Remote Learning

At first, we were very hesitant to continue with promoting classroom packs since they contain a lot of moving parts and promote learning that involves children all touching those same components. Over time, however, various manufacturers have actually created home learning versions and that idea of classroom packs in remote or hybrid learning is no longer as daunting.

With distance and hybrid learning continuing for most K–12 children as we start the school year, the team at Sphero has helped make things easier on everyone. They recently announced their release of two new home learning kits featuring the Sphero Mini and littleBits so that STEAM experiences can continue at home and kids can enjoy hands-on play.

Joining eight previous STEM grant recipients for the calendar year of 2020, we have presented September’s award to Michellea Millis, an administrator with the BrownSTEM afterschool program that’s based in San Antonio, TX. She works with underrepresented African-American and Latinx students to help create STEM experiences and we’re excited to award her this grant!

This week, we thought it would be fun to highlight five more of our favorite tech tools for helping to bring STEM learning experiences to students who are taking part in full remote or hybrid learning to start out the school year. And, with that being said, we’d like to reiterate one more time that remote learning does not mean

We added the databot kits to our offerings just a few months back and this small, cube-shaped robot is certainly now a powerhouse when it comes to STEAM education—even in the remote variety. Using its on-board sensors, which include air pressure, altitude, CO2, and humidity sensors, the device is capable of collecting a whole lot of real-world information.

For all those STEAM teachers, we have something new and exciting for you. We’re excited to let you know that we’ve finalized the addition of UBTECH’s hands-on robotics kits to our store and they are now available for purchase! There are four main kits—all of which are designed to help teachers transform STEM education.

As a full class pack, it’s built to support an entire class of children in STEM and MakerEd activities. Students can easily store and transport the various components with the included carrying cases and constructing this variety of projects is also a piece of cake. The kit also comes with printed teacher materials and the lesson guides so students can

What about those students who will still be doing remote learning at the start of the school year? They’ll have social-emotional needs, too. Establishing connections between these students and their new teachers is going to be important for ensuring success throughout the school year, but it’s probably going to be tougher as well.

With help from our vendor partners, we’ve been working hard to make sure educators know how to adapt the tech tools they consistently rely on in the classroom into a home learning solution. Each one is different, but the opportunities to include STEM experiences, like coding, engineering, and design, in distance learning are there.

Like so many teachers, students, parents, and administrators, we’re uncertain about what this school year will bring, especially as school doors slowly start to reopen. Whether learning is going to be taking place in person, at home, or as part of a hybrid model, we know that we couldn’t let STEM learning opportunities fall by the wayside.