MakerBot Replicator Mini
The MakerBot Replicator Mini is a compact 3D printer that makes solid, three-dimensional objects out of PLA Filament. First, use MakerBot Desktop to translate 3D design files into instructions for the MakerBot Replicator Mini. Then transfer those instructions to the MakerBot Replicator Mini via USB cable or over a WiFi network. With the touch of a button, the MakerBot Replicator Mini will melt MakerBot PLA Filament and squeeze it out onto the build plate in thin lines to build your object layer by layer. This method of 3D printing is called fused deposition modeling.
Our 3D printer was recently utilized by 5th grade teachers at Dryden Elementary. Students took part in the Project City X workshop as an introduction to the Design Thinking Process. This process teaches students to understand a challenge and the people it affects, generate possible solutions, and develop a final product that not only solves the problem at hand, but can be shared with the world.
In this project, students hear a story about a human colony that is set up on another planet. it is very far away so shipping supplies to solve their problems is not realistic. But, they have 3D printers. Students are assigned citizens of this colony. They read about their problem, empathize with their situation, define the problem cleary, brainstorm as part of a design team, design prototypes with clay to test and evaluate, and then create a 3D image using the online app "Tinkercad". These designs were printed out (about 50 so far thanks to help at TST BOCES and Dryden Teachers' Center) and students then wrote about their experience with the process.
The students were thrilled (and surprisingly fluent) with this technology and the experience as a whole. It will continue to be a part of their curriculum in years to come.
