Preserving the Past, Creating the Future: How Merge Creator Brings Artifacts to Life
By scanning and preserving real objects with Merge Creator, students can become both scientists and storytellers
What if you could hold an ancient artifact, a family heirloom, or even your own artwork in the palm of your hand—without worrying about damaging it? With Merge Creator, students and teachers can scan real objects and preserve them as hands-on 3D models. This simple but powerful process helps protect fragile items, makes learning more accessible, and builds skills that students will carry into their future careers.
Preserving Artifacts with Digital Scans
Physical objects are often too delicate, valuable, or rare to be handled by every student in a classroom. Museums may keep fossils, artifacts, or historical tools behind glass, and local treasures like arrowheads or pottery fragments can’t be passed around without risking damage.
Merge Creator changes that. By 3D scanning an object, students create a digital copy that can be held, rotated, zoomed in on, and inspected from every angle with a Merge Cube. This preserves the original artifact while making it available for everyone to explore.
Whether it’s a Civil War button from a local battlefield, a seashell collected on vacation, or a handmade ceramic project, scanning ensures these objects live on in a safe, digital form while still being studied up close.
Hands-On Access for Every Student
Once scanned, artifacts can be shared across classrooms, libraries, and even around the world. Students who might never get to see a rare fossil or artifact in person can interact with it through AR. Every learner has the same hands-on experience—an opportunity to rotate, inspect, and compare objects as if they were holding them directly.
This kind of access levels the playing field and sparks curiosity in ways static pictures or descriptions never could.
Building 21st-Century Skills
Scanning real objects into 3D models isn’t just about preservation—it’s also a key 21st-century skill. From architects who create digital twins of buildings, to doctors who use 3D scans of organs, to engineers designing parts for space travel, scanning and interacting with digital models is shaping modern careers.
When students use Merge Creator, they’re not only learning how to preserve artifacts—they’re also practicing digital literacy, problem-solving, and design thinking. They learn to scan, edit, label, and share 3D objects, preparing them for a world where digital models are everywhere.
Adding Multimedia Labels
With Merge Creator, students can add multimedia labels—like photos, text, or audio—to their 3D scans. This transforms an artifact into an interactive digital exhibit. Imagine students scanning a fossil, then adding a label to explain how it formed, or scanning a local artifact and recording oral history from community elders to preserve its story. Read about how to add multimedia labels in this help article..
This takes learning beyond science or history—it integrates communication, storytelling, and creativity into a single digital project.
By scanning and preserving real objects with Merge Creator, students can become both scientists and storytellers. They’re learning to protect the past while creating resources for the future, and at the same time, they’re gaining practical skills that will serve them in college and careers.
