ROGERS (KFSM) -- Advancements in technology have created new learning opportunities for students, including high-tech options like 3-D printing.
A handful of students in the Rogers school district will soon be experimenting with 3-D printers.
The district is working with the company NWA3D, so second through 12th grade students in the Rogers School District will be exposed to 3D printing. However, the first students to use the software will be the fifth grade gifted students. The students will be studying structures, and the printers are a structural tool of the 21st Century.
"When we think about what we're looking at is our future students that we can help build their culture and send them out into the world," said Beth Carnes, director of gifted programs for the Rogers Public School District. "We want them to be exposed or have the opportunities to see things that are now, because we don't know what it's going to look like tomorrow."
3-D printing takes digital files and transforms them into real world products. There are about 120 students in the fifth grade gifted program, who will be putting the printers to the test.
In the future, the school hopes to incorporate 3-D printing into an entrepreneurial program, possibly teaming up with a local business for project-based learning. In that case, the students would have to come up with solutions for real world problems by using 3-D printing and possibly even some other gadgets like Legos.