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A Makerbot In Every Classroom

Posted by Unknown on from the now-do-it-with-a-reprap dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "At the start of this year, President Obama nicely summed up the grandiose promise of 3D printing — or rather, the hype surrounding it. In his State of the Union address the president suggested the fledgling technology could save manufacturing by ushering in a second industrial revolution. That shout-out inspired a spate of buzzkill blog posts pointing out — rightly enough — that despite its potential, 3D printing is still in its infancy. It's not the panacea for the struggling economy we want it to be, at least not yet. Apparently the naysayers weren't enough to kill the 3D-printing dream, because, with support from the federal government, MakerBot announced its initiative to put a 3D printer in every school in America. The tech startup and the administration are betting big that teaching kids 3D printing is teaching them the skills they'll need as tomorrow's engineers, designers, and inventors." Caveat: Makerbot no longer produces open hardware, and they are pushing proprietary Autodesk software and educational materials as part of the free 3D printer. Makerbot also launched a call for open models of math manipulatives on Thingiverse (you might remember them from elementary school) so that teachers have something useful to print immediately.

5 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Can you guys get over your Makerbot obsession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Makerbot isn't open. They want to sell locked in 3D printers.

  2. As a mechanical engineer... by hubang · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd rather see a shop class in every decent sized high school in the US. Equipped with manual milling machines and lathes. WAY more useful.

    1. Re:As a mechanical engineer... by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How about auto repair? I think it's a good place to start with mechanical skills because everybody owns a car, and knowing some basics will save you money even if you don't choose to do much yourself, let alone be employed in the field. It exposes you to mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic systems, and some actual motivation to fabricate or recondition parts in a subsequent shop class.

    2. Re:As a mechanical engineer... by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This entire initiative, as great as it is, ignores a small problem: We aren't raising our children to be builders, we're raising them to be consumers. Consumers have no initiative, and see no point in things like shop class, or building things... afterall, isn't that why we import indians and chinese?

      Also, as soon as some high school student builds a gun with the 3D printer, that'll go away.

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  3. Another gizmo to be funded by taxpayers... by mi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Since 1962 the per-pupil costs of public schools has quadrupled (inlation-adjusted — the nominal increase is 25-times!), while the results remain just as — if not even more — disappointing. Indeed, merely 30% of 8th-graders are deemed proficient in reading . Will a "makerbot" help solve this fundamental problem? Somehow I doubt it...

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