Coding is, of course, a hugely important area of 21st century education. Whether they're as young as Pre-K or ready to enter college, coding is extremely relevant to almost every student's future. Thankfully, millions of educators and administrators realize the importance of teaching kids to code. Whether it's a curricular requirement or part of an informal school club, programming experiences are amazingly valuable for students. There's also plenty of options, so educators can find something without complicated or pricey features. In this section, you'll see a lot of different topics related to K-12 coding. These include features on particular STEM tools, insights on coding integration, skills students can develop and more. There's also something for teachers of all grade levels. Whether you teach the early grades or have students with the foundation to take the next step, you'll find helpful resources for teaching coding in the classroom.
Coding is truly an experience that all K-12 students can have. Starting in the early grades, students can code screen-free with a tool like the Cubetto Robot. Then, they can start to increase their coding skills and explore Blockly environments using tools like the Dash Robot, Ozobot Evo, and many others. From there, students can explore a bunch of different languages, like Snap!, Scratch, MakeCode, and more and, eventually, expand their skill sets by exploring text-based languages, like JavaScript and Python. All the while, the STEM solutions we advocate for also allow students to learn the most important coding concepts, like loops, variables, inputs, conditionals, and syntax. With a natural progression that leads to increased computer science competencies and enhanced future readiness, it's tough to understate the relevance of coding experiences in the classroom.
Both STEAM tools combine various elements of engineering and coding in what they offer to students. These robots are buildable, too, which enables students to explore engineering as they work to figure out how to build the bots correctly. Once they’re built, children can work on programming them whether they’re at home or in the classroom.
We are pleased to announce we’ve awarded our tech grant for October to Josh Jennings, who’s a high school teacher in the Florence County School District 3! Josh helps head up their Panther CODE (Creating Opportunities for Developing Engineers) program after school, which was established to give some underrepresented students more exposure to STEM.
When it first showed up on the education scene a few years ago, the micro:bit became an instant favorite among STEAM teachers around the world thanks to its pocket-sized portability and simplicity when it came to teaching coding. Now the micro:bit V2 is ready to make its own impact on STEAM education.
From the development of our hybrid and remote offerings to exploration of new virtual coding platforms, we’ve learned a whole lot about how we can adapt STEAM learning in this new age. We now have one more offering to tell you about—a brand new Learning Everywhere kit that members of our team helped develop in a partnership with the pros
The littleBits STEAM+ Class Pack supports up to 30 students with screen-free activities, purposefully selected Bits, and cross-curricular lessons. It includes tons of Bits and 10 carrying cases to help educators maximize STEAM learning and facilitate student creativity in any educational environment.
At first, we were very hesitant to continue with promoting classroom packs since they contain a lot of moving parts and promote learning that involves children all touching those same components. Over time, however, various manufacturers have actually created home learning versions and that idea of classroom packs in remote or hybrid learning is no longer as daunting.
We’re excited to sponsor one of the sessions, led by our friend, Jasmine Saab, on Thursday, Oct. 15! Jasmine will be discussing coding in middle school with the Cue and a “DASH” of distance learning and we’ll provide a Wonder Workshop kit to one lucky attendee! The session is for teachers, STEAM specialists, and anyone looking to innovate in distance
We added the databot kits to our offerings just a few months back and this small, cube-shaped robot is certainly now a powerhouse when it comes to STEAM education—even in the remote variety. Using its on-board sensors, which include air pressure, altitude, CO2, and humidity sensors, the device is capable of collecting a whole lot of real-world information.
For all those STEAM teachers, we have something new and exciting for you. We’re excited to let you know that we’ve finalized the addition of UBTECH’s hands-on robotics kits to our store and they are now available for purchase! There are four main kits—all of which are designed to help teachers transform STEM education.
As a full class pack, it’s built to support an entire class of children in STEM and MakerEd activities. Students can easily store and transport the various components with the included carrying cases and constructing this variety of projects is also a piece of cake. The kit also comes with printed teacher materials and the lesson guides so students can
