---
title: Engineer’s 3D-Printed Education Tools Put Visually Impaired Students in Touch With Learning
date: 2026-02-20T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/engineers-3d-printed-education-tools-put-visually-impaired-students-in-touch-with-learning"
section: Articles
---
# Engineer’s 3D-Printed Education Tools Put Visually Impaired Students in Touch With Learning

*February 20, 2026* — by [John Tucker](/author/john-tucker)


> When He’s Not Designing Airplane Sensors, Researcher Provides Classroom Aids to Area Schools

*Do Good Byungseok Yoo 02112026 SC 7714 1920x1080 — Tactile teaching tools foster independence for visually impaired students, including nearly 300 enrolled in Montgomery County public schools. Associate Research Scientist of aerospace engineering Byungseok Yoo began printing his designs at the suggestion of his wife, an elementary school paraeducator. (Photos by Stephanie S. Cordle)*

Meron Zekarias hunched over a classroom table, chewing on a homework question: If a car traveled 400 meters in 20 seconds, how fast did it go?

The eighth-grader, who was killing time between classes at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Md., last Wednesday, murmured, “Twenty meters a second.” But instead of scribbling it in a workbook, he pressed his fingers on numeric tiles with Braille markings and slid them across a magnetic board.


*Byungseok Yoo headshot — Byungseok Yoo*


*3D-printed model of female reproductive system — Yoo's kits address concepts like math symbols, chemical elements and anatomical diagrams for sex ed lessons. They are relatively cheap to produce and marked with Braille in each case.*


The idea behind Yoo’s first instructional aid came from his wife. A Montgomery County paraeducator until recently, Soo Kim in 2024 became frustrated by her elementary school’s “swing cell,” a six-section tool the size of a deck of cards used to teach Braille, typically with six movable pegs and a block of wood. Purchased from a printing house that supplies education materials for programs serving blind and low-vision people across the country, the instrument was “clunky,” she said, and pegs would come loose.

Pegs sometimes fell from one third-grader’s holes in the middle of class, forcing the girl to hunt for them on the floor, Kim recalled.

Kim encouraged Yoo to build a swing cell with his 3D printer, and he produced a prototype featuring two polymers and six buttons that snap into place, eliminating the need for pegs. Kim showed the product to her boss, who was impressed. A few months later, Yoo learned about UMD’s Do Good grants, offering the opportunity to print more swing cells for Montgomery County. (Scheib now keeps one looped around her tote bag strap at all times.) Since then, he expanded from swing cells to the suite of tools he’s since designed.

Yoo last year offered a demo at the annual gathering of the Teachers of the Visually Impaired Steering Committee, run by the Maryland Department of Education, which sparked several conversations about potential partnerships, he said.

“3D-printing technology has the potential to transform learning environments for these students and shift instructional paradigms,” he said.



**Sidebar note:**

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The University of Maryland is the nation's first Do Good campus, committed to inspiring Terps to make a positive impact now through research, public service and education. See more stories about Terps doing good at [*today.umd.edu/topic/do-good*](http://today.umd.edu/topic/do-good). You can support UMD's Do Good initiatives by making a gift to [*Forward: The University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless*](https://forward.umd.edu/).





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Disability and Accessibility](https://today.umd.edu/topic/disability-and-accessibility), [Education](https://today.umd.edu/topic/education), [Service to the State](https://today.umd.edu/topic/service-to-the-state), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)