3D Printers and Printing

Ron Smith is the Engineering and Metal Fabrication teacher at Nestucca High School in Cloverdale, OR. Complex Concepts & Making the Connection Ron Smith doesn’t shy away from teaching his students complex concepts. In his classes, he covers topics ranging from vectors and trigonometry, to statics, forces, and velocity. “Some kids in math classes think, ‘where will I ever use this?’ In my class, students apply the knowledge hands-on. They get a good grasp of the real-world applications for the concepts, and learn what engineers do on the job. They love seeing this real-world engineering, and it gets them fired up for going beyond graduating high school. Something More After [Read more…]

Corinne Okada Takara is a Bay Area artist and arts educator who creates technology-integrated art projects. Takara creates public collaborative works of art and hosts workshops at museums, libraries, classrooms and colleges. Her most recent collaborative art project, “A Serving of Shapes,” incorporated 3D-printed art. Art and Education “As an artist and educator, 3D printing sparks my interest on multiple levels. I knew I wanted to explore the exciting possibilities with 3D printing and wouldn’t move my work forward without a 3D printer; I realized this especially after attending a 3D printing expo last fall. I was already working in SketchUp, but the thought of printing my designs was exciting, [Read more…]

David Brannen is the Woodshop and Manufacturing teacher at Grants Pass High School, in Grants Pass, Oregon. Brannen has 11 years of teaching experience and over 25 years of experience in furniture and cabinetry creation. Diving Into 3D A vase printed by one of Brannen’s students. “I had absolutely no experience with 3D printers before getting one in my classroom. Honestly, I didn’t even know what it was or what it did when I found out I was receiving one through the Perkins Grant Program. I went to a mandatory workshop thinking it would just be a neat toy. By the end of the day, I was going crazy and [Read more…]

Greg Herker is the Fab Lab Program Coordinator for Gateway Technical College. He designs and coordinates the programs and is in charge of Fab Lab operations. Herker describes the Fab Lab as “A movement. A place where ideas and innovations happen.” The Lab is open to students, businesses, and the entire community. Fab Lab: The Movement “Our Fab Lab was started over a year ago. Fab Labs started in a class out of MIT by Dr. Neil Gershenfeld, the class “How to Build Almost Anything” and quickly found, that through digital fabrication, there would be a revolution allowing individuals to make all kinds of items for personal use. This sparked [Read more…]

Dr. Keith Williams is a visiting professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Virginia and a program manager for a research division of Leidos, based at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. Leidos is a company that assists the US in combating threats to national security. Dr. Williams tweets about his UVa Introduction to Engineering class using the Twitter handle @engr1620. The Technological Cloud If you stumble upon Dr. Williams’ blog, it appears that he is opposed to using technology in the classroom, terming it a “technological cloud” hanging over education. But dig deeper and it becomes clear that his complaint is [Read more…]

Dr. Thornburg is the founder and Director of Global Operations for the Thornburg Center and an award-winning Futurist, author, and consultant. He recently authored “The Invent to Learn Guide to 3D Printing in the Classroom: Recipes for Success” with Norma Thornburg and Sara Armstrong. Learning In Style Studies have shown that students have different learning styles. Some may learn visually, some aurally, and some kinetically. Dr. Thornburg realizes that students all learn differently, also recognizing that “students learn best when they are constructors of their own knowledge.” For this reason, Dr. Thornburg has focused on creating materials that assist educators in encouraging their students to construct knowledge and “become comfortable [Read more…]

Ebelt is a pilot, participated in NASA’s Zero Gravity flight, and enjoys gliding on the weekends. Kaye Ebelt is an inspired educator and life-long learner who has a BA in Elementary Education, ME in Computer technology, and MS in Science Education. She is currently an Albert Einstein Fellow, serving as the Directorate for Engineering at the National Science Foundation. Ebelt also participated in NASA’s MicroGX and Reduced Gravity Flight in 2011. The Power of Passion It is clear from Kaye Ebelt’s background that she has a passion for learning. During her interview, we learned how she is passing that passion on to other teachers and students. As the Directorate for [Read more…]