Students at Henryk Sienkiewicz’s technical school in Poland learned about history and 3D printing while recreating a German gunboat shipwreck.

Teachers are regularly finding new ways to incorporate 3D printing into the curriculum. However, many are finding that the technology isn’t only great for teaching design skills, it can also help bring an awareness of local history.

For example, students at Henryk Sienkiewicz’s technical school in Poland recently learned about a German WWII gunboat MFP type which is lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Teacher Jacek Kawalek was asked by the Museum of Polish Weaponry in Kolobrzeg to recreate the ship using 3D printing. In the process, the students learned that the boat transported troops, tanks and artillery support. As well as this, they learned that when the Polish army sieged the city of Kolobrzeg at the end of the Second World War, the boat was sunk.

Students blended modern technology with historical learning to recreate the boat. They spent most of a school year working on the project, using a ZMorph multi-tool 3D printer to build two models.

The final result is a 3D printed shipwreck model and a detailed mock-up model of the original ship. Kawalek created a video to document the project:

Learning 3D Printing Design Skills and History

In order to 3D print the ship, the students were first sent a 3D scan by the museum. With this, they were able to break the print down into 25 manageable parts.

They chose a PLA filament which imitates sand for printing and created the base for the shipwreck. They then developed a scaled down version of what the ship now looks like.

The parts were painted gray, to clearly show the shipwreck lying amongst the sand. However, they also incorporated real sand to make the shipwreck look as realistic as possible. As well as this, they added a 3D printed plaque with the details of the shipwreck.

Next came the second part of the project which was to create the mock up model of the ship. Kawalek and his students moved onto 3D modeling and printing the mock up of the original ship. They scaled everything down and printed even the most intricate of details.

This project took around seven months to complete but both models look fantastic. They have now be presented to the Museum of Polish Weaponry in Kolobrzeg and are on display for all to admire.

Impressively, even though the students faced time restraints as they were soon to be graduating, they finished the models on time and continue to work on 3D printing projects during their holidays. Clearly, blending learning with hands on 3D printing makes a big impact on students.

Source: ZMorph Blog