PrintLab Partners

Michele Brezovec is an 'Expanding Horizons Program' teacher at South Meadow School in New Hampshire (US). In recent months, Michele has been integrating PrintLab Classroom lesson plans into her creative 3D printing club. Scroll across to see some examples of how Michele's students are using 3D printing and below you can read more about Michele and her views on 3D printing.

Designing Spinning Tops

Michele's students expanded their CAD skills by using PrintLab's curriculum, before embarking on their own journey to design a spinning top. The aim was to explore concepts such as friction to create a spinning top that could spin for the longest amount of time.

Spinning Top Competition

Once students had designed their unique spinning tops, a class competition took place to see which designs could spin for the longest amount of time.

Designing Braille Blocks

By following instructions from PrintLab's 'Make your School Name in Braille' lesson plan, students were able to design and 3D print a range of braille blocks, spelling out different words.

Self-watering Planters

In this lesson, students studied photosynthesis before designing and 3D printing a range of self-watering planters. Students will go on to plant seeds in their planters and monitor growth over time.

EHP Teacher

PrintLab Pioneer

About Myself

For the past 15 years I have been the Expanding Horizons Program (EHP) Teacher at South Meadow School. Prior to that I was a "regular" classroom teacher in the building for 4 years. The program offers a variety of subjects to the students who want to challenge themselves and 3D design is new to the program this year. Students will miss one of their regular classes to be with me, and they need to make up that work. This program has evolved over these 15 years.

Follow Michele on Twitter

How my Students use 3D Printing

At South Meadow 3D printing is part of the EHP program. The first year we made key chains, boxes and ornaments for a Christmas Tree for a local festival. This is year three, and I'm still learning, as are the students. So now I have four classes of 3D design, all using PrintLab Classroom.

The Importance of Young People Learning about 3D Printing

Students learn how to focus, to pay attention to details and to realize they need to figure out what went wrong when the design doesn't come out how they expected. The ability to design and create in 3D will be a part of their future, as will be learning from their mistakes(!).

My Thoughts on PrintLab Classroom Curriculum

The students enjoy having the directions provided by PrintLab. The first project that I picked for us to start with was the Braille cubes. The next item the students picked was the spinning top. This time I printed the directions for them and just let them go. I'm working to have them slow down and go line by line in the directions. This is a good skill that they need to understand, so I'm loving the directions for this reason.

Go to PrintLab Classroom

My Thoughts on the Future of 3D Printing in Education

I see so many nice things coming out of 3D printing. Students in different grade levels can be successful. It teaches perseverance to get things right. Following directions at first is necessary to learn the skill, and then you can explore. The concept of 3D printing is becoming a part of many jobs, so this skill will help them be successful in our changing world.