As Alexandria Country Day School's sixth-graders created small 3D-printed villages to deal with homelessness, they learned lessons beyond technology(科技).
The project which was inspired by life-size 3D-printed homes built by a Texas-based technology company, aimed to make housing accessible for everyone. Using inexpensive materials the students built strong homes in just a few days.
11-year-old Salwa Seman and Zoe Mandel, found creating settings challenging but worthwhile. "If the temperature of the printer is too hot or cold, or if the printed walls are tooth in, the constructions might fail," said Salwa Seman. "You learn from your mistakes and make adaptations," said Zoe Mandel.
The tech-focused project quickly developed into "an exercise in understanding, creation, and partnership to bring about lasting change," said science teacher Alison McDonald. "When most people think of helping the homeless, they think of food and clothing," said Juliet Galicia, 11. While necessary, those are solutions only for the moment. Even housing alone is not a full answer.
"We wanted to include other things that would make it feel more like a real community," said Luke Wazorko, 11. A community garden, a place to raise chickens, a stadium for shared events, bus stops for access to jobs, and service for Wi-Fi and cellphones to help with job searches were important features offered to formerly unhoused residents.
"They get it!" said Amber Fogarty, president of a nonprofit organization helping homelessness in Austin. "The biggest reason for long-term homelessness is a serious lack in family relationships," she said. "Housing alone will never solve homelessness, but community will People need a place where they are known, cared and loved."
