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.
Jonathan Long is a middle school STEM teacher in the Eastern Lancaster County (PA) School District and a huge fan of using technology in instruction. He’s used some different EdTech tools in the past and we’re excited to be able to provide him with a new one to try—the databot. Read on to learn more about him and his STEM plans.
Finding some engaging and academically stimulating solutions for children regardless of where they are learning has become the top priority for some and that’s certainly something we can support. In this week’s Tips & Tricks blog, we are taking a look at two Tech Will Save Us kits that also work well for hybrid learning in the Electro Dough and Gamer kits.
For this week’s Rising Resources post, we took a deeper look at Hatch—an online platform that just about anybody can use to start building or fine tuning their programming skills. The Hatch platform helps make discovering coding concepts easy for kids as young as eight years old and includes various projects and challenges that help them progress.
A compact and affordable tool, students can use the micro:bit V2 board to start out with beginner level programming and eventually learn to use it for creating programs with much higher levels of complexity. Its biggest value, however, may come in its compatibility with other teaching tools, including the littleBits micro:bit Adapter among other educator favorites.
Tricia has worked with a number of EdTech tools and given the students she coaches a ton of positive experiences. We’re excited to share Tricia’s story and hopefully inspire more educators to take chances with new tech in the classroom and unlock new learning opportunities with technology! Keep reading to learn more!
The five newest Wonder Workshop bundles now all include licenses for their learning management system, Class Connect, access to their virtual Dash Robot, and curriculum library. Each comes with a corresponding number of accessories and robots and more! Whether in person or remote, these new bundles are perfect to integrate into CS education
Coding skills can be learned at a very young age and kids can progress through the different types of programming using age-appropriate tools, which makes it more feasible. We advocate for coding kits in education all the time, but the subject of this week’s Rising Resources blog is a slightly different option. This week, we explore Grasshopper.
Modeled directly after the original Finch Robot, this latest version provides teachers with a more robust option when introducing students to computer science and key STEAM concepts. It’s even viable in all levels of education from kindergarten to college and utilizes the micro:bit V2 for its processing power. Read on for more about the Finch 2.0 and its six coding options.
We were fortunate to sponsor a Virtual Summit session led by fourth grade teacher, Jasmine Saab, and give away a Wonder Starter Pack to one lucky attendee! That attendee would end up being Imani Malaika-Mehta, who is the executive director of the KC Creators Club in Kansas City, and put this post together about her experiences with teaching STEM.
The GiggleBot is the main component of this micro:bit-powered robot and construction kit. It boasts a variety of programmable features, including its brightness sensor, LEDs, motors, and a line following device. Children can assemble it in as little as five minutes and it includes everything that they’ll need—just connect the batteries, micro:bit, and wheels to get started!
