West Cork school to represent Ireland

Can we get a round of applause for a West Cork school which has scooped 1st prize in a 3D printing challenge?

Togher National School in Dunmanway took the top spot in the nationwide contest and will now go forward to represent Ireland in a European showcase.

During the summer, 2 teachers from the school, Helen O’Connell and Richard Swann, were invited to a workshop on 3D design and printing.

This 3.5 day course was funded by EIT-Manufacturing and supported by Stryker, I-Form at University College Dublin, Arts et Metier Institute of Technology in France and University of Tartu in Estonia.

Participating teachers were provided with a free, long-term loan of a 3D printer for their school.

Following the course, the pupils of each school that participated were invited to run a 3D printing challenge with a sustainability theme in the classroom.

Principal of Togher National School, Helen O’Connell said: “It was a fantastic course and I would recommend it to all teachers. 3D printing provides children with the ability to design and create their own unique objects. This helps foster their creativity and imagination in a fun way. 3D printing also exposes children to science, technology, engineering and mathematics and can inspire them to pursue careers in those areas in the future.”

For the sustainability theme of the challenge, the children at Togher National School needed to identify something in the school or the home that required fixing or improving.

Having identified the problem, the children had to sketch out possible solutions, make modifications and create prototypes using recycled materials. The children then had to use Computer Aided Design and Slicer software to get their design ready for 3D printing.

Trial prints identified further modifications and redesigns before the finished item was 3D printed.

Teacher Richard Swann said: “Design and manufacturing is a huge opportunity that should be embraced at primary school level. Design is a different way of thinking – it’s both arts and maths.”

The journey from conception to design and finally to production was recorded as a short video which was accessed by the judging panel from I-Form and Stryker.

The video can be viewed on the school blog at Togher.edublogs.org.