'Making It’ in New York City Classrooms


Can you conduct a chemistry experiment with lab equipment made by a MakerBot? Demonstrate the principles of soil erosion and civil engineering with a sand table and miniature buildings designed and printed by 2nd graders? Yes, you can. And maybe should too.

Through NYU-Poly’s signature education initiative, our National Science Foundation supported GK-12 Fellows Program, we work with 27 Brooklyn public schools, about 40 teachers and over 1,500 K-12 students.  In this project, graduate students from diverse science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines are paired with K-12 teachers to develop and teach grade-appropriate STEM lessons, based on the research and applied science they practice.

In the Fall of 2011 MakerBot Industries education division and NYU-Poly launched a partnership that put 3D printers in the hands of some of our GK-12 teachers, their students, and our University’s graduate Fellows working in these public school classrooms.  Teachers and Fellows designed and implemented classroom lessons that integrated 3D rendering and printing as critical elements in conducting hands-on, activity based demonstrations, projects and experiments highlighting concepts and applications across STEM disciplines.

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