Technology in the classroom continued

[Kevin]

Hello, I've posted here before about the 3D printers we have at my school. And the kids are really getting some great experience with 3D printers and CAD. I give them about one or two assignments a month. I have a teacher's account on: http://www.tinkercad.com

Anyway, the other computer teacher has been working on getting a VR headset up and running. He finally did it last week. The Microsoft Mixed Reality interface requires a very fast computer with an extremely fast graphics card. This is the one he bought http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/mixedrealityheadset/overview.html And his computer he donated is one of those super fast gaming computers.

So far, it's just a game for the kids. There are some borderline educational games for them, like building and design or strategy games. Or some geography apps which let you tour different places, like Machu Picchu.

Anyhow, we just want the kids at our school to be able have a sampling of the technology available. Plus, I guess I'm just trying to say schools are tying to do their best to get kids all growed up with some smarts. Plus, the latest technology is just incredible. The VR stuff with the Microsoft Hololens is straight out of science fiction.

Now the latest thing is from Microsoft and it's called the hololens. Some sort of glasses which let you see holograms for designing a car for example. You can see those at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens They are still far too expensive for grade school though. Maybe in a couple years...

 

[Don Lovel]

My 12yr old Grandson and I were talking about buying a 3D printer and I said I thought he would have fun making toys for his brothers and fishing lures and ......he stopped me and said, "Grandpa if it does not print 3D with a Tig welder, why would we spend our money on it?"

 

[Kevin]

They have a 3D printer on the space station to make parts like a wrench for example... It's cheaper than having one delivered.

In fact, NASA had a contest this past fall for kids in high school to design and print a multi use tool for astronauts. If they have that contest again, I'll have my students enter. There is one student at school, he must be 11 years old, I bet he could win. He's designed some pretty fantastic models, like a miniature skateboard park with lots of details. That one took 8 1/2 hours to print.