High School Appropriate Projects

Hello..

I have a group of high school students (of varying abilities) and we are currently building a 3d Printer (Prusa i3 design).. I would like to teach them something about design using CAD (SolidEdge is what I have available) and I need a few project ideas. The intent is they learn to use SolidEdge and lead up to the design of some kind of product they could print out on the 3D printer. I am trying to give them a taste of the engineering design process / industrial design.

The hardest part is really coming up with good ideas that provide contextualized learning (eg. design a simple product that fulfills some kind of need), and/or connects to high-school level curriculum. As well, it should be something simple enough for high school students to do.

For example, one idea would be to have students design and print a simple model rocket body (cylinder, cone, plus fins) which would be simple enough for a beginner to do over a few guided lessons. Stick an engine in there and you have a little physics project right there. The more apt students could take it a step further and design a rocket with a more efficient design, multiple stages, design for less drag etc. and then print out their result and test it. A simple enough idea. And it doesn't have to be physics. It could be biology, art, math, product design, anything else...

If there is anything you can share that you can think of or have done in the past, I would be interested in hearing it. Much appreciated.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2013 10:25AM by makethings.

High school students might appreciate SEEJ.

"Seej is a tabletop wargame designed to advance the state of 3D printing through competition and player-directed evolution. Players print their own armaments and fortifications for use in battle. If you can print it, it’s legal to use in the game."

See also: things tagged with catapult.

Do a remix on the popsicle stick bridge. Have them design structures within specific limits then test their load bearing capacity.
To really bring 3d printing into make the weight/amount of plastic count - less weight/less plastic the more your weight counts.
Make it so that they have to do things in multiple parts and use different types of joints.

FYI - If you want a free design tool you could start them with OpenSCAD. The nice thing about that program is that there
are tons of tutorials and also re-usable libraries for things like joints and gears.

I am a highschool student, and I used AutoCad student edition, which is free. If you go the Autodesk way you get access to all their programs for 3 years. Its also used in the engineering field a lot more than any freeware. The bridge idea sounds great.