As in years past, we teamed up with one of the 4th grade teachers at Exploris Elementary School to help with their engineering design unit. We decided to kick off the partnership this year by showing the students some of the different tools that we use in the lab and how we use 3D printing in our research. We tried this once before but had it scheduled for mid-march of 2020, and we all know what happened then… We were glad that they finally made it out to visit the lab and we could show off some of our fun toys!
First we introduced ourselves and talked for a few minutes about what it means to be a biomedical engineering and how we use 3D printing. The fun spinning chairs in the classroom were definitely one of the highlights of the visit.
Then we went back to the lab and had four stations to rotate the kids through.
Ricky showed them how we can use a 3D scanner to digitize objects, such as Mario.
Zack and Margaret showed off one of our 3D printers
Steph and Melika challenged them to think in 3D using WikiStix and a 3D pen.
Matt showed them how we can use the Instron to test material properties of different types of tissue. This one is always a favorite because we get to break things!
Mario was kind enough to model some glasses made with the 3D pen
We’re all excited to be able to partner with Exploris once again and look forward to our future visits.