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This list outlines 9 excellent ways to use 3D printers in the middle school math and science classroom.

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We completely understand: 3D printing can sound intimidating. But it can open so many doors for students, especially in math and science.

Fear not, brave teacher. We've got just what you need to move your 3D-printing goals forward-whether your 3D printer has a cozy little spot in your supply closet, silently collecting dust, or you and your students have jumped feet-first into 3D-printing projects.

Get moving and shaking with these project ideas:

1. Design custom artwork frames.

This project is perfect for elementary students. They'll practice their geometry skills as well as calculate measurements, weights and balance as they design a modular frame for a specific piece of art. As an extension, challenge students to create decorations that can snap on and off of the frame for a fully customized display.

Credit: Dremel Dreams, created by O'Donnell Learn

2. Go cross-curricular.

Here's a fun idea! Brock Perkins, a fifth grade teacher at Winchester Thurston School in Pennsylvania, teaches an extensive cross-curricular unit on the Middle Ages. Students learn about the lives of the peasants and the nobility, castle structure and design, and they study siege machines like catapults and battering rams.

He and the school's instructional technology specialist, Katie Weber, introduced the 3D-printing element of the project by printing out several different designs of catapults (found on www.thingiverse.com) and predicting and then testing the ability of these machines to launch projectiles. They then pair students up to brainstorm a design of their own to print on their 3D printer.

"Their task is to create an 'anti-siege' machine to protect their castles from invaders. They sketch their ideas and then work in the online CAD program Tinkercad to design their machines," says Weber. "Luckily, our middle school students have extensive experience in Tinkercad, so they can help our fifth grade students with their creations." After much trial and error (including resizing and flipping designs), the final products often look amazingly like the original brainstorming sketches.

Credit: Katie Weber at Winchester Thurston School

3. Give an open-ended challenge.

What if kids could create something that helped solve a real-world problem? A 10-year-old in Texas used a 3D printer to create a prototype for his idea that could prevent deaths when children or pets are accidentally left in vehicles on hot days. His design is in progress and may even get a patent. Show this clip to your students to inspire them to design their own solutions to real-world problems.

4. Print physical maps.

Teacher Chrissie Mahl helped her students use 3D printers at her school to create physical maps of Virginia to show the five regions of the state. Their models illustrate the coastal plains, piedmont, the Blue Ridge Mountains in the western part of the state, the valley and ridge, and the Appalachian plateau. A great way to bring geography into the classroom!

Credit: Christine Mahl at Pembroke Meadows Elementary; Virginal Historical Society

5. Explore geometry with 3D models.

The idea of creating 3D models with your students may seem like an unachievable goal. But one third grade class at Highcastle Public School in Toronto, Ontario, did just that. Here, they break down the steps in a math lesson that resulted in the students designing and printing their own 3-dimensional castles-for real!

6. Design and print bugs.

Clark Barnett, a teacher and education technology consultant for the Conejo Valley Unified School District in Thousand Oaks, California, found that inviting students to design and print their own bugs was a terrific way to engage them in ecosystems, entomology and engineering all at the same time.

"Even though we were studying insects, there is a lot of engineering involved. For example, the legs have to be designed to support the weight of the bug's body. 3D printing makes it easy to bring in engineering techniques and see how things work," Barnett said. You can learn more about the process here.

Credit: Clark Barnett at Conejo Valley Unified School District

7. Teach fractions and area.

Teacher Jason Padilla from PS 39 The Francis J. Murphy Jr. School truly believes in using 3D printing to bring learning to life. His students use a 3D printer to create math manipulatives to help study fractions and explore the concept of area.

"They can see that shapes have specific area and take up space," Padilla said. "Printing out the shapes they create, students have to ensure that their prints are not too big for the printer to make."

His students have also printed out cubes to use to create area models of various sizes, and downloaded a Fraction Pie that helps them visualize parts of a fraction as it relates to a whole, determine which fractional unit is larger, and how fractions and decimals are related.

Credit: Easy as Pie Fractions by ThreeDeePrint.

8. Print equations.

In his role as a K-12 technology facilitator for the Union City, New Jersey, Board of Education, Marcos Navas enjoys finding new ways to engage students. Using 3D printers, he helps high school algebra students print 3D representations of equations so they can visualize and conceptualize math problems with 3-dimentional objects.

"3D printing is a motivational tool for students," Navas says. "When they can actually bring something they've worked on to life and hold it, it gives them a reason to keep learning."

Learn more about this 3D equation project here.

Credit: Dremel Dreams, created by Marcos Navas

9. Find volume.

Instructional technologist Kelly Hong from the Hutto, Texas, Independent School District helped fifth graders learn how to find the volume of irregular 3D figures in math using a 3D printer. First, the students used Tinkercad to build irregular figures. They then printed them and calculated the volume. A great idea for fostering both math and creativity!

"I'm always amazed at how quickly students learn to use technology tools," says Hong. "Allowing students to use technology to solve problems, do research and present ideas gives them a better real-world understanding of the skills they're developing, and it keeps them super-engaged."

Credit: Kelly Hong from the Hutto, Texas, Independent School District

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9 Ways Teachers Can Use a 3D Printer to Teach Math and Science

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We completely understand: 3D printing can sound intimidating. But it can open so many doors for students, especially in math and science.

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Thingiverse provides free pre-designed 'things' to print with your 3D printer, as well as lessons and a collaboration space to share lesson ideas.

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Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects

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Download files and build them with your 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC. Thingiverse is a universe of things.

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Tinkercad is an online 3D design website that your students can use to create 3D models which can be printed on your 3D printer.

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Tinkercad | From mind to design in minutes

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Tinkercad is a free, easy-to-use app for 3D design, electronics, and coding.

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This teacher outlines how she uses a 3d printer in her kindergarten classroom.

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By now, most people have heard of 3-D printing. Whether it's a story about animal prosthetics, demonstration homes constructed in China and Denmark, or printed pizza at a tech conference, tales of this technology are in steady supply. But it's not just engineers and programmers using 3-D printers for science fiction-esque purposes. With some models costing less that an iPad, desktop fabrication is becoming more common in peoples' homes -- and in classrooms.

When my printer arrived, I was giddy with excitement -- and a bit unsure of what to do with it.

Last spring, I was one of several thousand teachers across the nation to benefit from an effort by MakerBot to provide a 3-D printer to as many schools as possible. Through DonorsChoose, I received a Replicator 2 printer for less than $100. When my printer arrived, I was giddy with excitement -- and a bit unsure of what to do with it. My MakerBot came programmed to make a dozen demo prints, which I conjured before amazed students, families, and colleagues whenever the opportunity arose. But soon, stretchy bracelets and shark toys lost a little of their pizazz.

Sure, I found countless downloads for novel trinkets, interesting toys, and creative solutions for the home, but what I wanted was to enhance educational opportunities for my students using this 21st-century tool.

Since I was among the first elementary teachers to have a 3-D printer, online repositories like MakerBot Thingiverse lacked educational "things" (as printable files are often referred to). Sure, I found countless downloads for novel trinkets, interesting toys, and creative solutions for the home, but what I wanted was to enhance educational opportunities for my students using this 21st-century tool. In the spirit of making, I decided my best option was to create those opportunities myself.

Not long ago, the knowledge needed to design 3-D computer models required serious training and time. Now, thanks to free online tools like Tinkercad, simplified and accessible 3-D model designing is possible for everyone. Tinkercad is a browser-based platform that is best likened to building with virtual Legos, using a wide variety of easily modified shapes. With a few clicks, your custom thing is ready to print, or better yet, uploaded to Thingiverse under a Creative Commons license for other 3-D printing enthusiasts to print, or modify and share, themselves.

What will we make today?
Tens frames, used for everything from number sense to decomposing numbers, offered a suitable first design challenge. By merging rectangles and squares, I took my first thing from conception, through design, and to final product in an hour. From there, I designed printable rekenreks (tools for counting/arithmetic similar to an abacus), bathroom passes, and a star-shaped trophy to reward good behavior. Currently, I'm working on a balance with appropriately weighted numbers to hang on the arms, allowing students to physically create equations.

I now truly appreciate and teach my students about the iterative design process and how it relates to problem solving.

As some of my designs have become more complex, I now truly appreciate and teach my students about the iterative design process and how it relates to problem solving. If my first print doesn't offer the functionality I seek, after a little redesign, I print a new version to see if it fits my needs. And for those curious about the financial and environmental toll of all this printing, rest assured that most things require just pennies worth of material, all of which is polylactic acid -- a rigid, corn-based, biodegradable plastic.

Making more than "things"
Ultimately, my goal isn't just to make things with the 3-D printer for my students to use, but to open their eyes to the possibility this technology offers for creative solutions to everyday challenges. For example, we recently discovered a need at our school when the librarian misplaced her door stop. Using Tinkercad, I demonstrated how to design a new door stop while including student recommendations and input along the way. With this simple exercise, my students went from passive consumers to proud creators, an experience I hope they remember for a lifetime.

My students went from passive consumers to proud creators, an experience I hope they remember for a lifetime.

The future of 3-D printing in elementary school is as wide-open as the technology itself. In the coming years, more students will arrive at kindergarten not only familiar with 3-D printing, but some may even have one of these machines at home. In the meantime, I will continue to expose my students to desktop fabrication, following their suggestions for 3-D printed solutions to classroom needs as often as possible. However, what I really want them to take away from our adventures with 3-D printing is that the future is what you make it.

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When My Kindergarten Class Got a 3-D Printer

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By now, most people have heard of 3-D printing. Whether it's a story about animal prosthetics, demonstration homes constructed in China and Denmark, or printed pizza at a tech conference, tales of this technology are in steady supply. But it's not just engineers and programmers using 3-D printers for science fiction-esque purposes.

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3D Printed Jewelry with 3-5 graders:

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We have STEAM nights at Wilkinson four times a year, and I bring the 3D printer to each one. Kids who aren't my students love seeing the printer in action and the parents are often even more amazed!

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As a whole group, the class can direct the teacher in drawing the main character, then design the character in Tinkercad. This lends itself to discussions not only about the character, but shapes, colors, etc. Here is a very non-expert (aka my own) rendering of the pigeon from Mo Willems' books:

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3D printed objects can be raffled off daily or weekly as PBS rewards for students. PBS winners could even choose the design and color of their object and help print it the next day!

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Use the measurement guides in Thingiverse (click on your object to see measurements) to discuss the measurable attributes or create objects of different sizes to compare.

Design 2D and 3D shapes.

Compose real-world designs using simple shapes.

100s boards and counters - lots of ideas on Thingiverse, including the manipulative shown below. Counters could be printed to correspond with content-area topics as well:

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3D Printed math manipulative (spinner) that I made for my son's first grade class. You can find it on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2532050

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Students can create fossils in Tinkercad, print them, and take part in a 'dig' to locate and identify classmates' fossils.

In this video, first graders work through the engineering process to design cars (fast forward to 2:40 to get right to the action!) .

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Print United States symbols, community helper tools (police badge, siren, fire truck) and  examples of landforms.

Design citizenship awards after discussing how people can be a good citizen.

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Extend STEM challenges to 3d design. As teachers present a real-world problem (my pencil keeps rolling off my desk!) or issue a character faces in a story, students could use Tinkercad to design and print a solution.

Below is an example a fifth grade student made when given the challenge to design something that makes her life easier. It is a box that can be used to juice oranges and hold the peels:

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This student created a pencil and pen holder for his desk:

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The mechanical buzz of the 3D printer moving back and forth is what first catches the attention of our Junior School students. Then once the students see what can be created using the 3D printer, they excitedly ask to try their hand at 3D printing.

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In Civics, students could print representations of American government symbols, including Scales of Justice, political party , and significant quotes from founding documents. These models could be used to create timelines, used as writing stimulus, or as game pieces in student-created games.

Thingiverse has many printable options for World History and American History. My favorites are puzzles of different locations (continents and colonies) that could reinforce knowledge of geographic locations. Students could eventually design and label their own geography puzzles.

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I've wanted a map puzzle for as long as I can remember. But all I could find were jigsaw puzzles with maps drawn on them, instead of the map-shaped pieces I wanted. Now that I have a 3D printer I can design my own puzzle of the artificial borders which humans put between themselves!

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Students could design and print symbols, flowers, animals, land forms, flags or buildings representative of a state or geographic area they are studying. These representations could be used as game pieces, study materials, or artifacts for a gallery.

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This is the South Carolina state flag palmetto tree with the crescent moon. I used a jpeg to create an SVG file and imported it into 123d Design to make a 3D shape out of it. Could be used a coaster. The moon is a little fragile.

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Students can spell out their names using Hieroglyphics by following the steps in the project description.

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Egyptian Cartouche Hieroglyphics Construction Kit by mfritz

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I made this project for a 4th grade history unit on Ancient Egypt. The students can spell out their names in hieroglyphics in the style of a cartouche. Easiest way to do this is to open the construction kit on Tinkercad.com and then just drag and drop the correct letters into position and delete the extra pieces.

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Not only does the 3D printer allow you to print and design for your classroom, but your students can sell their designs to raise funds. Some classes have produced school mascot figurines, holiday ornaments, and jewelry that have been sold to raise money for more filament, class parties, and charities.

Below is a 3D printed ornament that my friend and fellow Trailblazer, Mrs. Watson, and her class printed and sold around the holidays to raise classroom funds.

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Many of the computer science standards can be met while students use Tinkercad to design activities based on the other Big Ideas. For example, students can use digital tools and discuss responsible digital citizenship while designing models in Tinkercad.

Models can be designed and printed of plant parts, planets, layers of the earth, clouds, and even parts that work in tandem with circuitry.

Thingiverse offers examples of rock types that students could use as examples while working to design their own specific rock type. This would require the students to notice the characteristics of their rock type and use the digital tools to make those characteristics apparent.

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Pahoehoe lava from the Aopo Volcanic Field which erupted in1906 (I think) on the north side of Savai'i, Samoa. This vesicular basalt is an example of the hot-spot volcanism that created the Samoan Archipelago. Collected December 2006. Scanned in Dr. Franek Hasiuk's GeoFabLab at Iowa State University.

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ThingiverseEDU has many resources for middle grades science. Highlighted below is a kit with which students can build a plant and animal cell, which can then be printed and painted.

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Animal and Plant Cell Construction Kit by mfritz

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Make a model of an animal or plant cell. Making models of animal and plant cells is a common middle school science activity. Now you can 3D print your cell model. Customize or remix as you please, put a hole in it and make a keychain, whatever you like.

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The most obvious use of a 3D printer in the intermediate grades is by using measurement to design models. Tinkercad uses metric measurements, so students must become adept at taking measurements (and converting if using a standard  ruler) in order to make a precise model.

Lines of symmetry can be sliced into models in Tinkercad. Students could 'slice' examples and non-examples of lines of symmetry in various designs.

Fraction models can go beyond the typical fraction bars or pies! Students can slice objects into fractional pieces, which can lend itself to comparisons of sizes of one whole vs. smaller parts.

Teachers could provide students with specific parameters for objects, for example: "Your object must have three right angles and two sides that are parallel" and students can design models that meet the guidelines.

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Students create something for a time capsule based on their book. This requires the student to examine themes, symbols, and character traits to determine which most represents the book. Below is an example my fifth graders did. First, a Lego prototype of the main character from Peter Brown's The Wild Robot, and second, the robot in Tinkercad.

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Students could design and print book characters. They could also "add a character" to the book, designing a character that would make sense based on the book's plot, setting, and other character's traits.

When studying text structures, students could create applications of their written work on the 3D printer. For example, Rube Goldberg machines could pair with sequence and cause and effect texts, "oops" projects and their completed-as-planned projects could spur compare/contrast and problem/solution writing, and students could partner up and try to guess each other's 3D printed object after reading their written descriptions.

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Older students can take a leadership role within the school, training and creating for younger students, staff, and visitors to the school.

Leaders could interview younger students or staff members about their hobbies, favorite colors, and interests and design something they think their buddy would like. My students are very interested in the "real lives" of the lunchroom aides, so I think the aides may be beneficiaries of new 3D printed objects soon!

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This teacher uses a 3D printer to extend teaching To Kill a Mockingbird

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One of the questions I get about 3D printing and design is, "How do you do this in a Literature class?"

On the surface, 3D design in ELA does not seem to make sense, but it is all about a teacher's approach to assessment. I am a supporter of Project Based Learning. I set my students up in a way that allows them to demonstrate understanding of concepts that are meaningful to them. Part of that is introducing them to various tools that can help them demonstrate that understanding. 3D design is just another tool for students to use.

We were wrapping up our unit on To Kill a Mockingbird and I asked my students to demonstrate understanding of a symbol and how it is connected to a theme we discussed in class. For this unit, I showed students how they could use Tinkercad to design and the Dremel Printer to print their project. I gave them a few days in the Makerspace with the Chromebooks so they could get used to the program and brainstorm ideas for their project. Not all students chose to use 3D design for their project, but many did.

For those that did, many of them came up with these amazing designs and wonderful explanations as to why they chose them. They were able to go into detail on how they designed their symbol and how it related to one of the themes covered in class. They were all very proud of their designs and loved showing them off to others. It was also great watching students figure out the different parts of Tinkercad and then helping other students along the way.

One student put in tremendous effort to create something that was awesome and wonderfully detailed.

She wanted to talk about the good and evil conflict in the story and created an angel and devil on the shoulder of a person. The details made it very difficult to print the way it was designed and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to print it. I might help her deconstruct it and print in in pieces. Anyway, this was the first 3D design this student every created. When I told her that she could do this at home for dun and print at school, her face lit up. She just discovered a new passion she did not know existed.

Here is the chifforobe that Tom was asked to chop by Mayella.

Another intricate design from a first time designer.

This design is taking symbols and creating something brand new that had meaning to them based on their reading of the book.

A student created a gavel to represent the justice system in the story and wanted to make it as real as possible.

I told him I would print it using the wood filament I have at home so he could stain and paint it. Here is what it looks like after he took it home.

It broke while he was painting and staining, but he said that it could be a symbol of the broken justice system found in Maycomb that led to Tom's death.

There are so many other great projects that students spent time on to show they understood To Kill a Mockingbird and some even found out they had a skill for 3D design.

In the end, the questions is not, "How do you do this in a Literature class?" The real question is, "How are you giving students the opportunity to demonstrate understanding beyond a poster board, power point, or multiple choice test?"

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One of the questions I get about 3D printing and design is, "How do you do this in a Literature class?" On the surface, 3D design in ELA does not seem to make sense, but it is all about a teacher's approach to assessment. I am a supporter of Project Based Learning.