Throughout the country, school leaders are faced with a huge dilemma as the start of the school year looms. They’re grappling with trying to do what’s best for their students, their families, their staff members, and their communities by weighing whether to open school doors for in-person instruction. In some places, students will return to classrooms while, in others, the school year will start off fully remote. And, some students will also be part of a hybrid learning experiment.
Despite so much uncertainty, there’s one thing we know for sure: We don’t want students to veer off course in terms of STEM and real-world skills development. So, we’ve been working on creating custom STEAM kits that can be used to help educators teach key topics. They also allow students to work independently and are conducive to a remote, in-person, or hybrid learning model.
Our team has experience working with leaders of large districts and afterschool programs to design these types of custom solutions. Let’s face it. The learning experiences and design of the school day is going to be different in different states, districts, and even for students at different grade levels when the school year begins. Educators are going to need unique solutions to combat this extremely unique time in our lives. Though it will be challenging, we don't want them to lose sight of the fact that STEM learning can continue.
We’re very much aware of the challenges as the summer comes to an end. We also know that educators have worries about sanitizing EdTech, having to work around the elimination of close-up student collaboration, or budgets being reworked to no longer include money for STEM experiences. Our solution is a customized individual STEM kit that teachers and students can use in lessons they were originally planning.
Here’s an example of what we’re talking about. We designed this small, portable micro:bit kit for students in a Texas school district. It’s completely customized and includes all the components they need to participate in and complete a 14-week Intro to Computer Science course using the micro:bit and Microsoft’s MakeCode programming software. Our partnership with the micro:bit team allowed us to provide the boards for all of these students. We also worked with other various companies to get the rest of the kit’s components to educators.
As you can see at the link, the kit not only includes the micro:bit board, but everything else as well. You'd get the enclosure case, a battery pack, alligator clips, a servo motor and clips, a USB to micro USB cable, LED lights with and without wires, two AAA batteries, a small Phillips screwdriver, and a plastic storage box complete with a custom design and Eduporium logo. All of the components fit in the storage boxes, which are small enough for students and teachers to transport. Most importantly students can take it home if they’re going to be learning remotely at any time.
Essentially, in working with technology team members from this school district, we discussed their goals. Then, we came up with a solution for the three instructional methods (in-person, remote, and hybrid). Since the MakeCode platform is accessible from a computer or laptop, students can definitely continue coding when not meeting face-to-face. The kit is a customized solution that we can offer to educators in any district and at any grade level. With this kit, the specific learning outcomes include developing coding skills and getting familiar with the MakeCode environment.
We know that with some or all of learning outside the classroom, it's tough to keep STEM activities in play. With the creation of custom kits, however, we believe we can provide an affordable and 1:1 option for doing so. Our store is filled with STEM tools from dozens of reputable educational manufacturers. And, our team is ready to put together a custom kit centered around any of them for your students.
We’re very excited to see how the distribution and implementation of these kits goes for these middle school students. But, as we said before, this isn’t our first go-around with creating customized solutions to work within a specific type of educational environment.
So, starting four years ago, we began working with a major national afterschool organization. We have annually been creating custom STEM kits and educational content for them ever since. It’s been a tremendous and continuously growing partnership and, through these experiences, our team has learned a lot about identifying affordable STEM materials for various types of learning environments, carefully packaging each individual kit with all necessary components, strategizing on delivery dates and distribution tactics, and ensuring successful implementation in learning.
In creating the kits, we work very closely with organization leaders, taking part in regular meetings and feedback sessions. These experiences have helped us perfect our process and we’re able to deliver similar solutions for educators quickly. With this particular relationship, we have been providing curriculum based on a certain STEM tool whether it’s a robotics kit like the Ozobot Evo, circuitry system like littleBits, or engineering device like the Edison robot. After getting the kits and content compiled and sent out to different parts of the country, we’re confident we can do the same for school leaders. The hope is to reduce challenges when it comes to finding STEM solutions that work in different environments.
Whether you’re looking for kits for one class or a whole school, we can help create more traditional hands-on experiences. If you only need 30 kits created, no problem. If you need as many as 100, that’s certainly fine, too. Our main goal is to help teachers and school leaders provide affordable, simple, and effective hands-on STEAM learning experiences for students during the first part of the new school year—whether they’re in the classroom, at home, or split between the two. We encourage you to reach out to our team as soon as you’d like to have a conversation about your STEM needs and how our custom kits could help. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, too!