i3D Creatives Launches 3D Printing Curriculum for Ages 8-15
A new platform designed to teach children
how to use 3D printing
has issued its first curriculum for students between the ages of 8 and
15.
i3D
Creatives, a 3D design education firm, started with the
i3D Creatives Launchpad curriculum to help younger students download and
navigate its free 3D Design software, 123D Design. The interactive
program
includes videos that guide students through nine modules, outlining
every
detail of the program, followed by 10 lessons that students can use to
design a
number of different objects themselves. This format allows students to
work
through the modules and lessons at their own pace.
While the i3D Creatives Launchpad is the first
curriculum in a
series, i3D founder John Bokla said it will be quickly followed by the
release
of Tinkercad Launchpad, a curriculum aimed at children between the age
of 5 and
10 who will be getting started with 3D design. In the future, i3D
Creatives
said they hope to supply ways to help teach students a range of subjects from
physics
and design to history and psychology.
"And we are
currently testing and developing a curriculum for students to learn
flight and
aerodynamics," Bokla said, "but through these lesson sets we will start
right
from the beginning at the Wright Brothers' plane. What principles did
the
Wright brothers learn to enable the first human air flight?"
Bokla said the value
of incorporating 3D printing into education is that it allows students
to
connect what they learn in a virtual world to the realities and
limitations of
the physical world, something that is not possible with videogames and
virtual
reality tools.
"My competition is not
other teachers," he said. "My competition is the kids' videogames. 3D
printing
will undoubtedly be another form of education that will play a future
role in a
lot of these students in school today."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.