3D Printing News – 3D Prints for Teachers of the Visually Impaired

[lrodriguez 32]

Have you guys seen this article? What do you think? I think these methods would work for many students! The descriptions for the project is below:

Link to summary blog post

http://youmg.in/2bYGSCx

 

Often students with visual impairments have difficulty with concepts based on visual/spatial relationships, particularly in math and science. 3D prints offer an unprecedented asset for their teachers, and 3D printers are becoming affordable. But these teachers need help designing models. [Whosawhastis] and I have been volunteer mentors to various groups working on figuring out the best ways to use 3D printing for the visually impaired. Our goal with this project is to document some simple, practical conventions for designing models, and lay the groundwork so that interested parties can create the needed designs. We know that schools have 3D printers and want to teach design thinking to their students. This project creates a minimalist open-source way to link teachers who need design files and (sighted) students who want projects to do. We want students to create the designs for the needed models, learning science, math and other subjects while helping their visually-impaired peers.

[gr5 2,167]

HEY TEACHERS!! Do you have a visually impaired or blind student? Why not print all the graphs and diagrams in today's lesson plan ahead of time so that the blind student can feel all the graphs and diagrams. Cura already does this - just load any image (works best with black and white only) in cura and it asks you a few basic questions (thickness of base or "paper" and thickness of the black lines or "embossing"). It's like making embossed business cards for the blind.

Does word have a braille font? One could update the words and letters (e.g. "time" "x" "y" "theta") using word with a braille font (assuming it exists).

Every school for the blind out there needs a 3d printer in their IT department. Or a 3d print farm.

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I guess there are easier ways to produce pages with Braille font...

However, it's a great possibility to customize physical objects for visually impaired people. And of course 3D printing is a great aid in the sense @lrodriguez reported.

[6chen 1]

I've been working with the teachers at schools for the visually impaired to create teaching aids in my free time. Sure teachers can download files from thingiverse or youmagine to print out, but I think the teachers would get more involved if they have the ability to modify or design the models,

So firstly I teach the teachers how to operate a 3d printer and have them download the ready made files from the web. After a few weeks they got to know the limit of the printer and accumulate their experience of operating 3d printers, so that I can leave them a 3d printer without having to visit the school for operation or maintenance too often.

After that, I stared to teach them how to convert simple graphic into 3d models using online SVG converter and tinkercad. And this will keep them busy for a while making and bring the signs that thy have always want to make for the students.

Now I am working with them to teach them how to design more complex models according how and what they want to teach in class. And hopefully in one year we can begin to make teaching aids with audio using arduino.

[STEMedTeacher 13]

Just as a heads up, the new version of Wolfram Alpha can produce 3D models that can be printed. So there is a way to have math teachers develop and create math manipulatives.