Educational Design Project: Part II

Back in March, we described how the students had recently submitted their Educational Design Projects. These student designs were in response to a range of briefs submitted by various Providence teachers, from Bible class to Chemistry to Social Studies to Geometry. We already mentioned Alec's cone/cylinder and pyramid/box volume demonstration, Eva's LEGO robot game piece (we call them "rocks" now instead of "things"!), and Sarah Jane's promotional USB drive. It's now time for an update on the other student projects!

Firstly, we received our shipment from New Matter: three 3D printers and hundreds of dollars of printing expendables. This was won in a grant, with Providence being one of the hundred applicants selected. The students eagerly unboxed the printers and helped set them up, and they have been running hot ever since!

The Engineering Academy students, proudly gathered around the new shipment

Josh shows one of the new Mod-t printers from New Matter,

along with hundreds of dollars of consumable supplies

On to the projects!

Firstly, Jenna was tasked with designing a custom-made stand for Mr. Meadth's secondary computer monitor. She measured the necessary dimensions, and came up with an idea to make anyone happy: a giant mechanical bug... with a smiley face!

Jenna with the completed Bug Monitor Stand; this was

printed in seven different pieces and assembled, adding

to the complexity of the design

The second version of the stand fit perfectly, and is proudly in operation!

Next up was Victor, a 9th Grader who responded to Mr. Beers' request for a model of Solomon's Temple. Mr. Beers wants people to clearly see the temple divisions, with the interior and courtyard. Victor's design includes a removable roof, and Mr. Beers was very happy to see it.

Victor's model of Solomon's Temple, according to the Biblical dimensions

Mr. Beers gladly received Victor's model!

Isabelle in the 11th Grade has been working for a long time on a design for a pencil holder that clips to the edge of a table. Mrs. McLemore asked for an entire set for her class, and Isabelle quickly found that this design depended on making tiny adjustments, in the order of 0.1 mm (0.004 inches). She has submitted seven iterations so far, and we think we are ready for a mass production run! Mrs. McLemore is currently "road-testing" the prototype with her students.

Isabelle's seventh iteration of her pencil clip, shown in its printing orientation

The new Mod-t is the perfect option for rapidly producing smaller items such as these

While we already featured Alec in the previous blog post for this project, Alec was actually given two smaller tasks. After designing and delivering the cone/cylinder and pyramid/box, he went on to create a ten-sided die for Mrs. Hammer's third grade. Mrs. Hammer has received 22 of the dice (we also couldn't resist printing one giant one!), and will be giving Alec feedback shortly.

Alec with his swarm of ten-sided dice

Still to feature before the end of this semester:

• Jake with his middle school engineering gear ratio demonstration
• Colby and his ionic lattice for Mr. Hurt's Chemistry class
• Josh comparing an Egyptian pyramid with a Mesopotamian ziggurat for Mrs. Kleen
• The entries from the NASA "Star Trek Replicator" competition

As always, stay posted!