A resilience-oriented VR safe-sandbox for FDM 3D printing education: reducing cost-of-failure pressure in early procedural learning

Research published in Educational Technology Research and Development introduces a resilience-oriented virtual reality (VR) safe-sandbox framework to address high cost-of-failure barriers in fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing education. By establishing recoverability as a core instructional mechanism, the virtual pre-laboratory environment mitigates material waste, equipment downtime, and intensive instructor dependency while supporting early procedural competency.

This study highlights an operational model for decoupling high-risk physical asset exposure from early-stage skills acquisition. By shifting initial failure-prone experimentation into low-cost virtual sandboxes, organizations can protect expensive equipment, minimize consumable waste, and optimize instructor resources.

Introductory hands-on FDM 3D printing in shared laboratory environments exposes learners to high failure costs, including material consumption, machine downtime, and heavy instructor demands.

Forward consideration, not a verified fact.