If 3D Printing is easy to teach then it can directly influence how quickly we will see adoption of 3D Printers in schools and at home.
I recently had the opportunity to observe a group of teachers learning about 3D Printing and hear their views about introducing 3D printing to their students.
In just 8 hours they learnt about everything from FabLabs & Thingiverse through to MeshLab & Sculptris. This group were more tech savvy than the average teacher, so once their interest piqued they were excited to learn as much as they could.
I talked informally with them through the day, and noted some interesting perspectives, but one comment really stood out.
“If I can learn all this in a day, then my students can pick it up even quicker”
If this holds true and students as young as 10-12 years can quickly pick up tools like Mineways & TinkerCAD to start creating their own content, then the future is very bright for personal fabrication.
In the near future we could see not only 3D Printers in most schools, but also see them unable to keep up with the quantity of things the students are submitting to print.
That is a future I can’t wait to see!
