As we enter our second decade of serving America’s at-risk youth, we’ve assembled a “greatest hits” video to illustrate how we use 3D printing to help students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, creativity and confidence.
Learn more: YouthQuest’s 3D ThinkLink Initiative.
What began with a few teens at one school has grown into a program that’s brought the magic of 3D printing to more than 200 young people coast to coast.
As soon as we launched our 3D ThinkLink pilot project at Maryland’s Freestate ChalleNGe Academy in early 2013, we started to see why it’s such a great teaching tool – especially for at-risk youth.
In more than two years of providing 3D design and printing classes, we’ve seen how the experience helps develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, encourages creativity and builds confidence.
Most of the students we work with have made decisions that led them down the wrong path and they see themselves as failures. Our classes help them understand that failure is not final; it’s just a step toward improvement and, ultimately, success. The software and hardware we use make it easy for them to try a project, analyze mistakes, make corrections and print again until they reach their goal.
Twenty-five Cadets from the Maryland, District of Columbia and South Carolina ChalleNGe Academies completed 3D ThinkLink training last month (see below), bringing our total of ChalleNGe Program grads so far to 111.
In March, more than 70 students from across the United States and Canada took part in our 3D printing workshops at the 41st Annual National Society of Black Engineers Convention in Anaheim, California.
This month, we’re reaching dozens of kids in Northern Virginia for the first time by working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington to provide summer camp classes at the Culmore Character Club.
Another way we’re bringing 3D ThinkLink to more people is by making our curriculum available for teachers and students to buy online. On July 1, we wrapped up a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter that will cover the cost of creating the curriculum packages, which include Moment of Inspiration 3D modeling software, lesson plans and instructional videos.
Our goal is to give at-risk kids the tools they need to become successful adults. That includes academic and vocational training, along with developing the life skills that will keep them on track no matter what career path they choose. We don’t expect most our 3D ThinkLink students to end up in jobs that directly involve 3D design and printing, but we do expect the thinking skills and positive attitudes they develop in class will help them get ahead in any kind of job.
For example, there’s Adonis Gonzales, who was in our first class at Freestate. He always wanted to be a master electrician and now he’s in the second year of an apprenticeship program. In a recent interview with the Connection Newspapers, he talked about how he uses the problem solving skills he learned in our class to work through obstacles on the job.
Adonis also took our “failure is not final” message to heart. He didn’t pass his GED exam the first time he took it – or the second time. But he didn’t give up and he learned from his mistakes until, on the third try, he earned his GED.
Adonis is a remarkable young man and he’s going to do well in life. Stories like his encourage us to keep expanding the 3D ThinkLInk Initiative so we can touch the lives of more at-risk youth.
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Congratulations to Our Latest Graduates
South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy: Dishon Bailey, Chris Foster, Tyler Garcia, Jaya Geter, Aaliyah Lilly, LaKristopher McCoy, Joshua Milligan, Shiann O’Shea, Jared Pearsall, Craig Shipman
Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy: Angela Bernfeld, Tyeshia Blackmond, Dylan Cooper, Ronnell Dillard, Steve James, Kyla Joyner, Darian Moore, Andrey Ortiz-Castillo, Angel Patterson
Freestate ChalleNGe Academy: Maurice Allen, Philbert Fisher, Benjamin Illioff, Johnathan Lainez, TreVaughn McBride, Maxim Pine
Here are some photo highlights of their 3D ThinkLink experience.
More than 70 students from the U.S. and Canada took part in our 3D printing workshops at the annual National Society of Black Engineers Convention.
“It was really rewarding to be able to share our critical thinking and problem solving rubric using 3D printing with these very bright and talented youth,” said YouthQuest Co-Founder and President Lynda Mann, who led our team at the event in Anaheim, California, on March 26.
“We were excited to be a part of this amazing opportunity for youth of all ages to expand their knowledge and gain invaluable experience within key STEM disciplines,” she added.
The workshops gave middle school and high school students a taste of what we teach in 3D ThinkLink classes at the Maryland, District of Columbia and South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academies, where 3D printing is used as a tool for developing creativity and thinking skills.
CREATING TAGS
Our three 90-minute sessions at the NSBE Convention focused on Moment of Inspiration, the 3D modeling software we use in 3D ThinkLink classes.
“Learning about 3D printing turns on your brain,” YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks told the students. He explained that Moment of Inspiration (MOI) provides a “link” to transform the ideas in their brains into 3D-printed objects they can hold in their hands.
Tom guided the students through the steps to make key chain tags personalized with their initials and a simple design they created.
He demonstrated how to start with two-dimensional shapes such as circles or rectangles and use the software to combine them and add a third dimension – in this case, giving the tags depth and raising the initials and designs. Introducing an engineering principle to the future engineers, he showed how raising the tag’s rim by one millimeter made the object stronger while minimizing material use and print time.
As he does in all our 3D ThinkLink classes, Tom urged the students not to fear failure. If something goes wrong, he told them, don’t give up; go back and figure out how to correct the mistake and then keep working toward your goal. If you get stuck, he said, ask for help; and if someone else is struggling, try to help them.
TEAMING UP
With a little help from the YouthQuest convention team, nearly every student was able to complete the project within the allotted time.
La-Toya Hamilton, a counselor at DC’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy who also teaches 3D ThinkLink classes there, was instrumental in keeping the sessions running smoothly by helping individual students who had problems with MOI.
Our convention team also included YouthQuest Secretary Bill Hall, Communications Director Steve Pendlebury and Tammy Haug, National Sales Manager for AOC Solutions, who generously volunteered to come in from San Diego and help with the workshops.
The files the students created in our workshops contained all the data a 3D printer needs to build the tags by precisely stacking ultra-thin layers of plastic, which is melted by the print head and then hardens instantly.
Thanks to our bank of four Cube 3 printers made by 3D Systems, our 3D ThinkLink strategic partner, we were able to load up all the files from the Thursday workshops and print out every tag during the evening, so the students could pick them up at our display table first thing Friday morning.
GETTING NOTICED
Convention officials told us the workshops were among the most in-demand events for pre-college students. And every time the Cube 3 printer at our display table was running, a crowd gathered.
Students and adult group leaders wanted to know how to get started with 3D printing. For example, one group hopes to make customized phone cases as a fundraising project. Another student has a dream of providing solar-powered 3D printers in remote African villages to make tools, parts and utensils.
The National Society of Black Engineers is dedicated to the academic and professional success of African-American engineering students and professionals. With more than 30,000 members worldwide, it’s one of the largest student-governed nonprofit organizations based in the U.S. NSBE’s mission is “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.”
This was our first NSBE Convention. We are honored to have been invited. Being involved in such an important event significantly raised YouthQuest’s profile and helped us connect with individuals and groups from the education, engineering and youth services communities. We hope we’ll be able to do even more at next year’s NSBE Convention in Boston.
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CLICK HERE to see instructions for downloading a free 30-day trial version of Moment of Inspiration and a step-by-step guide to create the tags we made in the NSBE workshops.
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