3D printers in schools – with a view to Curriculum 21

Yesterday, C. Gygax from 3D-EDU gave a presentation on “3D printers in elementary school with a view to Curriculum 21” at Bad Zurzach school.

Curriculum 21 is just around the corner in the canton of Aargau. Its introduction is planned for the 2020/21 school year, and many schools and teachers are already looking ahead to the topic. This raises many questions: What will change? How do we as a school – as teachers – implement Curriculum 21? What adjustments need to be made? What can be retained and developed further?

The topic is moving. In addition to compulsory further training on Curriculum 21, teachers attend voluntary events and seminars to prepare for it. Some schools, such as the Bad Zurzach school, proactively organize and support such offers. As part of one such internal training course, we were invited to give a presentation on 3D printers in schools last Wednesday afternoon.

On the one hand, the aim was to explain how 3D printers work to the teachers present. However, the focus was on clarifying pedagogical and didactic questions. How can the use of 3D printers at primary school level be justified? What are the social, catalytic and pedagogical justifications for this?

With a view to the introduction of Curriculum 21, it was then necessary to get specific: How can the use of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and 3D printers be combined with the competencies of Curriculum 21?

We used specific examples to show which projects could be used to develop which skills in which subjects. And how the tasks and the possibility of using 3D printers could stimulate real problem-solving processes and interdisciplinary work.

We also showed various media that support teachers in their own exploration of the topic of 3D printing: Child-friendly applications that are used at elementary school, teaching materials and collections that can give teachers ideas and pointers for teaching units and resources that help teachers to build up the necessary prior knowledge themselves.

Although there was not enough time to try out CAD for the first time, the teachers were given a first impression of how they can approach the topic easily and playfully. In principle, the idea of using the 3D printer at school was understood and approved – now it is up to the teachers to acquire the necessary skills…

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