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"Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printers are popping up everywhere - from the home to the office; from the classroom to the workshop. PLA and ABS thermoplastic are the defacto standard materials used for these desktop 3D printers. But did you know that you could fabricate things with exotic 3D printer filament, too? You can now print in wood, metal, carbon fiber, and much more besides. As the name implies, exotic 3d printer filaments - also known as specialty or composite - filaments are advanced materials for your FDM 3D Printer. They combine thermoplastics like PLA and ABS with ingredients like metals, carbon fiber, wood, and glow-in-the-dark compounds to create hybrid materials with unique properties. With so much variety on offer, it's easier than ever to create functional, beautiful, and high performing prints in a variety of exciting materials. Read our guide to find out which 3D printer filament - regular or exotic - is right for you."

"As Kristin Berbawy packed projects into her car, she lingered over one in particular. Two 3D-printed Makerbots with wire hooks-a pair of earrings. They matched the white braces on her teeth and the white strands in her hair. Her students had made them-as they had all the projects in her car-in their high school makerspace. She was proud of them. She was going to display their work to other teachers. Smack in the middle of AP exams, a growing group of teachers is pouring time, creativity and energy into activities for which there are no standardized tests: makerspaces. The movement is avowedly grassroots and candidly quirky, and its main gathering is the Maker Educator Convening in Oakland, CA, where Kristin Berbawy was headed with a trunkload of laser cut wood and 3D printed objects. "

"Print a 3D logo on your t-shirt! You can 3D print directly onto a t-shirt with your home printer using standard PLA, ABS or other regular filament."

"It's no secret that fractions are a very difficult concept for students to understand. But why is that? Fractions are an extremely abstract concept, and without adequate concrete and representational experiences, students do not develop mental images of what the abstract symbols mean.   In Texas, students begin formal fraction instruction in 2nd grade under our newly adopted TEKS, but the symbolic notation for fractions (1/4, 2/3, etc.) is not taught until 3rd grade. The 2nd grade standards include: partition objects into equal parts and name the parts, including halves, fourths, and eighths, using words explain that the more fractional parts used to make a whole, the smaller the part; and the fewer the fractional parts, the larger the part use concrete models to count fractional parts beyond one whole using words and recognize how many parts it takes to equal one whole Let's take a closer look at each."

"Back in February, an EdWeek Market brief reported that Amazon Education was starting to beta-test a new platform with educators, helping teachers navigate the jungles of open educational resources (or OERs, for short). Well, that platform-Amazon Inspire-has officially launched today in tandem with the ISTE conference in Denver, Colorado. A free, mostly-OER platform (see below for why it's "mostly OER"), Amazon Inspire works like a search engine for educational videos, lesson plans and games. Users can search by criteria like topics (say, "fractions" or "the Constitution"), standards, grade level, and time to complete, as shown below; additionally, they can rate materials with 1 to 5 stars."

"Two years ago I attended an edtech conference focused on the then up-and-coming trend of makerspaces. The opening keynote speaker ended his presentation with a charge for all in attendance: "I hope that makerspaces don't become an edtech fad that goes away as quickly as it has risen to popularity; I hope you all can figure out how to do it right." So what is the "right way" when it comes to using makerspaces? And now that they have been established in schools all across the globe, how can we measure the impact that makerspaces have on student learning and achievement? Most facilitators would agree that standardized test scores may never accurately reflect the impact that makerspaces have on student achievement. Rather, it is a combination of the design thinking processes, service learning experiences, and 21st century skills being developed in makerspaces that are positively impacting student learning."

"Design thinking is an approach to learning that includes considering real-world problems, research, analysis, conceiving original ideas, lots of experimentation, and sometimes building things by hand. The projects teach students how to make a stable product, use tools, think about the needs of another, solve challenges, overcome setbacks and stay motivated on a long-term problem. The projects also teach students to build on the ideas of others, vet sources, generate questions, deeply analyze topics, and think creatively and analytically. Many of those same qualities are goals of the Common Core State Standards. (What Does 'Design Thinking' Look Like in School?) I use the following activities to introduce elementary students to the design thinking process. The ultimate goal is for the learners to work on their own, self-selected problems in which they will apply the design thinking. Introducing the general design process to elementary student occurs through showing the following video about the engineering process:"

"Our 5th grade is currently studying the impact on American life that several famous inventors had. When I was brainstorming with Shelley Olin, 5th grade social studies teacher, we began to wonder about connections these standards had to makerspace.  It started as an idea seed and grew into a set of experiences for all 5th graders to engage in. I wanted students to put themselves into the shoes of an inventor so that they could begin to understand the perseverance and curiosity that inventors have. We focused on 3 of the inventors: Thomas Edison (electricity), Alexander Graham Bell (communication), and the Wright Brothers (flight)."

"You may have noticed the conversation about ed tech vs tech ed and the confusion about what each is or if there is even a difference. This is understandable. The International Society for "Technology Education" calls themselves the largest teacher-based organization in the field of "educational technology." Wait? They're the society for "tech ed" but they are an "ed tech" organization with "ed tech" standards. Confusing! The Innovative Educator is here to help you understand, as well as determine where you fit in this whole picture.  To follow is your handy dandy guide."

"Many educators and school leaders alike often wonder how students can be appropriately assessed in maker environments. One of the questions that I am asked most frequently is: How do we assess in a makerspace? In my book, Worlds of Making:  Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School, I touch upon assessment and say that a makerspace can have activities associated with the Standards and even can be assessed; however, making doesn't always have to be-indeed, I would argue, MUST not always be-tied to traditional assessment.  All too common is the mindset that traditional methods of assessment are the only valid means to measure learning.  "

"In his new book, Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham wants to be clear: There's a big difference between teaching kids to read and teaching them to love reading. And Willingham, a parent himself, doesn't champion reading for the obvious reasons - not because research suggests that kids who read for pleasure do better in school and in life. "The standard things you'll hear about why kids should read I actually don't think are very strong arguments," he says. "Because if the goal is to become a good citizen or the goal is to make a lot of money, I can think of more direct ways to reach those goals than to read during your leisure time.""

"Even after teaching for a decade, Pamela Baack found herself battling the calendar as she tried to keep her students on track. She's the first to admit it wasn't easy to change the way she had been teaching for a decade. "We were always on someone else's pace, not our kids' pace," says Baack, who teaches at the Bella Romero Academy of Applied Technology, a K-8 public school in Greeley, Colorado. Most lessons were taught to the entire class, requiring Baack to constantly search for opportunities to help the students who struggled. "It was hard to differentiate, because it was hard to find the time to go back," she says. Today, students in Baack's third-grade classroom work through addition, multiplication, and division activities at their own pace. Some progress through lessons quickly, while others get the opportunities they need to relearn and practice key concepts until they are ready to move forward. Importantly, Baack says, even the students who struggle the most are at grade level. "They're still doing what every else is doing, but at a different pace," she says. "They're exposed to grade-level standards and content and will be able to move up." "

"You've no doubt read countless blogs and articles about the incredible impact makerspaces can have in schools. You may even have started rearranging your space, or perhaps you've created an Amazon wish list. But after being a maker-librarian for nearly two years, I can assure you that you should really stop thinking about starting a makerspace ... and just do it.  I spent a solid year planning my makerspace. I developed a vision statement and set goals. I made an infographic for my administration, listing standards that would be addressed. I weeded my library like crazy and made mock-ups using Google Drawings to help them envision the new space. At conferences I went to everything with the word "maker" in the title. I set up a filter on TweetDeck to see everything posted on #makered and #makerspace. And while I learned a ton and met a lot of amazing people, I really regret not having my own space already established before going into all these learning experiences. Which is why I strongly recommend you stop thinking about starting your makerspace and just get started."

"If a school were to spend thousands of dollars on a class set of laptops, yet only use them for printing documents of random words or clipart designed by someone else, no one in their right mind would conclude that this technology was being used to its fullest extent. Yet, many schools are not prepared to hold their 3D printing programs to the same educational standards. At Brookwood School in Manchester-By-The-Sea, MA, when our first 3D printing project in 2013 resulted in a functional prosthetic for my son, it quickly became clear that these machines held the potential for some pretty transformative educational experiences, and set us on a path to getting the most out of this new technology. Below are some recommendations regarding how to "supercharge your 3D printing program":"

"Regardless of what we call them, the 21st century skills represent a type of skill that is not traditionally connected to standards and skills our students are evaluated on. Even though we know these types of skills are imperative to success in the workplace, in relationships, and in life-they are still seen often as "nice to have" instead of "need to have" for our students."

Can we measure happiness and should this be a standard for measuring our lives and countries?

"20 years of computers as a publishing tool has not necessarily improved the standard of students' writing skills."