Education | Supercharg3d

3D Printing at Northern Ireland’s Nerve Centre

Getting started with the BQ Hephestos 2 3D printer build. An exciting new project in Northern Ireland is bringing 3D Printing to new users in schools. The Nerve Centre, a creative media arts and education centre, has developed a new 3D printing project, offering 16 schools across Northern Ireland the opportunity to build their own Hephestos 2 3D printer, along with training on how to use it across the curriculum.

And once the teachers have built the 3D printer and shown that they can use it, it is theirs for their school to keep.

The Nerve Centre is also home to one of Ireland’s first FabLabs, which delivers community access to training and education around digital design and fabrication for learners of all ages and abilities. Furthermore, the Nerve Centre delivers curriculum mapped training in Creativity, Technology and STEAM based learning to almost 5,000 teachers per year.

3D Printing is a powerful tool for STEAM education

In a study conducted by researchers at Michigan State University, it was found that scientists who win the Nobel Prize are also nearly three times as likely to have a hobby in the arts than the general scientific population. The idea that science also benefits the arts is one with which the West has been familiar at least since the time of Leonardo da Vinci. The idea that science and art are somehow not only separate, but also diametrically opposed, activities is one that is on its last legs and nowhere is that more apparent than in STEAM education.

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