Grade Level: 3

Est. Class Time: Seven 45-minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: 3 - 4 Hours

This lesson presents an opportunity for students to design modular picture frames that can be clicked together and can have decorations added or removed to suit the item in the frame. It also presents an opportunity for students to practice measurement skills, as well as many design and engineering skills.

Grade Level: 4

Estimated Class Time: Four 45-minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: 60 Minutes per Project

By 3D designing and printing a particularly important object or symbol to accompany a personal narrative, student writers have an opportunity to learn about narrowing their focus to the most important elements of the story and student readers or listeners gain a physical anchor to help interpret their classmates’ stories.

Grade Level: 4

Estimated Class Time: Eleven 45-60 minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: Varies

Through modeling their own sextant designs in 3D and then 3D printing them, students can gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of developing accurate and precise 

Grade Level: 5

Estimated Class Time:

Six 45- to 60-minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: 1 Hour

Studying civilizations throughout the ancient world is an exciting project-based activity that many classrooms participate in inventing their own class “civilization” with “seven characteristics of civilization” and artifacts from the invented civilization.

By incorporating 3D design and printing, students can create sturdier, more detailed artifacts that include more consistent common motifs. This lesson includes an archaeological dig!

Grade Level: 5

Estimated Class Time: Five 45-minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: 1 Hour per Project

Students learn how to read topographic maps and how to recognize different landforms. In this 3D design activity, students use a paper 2D topographic map to create a

3D model of a fictional geographic area. After printing their geographic areas, they label parts of the models with the types of landforms that can be seen in the model.

Grade Level: 6

Estimated Class Time: Eight 45-minute Class Periods

Est. Print Time: 8 Hours

3D design and simple circuitry design are both engineering skills that can be applied to solve a wide range of problems. This design

challenge introduces students to both 3D design and simple circuitry, while also providing an opportunity for personal creativity and identity development. Students design a personal logo representing at least one core value and then incorporate that design into an LED-illuminated accessory such as a patch, bracelet, cuff, lapel pin, or keychain.

Grade Level: 6

Estimated Class Time: Six 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 8 Hours

People of all ages have long enjoyed taking their music and other recorded audio content with them, whether to the beach or someplace else. For this challenge, students work in teams to design a passive speaker for a cell phone—today’s transistor radio!

Grade Level: 6

Estimated Class Time: Six 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 2 Hours

Sunglasses have long been a key element of personal style and their design possibilities are seemingly endless. However, their practical purpose has become more and more important as our understanding of atmospheric changes and the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays increases.  This challenge gives students an opportunity to create a fashion element that also protects the human eye from harmful radiation.

Grade Level: 6

Estimated Class Time: Seven 45- to 60-minute Class Periods 

Estimated Printing Time: Four Hours per Object/Team Companion

By designing a blade and hub for a windmill or turbine capable of lifting a load a specified height from the floor, this challenge encourages students to explore the harnessing the wind to do work or generate electricity through a project focused on designing windmill or turbine blades.

Grade Level: 7

Estimated Class Time: Six 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 8 Hours per Project

In this challenge, students design a car that is powered by a balloon. The lesson reinforces concepts central to Newton’s laws of motion and forces that affect motion.

Grade Level: 7

Estimated Class Time: Six 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 50 Min. per Project 

This challenge gives students an opportunity to explore the core scientific and engineering principles associated with propellers by designing, 3D printing, and testing their own boat propeller components.

Grade Level: 7

Estimated Class Time: Seven 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 20 Minutes

In this lesson, students will be presented with an example of a hypothetical simplified cell surface, and will create and 3D print viruses with antigens that could allow the virus to enter that cell. Students will then exchange viruses to invent and 3D print immune system antibodies that could recognize those viruses to mount an immune response.

Grade Level: 7

Estimated Class Time: Eight 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 3 Hours per Project 

Students will calculate the statistical outcomes of several typical casino games, and then invent and create slightly modified versions of the games to change the statistics.

Grade Level: 7

Estimated Class Time: Nine 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 1 Hour per Project

By applying their understanding of adaptations and known seed dispersal mechanisms to designing a new mechanism for a plant in a specific environment, in this

lesson, students draw a random selection of characteristics for a hypothetical habitat and 3D design and print a seed and a seed dispersal mechanism that would be ideal for a plant in that habitat.

Grade Level: 8

Estimated Class Time: Seven 45-minute Class Periods 

Est. Print Time: 18.5 Hours per Team

In this challenge, students work in teams to collaboratively design a plant tower with limited or no outdoor space for a garden to grow.