3D Design and Printing in MYP Design Lessons

 The 6th-grade students have worked very hard on their 3D Prosthetic solutions in  Design lessons. 

Throughout the unit, students researched mobility issues and solutions. They drew up plans, and schedules and discussed their chosen designs. They then designed their prostheses using these designs and Tinkercad 3D design software.

We spent a few weeks printing off the designs on our many LRC 3D printers. In some cases tweaks needed to happen first while other models needed deconstructing in order to print them off prior to reconstructing them post-printing. 

Students were able to handle their designs,  examine and test them prior to considering ways in which to further and improve them. Many also chose to decorate them using the 3Doodler pens, while others were planning to take them home for painting. The students really engaged with the 3D printing pens some even took them to the next level and began new 3D designs while others have spent every break since in the LRC working on a variety of 3D designs. 

One of the great things about additive manufacturing is that students create tangible objects based on their ideas and plans which can be handled as models, added to larger designs and compiled together to build solutions. The process brings further relevance to the work they do in class as the theoretical becomes tangible through the printing process. 

We have a nice collection of photographs from the later weeks of the project as well as a short video which we hope you will find interesting.

3d design by Jennifer Garcialrc

New 3D Centre-Redesigning our Spaces...

At the LRC we often find ourselves redesigning and re-purposing our spaces to fit the growing needs and interests of our community. We are currently working on creating a dedicated 3D Centre, which will house our growing collection of 3D printers, 3Doodler printing pens as well as laser engravers and cutters.

While we love our XYZ da Vinci: Duo, 1.0 and Junior Pro, we have recently invested in a collection of CR-10 printers from Creality. These are very versatile machines and fairly simple to operate and maintain. They also use open source software like Repetior Host and Cura and non proprietary filament.


 We are also making space to house our new Glowforge Pro laser cutter, which we hope to have up and running in the later half of August.

This 3D  Centre will be open for drop-ins, class sign-ups and regular ICT department lessons, as well as Makerspace clubs and activities. We look forward to seeing our staff and students make wonderful use of these resources.

We are in the process of building up our cooking resources and creating  a cooking centre/kitchen area. This project will eventually move to the front of the LRC, once we work out electrical access, shelving and an extractor for the area.

Despite this delay we have set up a provisional are for it outside the ICT/LRC office to facilitate Life Skills group visits,  and our LRC Cooking Club which runs each Thursday from 2-3.

During this term, we will be focusing on microwave meals and tasty toaster treats, as we support our senior students in their preparations for University in the fall.

Changes to Our Maker Space

The Maker Space, which we started 2 years ago, has gone through quite a few changes.


This year we moved a few things around and ordered quite a few new kits and tools based on feedback from teachers and students as well as our own observations on how space was used. We have also enlarged the space it occupies to include one of our large work tables with better access to power.

We have reorganised and redefined areas, but possibly the biggest change is the attention the Science Nook is getting. This can be found at the back of the maker space just in front of the ICT Lab. It now sports microscopes, solar panel robot kits, circuit blocks, engineering kits, board games and more. The students also have access to our 3D printer and printing pens and a good selection of appropriate magazines and books for young scientists, engineers, tinkers and thinkers.







The LRC Maker Club has already started and the response has been great. Over the summer we received a long awaited shipment of replacement 3Doodler Pens. We had the opportunity to view them in action and chat with the company representatives at the annual ISTE Conference and were convinced the 3Doodler Start pens were the way to go. They are non-toxic the tips do not get hot and they were 3Doodler, the only company whose pens has stood up to the rigours of our maker space and ICT lessons. We weren't disappointed.

Have a look at some of the initial designs done by the students during their first lesson.

3Doodler Pens

We have used our new 3Doodler Pens with our 8th grade in 3 lessons so far and have already learnt so much.

The pens, which can be purchased for under $100 are very student friendly, effective 3d printing devices. 



During the different lessons when the kids were introduced to them through a couple of short videos (I have embedded one just above this.), some models we had made and a brief talk about expectations the electricity in the air became  almost overwhelming. 



The last time I saw kids so excited about a new tool was when I introduced my 8th graders, 8 years ago to then, Google SketchUp(now Trimble SketchUp).  

The videos and explanations were punctuated by enthusiastic outbursts of "How cool!" "I want one!" and a variety of interesting interjections.

In practice the kids took to them right away. We gave them printed templates, and a few tasks written up in a Google Document, which also contains space for reflections, notes and images documenting their work.

These pens have proven to be a fantastic investment which will be used throughout the year, both in lessons and in our new Makerspace.

We will add updates and more images documenting the work, as the year progresses.