Categories: News

Company wants to make 3D technology accessible to students

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1588" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;06&sol;SND16-wk4-3D&lowbar;Technology&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND16-wk4-3D Technology" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"247" &sol;>Wanhao New Zealand&comma; which distributes Wanhao exclusively&comma; has made it a priority for 3D printers to become part of the New Zealand curriculum&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the way the world is going&comma; there is a need for more and more specialised skillsets and offering these to children at a young age can often allow them to have a greater understanding how things work&comma; especially when it comes to technology&comma; company spokesperson Clark Valmont says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;New Zealand has always been on the forefront of scientific achievement&comma; from the great splitting of the atom by Rutherford or the invention of the eggbeater by Ernest Godward along with numerous others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We need to ensure that children have the opportunity to be amongst these greats and 3D printing can give this advantage to children across the country&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Valmont says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wanhao New Zealand has partnered with a number of New Zealand schools&comma; along with Auckland College to offer a course in Sketch-Up &lpar;the industry standard design program behind 3D printing&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The purpose of this was to offer teachers a fundamental knowledge of how to make objects and become qualified in 3D printing in order for them to pass this knowledge on to children across the country&comma; Mr Valmont says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Speaking to technology experts around the country made it evident to Wanhao that offering a printer at discounted rates to schools wasn&&num;8217&semi;t enough as the children needed the fundamental understanding of what 3D printing was&comma; how to create their own designs and turn these into a reality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Within five years&comma; there will be many thousands of jobs within New Zealand that require 3D printing&comma; from advances in healthcare&comma; engineering&comma; industrial design – the list goes on&period; New Zealand needs to ensure that every child has the ability to learn skills and abilities that relate to the changing world and job market&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In other countries numerous schools have begun teaching coding&comma; programming and 3D printing to children at very junior levels as this is when the mind is at its most adaptable&comma; meaning children are able to pick these skills up significantly easier than they would at a later age&comma; Mr Valmont says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Within this partnership that Wanhao has offered to New Zealand schools via Auckland College many teachers are finding it a fantastic opportunity to upskill and pass this fantastic knowledge to the students&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The future is now and New Zealand cannot risk the chance of falling behind when it comes to having educational programs that change the lives of students&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>See more at <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wanhao&period;nz" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">www&period;wanhao&period;nz<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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