A 3-D Printer Student Business!

by Crystal Koenig

Crystal Koenig is a Gifted Education Facilitator and SGE Robotics Coach with 21 years of experience in education. She also serves as an eMINTS Affiliate Trainer and Director of Gifted Association of Missouri Region 1. This post is the result of a conversation in the Big Ideas Facebook group, specifically our Summer Share & Tell. If you have ever held an Invention Convention or Economics Fair, you’ll enjoy reading what Crystal has shared here about her students’ design business!

by Crystal Koenig

Learning how to design products and use a 3-D printer has led to some unique opportunities for my students in grades 3 through 12, and some have extended beyond the classroom.

Our students use Tinkercad by Autodesk to design products for themselves, their classmates, and the teachers. Using 3-D printers, the students can see their ideas and designs come alive. Tinkercad is a free application and free resources and lesson plans are available on the site.

To introduce the design process and use of the printer, I first share the video (below) which is a great hook! It not only shows the basic tools and processes, the students get so excited seeing the hedgehog come together! I also demonstrate through a tutorial on the Smart board.

Once students get these introductory instructions, they are required to figure things out on their own as much as possible. If I am too busy helping others, the students know what to do. We have a standard response in our classroom when students are stuck: “That is an excellent question, how can we find the answer to that?” 

In our classes, we’ve saved many helpful resources, such as video tutorials, in our own Wakelets or Pinterest boards, and students know they can check those first. If they don’t find what they need there, they’re allowed to do a Google search. If they find additional videos or helpful resources, they can add them to the appropriate Wakelet. We’ve found this helps them become more independent problem solvers and encourages them to help one another. They usually have things figured out by the time I get to them!

As our students have improved in their design and production skills, they’ve found many uses for the 3-D printer. They design things for class projects or for use at home, and they do all the work associated with creating their 3-D products. Many have taken them into their classrooms or shared them at recess and when other students see the 3-D printed creations, many become interested in learning Tinkercad, too. 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EVOLVED!

It wasn’t long until students around the school began asking my GT students to design original products for them. They wanted to order products based on their own designs. Since we already do an economics unit (see the entire unit HERE), we thought this was an excellent integration and use of the 3-D printer. Plus, we saw the benefit of having all proceeds go back into buying their printer supplies and other classroom materials. When our administrators approved it, the 3-D design business began!

HOW IT WORKS:

My students meet with their classmate “buyers” to discuss the cost and design details. The GT students figure the cost of designing and printing the product, then get approval or feedback on the design plan. Sometimes there is some collaborating to improve the design or change it in some way, but eventually the sale is finalized.

This is a business and the students have to track costs, their time, materials, expenses, etc. 

At first, we attempted to keep this data on a spreadsheet, but we soon realized we needed to collect the customers’ initials to verify approval and we also needed to track payment of items. So, we now use this document printed out and kept on a clipboard. We have a separate page, similar to a checkbook, that we use for tracking costs.

Things to consider for your clipboard or spreadsheet:

• 18894f name of patron
• description of the product
• specific details/requests
• filament color
• dimensions
• 2D or 3D
• approval of design
• paid

I am a guide on the side in this process. I am always there, but allow the students to run the show! It’s been a great learning experience for all of us!

I enjoy connecting with other educators and also provide professional development in the areas of technology, writing, building your professional learning network, and gifted education. If you are interested in connecting with me, you can find me on Twitter @SGDRAGONSGT and @Supermtvtr FB-Msk Gifted.