CCS Southwest now a MakerBot dealer!

CCS Southwest now a MakerBot dealer:

3D printing is one of the newest technologies being used in K-12 today. It is providing more creative ways to enhance curriculum and opening students’ eyes to the endless possibilities of technology. Providing STEM teachers with the tools they need will not only encourage retention but it will motivate student learning with the outcome of greater success in math and science.

What is 3D printing?

If you’ve been living under a rock the past few years, here’s the best explanation we can illustrate on how 3D printing works: The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.

How does 3D printing work?

It all starts with making a virtual design of the object you want to create. This virtual design is made in a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file using a 3D modeling program (for the creation of a totally new object) or with the use of a 3D scanner (to copy an existing object). A 3D scanner makes a 3D digital copy of an object. MakerBot printers come with a license for the easy-to-use Makerbot Desktop software and access to the Thingiverse online library where users can find thousands of downloadable 3D design files for free.

To prepare a digital file for printing, the 3D modeling software “slices” the final model into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers. When the sliced file is uploaded in a 3D printer, the object can be created layer by layer. The 3D printer reads every slice (or 2D image) and creates the object, blending each layer with hardly any visible sign of the layers, with as a result the three dimensional object.

View more about MakerBot in education applications by requesting case studies here

http://pages.makerbot.com/education-3d-printing-stories.html

In this collection of MakerBot Education Stories, you’ll discover how 3D printing jumpstarts learning from kindergarten through higher education. Learn how 3D printing is empowering teachers and students to advance STEAM project-based learning, solve problems through experimentation, understand complex concepts through design, study historical objects through 3D printed simulation, and more.

Check out the YouTube video here! https://www.youtube.com/makerbot