PrintLab Partners

Hi, I am Michael Mun - a teacher with Edmonton Public School Board (Canada) and I have been working with 3D printing for the last two years when our school qualified for a pilot project in bringing 3D printers to primary schools. I use 3D printing in my classroom as well as lead the 3D printing club in our school. Scroll across to see some of my work and below are my opinions on 3D printing in education.

Little Entrepreneurs Project

Students were to design and create a prototype of their invention as part of their business plan. This group designed a safer trampoline through Tinkercad. Students researched the cost of building one, how to market them, and thought of ways to best sell their product to customers.

Designing a Trading Post

As part of their studies of Alberta's history, students researched and studied how trading forts where built in the past. They researched what buildings would typically be found in these forts and used Tinkercad to freely design them, based on the skills they learned from their previous PrintLab projects. 3D models were printed, painted and then arranged in their fort.

Balloon Powered Dragster

Students designed and printed balloon dragsters as part of their studies of wheels and machines. The Balloon Dragster lesson from PrintLab was adapted and extended to further their study on the effects of different sized wheels and the optimal placement of axels. Also they looked at other ways to improve the design of the template.

Adapted Spoon

As an extension to the assistive technology lessons students were to brainstorm other assistive devices that could help our community. After contacting a local long term care facility, the students learned that they are always looking for spoons that could help those with arthritis or other fine-motor needs. A student in my class then worked towards designing and printing a spoon that could work with minimal wrist movement. This is the first prototype of their design.

Canadian Teacher

PrintLab Pioneer

How my Students use 3D Printing

We use 3D printing in many different ways in our classroom. We began with using it as a way to help the students understand shape and space, then we moved on to designing and prototyping assistive technology. From there our projects became more inventive, and we used 3D printing to design inventions that could help people. In addition to many of the other lessons in PrintLab classroom, students designed projects to expand their critical thinking, problem solving and design skills to meet the needs of their community and develop their entrepreneurial spirit.

The Importance of 3D Printing in Education

Students today are the leaders for tomorrow. It is imperative as educators to equip our students to not only work towards solving today's problems; we must also give them opportunity to identify tomorrow's problems, and dream up tomorrow's solutions. 3D printing is an avenue for students to develop practical skills in creating new solutions to better help their communities now, and for the the future.

My Thoughts on PrintLab Classroom

PrintLab Classroom is an easy-to-use and user-friendly interface that provides lesson plans, tutorials and curricular connections to educators. It is well organized and provides many opportunities for educators to adapt the lessons and projects to their needs, extend projects to challenge students and to be creative!

My Advice for Teachers Getting Started with 3D Printing

My advice is to just jump in! It can be intimidating at first, but PrintLab Classroom's ease of use, detailed lesson plans, and projects that teach the basics will help anyone interested in getting started with 3D printing. Its amazing to see how engaged and excited the students are and how many skills they learn from this experience!