Okay guys, 3D printing is officially awesome in my opinion. I did some interesting reading about what 3D printing can do, and I was blown away by the thought of printing off a piece of my finger after cutting it pretty badly. Just think if the technology was present, the recent cut I had to the emergency room could have replace the nerves that were cut on my hand which are numb. I didn’t think that would ever be possible, like how people in the past thought that we wouldn’t ever be able to hold cell phones, hold personal computers, or have wearable devices with sensors on clothing!
Okay, so 3D printing in schools! I’m blown away by the video I watched where a machine was printing a plastic model in a classroom. I am convinced that these devices would help build motivation and excitement. Students building actual models for projects connects learning from texts and print to projects they can build and make to extend learning. The way that the programming works might also work well with the coding project I was skeptical about last week, as well. We can connect the learning and making plastic replicas related to the subject matter! How exciting to have a replica of a terrain we are studying, with the animals and the plants, lifestyles in a certain time period for social studies! We can model molecular elements in science! We can build a character and setting for a language arts project. The ideas are endless! In cultural relevance, we can use the 3D printer to build tools, kinds of shelters, and how to survive in winter elements. I think it will help the kids who need to see, feel, and touch to learn. It is also an extension for our accelerated students. I believe this would be an excellent classroom tool.
I have to admit that I may be I’m old fashioned. The thoughts in my imagination are wondering what is applicable to my students. I’m fighting the thoughts of what is amazingly tangible learning, to what I’m required to teach now. With teaching my English Language Learners, I have to find ways to make learning concrete, so this might be a way for my rural school to have concrete materials for subjects.
If only we had this technology in schools.
bjulroan 
When I was reading about 3D printers I though of how valuable they would be for rural schools. Teachers and students would have the ability to create models of what they are studying. It is amazing what can be made using a 3D printer and to have that in a classroom/school would be fun and engaging for students.
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I see it as another way of showing what they’re learning. Fun! We write reports, show pictures, sometimes we make models, and then we can print off a replica or scale representation! It’s amazing what possibilities are out there.
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