Eduporium Blog

Ready for an adventure though the human bloodstream? Through the White House? To space? VR makes these thrilling adventures possible. In our office, we have both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive and today, I experimented with the Oculus. I had only ever used VR while sitting down before—certainly never standing and with touch controllers.

If you’re thinking about going 1:1 in your school or district, there are a lot of things to consider. The first among them is the goals you hope to achieve with this initiative and then you’ll probably get into considering which computers to use. A 1:1 program offers students a nice advantage for accessing information, but there’s more to consider,

With part of our founding team hailing from Russia, we jumped at the opportunity to present at the two-day conference and introduce some new technologies to our friends across the ocean. After that, some of us made the somewhat shorter trip to the Bronx, NY to host ‘The State of EdTech in 2017’ in collaboration with Manhattan College.

These cool kits are designed for play-based learning! By building a number of experiments, students can learn various circuitry basics and experiment with conductive and insulating dough, LEDs, and other accessories. Using the Squishy Circuits kits, they’re also able to get hands-on while they learn about conductivity, simple circuits, series, and parallel circuits.

Since more school systems are transitioning toward offering some kind of CTE program for students in high school grades, it’s becoming even more important they do this the right way. In many places, career and technical education (CTE) is taking off in colleges and universities, but also coming into play even earlier than that by necessity.

The simple software, active engineering, and long-lasting learning kids crave and teachers approve of comes with the GoPiGo robot kits from Dexter Industries. Whether in the classroom, makerspace, or an afterschool robotics club, these are the kinds of products that promote innovative, hands-on learning. What’s to love about the GoPiGo robots?

Designed for groups of 2-6 students, the kit includes SAM blocks (buttons, lights, various sensors, motors, and more), accessories, and a Getting Started guide as well as a teacher’s guide. The blocks are wirelessly activated using Bluetooth, which enables them to move, illuminate, or make sounds.

Tech tools have the ability to engage students and they help catalyze tech skills growth by default. While other factors can help spur some improved student engagement and achievement, the obvious answer in the 21st century is technology. And, whether in a classroom, library, or afterschool makerspace, there is a compatible tech tool for just about everyone.

Although intended for kids aged 6-10, the original version of the Ozobot can help teach students of all ages thanks to its versatility and the range of different things children can do with it. Beginner students can start by experimenting with color coding using easy-to-understand OzoCodes and then build their way up to using OzoBlockly.

The one thing that did stick out about this year’s World Maker Faire—aside from the incredible displays of inventive genius—was the unseasonably hot weather. Since many of the coolest exhibits were displayed outside, it was as much of a race to find the coolest new MakerEd tools for schools as it was to find some shade every once in a