Classmates embrace 3-D printer challenge

When 11-year-old Kamalama Leonahe found out that he could design plastic models of images from his video games using a computer program and three-dimensional printer, he was all in.

"What boy wouldn’t be down for that?" Kamalama said.

The only catch: He would have to learn to use the software to design the models and build the printer from scratch.

Kamalama and 20 of his seventh-and eighth-grade classmates at Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau Laboratory Public Charter School in Kaneohe jumped on the opportunity thanks to the School and University Partnership for Educational Renewal in Mathematics project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s department of mathematics.

Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, SUPER-M sends graduate math students to K-12 schools throughout Hawaii to stimulate curiosity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Teachers at interested schools attend workshops put on by UH-Manoa where they learn about the program.

At the workshops, they are paired with graduate students and given time to plan a project to work on for the year.

English and mathematics teacher Michael O’Connell said he started going to SUPER-M workshops a few years back with hopes of including Kamakau on the list of participating schools.

It was not until last summer, after talking with Monique Chyba, SUPER-M program director and UH-Manoa assistant professor, along with a teacher from Waipahu High School, that O’Connell decided to bring the program to Kamakau.

"The whole concept of the program is great, especially in Hawaii, where many students lack that knowledge of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) concepts and passionate graduate students are willing to teach what they know," O’Connell said. "At Kamakau, we gravitate towards project-based learning and that’s sort of what got me hooked."

O’Connell was partnered with third-year graduate student Geoff Patterson, whom he said formed an instant connection with O’Connell’s students.

O’Connell and Patterson came up with the concept of building a three-dimensional printer after learning that the students’ idea of creating a project to enter in the Google Science Fair wouldn’t work because they were too young.

"Three-dimensional printers have been around for a while, so that to me wasn’t the special part," O’Connell said. "It was seeing how enthusiastic and curious the students were."

He added how surprised he was that his students used their free time to work on the project; they could have been outside, but instead they stayed in their small classroom on the grounds of Kokokahi YWCA to work on the project.

Because the printer project was an extracurricular activity, logistics had to be worked out before the project could begin, O’Connell said.

"The main issue was time," he said.

Students who wanted to work on the project needed to stay after school on Fridays and come back Saturday afternoons, so permission slips were handed out to parents.

When 21 slips came back, he wanted to find a way to make sure each student played a role in the process, while at the same time having their duties model "real-world situations."

He divided his students into three groups: an engineering bunch that would build the MakerGear Prusa Mendel printer; a software section of technicians who would usethe graphic design software;and a media relations teamthat would document the project.

Kai Smith, 11, found a passion for photography and videography while on the media relations team.

"After taking all the pictures and interviewing my classmates with the video camera I realized it’s something I could actually see myself doing when I’m older," she said.

Waialeale Sarsona, 11, who worked side by side with Smith, learned a lesson that she will take with her.

"Everyone has to work together no matter what other things are going on," she said. "That’s the only way the assignment for the day will be finished."

"It doesn’t matter what my students were assigned to do, what matters to me is what they’ll take away from this," O’Connell said. "This project bridges the gap between my students and the careers that involve sciences and technology, and I hope it inspired them to one day pursue work in those fields."