printed frame and a prosthetic hand from e-NABLE, both of which got them really excited.
If I was asked that question, I would reply: how could you not include 3D printing along with more traditional approaches. It is easily accessible and can provide near instant gratification. Something to enthrall teenagers is not to be sniffed at!
Great quote mark, thanks. I might include it 
Haha, be my guest Phil.