The benefits of makerspaces for students, as you may know, can be very extensive. Whether your school has a formal makerspace curriculum or not, hands-on exploration helps promote collaboration, creativity, design thinking, perseverance, responsible decision making, and many other key 21st century skills. While teachers do not necessarily need official curricula or project guides, those do, however, really help out with integrating certain types of maker tools. Those tools could include anything from educational 3D printers to coding kits or hands-on circuitry tools and design equipment. This week, we'll walk through some less common makerspace materials and evaluate various makerspace ideas they can help you fulfill.
LulzBot 3D Printers in the Makerspace
The first product line we'll talk about is the LulzBot line of 3D printers. Among the most unique makerspace supplies, these 3D printers are very powerful, precise, and accurate, which helps make them ideal for K-12 students. Their sweet spot is at the high school and college level but, with a bit of guidance, middle school students may also be able to use them. There are five LulzBot 3D printers on our store: their TAZ Pro, TAZ Workhorse, two TAZ SideKicks, and the LulzBot Mini V2, plus a couple classroom bundles as well. In terms of 3D printers for educational use, the Mini is the best option from the LulzBot offerings. Using any of them, however, kids can create top-notch designs and learn about key elements of the design thinking process.
The LulzBot TAZ 3D Printers.
Besides the Mini, their other 3D printers are all part of the TAZ line. The TAZ Workhorse is among the best-known 3D printers thanks to its reliability and simplicity—particularly in schools. While the filaments are not included with the TAZ Workhorse, it does support over 10 building materials and enable a 14 percent larger build volume. It also comes with an SD card, 1-year warranty, and a toolkit with a bunch of accessories. As for the TAZ Pro, this printer provides multi-material support and allows student makers to create functional prototypes. Its build volume is even larger and, unlike the Workhorse, it does come with a small amount of filament. But, like its counterpart, it's also very powerful and efficient.
Using the LulzBot Mini in a school makerspace.
Finally, we have the LulzBot Mini V2, which is perhaps the best of the bunch. Students could comfortably use the LulzBot Mini as early as sixth grade and it truly does help inspire innovators of all ages. Particularly in high school makerspaces and even college classrooms, this 3D printer provides students with incredible versatility and high performance. Despite its compact size, the Mini also provides a 20 percent larger build volume. Plus, the Mini 3D printer arrives calibrated so that students can use it right out of the box. They are also incredibly quiet (perfect for classrooms) and it can print both rigid and flexible materials. It even comes with the LulzBot toolkit and a small amount of PLA filament to help get students started. Learn more about these printers or request a quote on our store.
Snap Circuits Kits for Students
Next, another STEM product line perfect for makerspaces is the Snap Circuits kits. With a few dozen kits to choose from, students could explore hands-on tinkering and engineering while also learning about some specialized areas of both science and technology. The whole Snap Circuits platform is actually built around a very simplistic system. Each of their kits come with a plastic grid, an in-depth guidebook with as many as 500 projects, and the electronics components kids need to construct circuits. All they'll have to do is follow the color illustrations and place the pieces in the proper spots on the grid. The illustrations also have small numbers next to each piece—indicating if it's on the first, second, third (and so on) level of the structure.
Snap Circuits kits for the makerspace.
All of the Snap Circuits STEM kits are open-ended, making them great for makerspace exploration. Some of them, like their Extreme Kit, are actually pretty robust and come with cases and trays for organizing the pieces. Then, there are other Snap Circuits kits dedicated to specific scientific concepts. These include the Snap Circuits STEM Kit, the Snap Circuits Motion Kit, Snap Circuits Green Energy Kit, Snap Circuits Arcade Kit, Snap Circuits Light Kit, and a lot more. There's also the 3D Illumination Kit, which features pieces for constructing 3D structures they can light up. Students can incorporate the various electronics components and learn about what makes circuits work.
Snap Circuits projects for students.
Like we said, there are so many creative STEAM projects students can complete with these materials. With over 15 kits on our store alone and up to a few hundred circuitry projects associated with each pack, kids have plenty of opportunities to enjoy MakerEd. With the Snap Circuits 300 Kit, for example, students have instructions for completing 300 STEM and circuitry projects. These include building an old-style typewriter, a whining fan, and a two-finger touch lamp among many others. Electronics components in this kit include an antenna coil, microphone, capacitors, transistors, resistors, and more. To find it as well as all the other Snap Circuits kits, visit the Elenco section of our store.
Using the Glowforge 3D Laser Printers in a Makerspace
While makerspace learning is awesome for students of every age, some opportunities are best for those who are older. As students grow and become more skillful and inventive, many seek opportunities to boost and show off their innovation. Plus, since learning in a high school makerspace is so interactive, hands-on, and collaborative, it makes a great time to introduce new types of technologies like 3D printers and, in this case, 3D laser printers. With these Glowforge machines, students can print and engrave custom designs right in the classroom. There are two Glowforge printers to choose from and each empowers students to create a limitless number of designs.
The Glowforge Pro vs. Glowforge Plus.
Since they're safe and easy, the Glowforge machines make the perfect classroom 3D laser printer. There are two models to choose from: the Glowforge Pro and the Glowforge Plus. The Glowforge Pro is more expensive and features faster cutting and engraving speeds. Also, thanks to the Pro Passthrough feature, students can print infinitely long projects. As for the Glowforge Plus, it's not quite as powerful but also not quite as expensive. This helps make it a more viable option for adding to school makerspace offerings. It'll still provide makers with fast engraving speed and students could utilize the same Glowforge materials for creating designs and MakerEd projects.
Creating high-quality makerspace projects.
Using these 3D laser printers, students can bolster their STEAM and interdisciplinary thinking, learn design fundamentals, and experience what it's like to create tangible projects from their initial ideas. In terms of its classroom use, students and teachers can set their Glowforge printers up in as little as 30 minutes. They're compatible with Chromebooks, Macs, PCs, tablets, and phones, which speaks to their versatility. Also, it's not completely necessary but we'd recommend pairing your 3D laser printer with the Glowforge Air Filter. This offering is available because, as a Class 1 and Class 4 laser, these machines create certain emissions. The Air Filter ensures students stay safe in the makerspace and everyone enjoys the design process. Find our Glowforge offerings on our store and request a quote anytime!
Making Experiences with the Mayku FormBox
While 3D printing in makerspaces is a popular STEM activity, there are additional avenues for students to design unique projects. One of those other avenues for creation is the process known as vacuum forming. Vacuum forming involves heating up plastic sheets to a warm enough temperature so that it can be formed into a single-surface mold. It is then forced against that mold by the power of a vacuum. This is certainly a unique opportunity for students and makers to create but it does, however, really help to get them thinking creatively, maximizing resources, and typically leads to them being able to create useful projects. Alas, the vacuum forming machine we offer on our store is the Mayku FormBox.
Using the FormBox in makerspace lessons.
The FormBox is very versatile and also compact, allowing educators to set it up in almost any location. It's classified as a desktop vacuum former and enables students to create plastic molds safely in seconds. Not only can students creatively design just about any molds that they'd like, they also learn about key product design principles and manufacturing methods as they go. Using the Mayku FormBox, they'll often progress through four stages: creating, forming, multiplying, and sharing. They can start with creating the shape they want to mold, sculpt it, and place it inside their FormBox bed. Then, the FormBox forms a sheet of material around that shape to create a mold. Next, kids can fill that mold with any of its compatible materials—from chocolate to plaster. Finally, they can take the material out and share their new molds.
Mayku vacuum forming examples and benefits.
Essentially, students can create molds that can serve as helpful designs for all sorts of things. They could create containers for storing makerspace supplies, a stationary organizer, custom coasters, and a lot more. More importantly, leading these types of creative classroom projects helps inspire students to create useful items right from their desk. Educators can also enhance STEM engagement and expose students (perhaps even those in CTE programs) to some design, manufacturing, and perhaps even business concepts. Plus, the FormBox is easy to use and safe for students aged 12 and up to use independently. To learn more and find the FormBox and sheets, visit the Mayku section of our store.
Adding a Matter and Form 3D Scanner to Your Makerspace
As we've tried to convey throughout this post, there are many more unique technologies than 3D printers and circuitry kits. Plus, many of those innovative learning tools can slot perfectly into school makerspaces and help educators advance the key tenets of the Maker Movement. Whether you're looking to help foster creativity, resourcefulness, or coming together, these maker tools can truly inspire students. That also goes for the last one on this particular list as well—the Matter and Form 3D Scanner. If you are not familiar with low-cost 3D scanners, they basicially work by digitizing physical objects and displaying them as interactive 3D models. The Matter and Form 3D scanner is no different and offers plenty of cool STEAM opportunities for students to explore in the classroom.
Using the Matter and Form scanner in a makerspace.
Once students scan physical objects using the Matter and Form MFStudio software, they could analyze, manipulate, or edit them. They could also choose to export them to compatible programs, like TinkerCAD or Sketchup, if they'd like. Essentially, the machine, which is classified as a desktop 3D scanner, measures the object and creates a computer file based on its dimensions. Another way to describe this process is as the opposite of 3D printing. Rather than printing a physical object from a computer file, 3D scanners create computer files from physical objects. Plus, students can also immerse themselves in both processes using the Matter and Form scanner. For example, they can scan any physical objects, like a baseball helmet, and open the design in MFStudio. Then, they could send it to a 3D printer and create a replica version—just to name one potential idea.
More Matter and Form features.
Besides its core capabilities, this portable 3D scanner is also capable of many other interesting things. For example, if you're confused about how 3D scanners work, this one, in particular, uses a cool feature called +Quickscan to capture the geometrical features of a physical object in as little as 65 seconds. Then, it can produce fast results and students can watch as a digital object materializes right on their screen. Also, 3D scanning, as we mentioned, is a perfect classroom complement for 3D printing. The Matter and Form is a pretty cheap 3D scanner, too, and it's also compact, lightweight, and portable. It also works with the best 3D printers for education as well and it is compatible with Windows and Mac computers. You can learn more about it and request a quote for the Matter and Form 3D scanner on our store anytime!
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