Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

English Schools To Introduce Children To 3D Printers, Laser Cutters, Robotics

Posted by samzenpus on from the path-to-the-future dept.

First time accepted submitter Kingston writes "In a radical change to the English National Curriculum, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary has announced ambitious changes to the technology syllabus. Children will be introduced to programming and debugging from the age of 5. Secondary schools (age 11 and up) will be required to have a 3D printer and introduce children to laser cutters and robotics in the design and technology course. The much derided ICT (Information and Communications Technology) subject will be overhauled to teach 'several' programming languages to children so that they can 'design, use and evaluate computational abstractions that model the state and behavior of real-world problems and physical systems.'"

6 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Oooh Goodie! by TWX · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Now we can introduce even more people to tinker toys that they'll never use after they get out of school!

    How about concentrating on reading comprehension, mathematics, and basic sciences, or if one does go into "trades", go into real trades that have proven to be durable careers...

    Not everyone gets to be a rocket scientist when they grow up, and we need to tailor our education systems to present high-but-attainable options. There's no dishonor in being a certified journeyman welder or an electrician or even a plumber, and all can pay very well if the individual learns the skills needed.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Oooh Goodie! by Hentes · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Who should tinker with toys if not children? Or just because something is fun it can't be educational? The best use of 3D printers is education: they teach the basics of design and programming, and are very good at printing short-lived plastic toys.

    2. Re:Oooh Goodie! by Microlith · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now we can introduce even more people to tinker toys that they'll never use after they get out of school!

      And you know this how

      How about concentrating on reading comprehension, mathematics, and basic sciences

      Yeah, we should never expose children to the wider realities of technology. We should hold their noses to the desk, and ensure they never see anything but the insides of books until they can parrot back exactly what they are shown. Just remember that we also need to ensure that we must present math and science in as boring a manner as possible to suck the life and interest out of every student who encounters it.

      Not everyone gets to be a rocket scientist when they grow up

      Therefore no one should ever be allowed to build a model rocket, or be taught physics, in school.

      we need to tailor our education systems to present high-but-attainable options.

      Or we should give students every possible avenue and let them experience and experiment with whatever we can and let them determine their skills.

      There's no dishonor in being a certified journeyman welder or an electrician or even a plumber, and all can pay very well if the individual learns the skills needed.

      There isn't, but limiting education such that those are the pinnacle people can hope for is as idiotic as any stupid thing being done in education today.

  2. Re:Right up until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can make a lot of things with your hands without a 3D printer, including guns. You can make a gun out of readily available wood using only cutting tools, and you can even craft the bullets for them with simple tools. I think people are a bit hysterical about 3D printing, it can used for far more than printing weapons. Colonial times called, they want their basic invention back. You could argue that someone could make a plastic knife at school and shank someone with it. But, prisoners have proven you can make a shank out of toilet paper with your bare hands, water and some time. You can't ban intent by banning a piece of equipment, malevolent people will find a way. In the meantime, the technology can be used to bring a lot of ingenuity into the world. Imagine a youngster creating developing an arduino platform and a case to go around it using a 3d printer to create a handheld device to analyze bacteria in the air for example. Science projects in the future are going to get a lot more interesting. You can create very dangerous things in the chemistry lab, should we ban chemistry as well? I just think the mere notion is silly.

  3. Re:Won't work. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Teaching mouth breathers to program cnc machines and robots is about about as useful as placing a typical geek in mandatory ballet lessons.

    I have taught plenty of kids how to program CNC machines, starting with g-code. It is not that difficult, and nearly anyone can learn it. The biggest problem in teaching kids is motivation, and with CNC programming, a high school kid can clearly see the connection between learning the skill and getting a good job. And the mouth breathers start breathing through their noses to keep the metal shavings from getting stuck in their teeth.

  4. Good subject. Too early. by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a computer and software engineer, I've taught myself mechanical engineering and manufacturing techniques with a lot of help from a laser-cut & press-brake shop owner. The biggest thing people need to learn is that you can design anything you want in the computer but you can't build it. Limitations of the tooling are a big problem. Add to that the fact that CAD assumes that metal is totally flat over any distance and you're going to run into problems. Another lesson is nomenclature. What do you call certain fiddly bits? You know what one looks like but figuring out what to call it so you can find it in a catalog is a challenge.

    IMHO, engineering curricula needs to deemphasize theory and put more focus on the real world.