Construct3D 2018

A panel of educators and industry allies roll up their sleeves to discuss education and 3D printing from a holistic perspective rather than limiting discussion to a traditional rhetoric regarding workforce development policy. We have heard a number of talks this conference indicating the widening skills gap in the United States in manufacturing and industry, as well as opportunities that exploring these technologies brings to learners destined for STEM/STEAM trajectory careers, including ones where 3D printing and digital fabrication plays merely secondary or tertiary role.


This panel takes a practical and realistic look at a number of the routes by which 3D printing is introduced to bring students and learners into design and technical expertise — the maker movement, engineering & design coursework,  interdisciplinary/campus-wide makerspaces, the fab lab movement, and direct industry training and certification. These routes are considered along with a few of the future endpoints in manufacturing, industry, and design professions. 


Are these opportunities to learn about this technology preparing learners for success in future careers? Will the routes aimed to add more technically skilled workers address our manufacturing skill gap? How likely will time spent exploring 3D printing earlier in one’s educational career prepare learners for identifying and performing in the new professional jobs of tomorrow?


The panel has been selected because it represents perspectives on this topic with differing allegiances and values — and we are hoping to use this discussion to enlarge audience understanding of promising routes to explore with students and learners, and make discoveries, rather than to present a consensus view.




The panel includes:
- Sarah Boisvert. Long time veteran of laser machine industry and other manufacturing technologies, a key part of Fab Lab movement in USA, and author of The New Collar Workforce.
- Becky Button. A Maker, involved in content creation in the Maker Movement.
- Justin Hopkins. An application engineer from HP in their additive strategy efforts. He is also the critical person who set up SCADs makerspace and influenced the direction of their 3D printing and digital fabrication strategies.


- Matthew Wettergreen - Engineering design professor from Rice University (OEDK). Also deeply engaged in field work that puts into direct action the engineering design methodology he teaches to students at Rice.

This panel will discuss the importance of using digital fabrication and rapid prototyping machines to help students in a high school setting prepare for project-based learning environments at many engineering universities. The panel consists of four unique collaborators; a university engineering design instructor and public school advocate, an engineering instructor with a unique connection to STEM education and the high school where he now teaches, and two female high school students who actively participate in their school's engineering courses and maker club. They will discuss their experiences with the digital fabrication equipment recommended by a local, leading university makerspace staff. The panelists will elaborate on the importance for public schools, universities, and businesses to collaborate on the implementation and use of industry-standard fabrication machinery. There will be a brief welcome and thank you; explaining the use of padlet (CLICK HERE) for the Q&A session, followed by an introduction of the presenters, our topic, the scope, and the goal of our panel presentation. Panelists will make initial comments about the overarching topic, the Importance of Digital Fabrication Engagement in HS PBL Environments, before answering the moderator's questions and questions submitted via padlet.

Many of today's makerspaces see themselves as places for individuals to build anything they can imagine. Whether it's a child who wants to design her own fidget spinner or a college student who needs to prototype a class project, makerspaces allow the mind’s creativity to become reality.  This panel will unpack the inclusive goals of makerspaces and ask the question: Who's not here and why? Exploring issues of equity and access, the panelists will share their experiences of creating more inclusive spaces that address the important social issues of our time.

Two students discuss their experience learning to design robot parts at our high school. They will show the projects they have been working on, one an underwater robot completely designed and printed by the student for a class challenge, and the other a hover craft modeled by the student. Students will answer questions about how engineering and 3D printing have opened doors for them both as an educational opportunity, as career training, and as a creative outlet. Come ask questions and see first hand how students are using 3D printing to augment the STEM programs at Tillamook High School.