3D Printing

3D Printers use plastic filament (and other materials) to print small dots of material in a line. More lines are "printed" to create a flat layer of material. The printer builds upward into the third dimension by adding layer after layer.

3D printing offers students the opportunity to design and create for themselves. While the printer has a real wow-factor to it, the biggest "wow" that students experience is in producing their own product from start to finish. Students experience the design process in action as they create their own 3D files, prepare them for printing, and then print.

Additional resources on the Design Process are available here.

• MakerBot Cloud Print Software

• Dremel DigiLab Desktop Software

• Tinkercad

• Google Sketch Up

• Fusion 360

• 3D Printing in Education Facebook Page

• 3D Design using Tinkercad

• 45 websites for 3D Printable Models

• Autodesk 3D STEAM projects search page – (Resources for Educators)

• City X Project

• Design Make Teach

• Education in 3D

• Enabling the Future*

• Give It Form project

• SPO Learning Lab

• How to Start a 3D Printer Club

• Lesson Plan Models

• Makerbot Educator Resources

• Makers Empire 3D Schools: Lesson Ideas

• Medical Makers*

• Secondary/JH 3D Printing Curriculum

• STLFinder – search engine for 3D models

• Thingiverse – various 3D models

• Yobi3D: a 3D model search engine

• YouMagine – open source 3D designs

Those marked with an (*) are non-profit organizations using 3D printing to solve real world problems.