3D Printing in SD73
SD73 has some 3D printer kits for loan in schools. There are some for teachers that have already got some experience in 3D printing and then some also for teachers who are new to the work.
In order to book the 3D printers, support comes from the Tech Coordinator. To set something up for your class, please contact edevries@sd73.bc.ca or fill in the form to book now.
You will be able to have a class lesson with support and you will also be trained on how to prepare and complete the print jobs. The 3D printer will be in your class for one month for you to continue working and printing with your students.
As you work, there are many resources and videos available on these pages in case you get stuck.
The Kit
Bin containing extras and needed parts.
Laptop for use with TinkerCad
Some touchscreen with stylus *
Cables and extra build plates
Purple glue for preparing the build plate and USB flash drives for transferring files
Tech Requirements and Digital Skills
All object design can be done on chromebooks. If students have mice, that can be helpful for the fine motor control of creating objects but it can also be a distraction and add difficulty if mice are new to the user.
Students with a low-to-moderate tech skill level can be successful with 3D object design and printing. In my experience this is grades 3 and up, depending on the time spent on it and the complexity of object design.
Teachers need to have some confidence with technology or have a willingness to learn and seek the video supports on this page (or a strong support person in the school) as there are often issues that arise with the student designs and with the prints. There is also preparatory work required on behalf of the teacher to prepare the student files for printing and then work with the printer to start and complete the prints. Additionally there are failed prints for many different reasons and troubleshooting and trying again is oftern essential.
Finally, in order to have access to student files for ease of printing, the class objects should be created within a teacher's account in Tinkercad. The class will need to have Tinkercad accounts created with anonymous logins (student1, student2, student3, etc). Some issues come up when the teacher account is created with a gedu address so it is best to create the teacher account with your sd73 email address.
Resources
Broken down step-by-step
This troubleshooting page includes videos and descriptions of common issues and how to fix them.
3D Printer Applications in the Real World
Lesson Ideas for 3D Object Design and Printing
The Technology Coordinator is available to support teachers with this work. edevries@sd73.bc.ca