Coding has become much more prevalent and accessible throughout K–12 education—helping to make it less scary for a lot of students and teachers. Though it has endless applications in today’s professions, learning to code has also probably never been quite as simple. Thanks largely to classroom robots, adults, teens, and children can learn new coding skills every day.
Each school makerspace is different but, if you’re looking to add hands-on maker tools to yours, we offer a huge variety for K–12 STEAM learning. For this list, we’ve highlighted lots of our most in-demand offerings—from low-tech starter materials to high-end MakerEd machinery. Whether you would rather start small or make your space robust, they work in any situation.
After its impressive streak as the most advanced humanoid from Softbank Robotics, the NAO V6 has a successor. Still pretty new to the STEM scene, the NAO V6 AI Edition is packed with amazing features and new modes for your students to explore. Whether using the presenter mode, conversation mode, or coding in C++, C#, Python, or Java, it’s perfect for STEM or CTE.
The versatility of maker education means students get more opportunities to choose how they learn best. For neurodivergent kids, underrepresented students, and others, MakerEd projects can improve engagement, agency, and retention. Makerspace director, Nicholas Provenzano, known as “The Nerdy Teacher,” shares benefits of those projects in this Teacher Talk post.
For anyone who isn’t familiar with the Dash Robot, Tim started with a brief introduction. For its cost, the Dash is extremely high-tech, durable, and it’s built with a strong battery life. Elementary educators can use it across their STEAM lessons for up to three hours on a single charge, covering multiple class periods and incorporating SEL. Watch the full replay to learn more.
The 3Doodler Create+ is definitely more for older children, and is especially effective with those who’ve had experiences with the 3Doodler Start pen in the past. The main improvements to the 3Doodler Create+ include a strong dual drive system, the enhanced speed control features, dual temperature capabilities, and its ease of use. Learn all about its place in STEAM inside.
With the Kami app, teachers can essentially upload the physical version of any instructional resource, like worksheets or photo copies, onto the Kami platform. From there, they can display it on a whiteboard for all students in their classroom to see or transform these documents into more interactive learning assets with the feedback and annotation tools in the Kami canvas.
Teachers could use Blockly coding to teach kids about inputs and outputs on a very basic level before progressing to various, more advanced coding concepts, like loops and logic. Best of all, there are a bunch of great STEM tools for introducing kids to Blockly programming, like the Dash Robot, the Ozobot Evo, Finch Robot 2.0, Edison Robot, and the Tello EDU drone.
There are actually a lot of awesome early education technologies students could use for practicing everything from problem solving or engineering to math or even coding in Pre-K or kindergarten. Whether it is engaging them more successfully or actually introducing hands-on experiences, including coding, the right tech has a place in ECE and these are some favorites.
The Dash Robot is one of the most recognizable and effective STEM tools available to tech educators. Its friendly face, bright blue surface, and value in coding education help make it a go-to option in classrooms, STEM labs, and makerspaces in countless elementary schools. And, with plenty of fun coding features, teacher-friendly resources, and more, it’s easy to see why.
