Saint George’s School is the first school in Colombia to install a ‘Creator Lab Advanced’ that with its Millennium approach is safe and easy to use by teachers and students alike.

The Creator Lab allows the integration of teaching and technology through the application of additive manufacturing, design and scanning of an element in 3D. Furthermore the ‘Creator Lab’ generates a spirit of collaboration among the students, who in the quest for new solutions, are developing skills for the 21^st Century.

This project began with a commercial approach to the Ricoh firm that allowed the School to use the 3D printing technology or additive manufacturing.

Initially there were 10 Makerbot Printers (replicator +), the design applications and a monitor for training and technical support. Subsequently, the image projector and SD Scanner were added.

A few months later we were offered the more powerful Stratasys F170 which not only prints on various materials but also improves the quality. From the beginning the idea was to create a space for other schools of other potential clients to acquaint themselves with a solution.

The addition of the Stratasys technology has helped the School to move from prototype applications to creating 100% enhanced functional parts in line with any particular manufacturing project, robotics or mechanics among others. (RICOH 2019)

The students are developing skills such as creativity, innovation, problem solving and the ability to explore. Faced with different real-world situations, they can design solutions based on new logical thinking and ‘out of the box’ ideas.

Another benefit, is the advancement of greater participation among students by expanding group exploration and cooperation. They share designs and experiences not only in the immediate face to face group but by also using virtual communities such as ‘thingiverse’.

An important aspect of this new learning process is that it is an enjoyable way to explore, interact and design solutions progressively. By trying out alternatives for the manipulation of objects, this 3D technology optimizes the use of material resources and time, depending on the way it is designed and printed.

Over the last few months, we have been guided by the I T Department, using educational, ethical and functional guidelines allowing the students to shape their ideas and develop their creativity.