Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Literature Review
Catie Lemley
Introduction
All good teachers continue to think about what new innovations and teaching styles they
can implement in their classrooms. As students continue to be more and more engaged in
technology as they are a part of the digital age, teachers must continue to learn and explore what
devices they are able to utilize in order to create a learning experience that is relevant and
engaging. One of the newer technologies that helps teachers to do this is 3D printers. This
technology might not immediately seem like something that would directly benefit education.
However, as teachers are trying to produce students who are ready for the 21st century, this
might be the perfect device to allow students to dig deeper into the content and prepare them for
any industry that they would like to have a career in one day.
Background
Even though 3D printers have become increasingly popular over the last decade, they
have actually been around much longer than that. The first 3D printer was created in 1984 as the
inkjet printer was adapted to print with materials, rather than ink. The process of printing these
tangible items from a digital design was invented by Charles Hull. This method of manufacturing
was called stereolithography, but is now commonly known as 3D printing. Hull first came up
with the idea as he worked for a company and found much frustration in the fact that small
plastic parts that were needed in order to create new prototypes could take up to two months to
create and receive. His idea was that a three dimensional object could be created by piling up
thousands of small strands of plastic and then shaping it with light. He worked for years on this
idea until he had a system “where light was shone into a vat of photopolymer – a material which
changes from liquid to plastic-like solid when light shines on it – and traces the shape of one
3D PRINTERS IN THE CLASSROOM 3
level of the object” (Hickey, 2014). This process is continued until the object is complete
(Hickey, 2014)
In 1986, Hull created the company 3D Systems in order to start creating and selling his
stereolithography machines. As he assumed, the printer was popular for building prototypes for
industries such as automobile companies and the aerospace sector. However, Hull did not expect
that his printer would be such a hit in the medical field as well (Hickey, 2014). Currently, 3D
printing is used in the medical field for things such as “tissue and organ fabrication; creating
prosthetics, implants, and anatomical models; and pharmaceutical research concerning drug
Many people agree that part of the goal of K-12 education is to prepare students for any
career path that they might choose to follow. As teachers are asked to continually incorporate
more relevant and real-life applications to their teaching, it is no wonder that teachers have
gravitated to using more technology. It is not enough anymore for teachers to purely teach the
content. Unless they are demonstrating how the knowledge will be useful later in life, many
students will disengage from the lesson (Hancock, 2010). This is exactly why 3D printing has
Research Findings
There are many different theories on learning, but one person who greatly influenced the
educational field with his theories of how we learn is Piaget. Piaget’s ideas considered that
children learn by their own personal exploration of the world. He believed that “[children] were
not limited to receiving knowledge from parents or teachers; they actively construct their own
knowledge” (Wood, Smith & Daurice, n.d.). Through these ideas, constuctionism was later
coined by Professor Seymour Papert from MIT. This is the idea that students learn by actually
3D PRINTERS IN THE CLASSROOM 4
creating their own artifacts. This can easily be confused with Piaget’s constructivism theory. The
main difference is that Piaget’s theory helped children to move through the four major stages to
eventually using abstract thoughts, where Papert’s focus is on concrete work (eSchoolNews,
n.d.).
requires students to use a trial and error method until they find the right path instead of giving
students ‘correct way’ and then asking them to replicate it. By doing this, students are able to
find their own way to the solution and it could be different than other students. Since students all
learn in different ways, it makes sense that they would be allowed to solve problems in the way
that makes the most sense to them. If they understand the method, they are more likely to be able
This also allows teachers and students to focus more on the context rather than the
content. When content is the main focus of the lesson, the objective seems to be the transfer
knowledge in order to achieve a checkmark of learned items on achievement tests. However, the
objective of the lesson should be to engage students in a realistic, relevant task in order to
achieve something with a lasting value. This happens when the main focus of the lesson is
By changing the focus of the lesson, teachers will demonstrate that it is not about “what
you know, but [about] what you can do with what you know” (US Department of Education,
n.d.). For students to be successful in the 21st century, they need to be able to gather and make
sense of information in order to solve difficult problems. These skills are built into STEM
(science, technology, engineering, math) education and even President Obama saw a need to
prioritize STEM education for every child (US Department of Education, n.d.). Constructionism
3D PRINTERS IN THE CLASSROOM 5
addresses STEM skills that are considered very important to being a productive adult in the 21st
century. By using 3D printing within the classroom, teachers are allowing students to become
creators and allowing them to “interact physically with what they had envisioned “ (The Case for
3D Printing, 2015) which leads to the achieving the following math common core standards.
Benefits
The following includes the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice.
Stratasys points out in their article ‘The 3D Printing Revolution in Education’ that
“virtually all 3D projects call for accuracy in measurements (Standard 2). Modeling with
(Standard 5). Precision (Standard 6) is important when structures are made of parts that
have to fit together. The use of structure in 3D designs relates quite well to Standard 7.
By challenging themselves in designing objects for the 3D printer, students will certainly
This means that almost all projects using a 3D printer will include six of the eight standards for
mathematical practices. The other two (standards 3 and 8) are able to be applied through
Besides meeting many of the standards for mathematical practices, 3D printers also
create excitement and engagement with students who might not otherwise be enthusiastic about
3D PRINTERS IN THE CLASSROOM 6
math. It also aides students in conceptualizing and visualizing concepts that would otherwise be
abstract and difficult for them to understand. By incorporating 3D printers into lessons, teachers
are not only making the learning more relevant and thought provoking, but they are preparing
students for a future in many industries. Using this technology allows students to interact with
processes that are demonstrated in modern industry. There is no better way to prepare students
for future careers than providing them with opportunities to experience operations that are
As with any current technology, 3D printing comes with a cost. Even though there have
been developments that allow for more cost-effective 3D printers that schools are more able to
have access to, there are many schools that have other technology priorities (for example
becoming 1:1). 3D printers are not a one time fee as eventually, you will run out of supplies to
print with and need access to more in order to continue using the printer. Lastly, technology is
does not stand still and someday, this printer will be outdated and will need to be replaced with a
If the price is something that can be handled, there is also the challenge of preparing
educators to work with 3D printers. Just like any other new device in the classroom, teachers
should be trained to make sure they are using it in a way that maximizes its potential instead of
using it as a replacement for something they already had access to. Teachers can read the
directions and figure out how to use the machine, but they need to understand and feel
comfortable with the teaching practices to implement the device into the curriculum that needs to
This type of learning will also be new to students. Depending on what teaching styles the
students are used to, implementing discovery learning can be very intimidating to students. Many
students struggle with the concept of trial and error as they are afraid of failure. Especially in
math, many students already have anxiety about the content and asking them to perform a task
with the teacher as a guide and they are the leader of their learning can produce some uneasiness
at first. Students with low self-confidence will need to learn to trust their abilities as a thinker
and stretch their mind to produce new ideas. All things that students are capable of, but might
need reassurance along the way as they move into a new style of learning (for example tinkering)
(Kristiel, 2014).
Conclusion
The possibilities of how to use a 3D printer within the classroom are limitless. As stated
“3D printing, which has impacted so many industries, is only beginning to be appreciated
as an aid to education. 3D printing adds new emphasis to the proven theory that hands-on
learning is more easily grasped and retained than pencil-and-paper classroom lectures. It
can benefit virtually any field of study by allowing students to better grasp concepts of
mathematics, geography, history, and design by personal interaction with their own real-
In language arts, they can be used to create a piece that the students then have to write about or
learn how to use and then write an informational pamphlet or instructional manual. In science,
students could create replicas of a heart in order to better see the intricate inner workings of the
organ. 3D printing could easily be used in a history class as you could create a scale model of a
3D PRINTERS IN THE CLASSROOM 8
place that students would otherwise not be able to visit or envision. Students who have a hard
time understanding math could create boxes with different dimensions to help them formulate
how to find surface area and volume of any prism. These are only a few of the possibilities for
Not only will it create a more engaging and stimulating educational experience for
students, but it also brings in a level of confidence that the students might not otherwise have
with the given content. Students today are of a generation that has been immersed in a virtual
world. Many students are fairly confident in their ability to use technology. By using 3D printing
in content areas where they may have a low self-confidence, the content will build off of their
computer confidence and allow students to have a more positive overall experience (Loy, 2014).
This may lead students to feeling excitement in areas that they used to lack those feelings. The
United States as a whole needs to work towards achieving this excitement in STEM areas as we
need to produce students who are willing to take on careers in those fields so that we can
Bibliography
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%2090/Number4/Pages/Transformational-Change-in-Education.aspx
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/22/chuck-hull-father-3d-printing-
shaped-technology
Kristiel. (2014, March 19). How 3D Printing in Education Improves Learning. Retrieved June
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Murray, J. (2016, October 08). The Importance of 3D Printing in Education. Retrieved June 11,
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The Case for 3D Printing at Your School. (2015, March). Retrieved June 3, 2017, from
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ratasys_The%20Case%20for%203D%20Printing%20at%20Your%20School.pdf
US Department of Education. (n.d.). Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for
Ventola, C. L. (2014, October). Medical Applications for 3D Printing: Current and Projected
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189697/
Wood, K. C., Smith, H., & Grossniklaus, D. (n.d.). Piaget's Stages. Retrieved June 11, 2017,
from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Piaget%27s_Stages
Grant Application
Application: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_zuW4fbJZSnb1A5cUNYekRQNUk/view?usp=sharing
Since this was submitted by email, there was no confirmation page, but here is a screenshot of
the email that was sent in order to submit my grant application and the reply.