submitted by Erin Clary, Communications Specialist, Berlin Central School District
The manufacturing industry uses 3D printers to create everything from jet engine parts to live cartilage and prosthetics. During the month of January, Berlin Middle School and High School students will also have the opportunity to manufacture their own design and create items (perhaps somewhat less advanced) using a 3D printer.
[private]On loan from the Questar III BOCES School Library Service, the MakerBot Replicator is available in the library for student use. Students can sign up to use the printer, and some will use it as part of a class or for extra-curricular activities.
According to School Librarian Anne Hayes, the student engineering design team, InvenTeam, used the printer to help create a prototype of a device that alerts parents to when their child approaches a road as part of the national Samsung “Solve for Tomorrow” contest. In addition, students in Mr. Christian’s Marine Biology class will use the printer to create trays used for growing coral reefs.
To do this, students complete a process called “additive manufacturing.” They will use Google Sketch-Up®, free Computer Automated Design (CAD) software, to create a design of an object. The program then divides the object into cross sections so that the printer can build it, layer by layer.
By working with the 3D printer, Berlin students learn 21st century skills applicable to various careers and college level projects. For example, students learn the value of trial and error. The success rate for first-time designing and printing is low – yet students don’t seem to mind going back and making revisions. This is a very different attitude from revising an essay.
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