3D Printing: Name plates for 2017

Above: Completed name badge/sign

Challenge: A new school year has a new group of students who have not had previous had experience with the 3D printers.   The challenge is to get a new group of students excited and producing original material with unique designs and problem solving ideas.
Background: The school year in New Zealand runs from February to December, so the new class were wanting an opportunity to use the 3D printers.  Our school had made the decision to upgrade our printers to Ultimaker 2+.   Classroom time at this point was not allocated to 3D printing so we were looking for the students to be proactive in their own time.  Tinkercad accounts were outlined and the students were encouraged to create their own account and designs in their own time, with the intention being if the students created the work we would take the time to print the designs.

Above: 12cm long name plate

Task: Students in a Y5/6 class (nine and ten year olds) were explained the design process and shown how to create an account.  They were then tasked with creating an original design with purpose for printing.
Level of Difficulty: Low.  The first students were able to use Tinkercad to create a design of their choice with a purpose.
Issues: None - the design was the students first, designed overnight and worked perfectly the only minor issue was the hole designed for looping of cord etc.  This had to be fully worked with a screwdriver, which was a minor issue.
Size: 12cm long, 4.5cm high and a depth of 1cm.   Black filament was the default.  Conceivably the depth could have been halved as 5mm has been fine for similar projects in the past.
Timeframe: Three hours - this is reflective of a 'fast' print but our printers have been recently upgraded, as a result we are anticipating an improved time in the projects from this point forward.
Process: This was genuinely created by the students, with their first attempts at Tinkercad completed without any input from the teacher.  The student independently created the entire project and was able to bring a completed project to the classroom - and explain the justification behind the process and what he wanted to achieve as a result of the print.  This was intended to inspire the student and others in the classroom as what might be possible and would hopefully lead to more complex and detailed designs and creations.