The Ministry of Education and Employment in Malta is investing in Ultimaker 3D printers so that students can develop key skills.

The Ministry of Education and Employment in Malta wants to better support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in education. What better way than to supply public technical schools with their own 3D printers?

The government first held a tender to find the best 3D printing manufacturer, and chose Ultimaker for the job. To date, the Dutch company has supplied 80 3D printers to schools across Malta.

Impressively, the country is now one of the first in the world to use the technology in classrooms on such a large-scale. The National Education Officer for Computing & ICT, James Catania, said:

“For us, the introduction of 3D printing on a national scale is the next logical step when it comes to STEM subjects and science education. We find Ultimaker a good educational partner because they provide a very solid solution, which is user-friendly and adapts itself easily to a classroom environment.”

Ultimaker provided schools with hardware, software and materials. But equally important, they ensured teachers had the right level of support to get started.

Students in Malta Collaborate on 3D Printing a BB-8 Droid

Ultimaker’s local supplier in Malta, Forestals, offers professional training and hands-on experience for educators. Gordon Dimech, the COO of Forestals, says:

“We recognize that with any new technology, we need to support the community with training and support, and it is our intention to continue to develop our programs to facilitate and encourage people to use 3D printing in line with the education curriculum.”

Malta places importance on robotics in technology lessons. In this respect, 3D printing can help teachers explore the subject on a new level.

For example, an educational BB-8 Droid project has already made the most of the Ultimaker machines. For this project, teachers and students came together to create a 1:1 copy of the Star Wars character.

To bring the BB-8 Droid to life, STL files were split between teachers. They then went away to print their part along with their students. Around 500 hours of printing time later, the pieces were ready.

In total, the students made 35 pieces using different PLA filaments. However, they all had the same quality and fit together perfectly. Check out the finished project in the picture below.

Source: Ultimaker