3D Printing At Discovery Charter School – Part 17
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By David Lewis
Discovery Charter School Goes 3D and Disrupts Things a Bit
Vernon & Riley got invited to present on 3D Printing as a way to reduce waste in manufacturing at the most recent GATE Conference at UC Santa Cruz. The GATE program is for Gifted And Talented kids in the public education system here in California and the event in Santa Cruz was a really big show. More than 250 students plus parents & teachers arrived at the Cowell College in the Santa Cruz mountains for a day of learning and education fun.
Presentations at the event, all delivered by students, covered a broad range of topics from a Panda Bears through hands on with catapults.
The Guys from DCS managed to disrupt the event is a positive way by setting up in an atrium space where lots of folks could watch the BFB 3D Touch printer create an endless stream of ducks and hear about how 3D Printing/Manufacturing is more environmentally friendly and about how the guys were able to build the lab for their school.
Rather than just deliver a single 20-minute session, The Guys were able to deliver a series of sessions over the course of the afternoon. Very often to audiences that were 4-5 people deep and standing on the stairs and even the balcony above the printer.
Attendees at the conference were from 3rd grade through high school and the vast majority of them got a chance to see the printer in action.
As is often the case, it took a good deal of explaining to get the adults to understand what 3D printing is all about. The kids on the other hand, tend to “get” the concept almost at once and everyone had tons of questions about the printer, process and the like. The only disappointment was when we had to break the equipment down at the end of the day.
We had an absolutely fantastic response form everyone involved. And we Will be back next year.
Big thanks to 3D Systems for the BFB 3D Touch printer which really made the lab come alive.
