3-D printers have always been an interest of mine. My school had purchased one about two years ago, but I still have yet to try and use it with my students. Many of my colleagues and myself included, would have to say that we are a little intimidated by this machine, mainly for two reasons. The first reason is that this is a very expensive printer and two, we all are questioning "how can we use something like this with our students?" We all want to have our students become 21st Century diverse learners, but at times it's difficult to get them there due to the fact that we aren't even trained on how to use something like this. After looking at different articles about 3-D printing and how it can be used to help people, perhaps this could be something that I could incorporate in my social skills lessons. This could possibly allow my students to think about others and how we can use a machine like this to help others.
Here is my Flipboard Magazine
View my Flipboard Magazine.
What tools have you explored and what made you choose this one?
For the longest time, I've used different types of social media to follow things that I enjoy such as through Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. I chose to use Flipboard Magazine because I honestly wanted to explore something different. I look at these courses in this program as gateways to doing things that I wouldn't normally resort to in my personal life and those social media forums are something that I use daily. A while ago, when I bought my cellphone, I saw that I could subscribe to different magazines through Flipboard Magazine, which was something that was already installed on my phone. Not thinking anything of it, I decided that I wanted to mute the notifications since I didn't use Flipboard Magazine.
As I was searching for 3-D Printing on Flipboard Magazine, it was really hard to find anything on 3-D printers and how they're being used in education. This was a little concerning considering that this was something my school and other schools have purchased for our students. However, there were a lot of interesting Flips that were related to helping people who need prosthetics, including children.
Did anyone else pick the topic of 3-D printing? Can anyone perhaps provide me guidance on which curation tool, other than Flipboard Magazine, to use that has more educational information on 3-D printing?
I work with several individuals who create 3-D printers. At this moment there is really not a lot educationally that is being done other than let's CAD this and then print it. I think we as teachers are really going to have to start creating the class based on "so what can we do with this?" Science class is going to be at the forefront especially with the ability to 3d print organs. For your final project it would be cool to see you show some ideas how we can use these in classroom settings.
ReplyDeleteHi John,
DeleteThanks for commenting on my post! I will say that it was very difficult for me to find any articles, blogs, or resources that related the use of a 3-D printer in educational environments. However, there were many resources that were helpful for me to understand how I could approach using the 3-D printer with my students. There were many medical references on how 3-D printers are helping those who are in need of a prosthetic. But, your right, I too think that science class would be a great place to start when it comes to trying to utilize the 3-D printer. Thanks for your thoughts!
While I didn't choose to tackle the topic of 3D printing with my FlipBoard, my school does have a 3D printer. We have a technology class that (I think uses it), but I feel as though I'm in the same general boat as you; I have absolutely no idea how I would get my own classes using that [very expensive] technology. I think the tech classes really only use it to CAD things then print them, and what they create and print hold no real use (fidget toys, trinkets, and the like). Check out this link: https://www.weareteachers.com/3d-printing-math-science/
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole,
DeleteThank you so much for commenting and sending that link on 3-D printing. I think that's that most informative article I've seen yet on the topic of 3-D printing. Definitely debating on keeping with the topic for my final project, but we'll see. I think if my school had a technology class, I don't think I'd be struggling with this as much as I am now. My school's librarian is in charge of the 3-D printers, so I'm not sure how she's using it with the students. I know when we first got the 3-D printer, which was about 2 years ago, she had every class come up with an idea that could help the whole school. So, some classes made doorstops, pencil holders, pencil grips, hooks that we could attach a magnet to, etc. Although these were little things, I thought that she did a great job involving the whole school to use the 3-D printer. But, still how am I as a classroom teacher supposed to use this with my students? I think that John gave a great suggestion as to start looking at topics in science class.
Thanks so much!
Hi Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI was very happy to see a classmate diving into the topic of 3-D printers for schools. The idea of 3-D printers have always sparked my interest but I will probably never see one in my poverty-stricken school district. Time and time again, districts can bring in new technology but then forget to adequately train the teams to use them properly. I liked your lesson idea of your students incorporating the 3-D printing into the social skills lesson. I would not have thought of that! I look forward to reading more of your articles shared on your Flipboard.
I share a similar background with your uses of social media. I have never used Flipboard before and was excited to try something new as well! After I began to search the site I was not so happy with all of the results on my topic of interactive whiteboards relating to education. It took some careful searching of the topic to find articles through Flipboard but still not as many as I thought there would be. I still like Google search and change the settings to only search within a year. At least you know you are looking at recent information related to the search! Good luck finding more on 3-D printing!
Thanks for sharing!
-Tony