While 3D Printing was certainly around when I was in high school, I always saw it as something that was far off from my current reality- a fancy technology accessible only to the fanciest of engineers or scientists. Even in university, while I was vaguely aware of 3D printing becoming more common in universities, public libraries, etc., I didn’t realize that that 3D Printing was something I could actually do. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out during our class on Tuesday that any UVIC students can actually print their 3D designs on the school’s printers! I feel like I’ve been introduced to a whole new world of creative possibilities- and I wonder, how would it have felt to have this opportunity in high school?
Having a chance to play around on Tinkercad inspired me to look into some ways that 3D printing could be integrated into a high school English and Biology classrooms- If I ever have access to 3D printing in the future while teaching, I want to be able to take advantage of it when appropriate. I feel like the possible uses of 3D printing are most obvious for science courses: in biology you could have students design and print models of molecules, body parts, or other cellular components to aid in your teaching. I could see this being very useful for learning about DNA or protein structure, for instance. Maybe students could try and design something to solve a real-world problem or a scientific tool that serves a specific function.
The coolest thing about 3D printing, to me, is that it gives you the power to make things that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, with materials that you normally wouldn’t have access to. Like custom board game pieces or key chains. The phone stand I am working on is relatively simple, but I am enjoying the process of designing it, and I can imagine that students would also enjoy having this kind of creative agency as part of a class at school.