Do Teachers Even Want 3D Printers?

[MysteryAlabaster]

You are too young

Ouch. I blame the stereotypes of my generation for that.

[Compro01]

You are too young to have heard: "Skin me, Daddy-O"

(Means "to shake hands")

OME

I have heard similar, though the expected action was a high five rather than a handshake.

[MysteryAlabaster]

I've actually heard "Skin me, Daddy-O" before. It was during the Jazz-y times. ofc I didn't hear it then, but I loved when my dad told me stories of the past.


Also, I think it was is in the movie The AristoCats.

[Larry]

I think what Maggie meant was that a large number of teachers rather not have the extra worry, perhaps rightfully so.

I do feel as though in another 2-3 years 3D printers will be the norm in classrooms, especially as printer prices drop and filament gets cheaper as well.

[pardonme]

I have a cousin that is a teacher and he's trying to hard to get his school to get a 3D printer. From what he says, all the teachers he knows feel very strongly about having 3D printers in schools.

[Roberta3D]

Personal 3D printers have not had the time to make it into common practice. New technologies can be scary to those who are not familiar with them. Over time, as more individuals begin using 3D printers, I believe that their use will become commonplace in schools. The calibration and other technical aspects of the printers initially appear to be daunting, so I don’t blame teachers for not currently using them. Personally, they frightened me because I am not overly tech savvy. Kudo3D recently allowed me to try a prototype of the Titan 1 and I was amazed by how easy it was to use. The calibration was simple and I was able to print a beautiful 9-inch Eiffel Tower without any problems. I feel that, as exposure to 3D printing increases, teachers will begin to embrace its use in their classrooms. I am sure that it will happen one day in the near future.

[3dfilemarket]

3dprinting is expanding fast in UK schools. Last year the 3dprintshow ran an education day where if schools took a group of 30 kids then they were awarded a free 3dprinter, they had over 2000 kids attend so lots of schools got a printer(a friend of mine who teachers got a makerbot). I am a teacher of Technology myself full time and have a 3dprinter in my classroom. Also there is a new curriculum released by the government in september that states all pupils have to learn about CAD and 'new emerging technologies'. 3Dprinting basically ticks this box. In addition as well there has been a organisation set up called teach design who provide free printers for schools who in return will educate other local teachers about 3dprinting. If those local schools can't afford their own printer then they can have access to the teach design school printers free of charge. Its really positive at the moment. I know on teacher facebook groups (they are pretty popular in the UK are hot with 3dprinting talk right now and I think it will only be a few more years until all schools here in the UK have printers.

[Yancy]

Every single teacher I have spoken with (about 5-6) have said that they would love to have 3D printers in their schools. I don't think any teachers (at least very few) would be against the idea. It's the future, and they realize this.

[MechaBits]

Less form filling more Producing! I went to a conference the other month called "the Future of Skills", the speakers managed to talk all day without mentioning which skills are needed for the future(besides Maths & English) or without mentioning a single piece of software, they where more pre-occupied with their shrinking portion of the budget pie, why is it that the people who bang on about productivity don't seem to produce anything?

Opps forgot to add input about the topic at hand, do they want it.

Obviously some will many might not, perhaps it should be mandatory in schools that dont have lathes and milling machines, just so they can at least teach something present relevant to today instead of stuff from text books that are out of date.