Maker Milestone: 50 Schools in Estonia Get a New MakerBot!
| by MakerBot
This week, we’re celebrating a milestone breakthrough in a country that’s empowering citizens with exciting new technology: Estonia. Electronic ID cards, digital birth certificates, online voting, and laws that protect e-signatures are just a few amenities that Estonians enjoy. Now, thanks to Eesti 2.0, Estonia’s next generation of STEM professionals can benefit from better learning with 3D printing. The nonprofit has gifted 50 schools with a brand new MakerBot Fifth Generation Desktop 3D Printer!
Eesti 2.0 gave 50 basic and secondary schools the chance to explore STEM with exciting 3D-print projects. Here in the US, the winning schools would be equivalent to elementary school, middle school, and high school. Their students are creating geometric shapes in math classes, life-sized body parts and organs in biology classes, vases and landscapes in art classes, robot parts in engineering classes, and more. One entrepreneurial class was even able to start a student-run company that produces and sells parts to keep iPhone chargers in tact. Inspired by all the new ways to spice up projects using 3D design, these innovators in training are using their MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D (5th Gen) printers almost everyday.
Educators are enjoying how engaged and motivated the students have become, even after class is over. “There is a special sparkle in their eyes,” says a teacher at the Kristiine Secondary School in Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn. “They’re so excited that they do 3D modeling at home, and then come to school to print out their designs.” They’re also empowered by the ability to bring existing lesson plans to life with print projects. “The kids got very excited when they got to invent elements for an animated movie we were making,” shared a teacher at a Secondary School in Saku, a small town south of Tallinn. In the future, the participating schools hope to launch large-scale 3D-print competitions, create a way to exhibit successful projects, and find a way to give other schools the opportunity to purchase their own MakerBot printers.
With successful donations like these, young innovators have the chance to achieve breakthroughs in STEAM learning. With this in mind, we’re giving you a chance to win a new MakerBot Replicator Fifth Generation 3D Printer in our own #MakerMilestone giveaway. To enter, share your own maker milestones on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Include #MakerMilestones and @MakerBot in your post. A maker milestone could be as simple as a 3D design that you’re really proud of, or as big as a huge print that took you weeks to complete. We’d like to see it all!
For a limited time, you can also save $400 when purchasing a new MakerBot Replicator. Click here to take advantage of this special offer.
SOURCES:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/lessons-from-the-worlds-most-tech-savvy-government/283341/https://venturebeat.com/2016/04/17/e-estonia-how-this-eu-country-runs-its-government-like-a-startup/