3D printing has emerged in higher education as a reliable and affordable learning technology that empowers users to quickly transform ideas into physical prototypes.  Ready access to 3D printing promotes creativity and innovation among students and faculty alike.  Within the chemical education community, 3D printing has been utilized by instructors to create realistic models of crystalline and molecular structures that afford students an opportunity to grapple with and better understand important aspects of stereochemistry.  3D printed models often allow student to better visualize geometric subtleties in a structure that may not be apparent when rendered using traditional modeling kits.  Chemical educators are beginning to incorporate hands-on 3D printing activities as part of the classroom curriculum.  As an example, physical chemistry students at Stetson University have recently used computational chemistry software to create optimized molecular structures that were subsequently 3D printed.  Activities of this type often make difficult to learn concepts more accessible and can greatly enhance student enthusiasm and motivation for learning abstract material.  A more widespread adoption of 3D printing curricular activities across higher enrollment chemistry courses requires a sizable up-front investment in multiple printers that is typically not affordable at the department level.  Stetson University has been able to overcome this hurdle through the creation and maintenance of a 3D printing innovation lab, housed in the library, which is available to all academic disciplines.  Advantages of a campus-supported 3D printing lab include extended-hours access to multiple printers, the availability of technical support staff, and no worries about printer maintenance.  Details about the chemistry and library supported innovation lab collaboration will be discussed.  Examples of curricular 3D printing activities carried out by students will be presented.

3D printing activities in the chemistry curriculum made possible through collaboration with a centralized campus-supported innovation (maker) lab

252nd National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.