What do puffer fish and the Mona Lisa have in common?
Not much, unless you're in a classroom at the South Australian School for Vision Impaired, where they are being meticulously printed into 3D models for students to investigate.
These children might not ever gaze upon Mona Lisa's mysterious smile, but there was plenty of laughter and conversation about the image they have mentally created with what is known as a "finger glance" over the 3D printed model.
"I like the 3D image — her hair and there's the lines of her coat, and you can also feel her hands … it's really detailed," Hamza, 9, said.
Students like Osama are using 3D models to gain a better understanding of how objects may look. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
Researchers say 3D printing technology has helped revolutionise the way that blind and low-vision students learn about the world around them.
The models, they say, provide significantly more context and understanding than what can be gleaned from two-dimensional raised-line drawings.
"We've had a lot of those wonderful 'aha' moments where people who've not been able to understand a concept from a description, once they're handed the 3D model, all of a sudden they understand," Leona Holloway, from Monash University's inclusive technologies group, said.
Dr Leona Holloway says the 3D models provide more context than a raised drawing. (ABC News: Stephanie Ferrier)
"I was talking to someone who doesn't use maps at all because they don't understand what a bird's eye view is, whereas if you can provide that map in three dimensions it makes sense."
The models, some of which were developed through collaboration with University of Sydney researcher Dagmar Reinhardt, can also help enhance learning for sighted students, leading to a more inclusive classroom.
In the past, hand-crafted models were often painstakingly made by teachers, meaning supplies of aids were limited and models varied across different schools and educational settings.
The school says the 3D models elicit joy in the students and spark their imagination. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
Shared computer files and the ability to print a 3D model at the touch of a button have eliminated some of these difficulties.
It has also reduced the reliance on raised-line drawings, which often contain assumed concepts requiring sight.
"For example, the raised-line drawing of a building ... it's difficult to understand tactilely because it's using concepts like perspective and occlusion," Dr Holloway said.
"For a blind person, that's not the way they interpret the world … whereas a 3D model is a lot more easy to understand."
Ramona Mandy says the 3D models are a "game changer". (ABC News: Stephanie Ferrier)
Monash University's Ramona Mandy is blind and was instrumental in developing world-first guidelines for 3D printing of educational aids.
"I wish I had 3D prints when I was at high school … I really do think it is a game changer," she said.
"It's a fantastic development, and we'll just see more and more of it as people explore and play with it.
"We'll only see more ideas come out of it."
The guidelines included ways to best incorporate braille text into the models, ensuring the surfaces are understandable.
"You need to be able to distinguish between details clearly," Dr Holloway said, adding that models should have enough spaces for fingers to reach into crevices and explore.
The 3D printers are relieving the need for teachers to make hand models. (ABC News: Justin Hewitson)
The guidelines were developed in collaboration with not-for-profit organisation Round Table and, crucially, many blind and low-vision participants.
"There can be assumptions made by sighted people of what's important," Ms Mandy said.
"When a hotel employee might show me a remote control, they put my finger on this button … they tell me the buttons, but they don't give me a chance to let me feel where that button is in relation to the other buttons.
"So part of the guidelines are about using points of reference … about contextualising what models are showing."
Teacher Adrian Riessen says it's great to watch the students using the models. (ABC News: Justin Hewiston)
Adrian Riessen, a teacher at the South Australian School and Services for Vision Impaired, said the 3D printed models were an invaluable orientation tool to help children understand their surroundings, and navigate unfamiliar spaces in advance.
"Students that struggle with mapping concepts, when they can explore something in 3D … they can feel that it's a building with a door and a window … it's not just a square on a white sheet of paper," he said.
"It's a bit of a sense of joy when you can see a child really grasp a concept."
And there was plenty of joy in his classroom.
As 12-year-old student Osama feels a 3D model of a bird's beak, he laughs, saying, "it feels like a horn, I'm not going to lie".
Even at a finger glance, it is clear the models are helping spark children's unlimited imaginations.