Plum Students Use Technology to Create in the Classroom

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Oblock Junior High School in Plum are learning to develop three-dimensional objects on a computer and turn the images into physical products.

According to the Post Gazette, teachers Jason Steele and Phil Beatty have been using digital tools in their technology education classes to help prepare students for the future.

Students are using CAD software to develop virtual objects, then using 3-D printers to make the objects, such as a 20-sided die, the P-G said.

In Phil Beatty's seventh-grade technology education class, students learn how to use Google's SketchUp software, a skill set they take to eighth grade, when they are able to turn their designs into objects using the printers.

Beatty told the Post-Gazette that the Plum Borough School District administration and school board has been very supportive of STEM--science, technology, engineering and mathematics--education.

The first 3-D printer was funded through an innovation in teaching technology grant from the district. The district later funded two additional printers that Steele built. Steele is now working to build a third 3-D printer that will go into Beatty's classroom.

For more on the classroom technology, read the Post-Gazette article.