Monday, January 13, 2014

The Stigma of 3D printing: Do not fear the unfamiliar

Post 1: The Stigma of 3D Printing in the Art Room

Seriously.. I cannot stop thinking about 3D printing. The art applications for 3D printing span far and wide. Fashion, entertainment and of course the creative design industries are all beginning to utilize 3D printing to fabricate new and exciting works and products. Every day I wake up to a new article or news blip about the uses of 3D printing outside of the art world as well. Even today, sitting in my introductory ceramics course, the professor went into the multifaceted uses for 3D printing in the medical and design industries. Long story short: 3D printing is here and is creating big changes in the way we think about manufacturing. So why all the stigma on this new and frankly AMAZING technology?

As a classically trained draftsman (woman) and painter I can see why this would stir fear into the hearts of art educators. What exactly is 3D printing? (beware, reading ahead). My basic explanation for it was 3D printing is an additive process for replicating 3D files from a computer, using various materials and varying amounts of time. I loved the faces in the crowd.

A discussion I was involved in on a Facebook Art Teachers page became rather heated after 3D printing was put on the table. Some of the main arguments against 3D printing concerned price, accessibility, difficulty, and "what is the point?!". I hate to be this person.. but the older veteran teachers were the most opposed to 3D printing in the classroom. I have seen it before in my university classes as well. The professors who are unfamiliar with the technology and its many MANY uses are apprehensive to explore it. I wanted to know why, so I stirred the pot a bit and posted this link in the comments. If I've learned one thing about art history.. it's that everyone loves Van Gogh. The attitude immediately changed from vehemently negative to curious. We should not fear what we don't understand, being the moral of the story, right? One teacher even brought up the idea of using 3D prints for his visually impaired students - what a concept! Exploring texture and form through kinesthetic learning. See!? This is why I can't get enough of this stuff haha! A post a few days before this one stated:
Now.. I am going into secondary (middle and high school) education, so this post kind of clicked a switch. Should kids that young have access to that technology? Now it comes down to opinions. As I said we had the opponents (cost, time, difficulty level) and the proponents, such as one woman who explained her own child's use of the technology:

And the retweet this response originates from, found below, puts students as young as fourth grade-level using 3D printers. I had discussed with classmates the uses of 3D printing in their non-art classrooms at all levels and was met with blank stares. SERIOUSLY? You could create models of architectural landmarks, spare parts for gym equipment, molecular models, prototypes of machines, RANDOM STUFF. Okay, rant over..Kind of. I think the main issue in schools is that teachers are not trained, or will not bother to look into, 3D printing as a learning tool. It is a rather daunting task when you read some of the more technical articles about engineers and even doctors who use this technology. But there are many classroom-friendly options coming to market for teachers and general consumers. AND THAT IS WHY I CAN'T CONTAIN MYSELF.


In my own technology in education course I explored the applications of 3D printing in three different classroom environments: the gym class, the english classroom, and of course the art room. In the gym class (or health class for that matter) there are many possibilities for 3D printing. I cited a few uses such as replacing components of machines and spare parts. Think about a 3D printed racquet or basketball hoop? In the health classroom a teacher could 3D print a model of lungs or other organs to demonstrate the effects of toxins or.. seriously. My brain overflows with this verbiage. In the English classroom, 3d printers can help take learning to the next level. After reading a story together as a class, students, using a 3d printer, could then analyze a particular character from the story by actually bringing them to life. Setting can also be created using 3d printing. For instance, if a story is set in a castle, students can actually re-create that castle, and within a short time, have the mold sitting right in front of them! (transcript from video)

In my art classroom, I would use the Autodesk iPad app 123DCreature (mentioned in the earlier Facebook comment and video), which allows students to create and render their own 3D objects and creatures by hand. They can literally touch the arms, legs, tails, and whatever else of their creature using the app. The creatures created in the app can be 3D printed through the classroom printer or can be outsourced to 3D printing companies. In my own art I will be exploring the use of 3D modeling and rendering in animation and maybe, just maybe, I can create some files to outsource and print. A girl can dream.

Luckily for the education students here at NMU my research and presentations were convincing enough to prompt the purchase of 2 Makerbot 3D printers! The printers will be used by future education students to further their knowledge of modern technology in the classroom. And I am not kidding about hugging them. It's going to happen soon.

I would love to be able to document and share that whole process with students. So much to learn. SO LITTLE TIME IN A DAY. And that's the other question: how much time can a teacher really commit to creating 3D prints? It takes time to develop the files and object, the printing itself takes hours and sometimes days... it's a conundrum. One I hope that teachers are not afraid to take on because the 3D printing industry is making our world a very different place every single day.

Ms. K
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