America Makes announces AM education challenge

There is no doubt that 3D printing is a technology that we will continue to see grow into the future; But when we discuss the future, it is important to remember who our future is, and that would be kids. Following GE’s recent announcement of their own education program that is going to invest additive manufacturing into education, America Makes is now jumping in on the bandwagon through a crowdsourcing idea platform to help bring 3D printing curricula and resources into the classroom, through a challenge.

Photo// 3DPrintMegastore.com

To help propel their mission, America Makes is looking to educators and industry professionals to develop a curriculum, which will then be in the running to possibly be included in their resource repository. The challenge will be managed through the InnoCentive platform, where educators and professionals can deposit their ideas.

In order to take part, entrants will have to create educational content in additive manufacturing for their repository. The content that can be created can be for a wide range of classrooms such as K-12 schools, universities, development courses, stand-alone content, short 6 hours courses, or integratable content to be mixed into other class content. If your content or course is chosen, you will be rewarded with the Silver Level Membership in America Makes for one year.

Photo// www.edutopia.org

“Educators often have to recreate the wheel in developing courses because they don’t have access to where current content lives. America Makes is not seeking new content developed for this Challenge but rather a submission of existing content currently used for educating students or employees about AM. Content may be an entire stand-alone course, a short (six course-hour minimum) AM module within a longer course, or even content integrated within other course content.”

To find out more, check out the challenge page here.

What do you think of this challenge? Do you want to enter? Let us know in a comment below or on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Don’t forget to sign up for our free weekly newsletter, with all the latest news in 3D printing delivered straight to your inbox!