3D Printers and QR Codes used in "gym class"?

Step 1: Scan the QR code…

(or take the easy way out and click on this to visit the site: 3D Printing & Physical Education?). Now read the blog and watch the included video.  

Step 2: Well I hope you were as amazed as I was when I went on this site and saw what the power of a 3D printer can do for the physical education program and a school as a whole! 

Before watching this video I knew that 3D printers were very expensive, and rare to have, but I did not realize the huge power of the ideas and the equipment that could be created with this printer! On the news channels they advertise that a 3D printer could create a figurine, or help engineers or car factories with their creations and inventions, but never do they publicize what a 3D printer can do for a school (HPE specific examples…) – print out real working whistles, golf clubs, balls, and more! Now, I do not know how a History or English teacher could use this printer, but even with Science as my second teachable I can already think that a 3D printer could help create models of the human body, systems, models of cells and organisms, etc. HPE teachers are no longer bound to a minimum order for certain equipment; if a teacher needs only one left handed golf club, this printer can provide you with one. As the blog itself states, “HPE teachers will have the ability to make total customizations to the equipment they have in their schools. Have some smaller students who cannot control the full sized cricket bat? Easy done, change the scale and print a smaller one. The Sky’s the limit!” It is quite atrocious that something so expensive can create items for pennies, but it does seem like a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately not all schools or programs have the means (money) to simply purchase one of the 3D printers tomorrow, but I am not discussing this in my blog. However it does seem the world can be your oyster and the ideas can be endless through using a 3D printer in schools.

Now, moving on…technological literacy is one of the main 21^st century skills students should be taught in schools – no matter the grade level or subject area. However, after one of the recent education classes, I realize that the teachers need to further develop their own knowledge in technological literacy before teaching it to their students. In a presentation by one of the co-founders of the site Cube for Teachers, my peers and I almost seemed like a deer in highlights from all of the technological and Internet knowledge and support that is available for teachers, as well as for us to use with our students. While being a member of the ‘next generation of teachers’, I felt like I was from the stone-age, as this woman showed us one website after another! One of the sites she showed us used QR codes for instructions for students with a disability, or as a scavenger hunt for students, no matter the subject. The use of QR codes really intrigued me. For one being a little nervous of the idea of having students BYOD (Bring your own device) to class, incorporating QR codes into a lesson was something I am intrigued about and would like more information on. 

Luckily, one of the blogs I follow by Jarrod Robinson (The PE Geek) posted a podcast/blog on QR codes and Physical Education (Click here to go to the blog post). QR codes were originally used in the 1990s in Japan for vehicle tracking. He explained how QR codes could be used in a number of ways inside the classroom and outside. This is something teachers should be implementing into their lessons. A QR code does not need to display a video or URL every time either, it can provide a link to text or information you want to tell your students. A few ways Jarrod used QR codes in his lessons included the use of a scavenger hunt (inside the school, local community, etc.) that delivered a practical test method, instead of the basic written test students must perform. Students had to answer questions, watch videos, and learn all while being active! Kind of like an Amazing Race within the Internet! One of the examples using QR codes that I liked the most, was using it in the Weight Room as a way to provide information on the safety procedures and how to properly use each machine/perform each exercise, through scanning the specific QR code. However, this can be a student-driven and not teacher-directed instruction. Your class can create the videos, and produce the QR codes for the exercises/machines for the year’s HPE classes, or for the following school year’s students as their final assignment…the ideas are purely endless.  

Now I encourage you to go online, search QR codes instructional ideas and lesson suggestions, create your own QR code for a lesson or blog you are about to create (I suggest using the site QRStuff when creating). Start to learn what you can do using QR codes.

A 3D printer may cost a lot of money before being able to use it in the classroom, but QR codes are free to use…what is your excuse now?