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In-Depth Information
The beauty of Fab@school's approach to curriculum is that design software
and 3D printing are not the focal point of the lesson plan. Instead, they are
enabling technologies that help teachers and students gain mastery by apply-
ing abstract concepts to solve interesting problems. Now that design software
and 3D printers are dropping in price, teachers and students can experience
the design and engineering process irst-hand. In the future, Glen and his col-
leagues plan to create several more lesson plans similar to “Make to Learn”
and expand the Fab@school program into middle schools.
High school
3D printers help high school design and engineering students fail more quickly.
Wait, that doesn't sound good. However, in product design, engineering, and
other problem-solving professions, the faster you fail, the more quickly you
arrive at a solution.
Imagine how disastrous it would be if a group of civil engineers, for example,
did not fail early and instead discovered that one week after the grand ribbon
cutting ceremony, their design for a suspension bridge contained a fatal law.
Lives would be at risk as the bridge cracked and collapsed. The project would
have to be started again from scratch, a costly and morale-damaging prospect.
3D printers help students fail early and safely thanks to their value as
rapid prototyping tools. An iterative design process is based on designers
testing their design ideas as they evolve, similar to a writer creating succes-
sively improved drafts of a topic. Jesse Roitenberg, director of the educational
program for Minnesota-based 3D printing company Stratasys, explained that
students ind the company's 3D printers useful since they can catch design
errors early on rather than investing time and materials in a one-shot gamble.
When I spoke with him on the phone to learn more about Stratasys's line of
classroom printers, Jesse said, “Back when I was taking high school engineer-
ing classes, a typical project they would assign us would be to build a bridge
out of toothpicks and glue.” In other words, prototyping was not part of the
design process. Jesse continued, “The problem with this was that you would
ind out at the very end of your project whether your bridge was going to fail
or not. If it did, you didn't get to re-do it to igure out what the problem was,
and how to ix it.”
Dave White, head of the Design and Technology curriculum at the Clevedon
School in the United Kingdom, has taught design and technology to middle
and high school students for over 25 years. He jokes that having a 3D printer
