3D Printed Timeline

Ninth grade students in the MPX Program at Mid-Pacific Institute created a timeline of World War II using 3D printers. Each student chose a WWII event to research. In addition to creating a short documentary about their event, each student wrote an essay about the event through the perspective of a historical figure associated with event, which the student also chose. Hoping to draw in audience members and teach them about WWII, the students designed an artifact using 3D modeling software that would represent a WWII event they chose to research. The printed artifacts were arranged chronologically with QR codes that allowed visitors to pull up the student-created videos about the WWII event corresponding to each 3D-printed artifact, as well as an essay about the event written by the students in the perspective of a historical figure.

Teacher Reflection:

It was great to use the 3D printers on campus in an interdisciplinary way. The project incorporated elements of design, history, language arts, and technology, which engaged the students throughout the process. The students were so excited to create a WWII artifact from scratch and see it come to life in the 3D printer.

Student Reflection:

The process of learning, step by step, the programs and then seeing your creation come out of the 3D printer was cool! I also really liked how we got to dive deep into a WWII event that particularly interested us.

—Dan

It was a great learning experience to imagine that you were in the historical figure’s shoes and also to create something in your mind that was then printed so you could hold it in your hand.

—Isabel

I liked how this project made me think about how I could best represent my event through a 3D design.

—Michael To learn more about this project and others, visit Sites.Google.com/a/midpac.edu/midpacific3d