“Like any language, technology is best learned early in life.” Carolyn Mathas
In order to tap into the creativity and passion that lives within children, it’s essential to introduce unique activities into the classroom from an early age. Students in 3rd to 5th grade are amazingly creative; they have the wildest ideas, and their minds know no limitations. That’s why I think it’s the best age to introduce them to the realm of 3D printing. But in order to do this, teachers need to learn how to operate these relatively simple machines.
(Blank Lin
I’m certain the IDLS majors ( and the College of Education in general ) would benefit tremendously from learning how to 3D print. They’d be able to show and teach their students how to use the technology of the future, thus planting a fruitful seed in their minds from an early age.
(Blank Line)
Plant A Fruitful Seed For Their Future
It’d show them the world of possibilities that subjects like math and science provide. We always learn the essentials, but rarely what use they are put towards. This would change that. When the children become young adults, they have a better idea if they want to go into computer science, robotics, graphic design, engineering, or art. The teachers would simultaneously nurture the children’s desire for knowledge while exposing them to new experiences and broadening their future.
(Blank Line)
New Experiences: Children Visit a 3D Printing Lab
If our future teachers learn to use these printers, it’d benefit themselves, their students, and society. The teachers would learn a valuable skill, and by passing on the information to their students, the students develop fine motor skills, learn to use the commands of computers, and become visual thinkers.(Blank Line)
3D Printed Objects Can Help Students Understand Fractions
Learning to use these devices would spark their creativity and enhance their ability to solve problems. It would liberate their minds to generate new possibilities for what they can accomplish inside and outside the classroom.
(Blank Line)
This article illustrates that designing objects to print enhances the students ability to understand illusions and the importance of viewing things from multiple perspectives. Another account tells how they used the printers to make the students innovators by finding and printing solutions faced on an Earth-like alien planet.
(Blank Line)
Furthermore, Kirkmere Elementary School in Youngstown, Ohio has a 3D printing lab. The positive reactions of the children ensures more 3D labs will be implemented in schools throughout the city. And there are already lesson plans geared towards these kids. For example, they could take apart a design and see how it always boils down to basic geometric shapes.(Blank Line
Complex Objects Boil Down to Basic Geometric Shapes
Or they could use the fun and interactive balance beam below to understand addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division along with balance and gravity.
(Blank Line)
3D Printed Objects Can Be Used As Teaching Aids
One of the best high-tech printers is described in this video. It emphasizes how easily it the printer can be controlled and it’s different safety features, thus making it a viable object to have in the classroom.
(Blank Line)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4mN5PGyN-g
(blank line)
JMU already has everything in place, so why not utilize the 3-Space classroom to it’s full potential? I passionately propose that the College of Education offer 3D printing as an elective. Although 3D printing is in it’s early stages, what’s to come is exciting. There are workshops and field trips geared towards elementary teachers and students, so why not give our teachers this experience before they graduate? MakerBot Academy recently launched an initiative to “put a MakerBot Desktop 3D Printer in every school in the United States of America.” Thus, if the JMU Department of Education embraces the innovative technology of the near future, their graduates will be one step ahead of the game.
(Blank Line)
Since I haven’t taken any education courses, I can’t go into depth about the curriculum. However, from some of the course descriptions, it seems embedding 3D printing into the existing curriculum would compliment the material. I see it being a successful part of the following classes:
(Blank Line)
- EDUC 501: Workshop in Education is about taking a workshop “relative to the current needs evident in elementary and secondary school programs.”
- EDUC 540: Educational Technology develops “concepts and skills related to educational technology including selecting, producing, evaluating and using traditional forms of media and newer information technologies, including computers and videodiscs, to enhance delivery of instruction.”
- EDUC 620: Changing Contexts of American Schools which focuses on “the nature of educational change in American schooling.”
It seems that 3D printing could easily be introduced into the curriculum of existing courses, considering the changing nature of instructional technology. Although I’m not proposing a 3-credit class solely dedicated to printing, I do recommend teaching our future teachers how to integrate this technology into their lesson plans.
Recent Comments