Andy Larmand

While STEM learning wasn’t always top priority in the pandemic-disrupted years, some educators continued doing their best to provide students with these opportunities in different learning environments. And, in that time, we have seen how many top classroom EdTech tools also double as beneficial STEM toys for individual exploration. So, here are a few of our favorites.

When it comes to both programming and power, the Tuff–Bot is among the most powerful educational robotics tools. It has four oversized wheels with high-quality tread that allow it to travel over a variety of indoor and outdoor surfaces. And, though it is similar to the Bee–Bot and Blue–Bot Robots, a key difference is that students can create much more

Since it’s a Scratch-compatible robot, the Marty V2 is super accessible for students with different CS experience levels. Scratch is a graphical coding language, which means your students don’t necessarily need to have prior experience with coding to program their Marty. Then, there’s its Scratch Jr. and Python compatibility—making the Marty V2 viable in all K-8 grades.

Whether it’s within today’s business world, the tech world, the educational world, or in the STEAM world, celebrating diversity and inclusion should be the norm. If we have collectively learned anything within the last handful of years, however, it’s that this isn’t universal. In our contemporary STEM and tech jobs, particularly, we still lack true racial, gender, and ethnic diversity.

It’s a broad question and one that will elicit different answers from different people. There are lots of reasons as to why K–12 makerspace experiences provide everyone from kids to experienced manufacturers with excitement, value, and intrigue. And, although the reasoning behind why makerspaces are important are extensive, they usually tie back to a particular mission.

Students can access the RepLit coding platform directly from the browsers they prefer. It is free, intuitive, and helps unlock collaborative programming projects in real time. With efficiency a top priority, there’s no setup process required to use RepLit and all students need is a computer or laptop along with an Internet connection to start exploring real text coding.

From kindergarten through high school, coding helps all students develop real-world hard and soft skills—even if they are not planning on pursuing a computer science career. Plus, getting started isn’t intimidating either and, in fact, introducing programming often involves some extremely simple CS tools in kindergarten before working in those with more STEM possibilities.

The Owl Labs team originally developed their 360-degree cameras and the software for use outside education—typically for corporate settings. As the pandemic and remote and hybrid learning set in, however, this tech quickly helped to redefine how kids accessed instruction. Jump to today and their virtual meeting tools continue to positively impact student engagement.

Almost every student today has their own unique passions, different levels of excitement for some academic subjects, and evolving preferences when it comes to studying from just books, learning from hands-on experiences, attending college, or entering the workforce. Thankfully, with all these new options, education leaders have actively updated school CTE offerings.

Access the full replay of our webinar with the Strawbees team, including all the noteworthy nuggets we shared about the versatile Strawbees invention kits, STEAM learning, and SEL. You’ll also learn about using the Strawbees hardware and content in SEL lessons, providing building materials for each student, and navigating Strawbees Classroom to extend STEAM projects.