FabLab Madrid CEU has presented a paper entitled “WHEN LEARNING HAPPENS THROUGH A CYCLE OF INVENTION, DESIGN AND DIGITAL FABRICATION AS STUDENTS BRING THEIR IDEAS TO LIFE” at INTED 2018 (12th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference) held in Valencia, last 5th, 6th and 7th of March, 2018.

The paper describes some of the experiments carried out in Fab Lab Madrid CEU using 3D printing technologies in coordination with CEU Sanchinarro School, ISEP CEU (Instituto Superior de Estudios Profesionales), Fundación Oxiria and EPS CEU (Escuela Politécnica Superior). Experiments involve the participation of primary school students, students with special needs and high-school students and target the use of the Fab Lab for STEAM subjects as a support tool oriented to fabricate small-scale prototypes to demonstrate and prove the concepts developed by the students in theoretical classes using a hands-on approach. All them provides students with a personalized learning environment that assist them during the whole fabrication and experimentation process establishing a clear link between theoretical concepts and their practical implementation.

The experiments are part of the NEWTON project which is now involved on the real-life validation that includes pilots and experiments targeting over 1000 students and forty teachers/lecturers from different schools, including schools with special learning students, universities and vocational institutes in seven European countries.