View source for Fabrication as an Educational Medium

=Discussion=

Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman:

"Personal fabrication technologies provide a powerful educational tool that puts
students into the driver’s seat in the design and engineering process, a “soup to nuts”
learning experience that reinforces a number of the abstract concepts students learn
in STEM classrooms. Computer design software, combined with low-cost, small scale
manufacturing technologies, when integrated into science and technology classes,
help educators craft physical models that help demonstrate abstract educational
concepts. By removing
the barriers of
specialized resources
and skill that currently
prevent many ideas
from being realized,
personal fabrication
technologies will excite
and empower a new
generation of inventors."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)


==PERSONAL FABRICATION AS A CONSTRUCTIONIST FOUNDATION==

Hod Lipson & Melba Kurman:

"Personal fabrication technologies provide a constructionist foundation to STEM
education by providing a medium in which abstract problems are translated into the
tangible world in a classroom setting. Constructionist learning is based on the idea
that learning is an active process that works best when students are exposed to
experiences, hands on projects and even failure so they can discover, first hand,
underlying principles, concepts and facts. Based on the work of Jean Piaget,
constructionist learning theory views the teacher as an essential facilitator and guide
for their student’s voyage of discovery.

Mainstream acceptance of constructionist learning theory was accelerated by
Seymour Papert, a visionary MIT professor of math, computer science and education.

Papert was an early proponent of the value of computers and multimedia as
educational tools. Personal-scale manufacturing and software design tools did not
exist while Papert was formulating his theories, yet he would likely embrace them as
a valuable pedagogical tool. Students given access to design and fabrication tools are
transformed from passive consumers of knowledge to active problem solvers,
designers and producers. The gratification of designing and making a real physical
object that solves a problem, or is a work of art, makes it possible for a student to own
and experience the entire design cycle from conceptualization to physical realization.
Finally, like computers and multimedia tools, personal fabrication technologies can be
adapted to a broad range of learning styles and types of projects. For visually
impaired and learning impaired students, physical models alleviate learning
disparities associated with educational tools that rely on visual information or spatial
reasoning.

Traditional STEM education has focused on teaching abstract concepts first, then later
continuing to practical application and testing of the concept, an approach that
introduces hands on learning dead last in the process. While a theory-first approach
works well for many students, it’s not productive for students who prefer to learn
using a trial and error approach, or who learn applications first and then work
backwards, later, to the underlying theory. STEM educators recognize this challenge
and initiatives such as NSF’s Discovery Research K-12 Program have made significant
progress in creating instructional material that includes elements of active problem
solving in the learning process. Often, however, even active problem solving
exercises must be solved in the abstract, meaning the testing, fixing and validation
process remains untested and intangible. In addition, the design challenge is often
removed from daily life of the child. For example, while valuable, a science and
engineering problem-solving exercise that assigns students to devise a device to
prevent the next Gulf Oil spill may not appeal to otherwise gifted students. Some may
not be able to drawn to solving a problem whose urgency is so distant to their daily
lives. Others may feel the lesson is irrelevant since student solutions will never be
tested or put to use. Traditional conceptual learning, even creative problem solving,
may inadvertently act as a barrier to gifted students who would otherwise be
attracted to the rich intellectual world of science and engineering. STEM education as
it stands today, may put non-traditional learners at risk of turning away from further
STEM education and potential career opportunities."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)


=[[Directory of Personal Fabrication Courses at U.S. Universities]]=

Source: [[Factory@Home]], http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf

"In the U.S., pioneering STEM educators in high
schools, technical colleges and universities
have integrated personal fabrication
technologies into their science and engineering curriculums."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf) 


Leading examples include:

==Stanford University==

professor Paulo Blikstein teaches a hands-on course to prepare
education students to integrate personal
fabrication technologies into their future classrooms. Students use prototyping
machines (such as laser cutters and 3D printers) to design and create toys, games and
other learning tools (“artifacts”) for children. Stanford students graduate from
Blikstein’s class knowing how to use computers and personal fabrication technologies
to design and create classroom learning kits and educational tools.


==MIT's How to make (almost) anything== 

Students in a course called “How to make (almost) anything” apply personal
fabrication technologies to solve real world problems. Taught by a leader in the field
of personal fabrication, Neal Gershenfeld, students in the class range from engineers
to artists to art historians. Over the course of a semester, students learn to use CAD
software, work with a circuit board, and use a number of personal fabrication
machines. The final semester project is each students’ designed and fabricated
solution to a real world problem.


==Cornell University==

At Cornell, the Fab@Home project is both the name of a 3D
printer model, as well as an ongoing initiative aimed at STEM educators. Developed
by Professor Hod Lipson and postdoctoral student Evan Malone, the Fab@home 3D
printer offers open-sourced design blueprints for the printer, so anybody who is
interested can download the design files, make their own Fab@Home, or improve
upon its existing design. Fab@home works with a number of kid-friendly materials,
including Play-Doh, cookie dough, and chocolate, as well as polymers and metals.

Technical development and support for Fab@home is provided by students and open
source volunteers. A second major STEM initiative under the Fab@home umbrella is
3dprintables.org, a web site exchange of no-cost 3D electronic blueprints for
educational tools and classroom models intended for use in K-12 STEM education. K-
12 students upload electronic blueprints onto the site for objects such as printable
models of the molecular structure of a particular element, or the physical
manifestation of a mathematical equation. Other students browse and download the
collection of designs and print their selected object on their local Fab@home 3D
printer. A growing collection of online electronic blueprints for a wide range of 3D
printable items are available at 3Dprintables.org.


==Lorain County Community College (LCCC)==

LCCC is a leading personal manufacturing
educator. Their Fab Lab is open to students and
the general public. Students can take a one-credit
course on Introduction to Personal Fabrication or
can enroll in a non-credit workshop. The Fab Lab
has personal-scale vinyl cutter, table-top milling
machine and a laser cutter that can engrave text,
graphics, and photographs onto a wide variety of
materials (wood, acrylic, marble, mat board,
leather, glass, and more)."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)


=[[Directory of K-12 Personal Fabrication Education]]=

Source: [[Factory@Home]], http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf

==The University of Virginia and Cornell's [[Fab@School]]== 

and Cornell: In conjunction with Cornell, the Curry
School of Education at the University of Virginia was awarded a grant from the
MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition to develop a STEM curriculum
based on Fab@home’s 3D printing technologies. Glen Bull, a professor of
instructional technology founded the Fab@School initiative. Bull’s goal was to teach
future STEM educators to integrate 3D printers into their instructional materials to
help them explain mathematical and scientific principles used in engineering.

Curriculum development will take place under the umbrella of a lab called “The
Children’s Engineering Institute” managed by Bull. University of Virginia education
students will develop the Fab@school STEM
teaching curriculum for a pilot group of
elementary classrooms. At the National
Technology Summit in DC, Karen Cator, Director
of the U.S. Office for Educational Technology
described the Fab@School initiative as “fantastic.”



==Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)==

DARPA launched a
Manufacturing Experimentation and Outreach
(MENTOR) initiative to deploy digital
manufacturing equipment, including 3D printers, in public high schools throughout
the country. STEM high school students will compete as teams to design and build
cyber-electro-mechanical systems using personal manufacturing tools. These
students will learn the introductory concepts they will need to someday build
sophisticated robots and small unmanned aircraft. The program is intended to
encourage students to study STEM subjects in college. DARPA will expand the
program to over 1000 high schools over the next three years."
(http://web.mae.cornell.edu/lipson/FactoryAtHome.pdf)


=More Information=

* extensive treatment in [[Factory@Home]], pp. 63+



[[Category:Articles]]

[[Category:Education]]

[[Category:Manufacturing]]