Makers Empire 3D Printing Lesson Ideas | Makers Empire | Design Thinking

How to Teach the ‘E’ in STEM with 3D Printing: Engineering in Primary School

Are we teaching all the letters in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer and Mathematics) or are some receiving more attention than others? If you look around, math and science are staples of education, while technology is integrated into many areas of student learning. But what about engineering? Engineering, the ‘E’ in STEM, is often overlooked, especially...

5 (fun) ways 3D printing is transforming everyday items

At Makers Empire, our mission is to transform K-8 learning with 3D printing technology. We know what it takes to successfully integrate this technology into the classroom and we can provide the support to make it a success for your school or school district. But occasionally we just like to remind ourselves just how fun 3D printing can...

Top 10 Literacy Focused 3D Design Lesson Ideas

The 3D design environment provides an exciting context for students to communicate, respond to texts and express themselves in different ways. Looking for a simple 3D design lesson idea to try with your class? Here are ten of our favourite literacy and language based lesson ideas. 1. Character Design Before students begin writing a narrative, challenge...

Top 10 Geography Focused 3D Lesson Ideas

Makers Empire’s 3D design software provides a perfect tool for students to explore geographical concepts such as place and space. Here are our top 10 geographical 3D design lesson ideas. 1.My Place Challenge students to design representations of their special places such as homes, holiday locations, bedrooms or outdoor places. The 3D design software enables...

Top 10 History Focused 3D Design Lesson Ideas

There is something very intriguing about interpreting the past using new technology. Here are our favorite design challenges for engaging students in the past and helping them to uncover lost stories. 1.New Look Heritage Get to know some of the heritage buildings in your local area. The National Trust, local museum or a community history...

6 ways schools can use 3D printing for cultural exchange

At Makers Empire, we're always looking for ways to help our K-8 schools increase learning opportunities and student engagement with our 3D printing learning program. So last year we launched the Global Design Program, a cultural exchange program between two schools in different countries. In this program, we match up the interested school using Makers...

Top 10 Science 3D Design Lesson Ideas for Students

Makers Empire’s 3D Design software can really help young designers to think scientifically. Here are our top 10 design challenges for K-8 students that bring science and 3D design together. What Do You Notice? Scientists make observations. They are curious and take notice of the world around them. They think about their observations and ask questions that...

5 amazing 3D printing careers to inspire students

We are on the cusp of the 3D printing explosion, and the careers that today’s K-8 students choose will look very different than the careers available today. Inspire the young students in your life by sharing these possibilities for their future careers. 1. 3D Chef Out with the knives and in with the 3D printer....

Top 10 Mathematics 3D Design Challenges

At Makers Empire we see lots of great examples of teachers integrating 3D design and printing into different curriculum areas. Here are our top ten design challenge ideas for integrating mathematics with 3D design. 1. Use Makers Empire’s Blocker Module to create shapes and designs that have specific perimeters. What if students were asked to...

Top 10 Mind-Boggling Design Lesson Ideas

We thought we would have a bit of fun with our design challenges this week and share our top ten mind-boggling brain-teasers. Makers Empire design software is a great place for manipulating objects in 3D and solving spatial problems. 1. Impossible Shapes Can you design a shape that looks like it is impossible? For example,...

Top 10 Back to School 3D Design Lesson Ideas

Many of our schools will be beginning a new school year in January. The first few weeks of a new school year are such an important time: meeting new students, getting things organised, establishing routines and expectations and building a community of collaborative and engaged learners. We know that teachers have a lot to do...

Top 10 Christmas 3D Design Lesson Ideas

There is plenty to celebrate about students' learning experiences with 3D design and printing. So with Christmas just around the corner, let's celebrate the upcoming festive season with our top ten Christmas design challenge ideas for students using 3D Printing. Challenge students to design and print an original decoration for their family’s Christmas tree. The design...

Top 10 3D Design Lesson Ideas for Grade 8

Makers Empire’s 3D: Schools is especially designed to give K-8 students engaging tools to use in a range of curriculum-aligned design and problem solving tasks. Here are 10 of our favourite design challenges for 8th Grade students using Makers Empire 3D printing software. 1. Everybody loves a good paper plane challenge! How about adding an extra...

Top 10 Lesson Ideas for Grade 1 using 3D Printing

We know that Makers Empire’s 3D printing software is very easy to use because our users tell us so. We just love hearing stories about very young students solving problems and being creative with their designs. Here are some of our favourite design challenges for first grade students for you to try with your own students....

Top 12 ways to build students' empathy using 3D design

Makers Empire’s Director of Learning Development, Mandi Dimitriadis, outlines ways K-8 teachers can use design based challenges to develop their students' sense of empathy. To succeed in our globally connected and increasingly complex world, we know that today’s students will need to be creative and critical thinkers and be able to identify and solve new problems in...

Top 10 lesson ideas for Grade 7 using Makers Empire 3D Printing

The Makers Empire Learning Program is designed to stimulate and challenge the problem solving skills of K-8 students. So we love hearing about great examples of students using their design skills in new and interesting ways that make them think. Here are our top ten ideas for Grade 7 based on stories shared by our community of schools. 1. Make a...

Top 10 lesson ideas for Grade 3 using 3D Printing

At Makers Empire we make learning about STEM concepts fun through our 3D printing app and Learning Program. Check out some of our favourite ideas for challenging and inspiring 3rd Graders. With your guidance, they can develop their creativity, design and problem solving skills with these engaging Design Challenges. 1. Math Tools We know a resourceful 3rd Grade class who...

Top 10 Design Challenges for Grade 5 using Makers Empire 3D Printing

At Makers Empire we see so many great ideas for design challenges that get kids thinking like designers. Here's our top 10 ideas for 5th Grade students. 3D Grand Prix We love this cross-curricula design challenge! Students were asked to apply their recent learning about animal adaptations to the new context of their design...

Top 10 lesson ideas for Grade 2 Students using Design Thinking, 3D Printing and STEM

People often ask us for practical design challenges that help teacher incorporate design thinking in their elementary school classrooms. To develop design thinking skills, students need opportunities to: identify needs and opportunities generate ideas and visualize solutions plan and develop solutions evaluate products and processes Here's some of our favourite ideas for 2nd Grade using Makers...

Top 10 lesson ideas for Grade 6 using 3D Printing and STEM

We love seeing all the great ideas teachers are coming up with for challenging their students with design tasks using Makers Empire's 3D design software. Here are some of our favourite ideas for Grade 6 students. 1. Iconic Landmarks Challenge students to design a landmark that represents the country they live in or a country they...

Top 10 3D printing lesson ideas for 4 and 5 Year Olds

Makers Empire's 3D design software has been specifically designed to be easy to use and to enable students of all ages to be designing in minutes. We are often asked for ideas to help our youngest students become confident and independent 3D designers. Here are our favourite activities to help young children get started and...

Top 10 lesson ideas for Grade 4 using 3D Printing and STEM

We see students of all ages engaging in exciting design challenges with Makers Empire's 3D design software. Here's our top 10 ideas for Year 4s: 1. Design a mascot that represents our class values like Cuddles the Cuttlefish (above) who reminds this year 4 class to care for each other and strive for excellence. 2....

Top 10 lesson ideas to help students develop confidence in 3D design environments

How can we help our students develop confidence and spatial awareness when working with 3D design challenges? Here are some of our favourite ideas for helping students find their way around in 3D and move between 2D and 3D environments. 1. #ShapeDetectives Look for 2D shapes in 3D objects found in the classroom and outside....

12 project based learning lesson ideas using 3D Printing and STEM

Project based learning is not the same thing as doing projects. There are usually projects involved in project based learning but the emphasis is much more on the processes that students follow and use, the skills they develop and enhance, the problems they identify and solve and the people they collaborate and learn with. Project...