Giant 3D Printed Bones Help Students Learn About Extinct Moa Birds

Mindkits is a “family run and kiwi-owned” tech company whose latest project brings extinct New Zealand moa bones to classrooms via 3D scanning. With models of the bones in hand, teachers and students can prep and print them in full size.

The extinct New Zealand moa was an interesting bird. Flightless and looking a lot like the modern day ostrich, it could grow to 3.6 m (12 ft) in height and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb).

Rather than learning about these creatures from textbooks, MindKits, an Auckland-based tech company, is giving schools the chance to learn about the magnitude of the bird from accurate 3D printedbones.

The moa bone project was created to take bones from behind the glass of museums and make them more accessible for teachers to use. With the help of 3D scanning and printing, the original bones can remain safely on display, with exact 3D printed replicas giving children a tactile learning experience.

Tim Carr, MindKits founder, hopes the project will be used in a range of subjects while also inspiring discovery and exploration in students. He adds: “We’re smashing together technology and ecology in the most hands on way possible – using 3D scanning and 3D printing to recreate the rich natural history of New Zealand“.