Week 5 Reflection

3D Printing and Design

This week we learned about 3D printing and Design. We all got to create our own 3D design in class using Tinkercad, https://www.tinkercad.com/dashboard. Tinkered is a free and easy website to use to make your creations that will be able to be printed with a 3D printer. During this weeks class, I made a keychain with the letters “A, X, O” which stands for letters of the Greek alphabet.

3D printing can be used in cross-curricular activities. For example, while our class was in the digital scholarship commons, we got to see 3D printed dice with indigenous letters on them. The idea of dice could also be used in severall types of games in the classroom. This could include number games, letter games etc. that need a dye or dice! It would be neat for students to create their own pieces to a potential learning game within the classroom.

The idea of 3D printing and design being a part of the education system holds its own positives and negatives. I think that a strong negative is funding along with safety. As time goes by hopefully the printers can become more accessible. The safety aspect really varies depending on the age range of students that you are trying to work with. Although there are some negatives, the positives do outweigh them. Having 3D printing available in classrooms produces more opportunities for the teachers and students. It also helps build students creativity. While working with younger students this can be used to build things like shapes, and other physical objects that they can use for more hands-on learning. While working with older students you could create an opportunity for them to physically produce their own ideas to be printed like we did during class this week.