4th Graders 3D Printing little Boats For Geometry Lesson

[Brian_Krassenstein]

We've seen before plenty of innovative ways that educators have been able to incorporate 3D printing into lessons for students. Two teachers at New Jersey's Point Road Elementary School decided to turn to 3D printing for a geometry lesson in order to truly engage the students. Wendy Whittle and Allison Capone, both 4th grade teachers, introduced their students to Tinkercad. Students then designed boats that would be able to float in water, both with and without cargo added. Dan Pearce, an engineering teacher at an area high school, volunteered the use of his Stratasys Dimension SST 768 3D printer and created the students' 22 model boats, communicating with the class via Google Hangouts. When the boats were put to the test, two came out on top. Find out more about this project and what it says about 3D printing throughout different lessons in school in the full article: http://3dprint.com/46986/4th-grade-geometry-class-3dp/


Below is a photo of the two winning students with their successful boat designs:

[SarahA]

I think 4th grade is about the youngest I've heard of for full-on 3D design work; this story was so much fun to read, knowing just how early kids are learning all this in school.