3D Printing with Mindess

Almost every week at the Ashland Innovation Center, high school students serve as "Makerspace Mentors" and help Middle School and Mindess (grades 3-5) students learn about STEM. The most recent session of the AIC Mindess program was 3D Printing. It's been really fun and a great experience for everyone involved.

A student poses with his recent designs 

Mindess students have been learning how to use a simple CAD program called TinkerCAD to design original 3D designs. Initially, many of the students felt limited by the "basic shapes" that they could use. However, it was really impressive to see them overcome this obstacle and still design many great things, including a car, little people, and keychains. Students have also been learning about how 3D printers work. This knowledge has helped them to understand the limits of 3D printing and learn methods to overcome these restrictions.



Our 3D printers have been really busy here at AIC! As a mentor, it has been rewarding to see the students' skills grow. It's also really nice to see many of their original designs come to life. Personally, I'm really excited to see what they design in the future.


Registration is now open for second 3D printing session for Mindess. For more information, please contact Mr. McGowan at cmcgowan@ashland.k12.ma.us or Ms. Young at jyoung@ashland.k12.ma.us.