3D Printing in the Chemistry Curriculum: Inspiring Millennial Students To Be Creative Innovators

Abstract

Educators should certainly keep in mind the positive attributes of millennial learners as we consider new curricular approaches. In this spirit, a 3D printing in chemistry initiative has been undertaken at Stetson University that draws upon the technological prowess of millennial undergraduate students. 3D printing activities have been incorporated in the curriculum whereby students are challenged to create a variety of chemical models.Together, these activities represent a highly motivational means of getting students to further engage in chemistry, while at the same time practicing and demonstrating the skills of creativity/innovation, collaboration, and technological literacy deemed vital for 21 st century professionals. The costs, compactness, low maintenance, and overall reliability of 3D printers have trended favorably in recent years to an extent that it is now possible to implement this technology within most academic settings. To the chemist, 3D printing represents a powerful new tool for creating more realistic, tangible models of molecular structures. 3D printing exercises can be incorporated in the curriculum as student lab assignments, out-of-class independent study or group projects for credit, or senior research projects. Several student projects are presented, ranging from the printing of simple ball-and-stick models of common chemical structures to the fabrication of more realistic, space-filling models of proteins and molecular

3D Printing in the Context of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education at the College/University Level

“…Over more than a decade, hardware cost and performance improvements as well as complementing software developments have made 3D printing practical for usage by college educators who lecture and run teaching laboratories in the STEM fields. Educational 3D printed models of various kinds have so far been utilized for the visualization of a wide range of concepts in mathematics (Hart 2005, Segerman 2012), computer science (Papazafiropulos 2016), crystallography (Moeck 2014a, Chen 2014, Kaminsky 2014, Kitson 2014, Moeck 2014b, Moeck 2014c, Teplukhin 2015, Gražulis 2015, Moeck 2017a, mineralogy (Moeck 2014a, Kaminsky 2014, Moeck 2016a, geosciences (Horowitz 2014), crystal and condensed matter physics (Stone-Sundberg 2015, , Moeck 2016a, Casas 2018, structural biology (Gillet 2005, Roberts 2005, Herman 2006, Bain 2006, Olson 2006, Jittivadhna 2010, Wedler 2012, Moeck 2014a, Violante 2014, Meyer 2015, Gardner 2016, Davenport 2017, Kat Cooper 2017, Da Veiga Beltrame 2017, Jones 2018, Paukstelis 2018, Tavousi 2018, chemistry (Flint 2011, Wedler 2012, Halford 2014, Moeck 2014b…”

Drawing in 3D: Using 3D printer pens to draw chemical models

“…This new generation of molecular models goes beyond the modeling kits that are ubiquitous in science classrooms everywhere. Using 3D printing, researchers have created personalized models to describe proteins, DNA, hybridization, crystal unit cells, nanostructures, complex orbitals, steric interactions, and even models of potential energy surface, among other topics. Despite the utility of these new models, the relatively slow extrusion rate of the current technology means that models can take from several minutes up to hours to complete necessitating the production of models occur outside of normal class times.…”

3D Printing in Chemistry Teaching: From a Submicroscopic Molecule to Macroscopic Functions - Development of a Molecular Model Set and Experimental Analysis of the Filaments

“…Until now, 3D printing in chemistry classes has been used by teachers to print larger models of molecules (proteins, DNA, the layered structure of graphite), orbitals or potential energy surfaces [6,7,8] to provide illustrative material in class. In physics and mathematics school lessons, it is conceivable to use 3D printing for illustrating models of waves or geometric objects [9,10].…”

“…Only in rare cases, students were allowed to use 3D printing on their own responsibility independently. Thus, they seldom receive the chance to use 3D printing for their own projects [8]. The presented project is different and could be motivating for students, because it fosters valuable insights into an entire process of development and production.…”