There remains little doubt that 3D printing enhances the quality and effectiveness of education , whether at the kindergarten or university level .

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The cost of printers and materials for filament-based 3D printing have fallen significantly over the last decade, while the quality, accessibility, and usability of 3D printing in education have all improved, aided most by open-source tools, files, and information . Pythagorean Theorem learning aid. Image courtesy of MDPI Journal, Nov. 2020 and Michigan Technological University. In a recent study published by the Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology (MOST) Lab, researchers found that teachers (and even parents or communities) could save educators 86% on the cost of learning aids by using low-cost 3D printers (RepRap) to print open source designs, instead of directly purchasing commercially available learning aids (such as on Amazon ) which are more expensive. With several desktop 3D printers available on the market for under $200 that also produce parts of reasonable quality, the cost of the investment can easily be recouped in half a day of printing quality learning aids using open source design files from platforms such as myminifactory.com . In fact, even if schools were to invest in more expensive commercial […]

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