The Box of Possibilities

Just over a week ago, my classroom's 3D printer arrived. It was a Friday, and as eager as I was to check it out myself, I wanted to share the experience with my students. So there, on a large rectangular table, sat the box ...

I took a picture of it and posted it to our instagram feed (@weberswonders7) to instill a little curiosity. 

On Monday morning, the classroom was a buzz of excitement. We had a class discussion about what we believed to be in the box and what might be possible with this new learning tool. Students recorded their thinking on sticky notes and attached them to the (still closed) box. We have been talking about the design process and students made connections with the importance of getting inspiration from the world around them. 

This sticky notes was my favourite! 

The following day we opened the box and created a list of questions and wonderings about the M3D printer.

Initial Questions:

How do we take care of it?

How do we put the ink in it?

How long does it take to print something?

What kind of things can it print?

Does it need to be cleaned?

How can we connect it with our learning?

How does it work?
What are the parts called?

How do we make designs?

How long can it last?

How big of an object can it print?

Can you print with different colours of ink?

From there we opened the user manual and read through it as a class, highlighting important information as we went. I noticed that a number of students jotted down the dimensions shown below and began talking with their peers about concepts of measurement and scale. 

Stay tuned for our first design project!