Teachers Struggle to Adapt 3D Printing Curriculum

In a shocking statistic provided by a Computer Weekly article, two-thirds of teachers are having trouble using 3D printing technology introduced to schools.

3D Printing Curriculum Bottleneck

In a survey conducted by print management firm Y Soft, roughly 65% of educational establishments said 3D printing technology was hard for teachers to use, and 87% of them limited access to 3D printing technology. One of the main reasons for this 87 % is due to the limited access for students caused by an inability to manage printing materials and cost. A further cause of this stat is due to the lack of guidance on how 3D printing could actually support the curriculum previously in place. In 2014, the UK computing curriculum made it in mandatory for children between the ages of five and 16 to learn computational thinking, but 3D printing was not specifically included in the curriculum,” reports Clare McDonald, Business Editor for TechTarget.com.

 

Included in the survey was the fact that most teachers cited the main reason for an underutilizing 3D printing surrounds not seeing how it fits into the curriculum. Some 70% of schools felt technology was the best subject to be supported by 3D printing, with engineering coming in a close second. While 45% of cases involved educators using 3D printing for science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects. The other 55% of educators cited art was an important subject to be supported by 3D printing. Currently, 55% of the printers adopted are in universities and research institutions, but 23% of primary schools have introduced the technology and 77% of educators in the survey said they intended to increase spending on printers in the future. Stayed tuned for more news regarding 3D printing developments in the education world, subscribe to our blog and stay connected. Article derived from Clare McDonald’s article entitled, “Two-thirds of educators say 3D printing is hard for teachers to use”

About Clare

Clare is the business editor at Computer Weekly, covering IT issues in key business sectors including retail, media and manufacturing, as well as IT skills, IT education and women & diversity in the IT industry. Prior to becoming the business editor, Clare was a reporter for Computer Weekly covering the financial technologies sector, as well as mobile and applications. Clare joined the Computer Weekly as an editorial content assistant in September 2013 and holds a degree in computer science from Brunel University and a postgraduate journalism qualification from Harlow College University Centre. She writes for the CW Management Matters, WITsend and Inspect-a-gadget blogs, and has a personal interest in how IT can be used to promote a greener society. We at Accucode3D and Tech Expert love individuals like Clare McDonald