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NEW CERAMIC PRINTER NOW ONLINE
Even as classes were winding down for the 2021-22 school year, opportunities to innovate were still being presented to students for applied learning. A new 3D printer that uses clay to create was brought online for use by students in ceramics classes. According to Fine Arts & Media Technology department chair and ceramics teacher, Stephanie Dimmer, adding this tool expands opportunities for students on multiple levels. "The 3D printer allows our students to work with CAD software and create tangible results, while also allowing them the freedom to make mistakes as the material is recyclable," she notes, adding, "We can expand our students' understanding of production versus the hand-made, and the avenues in which they overlap with industry. Excitement [around that] sparks conversation around the possibilities beyond the application in the classroom setting, including addressing the problems they see in our world like homelessness or lack of water."
Dimmer continued, "For example, the WASP printer is a large-scale 3D Printer using concrete to print homes for people who are experiencing homelessness primarily in Africa right now." Utilizing technology like 3D printing to work with familiar materials like clay makes the technology feel more accessible. Dimmer reports that this helps our students who aren't programmers to think through designing more quickly and see how they can apply that learning to problem-solving.
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One day while working through some "clay mixing struggles" with the 3D Printer, one of Dimmer's Ceramics 2 students asked her more about the printer with great interest. Turns out, he had started his own business 3D printing orthodontics models for dentists. Another, who is seeking funding to start a design-your-own shoe store in Denver, inquired about the printer's capabilities and those of the Glowforge, a laser cutter. Dimmer connected him with George Mitsuoka, Director of the Innovation Center, to look more closely at that tool and do some prototyping.
There is no doubt that our students are enthusiastic about these new tools that allow them to work quickly and build their technological skillset, which they later will be able to leverage in the industrial realm. Their palpable excitement is contagious and will continue to fuel greater interest and programs that will lead to greater ingenuity in making our world more just and peaceful.
There is no doubt that our students are enthusiastic about these new tools that allow them to work quickly and build their technological skillset, which they later will be able to leverage in the industrial realm. Their palpable excitement is contagious and will continue to fuel greater interest and programs that will lead to greater ingenuity in making our world more just and peaceful.
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