FABLAB

What does FABLAB stand for?   

It stands for "Fabrication laboratory". Technology is increasing! In Thomas More University of Applied Sciences you have a Fablab. The Fablab is accessible to all students. You see more and more laser cutters 3D printers coming into the schools and cheaper accessible programs to work with. But what can you do with it?

Meaningful learning 

Meaningful education increases children's motivation and therefore their ability to learn and remember what they learned. I like to work with wooden materials, because it is more natural. As I'm a very creative person I love to create my own materials for my class. This give me the possibility to follow the interests and needs of my children.

What can you do with a 3D printer? The 3D printer gives you the possibility to print details of objects that are difficult to see with the bare eye. E.g. insects printed out enlarged or when you work around  the body you can show how their inside looks like en show a print of a hart. You can go more in depth in specific topics. It allows you to make things bigger and investigate with your toddlers in detail.




Which devices are available here:

  • Laser-cutter 
  • 3D printer 
  • milling machine
  • jigsaw
Those devices are free to use if you buy the materials in the Fablab. The prices are very reasonable.

Which materials you can buy: 

Fixing material 

  • Screws 
  • Nuts and bolds 
  • Washers & flanking 
  • Splitting pins 
  • ... 

Processing material 

  • Plexiglas 
  • Wood panel material 
  • Wood & cork
  • POM-white plastic plates 
  • Hard PVC white 
  • ...
The full catalogue is available in the Fablab with the prices. You don not have to be an expert in working with computer drawing programs. I use Adobe Illustrator, but there are many free and user friendly programs on the market.

Some of my creation's 

In the Fablab I made material that I can use for mathematics. Wooden stars, disks with numbers and without numbers. I thought to draw later some figures on the empty wooden disks. I could use them for story telling. I also made numbers separated so they can feel the shape and they can fit them back in the wooden plank, like a puzzle. Can you find what is wrong? There is number misplaced. You can find out if they know to count to 10 well or not and it is also a good exercice for their fine motor skills.



Start making a PROJECT

Those tools give you the possibility to start a project. At my trainee school in BSB "British school of Brussels" I started an outdoor creative area project. This place will give children the possibility to let their imagination speak and develop lot of techniques. Follow the process step by step on my Facebook page or twitter page.

My own experiences

It is so much fun and you can create almost everything that you want here. The Fablab is for me like being in a paradise.



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