3D printing is not only a technology to use as an additive manufacturing tool but also aids in enhancing the learning experience. It can be used in hospitals by surgeons and medical students to learn about body parts and prepare the doctors for surgery.
This technology can be used to replicate particles and minute materials and scale them up to a dimension thousands of times larger for study and analysis. It can be used to reduce the universe to the size of a cube that can be fitted in the palm of the hand.
Scientists at the Institute of Materials Science in Barcelona (ICMAB) have designed a technology using 3D printing to educate students about material science. A 3-day course was devised to teach school teachers about the various aspects of material science which is otherwise a difficult subject to grasp in a regular class.
But there was an exception in this case as each participant was given a 3Doodler and numerous crystallographic components like the honeycomb, cube and diamond shapes. These structures will be left unfinished by the participants for the students to complete as a part of their curriculum. This way they would also get an opportunity to learn and showcase their creative skills.
The cube makes up the structure of various elements namely gold. Students went on to replicate the design of these elements by building new structures and understanding their design.
Models of 3D printed atomic force microscopic images were also given in the course, which has been developed by the researchers at ICMAB and these models are being used at the Texas A&M University and Keysight technologies. The scientists engaged in developing this technology are
Anna Crespi, Judit Oró, Maite Simon, and Andrés Gómez, and this project were backed by Fundacio Catalunya-La Pedrera, an organization supporting innovations and development in Spain.

Source: 3Dprint.com