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3D printing (3DP) has been becoming more and more popular throughout the education system from Kindergarten to University. High school is a critical period for students to decide their imminent university major selection which in turn will impact their future career choices. High school students are usually intrigued by hands-on tool such as 3DP which is also an important contributor to other courses such as robotics. The recent years have seen more investment and availability of 3DP in high schools, especially Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. However, mere availability of 3DP is not enough for teachers to fully utilize its potential in their classrooms. While basic 3DP skills can be obtained through a few hours of training, the basic training is insufficient to ensure effective teaching Engineering Design Process (EDP) at the high school level. To address this problem, this project develops an EDP course tightly integrated with 3DP for preservice teachers (PST) who are going to enter the workforce in high schools. Engineering design process (EDP) has become an essential part for preservice teachers (PST), especially for high school STEM. 3DP brought transformative change to EDP which is an iterative process that needs virtual/physical prototyping. The new PST course on EDP will be purposefully integrated with an in-depth discussion of 3DP. The approach is to dissect a 3D printer’s hardware, explain each component’s function, introduce each component’s manufacturing methods, describe possible defects, and elucidate what works and what does not. This has at least four benefits: 1) PSTs will know what is possibly wrong when a printer or printing process fails, 2) PSTs will learn more manufacturing processes besides 3DP that can be used to support engineering design prototyping, 3) PSTs will know how to design something that can meet the manufacturing constraints, i.e., can be actually fabricated, and 4) reduce errors and frustrations caused by failed design and failed prints which happen frequently to novices in 3DP. After graduation, PSTs will bring the knowledge to their future high schools and will be more confident in teaching engineering design, reverse engineering, prototype development, manufacturing, and technology. The developed course will be implemented and assessed in a future semester.
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This content will become publicly available on June 23, 2026
Implementation and Evaluation of an Engineering Design Process Course for High School Preservice Teachers based on 3D Printer Component Analysis
3D printing (3DP) has been becoming pervasive in the K-16 education system. However, in many schools, new 3D printers arrive, work for a certain period, and before long break down due to lack of maintenance and support. It is therefore imperative for teachers to develop a deeper understanding of 3D printing in order to fully release its potential in engineering design. In this project, the course of engineering design for preservice teachers (PST, current undergraduate students) is developed and implemented with mechanical components from dissected 3D printers. The approach is to dissect a 3D printer’s hardware, explain each component’s function, introduce each component’s manufacturing methods, describe possible defects, and elucidate what works and what does not. This allows the PSTs to develop a better understanding of 3D printing process, have a better idea on how to fix a 3D printer when it breaks down, and design components that are compatible with 3D printing. The evaluation results show that the course was well received by the PSTs who have improved their knowledge in 3D printing. In the future course offering, both knowledge gain and efficacy will be evaluated to help us better understand the impact of the course.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2141674
- PAR ID:
- 10624957
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society of Engineering Education
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Preservice teacher education, engineering design process, 3D printing
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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