Bring Surfboard Design & Manufacturing Into the Classroom
Give students hands-on experience with CAD, design, engineering, and manufacturing.
AkuShaper is used by surfboard designers and manufacturers around the world—and it's also being used in classrooms to give students practical experience with computer-aided design, engineering, manufacturing, and hands-on building.
Through our education program, schools can purchase a universal bulk license that allows students to use AkuShaper as part of STEM, engineering, design, manufacturing, and vocational programs.
Instead of designing another theoretical classroom project, students can design something they understand, interact with, and ultimately build.
Interested in bringing AkuShaper to your school? Contact us to learn about educational licensing.
From Computer Screen to Finished Surfboard
AkuShaper gives educators the opportunity to connect digital design with real-world manufacturing.
Students can begin with an existing surfboard model or develop their own design while learning how changes to dimensions, curves, contours, volume, rocker, rails, and other variables affect the finished product.
A classroom project can take students through the entire process:
Concept → CAD Design → Review → Manufacturing → Hands-On Building → Finished Board
Depending on the school's facilities, boards can be shaped by hand using printed templates, cut on a CNC machine, or sent to an outside AkuShaper-compatible cutting center.
Students can then finish the board themselves, giving them the opportunity to see a digital project become a real, functional product.
Practical STEM Applications
AkuShaper can be incorporated into a variety of STEM, engineering, design, and manufacturing programs.
Computer-Aided Design
Students gain practical experience working within a professional CAD environment. They learn to manipulate curves, dimensions, control points, contours, and 3D surfaces while seeing their changes reflected on a real product.
Math & Engineering
Surfboard design gives students a practical way to explore concepts including measurement, geometry, curves, volume, ratios, symmetry, tolerances, and three-dimensional forms.
Rather than solving these problems only on paper, students can see how those calculations affect an actual design.
Design Thinking
Students can begin with an idea, create a prototype, evaluate it in 3D, identify problems, and refine their design.
The process encourages experimentation and teaches an important principle of engineering and product development:
Design. Test. Evaluate. Improve.
Digital Manufacturing
AkuShaper can introduce students to the relationship between CAD and modern manufacturing.
Students can learn how a digital design becomes manufacturing data, how CNC machines interpret a design,
why tolerances matter, and how designers communicate with manufacturers.
Hands-On Manufacturing
The learning doesn't have to stop at the computer.
Schools can incorporate blank preparation, CNC machining, hand shaping, sanding, fiberglassing, finishing, and other parts of surfboard construction into the program.
This creates a unique opportunity for students to experience both digital and hands-on manufacturing within the same project.
One License for the Classroom
We make AkuShaper licensing simple for educators.
Instead of requiring every student to purchase an individual subscription, participating schools can purchase a universal bulk educational license for student use.
This makes it easier to incorporate AkuShaper into computer labs, STEM programs, engineering courses, surfboard-building programs, and recurring classes where new groups of students use the software each semester or school year.
Contact our team and we'll help determine the best setup for your program.
Start With Proven Designs
Students don't have to begin with a blank screen.
AkuShaper includes a library of tested stock surfboard models that can be used as starting points for classroom projects.
Students can begin with an established design and learn what happens when they modify the outline, rocker, rails, dimensions, volume, tail, and other characteristics.
For introductory classes, this can provide an easier entry point into CAD before asking students to develop a complete board from scratch.
More advanced students can move beyond the stock models and develop their own designs.
Used by Educators Around the World
Schools and educational programs around the world are already incorporating AkuShaper into surfboard design, STEM, engineering, and manufacturing projects.
"AkuShaper gave our students a way to connect CAD and engineering concepts with something they
were genuinely excited to build. Being able to take a project from a computer design all the way to a
finished surfboard made the lessons much more tangible."
— J. Case, Grand Haven High School, Michigan
"The biggest benefit for us has been connecting digital design with hands-on manufacturing. Students
can make a change in the software, understand why they are making it, and eventually see that
decision reflected in the physical board."
— D. Strange, Bulli High School, NSW, Australia
"Students come into the project because they're excited about building a surfboard,
but along the way they're learning CAD, measurement, manufacturing, problem solving, and design."
— D. Breiner, Leininger-Gymnasium Grünstadt, Germany
More Than a Surfboard Project
A surfboard gives students an approachable way to learn skills that extend far beyond surfboard building.
The same basic workflow—designing digitally, working within manufacturing constraints, preparing a file for production, building a physical product, evaluating the result, and improving the next version—is used throughout modern product development and manufacturing.
Students aren't simply learning how to design a surfboard.
They're being introduced to the process of turning an idea into a manufactured product.
Build a Program Around Your School
Every school's facilities and goals are different.
AkuShaper can be incorporated into:
STEM programs
Engineering and technology classes
CAD and digital design courses
CNC and advanced manufacturing programs
Woodshop and vocational programs
Product design courses
Surfboard-building classes and workshops
After-school programs and clubs
University engineering and design programs
Schools with their own CNC equipment can incorporate machining directly into the curriculum.
Schools without CNC equipment can still participate. Designs can be printed for hand shaping or sent to an AkuShaper-compatible cutting center for machining before students complete the building process.
Bring AkuShaper to Your Students
Whether you're building an entire surfboard manufacturing program or looking for a new hands-on project for your STEM, CAD, engineering, or design students, we'd love to hear what you're working on.
Our team can help you understand the software, educational licensing, classroom setup, and options for turning student designs into physical boards.
Interested in trying AkuShaper at your school?
Get in touch with us and tell us a little about your program.
