Case Illustrations of 3D Printing in Brazilian Schools and Community

Introduction

3D printing technologies are emerging in the Brazilian educational context as well as in other sectors (e.g., medicine), and are gaining attention from educators, researchers, and government. Brazilian researchers (e.g., Basniak & Liziero, 2017; Medeiros, Peres, Bueira, & Borges, 2016) have started realizing the potential of 3D printing technologies to support the development of students’ skills and competencies to better prepare them for their future careers. Medeiros et al. (2016) believe that the demands of contemporary society require a school that inspires creativity, collaboration, initiative, and entrepreneurship among other competencies. While many tools and applications are available, that can be used inside and outside the classroom, and certainly, other tools will emerge, the authors stress that 3D printing technologies have the potential to support these skills to educate citizens of the 21st Century. This is in line with Brazil’s Federal Constitution enacted in 1988 and the national law on education approved in 1996 (LDB Law nº 9.394) that called upon the government (federal, state and municipal level) and society to make continuous efforts to modernize education to improve its quality while recognizing the important role of technology to support such efforts. The Ministry of Education in Brazil reinforced this role (as cited in Couto, 2017, p.36):

Lima and Iaroczinski (2015) added that, when discussing improvements in education, the use of technologies is part of this aim. The idea is to adopt advanced technologies to promote quality education where effective instructional methods and technologies transform the classroom into an attractive environment for teaching and learning. New technology, such as 3D printers and 3D modeling, can help in promoting more student-centered learning approaches and new learning experiences (Maloy, Trust, Kommers, Malinowski, & LaRoche, 2017) where students could be more actively engaged in constructing knowledge.

Considering the potential that 3D printing technologies can offer to schools, this chapter aims to illustrate how these tools are used in Brazilian schools by purposefully selecting cases published in the literature in the last two decades. The chapter also includes a recent 3D printing research project implemented outside the school context but with visible implications for schools and stakeholders. While discussing the cases, international literature is reviewed for comparison and to enrich the discussions. The following sections provide background information followed by a description of the methodology and review of the cases. The subsequent sections discuss recommendations and future research directions. The cases described in this chapter work as a springboard to further the discussions and generate research ideas regarding 3D printing technologies in schools.

Background

Based on the 2016 School Census by the National Institute of Studies and Educational Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP - Portuguese Acronym), Brazil’s education system features 48.8 million enrollments in basic education (aged 5-18) scattered through 186.1 thousand schools and 8.3 million enrollments in higher education, including undergraduate and graduate levels (INEP, 2017). According to the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA, 2015) organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among 70 nations, Brazil ranked poorly in science (63rd position), reading (59th position) and mathematics (66th position). These results led Brazil to a global 65th position. The need for urgent improvements in the learning quality, universalization of access and reduction of operation cost of a complex and diverse education system is, undisputedly, one of the major mounting challenges for the country to reach its full potential.