When it comes to STEM in 21st century teaching and learning, there are few limits to what students can accomplish. Besides helping boost their overall engagement and enjoyment levels in the here and now, access to STEM learning and opportunities to build real-world skills often significantly improve how students prepare for the future. Whether it's with introducing them to coding in the early grades, engineering in their middle years, or the benefits of more complex technologies, like virtual reality or artificial intelligence, in high school, STEM education is a crucial piece of student development. With such huge potential and importance, however, this instruction requires planning, guidance, and equipment. And, as the economy keeps trending toward STEM-dominated professions and opportunities, exposure to these areas is vital. Thankfully, there are few restrictions to leading effective STEM lessons.
Our mission is helping educators develop students who are truly Future Ready and helping them facilitate relevant learning is how. To that end, we offer a robust online store filled with the latest STEM solutions. But, beyond that, we love creating and sharing impactful content to help enhance how educators use these tools in instruction. In this section of our blog, you'll find countless posts on trending STEM topics, how-to articles, many recommendations for classroom solutions and projects, industry updates, connections between STEAM tools and the future, and a lot more. We are also extremely committed to closing certain gaps and increasing equity in STEM education. As such, a lot of this content contains context for advancing inclusive opportunities for all kids. We encourage you to search through the posts to find something relevant for you. And, if there's any topics we've missed, let us know.
If you think you’ve seen kids get excited about learning, you probably haven’t seen the full extent of excitement until you’ve seen robots make their way into the classroom. Teachers can discuss the ideas of learning with robotics with their students, but when it comes to unleashing their potential in the classroom, students won’t be able to contain themselves.
Have you ever heard the phrase “bucking the trend?” It’s usually used when something in particular has been the status quo for a number of years and a group of dedicated individuals decides that they want to be a part of it instead of watching from the sidelines. When it comes to the number of girls who pursue CS careers,
Proponents of STEM education generally believe that hands-on, practical and in-depth learning should really begin taking place during a student’s high school years. We believe, however, that it can start earlier than that—like, much earlier. Who’s to say that young children cannot be exposed to the same kinds of experiential learning as older students?
Alarmingly, just one in 10 American schools offer regular computer science classes in their curricula. If I could pick just one word to describe that trend, it might have to be ‘disconnect.’ It doesn’t make any sense, you see, because jobs involving computer science skills are being created four or five times as fast as qualified graduates can fill them.
It’s time to replace pencils and notebooks with programmable robots and problem-solving courses that focus on interactively developing an unrelenting desire to improve creativity and inquiry-based knowhow. Strategies tend to differ as there are lots of different considerations to take into account, like grade level, affordability and other things.
College is traditionally considered to be the four years in which students are molded into the successful workers they will become and given the opportunity to practice their craft through hands-on classes, internships and co-ops. It’s becoming more and more common, however, that college is just the second stop on this train.
For those (like me) who can’t help but feel a little bit intimidated by a tool like the Arduino, we may have found you a way to get past those fears. The DFRobot Beginner Kit combines all the power of the Arduino software with unmatched simplicity as it perfectly teaches students in grades six and up the basics of programming.
The JD Humanoid perfectly combines all the characteristics you could want in a STEM learning tool and it’s perfect for quick classroom lessons or group projects. One of three EZ-Robot models, the JD helps kids excel at learning programming basics through the simplicity built into the ez-builder software—and, trust me, it doesn’t get much easier!
If you watched the Olympics, you noticed a major difference in how the athletes competed relative to even just a few years ago. The revolutions in sports technology are astounding and, more impressively, still in their infancy. It’s a testament to both the advances in STEM innovations and the desire of athletes, coaches and team owners wanting to succeed.
When it comes to Squishy Circuits, you can try, but you probably will not be able to find an EdTech kit better catered to easy-going, open-ended play! Each of the three Squishy Circuits kits (Lite, Standard and Deluxe) encourage children as young as 8 years old to roll up their proverbial sleeves and start building.
