At Short Pump Elementary we are starting the year off right! Our Elementary Instructional Technology Department wrote a grant last year for a 3D printer and some Makey Makeys. Jim Covais, one of my fellow elementary ITRTs,
taught a class this summer that utilized the greatness of the 3D printer in an educational way. Once I saw it in action in a classroom setting I knew I had to try it.
Judy Fitzpatrick a fourth grade teacher at Short Pump Elementary was ecstatic when I told her that we had a 3D printer we could use in her classroom. She is a great teacher that loves trying new things and technology in the classroom, but is always the first to say that it needs to be connected to some sort of state or county standard. She knows that the standards aren’t the end all be all in the classroom, but she always says that 
she can always take something extremely fun and connect to the curriculum.
Judy found a pretty great 3D representation of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed on Thingiverse. We had to tweak the design so that it would play nicely with our printer, but after a little hard work by my supervisor Jon Wirsing we were good to go!
It was great seeing the kids’ reaction to the 3D print. Our plan this year is to start the students printing other premade content related designs and then eventually have the students start designing their own prints using Tinkercad and Sketchup. I honestly can’t wait to see what this fourth grade class comes up with!
