Eduporium Blog

Collaboration and coding…two of the most critical skills for students to develop and two of the most crucial challenges teachers face when building curricula. But, don’t worry, there’s an app for that. And a robot. And a few fully stocked classroom kits. Using the Ozobot Bit or Evo Classroom Kits, educators can empower up to 36 students to code.

With this charismatic robot and accompanying app, students can play games, chat, control, and program the Cue in Blockly or JavaScript. They can even pick one of four avatars to represent and track their progress: Charge, Zest, Smirk, and Pep! Each avatar is preprogrammed with unique personalities, expressions, and interactions.

While not necessarily brand new, wearable technology is demonstrating it can play a viable role in creating or enriching 21st century learning experiences for students. Whether it’s virtual reality headsets or other tech tools, it’s no longer unheard of to use wearables in education. Read on to learn more about some of the most popular ones.

Charter schools are becoming really popular alternatives among parents all across the country. Once thought of as a sure thing, now parents often find it to be a struggle to get their kids enrolled due to the high demand they’ve generated. It’s easy to see why charter schools are now so popular—these educators are doing great things for kids and

This Fourth of July, we decided to experiment with Bare Conductive’s Touch Board to help spark an interest in circuitry among our readers. The Touch Board is a limitless interface at the heart of some of Bare Conductive’s most innovative STEAM tools. Using it, students can turn touch into sound with the help of conductive materials.

Back in June, we announced a new educational technology grant program to award $500 of STEM tools to one deserving recipient every month. Our selection committee met this week and awarded the first grant to Melinda Pastuszak, a teacher with the Chamberlayne Elementary School (Virginia). Mindy is in the process of planning the launch of a new STEAM program!

As we know, STEM has evolved to STEAM, adding art to the mix (as well as some other variations). Technology can be a great way for students to enhance their art classes using tools like conductive paint, virtual reality, or more. It can also be used in music classes, though, creating interactive, exciting, and real world experiences.

We’ve been pretty big fans of XYZ 3D printers since they first launched a few years back. The list included (and still does feature) da Vinci printers, the tall and skinny Nobel, and even a MiniMaker for younger students to take a crack at 3D printing. Their latest addition, however, might just be the best yet. Click to learn more

Inventing things is a great way for children to blossom into STEAM superstars. Never running out of things to invent is a whole different experience. The littleBits Pro Library is new and improved, providing creative students with enough parts to design intricate inventions or colossal creations.

In this week’s Eduporium Experiment, we are taking a deeper look at Stikbot and its potential to enrich hands-on education in the early grades. Besides being an entertaining, posable toy that allows kids to use stop motion animation anywhere, it’s also a great way for them to learn to work in small groups, problem solve, and more.