Week 9: Collaboration and Assessment. 3D printing

Assignments

• Design and fabricate a 3D object with a 3D printer
• Reflection questions

Design and fabricate a 3D object with a 3D printer

This week’s assignment coincided with an extracurricular activity to introduce primary students to 3D design and 3D printing. Therefore, I am documenting the product I asked the students to design and 3D print.

Tinkercad is an ideal platform for introducing 3D design in the classroom. From a teacher’s perspective, it allows you to create “classrooms,” add users, and set up activities so students do not need to create individual accounts. The teacher can also access all student designs within the Tinkercad classroom space, which facilitates managing a large number of files that need to be assessed and 3D printed.

For this activity, I asked students to create a mini maze. The maze would be designed in Tinkercad, 3D printed, and covered with a clear acrylic lid that would be laser cut.

When designing the prototype, I decided the final product should be:

• simple enough for students to get familiar with 3D modelling in a 1-hour lesson while still producing something fun,
• compact, so materials and printing times are manageable,
• designed in a way that does not require supports, to avoid unnecessary waste.

As there is not enough time during the lesson to design the entire object, I shared the base and frame with students so they could focus on designing the maze. To prevent accidental changes to the frame, I locked those parts. I also shared a 3 mm ball so students could verify that the ball can move freely through the maze.

The maze size is 40 × 40 mm.

Slicing the model

• Printer: Bambu Lab X1 Carbon + AMS (Automatic Material System)
• Material: White and red PLA, 1.75 mm- Material: White and red PLA, 1.75 mm
• Slicer: Bambu Studio
• Layer height: 0.2 mm
• Wall loops: 2
• Infill: Grid, 15% density
• AMS use: Automatic filament change to print the walls in a different colour
• Estimated printing time: 8 minutes

For the top of the maze I laser cut pieces of 3mm clear acrylic

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The photo shows the first sample I made for the activity. In this first iteration I glued the acrylic, but later I decided to add two holes to hold the top cover with small screws.

Reflection

Are you planning to use the fabricated object in your classroom? If so, how?

Yes. I used the object as an example activity to introduce primary students to 3D modelling. Students designed their own versions in Tinkercad, where I created a class to set up and manage the activity and review their work.

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Think on a learning activity involving 3D printing. How could it be aligned with your curriculum / standard? What are the challenges?

In a subject such as Design and Technology, there are many opportunities to incorporate 3D printing as a manufacturing process and a rapid prototyping tool. I have used it with students to explore ergonomics, product design, and iterative prototyping, where learners design, test, evaluate, and refine their solutions based on feedback and constraints.

This approach aligns well with curriculum standards that emphasise the design process (identify a need, generate ideas, prototype, test, evaluate, and communicate), the safe and appropriate use of tools and the development of design skills.

The challenges vary depending on the setting. In some schools, I had access to up to 8 3D printers, which allowed students to run more complex projects and iterate more frequently. In other contexts, with only one printer, I had to reduce project complexity and plan carefully to manage the printing workflow and ensure all students could participate meaningfully.

Another challenge is choosing the most appropriate modelling software. Tinkercad is an excellent web-based entry tool, but more advanced projects often require professional software. This can introduce barriers such as software installation, the need for more powerful devices, account requirements, and a steeper learning curve that may frustrate some students.

Explain one successful educational activity in which you collaborated with other educators. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with other educators? What are the main aspects to take into account to prepare an education activity among 2 or more educators?

I usually find that collaboration between teachers within the same department is quite common. We often work together to develop teaching resources, share ideas, and, in some cases, co-teach or support one another during practical lessons. In workshop-based sessions, having another educator present is particularly valuable because it helps manage multiple working stations, improves supervision, and provides more timely support to students.

I have also taken part in cross-department collaboration. For example, the Drama and Technology departments can work together to design and fabricate sets or props for a play. Similarly, during STEAM week, teachers from Art, Science, Maths, IT, and Technology can collaborate to design and deliver interdisciplinary activities.

Tools

• Tinkercad
• Bambu Studio