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3D Printing

Group members: Avylon Magarey, Roseanne Madden, Kerry Schwier, Tracey Bryan

Contributor introduction:
Tracey Bryan, originally from Winston-Salem, NC is a Digital Literacy Coach at the American School in Mexico City. She works with teachers and students from kinder through high school to integrate technology into learning.

Avylon Magarey works as a Art, Design and Research project teacher.

A 3D printer used to make parts for student designs in technology class at Faith Lutheran College.

A) Overview

Write a clear introduction/abstract that introduces the group and explains the main topic (flattener from The World is Flat). Include hyperlinks to sources of information. Link to other projects within this wiki as you talk about a topic covered by them. You should also include at least one graphic that is license appropriate to this project. This intro can be UP TO 500 words and all participants must contribute. Describe and explain the IT background (concepts, plus developments and trends) relevant to the topic and provide excellent, easy-to-understand examples to support this.

Imagine yourself designing an outfit, toy or utensil using a program such as Auto CAD and then being able to print it as a three dimensional form. How well could our school and university students learn about the molecular structure of chemicals if they could actually see them as three dimensional models? The possibilities of the once humble printer are endless due to the developing technology that allows rapid prototyping to build a three dimensional form one layer at a time through the use of a 3D printer.

3D printers could also develop so far as to be used to print food or medicine with the correct printer cartridge! What sounds like science fiction is growing closer to reality and also availability for the general population. Of course with any innovative idea, it can be turned around to create harm, and weapons such as assault rifles have already been printed using plans found on the internet.

When visualising the image of your home printer 'printing' those new shoes that you have had your eye on, it is easy to become confused regarding how this technology actually works.The simplest way to explain how a 3D object can be printed is to describe it as a very 'high tech' hot glue gun, which uses form and heat to shape the design of what has been programmed by the connected software into the printer. 3D models can be constructed from digital files including computer aided design, tomography and X-ray crystallography (NMC Horizon Report, 2013)

The images below portray a school student's design for a part of a technological studies project. The original 3D graphic design has been read by the printer's software and is being created (printed) through the rapid prototyping process, which in this case involves a thin plastic thread being fed into the printer which is then applied and heated so that it forms the required design. A simple design on a basic 3D printer, such as this, would take approximately 20 mins, however a more advanced design can take up to five hours (Rosenzweig, 2013).

The design of the required part depicted on the printer's software
The 3D printer creating the designed part.

The close up photograph below of a printed car design (also created by a technology studies student) shows the ridges and layers that are created by the printer through the process. More expensive and superior printers would produce a more refined result, however when attempting to grasp the process of 3D printing these visible layers of plastic can clarify how the design is formed.

The layers of plastic made by the 3D printer can be seen on the printed design.

Through the technological advances and opportunities that 3D printing provides it is evident that this technology will make a significant impact on a range of fields including architecture, science, education and product design (NMC Horizon Report, 2013). The concept of mass differentiation and customisation of products will also require a massive shift in how both companies and consumers approach 3D printers. This technology will be linked to social media and present a revolution in the the 'dynamic of consumer culture' as people will be able to be co-creators in new products (Brown 2013).

3D printing could also serve as a catalyst for a change towards our society's perspective on a range of issues such as producing food for the world's growing population or in the way goods are manufactured, distributed and patened. This Wiki page will discuss the technology of 3D printers with a specific focus on education and scientific endeavour and health.

B) Current News

3D Printer and 3D Printing News
Recently 3D printing has being making the news in relation to fashion

Areas of Impact


Analyze this topic's impact on education. Consider including three subcategories: 1) Elementary School, 2) Middle/ High School, and 3) College Education. Include a brief up to 300 word summary/ abstract on this page. Include one or more relevant images.
3D in Education

Teachers are always looking for ways to make learning more authentic for their students. Authentic learning experiences can be made more accessible through the use of 3D printers in many ways in education. The costs of printers and materials are finally making it possible for some schools to acquire the technology. The infographic below provides a clear overview of how these printers can be used to enhance learning.
3D Printing in Education
3D Printing in Education

The development of creativity and problem solving skills are at the core of education and 3D printers can be used to encourage this type of thinking amongst students. Students across curriculum areas can design, test and refine their models and learn how to be flexible and fluent in their approach to problem solving.

Science, Environment, and Health

Analyze the impact of this topic on Science and the Environment and Impact on Health. Include a brief summary on this main page of up to 200 words. Include one or more relevant images.

The impact that 3D printing will have on medical innovation is immeasurable considering that bio materials can be 'printed' to repair and replace tissue in the body and be effectively connected to the vasculear system (Atala 2013). With our aging global population organs are increasingly needed and the demand is not being met (Yong 2012). 3D printers have already been used to create kidney cells which have the potential to be cultured into functioning kidneys which would irradicate the need for such high levels of organ donation and the issues with the body rejecting the new 'foreign' organ (Atala 2013). Medical advances could also allow doctors to print tissues onto a patient during surgery.

Bones can also be 'replaced' by structures created by 3D printers such as in the case of a patient who recently had 75% of his skull relpaced by a printed model. The patient had his head scenned and the skull was individualised exactly to the measurements and specific needs of the surgery (Rodriguez 2013).

Along with the work being done in the field of health care, 3D printing can have an important impact on many areas of science, including disasters caused by climate change as well as climate change itslef. According to Caitlin Werrell at the Center for Climate and Security, 3D printing could help combat climate change by, reducing energy used in the manufacturing process by fifty percent and using ninety percent fewer materials. This could help in rebuilding after a natural disaster, by allowing the printing of parts and materials needed, on-site. The implications of this for helping victims of a natural disaster are also staggering, imagine setting up printers in a make-shift hospital at the site of the disaster and printing, limbs or organs of those who were injured in the disaster.

Video Artifacts

Here is the link to the story video
Here is the link to my outsourced video


Each student is to prepare a digital story/video artifact based on this flattening trend and video category as shown here. All videos are to be embedded on the accompanying wiki page for this project.

(NOTE - The links below go to an archived student FC Project. Make sure you come back to this wiki to complete work!)

Final videos for this topic and these categories:

Group A - Innovation, Invention (Design)

These videos include an innovation, invention, new design, or prediction based upon the trend that is shown.

Group B - Social Entrepreneurship

These videos are about how the trend you analyzed can be used to spark change in an area of social interest that your group agrees upon.

Related Information

Using the RSS feed from our bookmarking service, insert an RSS feed here to show the research that has been done on this topic by all students and advisors for this project. Check the tagging standard to determine the feed for this page.

All Items Tagged with: Insert your tags for this page here.
Insert the feed here.


NMC Horizon Report:2013 HIgher Education Edition http://www.nmc.org/publications/2013-horizon-report-higher-ed accessed 08/03/2013

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/tech-predictions-drones-3d-printers-and-telco-rage/story-fn7bfu22-1226553388109 accessed 08/03/2013

accessed 08/03/2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_prototyping accessed 24/03/2013

accessed 24/03/2013


accessed 24/03/2013

Kornhaber Brown: http://www.kornhaberbrown.com
accessed 24/03/2013

Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidney
accessed 24/03/2013

Ed Yong August 1, 2012
accessed 24/03/2013

Salvador Rodriguez 3013
accessed 24/03/2013

Interview with Jason Rosenzweig, design and technology teacher 22/03/2013

2013 Extreme Redesign 3D Printing Challenge - A 3D Printing contest for students K-16

The Impossible Print V2. N.d. The Impossible Print V2. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

How 3D Printing Will Revolutionize the Classroom. Digital image. Onlinedegrees.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

You will cite quotations and major sources of information for your wiki. If the source is an online source, you MUST also include a hyperlink embedded in the text as well. Follow the current standard method for citing sources from our help wiki