While most 7th graders in the US went to school this Wednesday, where they learned long division and dissected the symbolism of The Giver, two lucky students from the Black Pine Circle School’s Maker Club in Berkeley, California, were invited to attend the White House Maker Faire, where they showed a certain president their 3D printing project.
Along with their science teacher, Christine Mytko (Hi, Christine!), 7th graders Jane Yarnell and Sam Schickler showed off 3D printed scans of microscopic surfaces at the White House Maker Faire. As a part of the Maker Club, the students visited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source and performed high powered X-rays of objects, like Mentos, snake skin, duct tape, and eggshells. The students then enlarged their scans and 3D printed the results. Mytko explained to local news site, Berkeleyside, how the process works, “You take over a thousand photos, from many different angles, of the sample, which is generally about a millimeter in size. So using software what you can do is reconstruct that like a 3D X-ray.”
The club also demonstrated their work at the Bay Area Maker Faire this past May, where they won ribbons for both “Editor’s Choice” and “Best in Class”. Mytko, who members of 3DPI met at the 3D Printer World Expo earlier this year, is doing amazing work to encourage an embrace of STEAM education and technology with her students. 13-year-old Yarnell even told Berkeleyside, “I’ve never liked to just buy a new thing. It’s way more fun to work on it.” Pursuing the Maker lifestyle is the best thing we could have wished for for the next generation of Americans. No wonder they were invited to the White House!
For more adventures (and inspiration) from the Black Pine Circle Maker Club, be sure to read Mytko’s blog, Tales of a 3D Printer.
Source: Make
