Two Friday nights a month, Dr. Georg Pingen and his wife Betsy lead a class that teaches fourth-12th graders about the fundamentals of 3D printing and allows them hands-on experience in creating their own 3D prints.
“The goal is to introduce them to 3D printing and give them some experience in engineering before they get to college because we know that there is not a lot of that in their schools,” Betsy Pingen said.
With the cost of 3D printers and filament being unattainable for many families, Georg and Betsy are breaking down that barrier by providing the printers and filament at no additional cost beyond the attendance fee. This allows more children access to 3D printing than would have been able to without the classes.
Georg and Betsy started teaching children 3D printing during the summer of 2019. They created a summer camp to teach 3D printing to sixth-12th graders. The summer camp was one week long and focused on the fundamentals. The camp, along with 3DP Fridays, was inspired by Georg’s research trips to the University of Colorado’s 3D printing summer camps.
“We had a lot of students and parents who wanted to do more and so then we looked at what we could do during the year. We started doing these 3DP Fridays where two Fridays out of the month, rising fourth through 12th graders come and use a program called Tinkercad,” Betsy Pingen said.
Tinkercad is design software for those who are new to 3D printing, simplifying the process so it is easier to understand. With the help of the program, the students are able to create and print their own objects.
“Something we started new last year was an additional program that’s called Makeable, and Makeable is an organization that does a yearly design challenge. Three sets of teams, one is 13 and below, one is 14 through 18 and one is above 18,” Georg Pingen said. “The goal of the program is to pair teams of students up with community members that have disabilities and then have those students spend six months designing something that will improve the lives of those community members with disabilities.”
Students are bettering the lives of those in their community by using the skills acquired in these classes. By making a device that could help someone open a jar or use scissors, these students are able to make minor improvements to the lives of others.
“Last year we had four teams of middle and high school students participating in Makeable. Of those teams, two of them ended up winning awards in their categories so that was exciting and so this year we actually have seven teams so a total of 28 students doing it,” Georg said.
The fee for participating in 3DP Fridays is $25, and only an additional $15 per sibling. There is a signup form available on Union University’s website. The classes take place in the Penick Academic Complex B-34 from 6-8:30 p.m. on select Fridays.
More information about 3DP Fridays is available here.
Photo by Emma McDaniel