STEM experiences can help children thrive in so many ways and teachers are always finding new ideas for improving them. One of the most popular options, of course, is through enrichment programs. The benefits of STEM learning are great but they’re often capped in the classroom, meaning that more school leaders are encouraging STEM participation outside school.
Designed to do more than simply immerse them in vivid content, Panoform VR empowers children to become creators and even own how they design and view new-age media. Though it may seem complex and technical, it is actually very accessible—even for beginners who want to explore creating in VR and any students who enjoy learning with this unique medium.
The Makey Makey kit from JoyLabz has long been among the most widely used and respected STEAM tools for K–12 education. What exactly does it do, though? Technically, the Makey Makey acts like keyboards or a mouse, sending signals to a computer to execute functions like clicking a mouse’s buttons or the space bar, right arrow, left arrow, up arrow, or down arrow.
With classroom SEL practices come key opportunities for students to learn some of the most significant social-emotional skills for the future, including self-awareness, goal setting, and social awareness. And, if more educators learn to seamlessly integrate EdTech tools in SEL instruction, they can help to unlock new benefits and expand how SEL impacts kids’ development.
Perhaps for the best, there’s no blueprint for creating a school makerspace but there are some strategies teachers could employ that might help to set theirs apart. Whether your makerspaces are big, tiny, stationary, mobile, or full of high- or low-tech tools, here are some of the coolest characteristics that the best makerspaces share—both physical features and attitudes.
Discovering connections through active experiences is a chief cornerstone of PBL and helps students establish authentic feelings for their causes. As such, knowing the impacts these connections can have among children is key for the educators who are leading them. And, this is especially true as they leverage them across the curriculum to connect different subjects.
The Root Robot by iRobot Education is regularly among the most versatile educational robotics devices. With its three levels of coding and something for all students—from pre-readers up to veteran programmers—within their iRobot Coding platform, instructors can access impactful STEAM projects, incorporate new coding concepts, and boost students’ CS development.
Drones are currently used in many key industries, like telecommunications, agriculture, construction, and security, They are even finding a home in the performing arts, and soon enough, delivery drones might even show up at your door. Therefore, it is essential for middle and high-school students to build familiarity with coding and piloting using the top educational drones.
A part of medicine, agriculture, research, and more, drones are increasingly prevalent in a wide range of fields. Therefore, it’s more necessary than ever to integrate them into STEAM education. Using these five options, children can combine drone piloting with coding, engineering, and design. They will build obstacle courses, code choreography, and have fun with STEM!
Despite this prominent presence in the real world and elements of STEM in so many of today’s most lucrative careers, not every K–12 student pursues it. More importantly, many students lose almost all interest in STEM before they even reach middle school. So, in a lot of cases, educators have to be proactive to reach kids while they’re in the K–5 grades. So, how can they?
