Presented the other day about the potential of a Design School. The presentation was anchored by a belief in the design process and structuring learning engagements around things that matter. Also, the presentation was framed through the lens of a slide ripped from a presentation given by Chris Anderson. In speaking about the New Industrial Revolution, Chris Anderson offered the following:
The History of 20 Years In 2 Sentences
The past decade was about finding new social and innovation models on the web
The next decade will be about applying them to the real world
A driving force behind the Design School is a focus on what students do and why they are doing it. In structuring learning around real-problems or human-centered design challenges, students are pushed to think critically, conduct extensive research inquiries, embrace the concept of prototyping and even understand the importance of failure, work collaboratively, build meaningful social networks and realize unique talents and potential. In a process of creative innovative problem-solvingstudents are engaged in the New Industrial Revolution / Maker Movement and not bystanders waiting they get older to beginbuilding, creating and making a difference.
Thinking about building a few fabrication labs in our schools. A fabrication lab is a small-scale workshop offering digital fabrication. Activities in fabrication labs range from technological
empowerment to peer-to-peer project-based technical training to local
problem-solving to small-scale high-tech business incubation to
grass-roots research (http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/faq/). There is not a set list of tools, but generally fabrication labs contain the following resources:
CNC Machine
3D Printers
Laser Cutter, Vinyl Cutter
Milling Machine
Programming Tools
I have been collecting resources related to fabrication labs and in particular the use of 3D printing. Below are some resources I have archived related to building a fab lab. Offer this to others who are exploring a similar objective and even to those who are further along the process and can offer feedback.
1. Transformative Learning Technologies Lab(Stanford)- overview of what is a fab lab and shares information about FabLab@school, a partnerships between the university and schools.
3. Nike Debuts World's First Football Cleat Built Using 3D Printing- As a world's first, Nike introduces its next wave of football cleat innovation at the 2013 NFL Combine: new Nike Vapor Laser Talon, the first football cleat to use 3D printing technology.
The contoured plate of the cleat is fabricated on a 3D printer with
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology. The SLS process uses
high-powered lasers to fuse small particles of materials into a
3-dimentional shape, allowing Nike to prototype a fully functional plate
and traction system which is impossible with traditional manufacturing
methods. In addition this also allows designers to update the design
within hours instead of months.
This is a very long-winded introduction to my case for the campus
makerspace. It's a case that invokes some of the educational practices
that we know work well: small group discussion, collaboration,
participatory, project-based, and peer-to-peer learning,
experimentation, inquiry, curiosity, play. These practices, their values
as we help students learn to build and make their own knowledge.
“The real revolution here is not in the creation of the
technology, but the democratization of the technology. It’s when you
basically give it to a huge expanded group of people who come up with
new applications, and you harness the ideas and the creativity and the
energy of everybody. That’s what really makes a revolution…What we’re seeing here with the third industrial revolution is the
combination of the two [technology and manufacturing]. It’s the computer
meets manufacturing, and it’s at everybody’s desktop.”
6. Why I Love My 3D Printer 7. Scott Summit- The Future of 3D Printing
Peter
Grimm, an industrial technology teacher at Southview Middle School in
Edina, Minn., has challenged his eighth-grade pre-engineering students
to find a solution for this messy problem. And the Dimension the uPrint®
Personal 3D Printer is helping students find creative answers. - See
more at:
http://www.dimensionprinting.com/successstories/successstoryview.aspx?view=57&title=Southview+Middle+School+Gets+a+Grip+on+Design+with+Dimension+3D+Printing#sthash.EOOXI9lJ.dpuf
