Manufacturing in the classroom: I-Form's 3D printing for teachers programme
Year Awarded
2020
Amount
€31,650
- Organisation:University College Dublin (UCD)
- Audience:Post Primary Teachers - Junior Cycle, Post Primary Teachers - Senior Cycle
- Format:Non-formal Education
- Location:national
- Topic:Engineering
Project Summary
Second-level teachers in Ireland are keen to adapt to a recently changed STEM curriculum and to growing interest from both students and parents in new technologies and new STEM careers.
This project will build on an existing partnership between I-Form, the Research Centre for Advanced Manufacturing, and the Junior Cycle for Teachers – Technologies (JCT4) – a national teacher training organisation run by Ireland’s Department of Education. The project aims to upskill teachers in the use of 3D printing technology in the classroom, building both their confidence and ability to link 3D printing projects to the curriculum and to discuss manufacturing careers with their students.
One elective training module for JCT4 teachers has already been designed in partnership with JCT4, thanks to Discover funding for 2020. The delivery of this module (in 3 locations, with the target of training 120 teachers) was unfortunately postponed from springtime 2020, due to COVID-19, and is now planned for delivery in autumn 2020. JCT4 are keen to build on this module with co-design and delivery of a second, more advanced elective module for 144 teachers in 2021.
The module will be supplemented by two online support systems, to further instill teacher confidence in the classroom: a follow-up webinar to refresh teachers’ knowledge from the training days and address any barriers to classroom integration, and a curated online forum to both troubleshoot technical issues for teachers and to encourage peer learning and sharing of teaching resources, tips and project ideas.