Introductory chemistry students often have difficulty visualizing the 3-dimensional shapes of the hydrogenic electron orbitals without the aid of physical 3D models. Unfortunately, commercially available models can be quite expensive. 3D printing offers a solution for producing models of hydrogenic orbitals. 3D printing technology is widely…

The reverse engineering of simple inventions that were of historic significance is now possible in a classroom by using digital models provided by places like the Smithsonian. The digital models can facilitate the mastery of students' STEM learning by utilizing digital fabrication in maker spaces to provide an opportunity for reverse engineer and…

This article describes how a team of educators in a Catholic secondary school integrated 3D printing into the learning environment.

How do viruses self-assemble? Why do DNA bases pair the way they do? What factors determine whether strands of proteins fold into sheets or helices? Why does handedness matter? A deep understanding of core issues in biology requires students to understand both complex spatial structures of molecules and the interactions involved in dynamic…

The ability to print a 3-D object may sound like science fiction, but it has been around in some form since the 1980s. Also called rapid prototyping or additive manufacturing, the idea is to take a design from a computer file and forge it into an object, often in flat cross-sections that can be assembled into a larger whole. While the printer on…