Students demonstrate 3-D printing and prototype testing in Lake County classroom

During a classroom demonstration, a student presenter showed how the class uses Tinkercad for 3-D printing and described watching a printed model appear as filament is heated and extruded. "This is Tinkercad. It's a 3 d printing program, and this is a lightsaber that we made," the student said while pointing out a model rocket they planned to assemble.

Other students discussed prototype-building and testing. One explained that their first plane "aimed straight to the ground" and that by "chang[ing] the way you go up" and curving the wings slightly backward, they made it fly straighter. Students described building houses for animals and capsules, shared ideas with classmates and connected hands-on iteration to future aspirations such as becoming scientists or engineers.

The classroom segment illustrated how design cycles — build, test, revise — are practiced at the elementary level and how tangible tools like 3-D printers and simple flight tests are used to teach engineering thinking.