Collaborative research: Creating an Upper Division Additive Manufacturing Course and Laboratory For Enhancing Undergraduate Research and Innovation

美国经济和社会理论家预测，增材制造（AM）预示着第三次工业革命的开始，继19世纪末以来一直主导制造业的生产线组装之后。AM，也被称为3D打印，是指在计算机控制下通过连续打印材料层来创建三维工件的过程。在过去十年中，3D打印机的价格大幅下降，使得它们在本科工程实验室中相对普遍，从而为学生提供了AM的第一手经验。该项目的目标是帮助K-12学生和工程本科生了解增材制造，以便他们为美国制造业的复兴做好更好的准备。学生的学习将得到实验室、项目、课程材料和AM教科书的支持，这些将在该项目期间开发。涉及的机构是德克萨斯理工大学（TTU），一所研究活动高的大学（RU/H），加州州立大学北岭分校，一所非博士学位授予机构，既是HSI（西班牙裔服务机构）也是AANAPISI（亚裔美国原住民美国太平洋岛民服务机构），以及堪萨斯州立大学（KSU），既是EPSCoR也是RU/H机构。通过创建AM课程，将实现以下目标：(1)开发智力严谨的课程材料（例如，教科书，实验手册，课堂笔记），这些材料将通过硬拷贝和虚拟课堂网站公开访问；(2)就新AM课程对STEM学生态度和自我效能感变化的影响进行重要的教育研究，研究结果将发表在工程和教育期刊上；(3)为K-12学生和创客空间用户开发简化的3D打印项目。工程本科生通过一对一的指导关系向K-12学生伸出援助之手，将有助于通过培养对工程作为职业的兴奋和兴趣，建立K-12 STEM管道。

American economic and social theorists have predicted that Additive Manufacturing (AM) heralds the beginning of the Third Industrial Revolution, succeeding the production line assembly that has dominated manufacturing since the late 19th century. AM, also known as 3D printing, refers to a process used to create a three-dimensional artifact by printing successive layers of material under computer control. The significant drop in price of 3D printers over the last decade has made them relatively common in undergraduate engineering labs, thereby opening up the opportunity to provide students with extended first-hand experience of AM. The goal of the project is to help K-12 students and engineering undergraduates learn about AM so that they are better prepared for the renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. Student learning will be supported by the labs, projects, course materials, and a textbook on AM that will be developed during this project. The institutions involved are Texas Tech University (TTU), a university with high research activity (RU/H), California State University, Northridge, a non-PhD-granting institution that is both an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) and an AANAPISI (Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution), and Kansas State University (KSU), both an EPSCoR and an RU/H institution. Through creation of the AM course, the following goals will be met: (1) the development of intellectually rigorous course materials (e.g., textbook, lab manual, lecture notes) that will be publicly accessible via hard copy and a virtual classroom website; (2) the conduct of important educational research on the impact of the new AM curricula on changes in student attitudes and self-efficacy in STEM, the results of which will be published in engineering and education journals; (3) the development of simplified 3D printing projects for K-12 students and Maker Space users. Outreach by engineering undergraduates to K-12 students through one-on-one mentoring relationships will help to build the K-12 STEM pipeline by creating excitement and interest in engineering as a career.