Three-D Printing

by Hannah Pj

From printing small insignificant items to full-sized automobiles, a relatively new, technological advancement will change the way people look at printers forever. At Science City, Accelerated School students recently observed a new dimension of printing... not with just a normal printer, but a printer that can print  3-dimensional objects!

Guided by an instructor at Science City, everyone in the class designed their own 3-D figures and watched them magically come to life. Using MacIntosh computers, students used an online program to design objects such as signs,  symbols, dogtags, or keychain fobs. Objects needed to be small so that there would be enough time for each individual object to actually print.  Most of the projects took 15-20 minutes to print.

The 3-D printers utilized melted plastic to recreate  students’ designs that had been made on the computers. Students were fascinated to see their designs appear as layers of plastic were applied by the many moving parts.  They also learned that not all 3D printers function perfectly, as some malfunctioned and did not print projects correctly.

Three-D printers vary in cost, from about $1,200 for low-end models to thousands of dollars. The models at Union Station were in the low range, but were impressive to watch.  Students were entertained by the experience.  Kimberlyn V. said, “Personalizing my name on the keychain and watching it print was my favorite part of the field trip.”

Another student, Josh J. commented, “ Since we got to design what we wanted, I printed a tag for my keychain that refers to an old video game that I like to play.”  

Prairie Fire Museum Field Trip, by Lily O., Junior Yearbook Staff

Appearances can be deceiving, that statement comes to life at the Prairie Fire Museum at 135th and Nall. A building made of 10,000 hand painted metal panels and over 258 one-of-a-kind dichroic sheets of glass. How it looks on the outside is quite different to the inte­rior view. The use of individual sheets of dichroic glass creates a contrasting color depending on the light­ing. So while the outside resembles a prairie fire consisting of warm oranges, golds, reds, and yellows, when one steps into the museum the glass takes on a colder hue with shades of blues, purples, and grays.

Heather Manning said, “I really liked the exterior of the building because I thought the way the glass changed colors from the outside to the inside was very pretty.

This unique building cost $30 million to create.  The students of Accelerated Schools of Overland Park had the pleasure of touring this new addition to the Midwest on September 11. The museum houses unique expositions on loan from its affiliated museum, New York Museum of Natural History, which is the famous museum in Central Park that is the focus of the 2006 movie, “A Night at the Museum.”   Each exhibit remains at Prairie Fire for 4 to 5 months. When an exhibit arrives it is displayed in an 8,000 square foot room for visitors to enjoy.

When the students were visiting Prairie Fire, the exposition was “Mythic Creatures.”  It featured information on dragons, unicorns, and mermaids. The exhibit rooms were full of interesting facts, many life ­size sculptures, and an enormous amount of information for the students to read or watch via video. While some of the information is created from pure imagination, most of the myths were also tied to something factual. The students were able to explore the exhibits that included multiple artifacts. Roaming around the room students stopped to appreciate the visuals, interactive games, and facts given at each station. All in all this field trip was a success with each student leaving having learned something new. The Prairie Fire Museum offers unique sights that everyone can enjoy.


(Photo by student Heather M.)