zSpace takes a different approach to VR, offering immersive 3D learning experiences without asking students to strap a device to their faces.

Designed specifically for education, zSpace combines hardware and software to create interactive lessons that allow students to explore complex concepts in a more hands-on way.

From dissecting a virtual heart, to examining the inner workings of an engine, or investigating scientific phenomena that would be impossible to recreate safely in a classroom -- the aim is to move learning beyond textbooks and flat screens.

STEM subjects, career and technical education (CTE), and workforce readiness all get a focus. zSpace has found a place in schools looking for ways to make learning more engaging while helping students develop practical skills.

Here's everything you need to know about zSpace and how it can be used for teaching.

What is zSpace?

zSpace is an immersive learning platform that combines dedicated hardware with a library of educational software designed for schools, colleges, and training environments.

The company focuses on what it calls experiential learning. This aims to give students the opportunity to interact directly with digital objects and simulations -- rather than simply reading about processes or watching videos.

zSpace does not rely on traditional VR headsets. Instead, students use specially designed laptops or workstations that display 3D content that can be manipulated using a stylus. This creates the feeling of interacting with physical objects and dodges lots of the practical challenges associated with headset-based VR.

The platform is popular for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), but it also supports health sciences, manufacturing, skilled trades, and career-focused learning programs. The idea here is to help students better understand difficult concepts through direct interaction and exploration.

How does zSpace work?

zSpace is designed to make digital learning feel more physical. Students can pick up, rotate, enlarge, shrink, and examine virtual objects from every angle.

Rather than viewing a diagram of the human body, for example, they can pull virtual organs apart, explore anatomical systems layer by layer, and investigate structures that would be difficult to visualize using more standard teaching methods.

The same approach applies across other subjects. Engineering students can inspect machine components, science students can investigate molecular structures, and technical education learners can practice procedures in simulated environments before working with real-world equipment.

For teachers, the platform functions as another instructional tool rather than a replacement for existing teaching methods. Lessons can be integrated into classroom activities, used as part of blended learning programs, or offered in small groups.

Because students are actively interacting with the content rather than passively consuming it, the technology is designed to encourage curiosity, exploration, and discussion.

One of the biggest advantages is the ability to provide experiences that would otherwise be too costly, dangerous, impractical, or simply impossible in a normal classroom setting.

What are the best zSpace features?

One of the most standout features is the headset-free approach. zSpace removes the need to wear VR goggles, as many other immersive tech platforms require, making classroom use simpler and potentially more comfortable for learners.

The platform's interactive 3D models are another major strength. Being able to manipulate objects directly can help students grasp concepts that are often difficult to understand through static images alone. This is helpful for subjects such as anatomy, engineering, physics, and technical training.

zSpace also stands out because of its focus on CTE and career readiness. Much of the content is designed to teach academic concepts and to help students with skills and scenarios they may encounter in future professions.

The company also provides curriculum resources, implementation support, and professional development for educators, to help schools integrate the technology into existing teaching practices rather than treating it as standalone.

How much does zSpace cost?

zSpace does not publicly list pricing. Costs vary depending on the hardware selected, the software packages required, and the level of support and training a school needs.

As a result, schools interested in adopting the platform will need to contact zSpace directly for a customized quote.

Best zSpace tips and tricks

Use it for concepts students struggle to visualize
The biggest gains are likely to come when teaching topics that are difficult to understand through diagrams, photographs, or written explanations alone.

Build discussion around the experience
Rather than treating zSpace as a solo activity, use it as a starting point for questions, predictions, and classroom conversations that help students process what they have explored.

Focus on experiences you cannot easily recreate
The technology is at its strongest when it enables students to do something that would otherwise be impossible, unsafe, prohibitively expensive, or unavailable in a typical classroom.

Vibe coding might sound like a hipster on a surfboard with a MacBook, but it’s actually a simple way to describe creating computer code using artificial intelligence.

Instead of writing every line of code yourself, you describe what you want created and the AI generates the code for you. The “vibe” part comes from the idea that you may not actually know exactly how the code is working. You are guiding the AI by feel, asking for changes, testing the result, and moving toward something that works.

While vibe coding can be looked down upon by some in the development community, its popularity is growing fast, as are its capabilities.

When people, including myself, first started vibe coding, they would ask a large language model (LLM), such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Google Gemini, to create the code for a specific app or tool, then copy and paste that code into a code editor and run it manually.

When an error appeared, you would copy that error back into the LLM and it would, hopefully, provide a fix that you would then dutifully copy and paste back. You still needed to be relatively technical, even if you were not a developer, to get all these systems set up and working. It wasn’t elegant, but it could help create simple tools, fix website issues, and build early prototypes.

Things have moved on a lot over the past few years, though. Vibe coding is now much more powerful and can complete more complex tasks and create feature-filled applications. It has also become much more accessible, with bespoke tools now doing much of the heavy lifting and setup work required to get an app or website working.

Lovable, for example, uses a variety of LLMs to create a one-stop vibe coding shop using credits as AI currency. It allows people with very little, or even no, knowledge of how to develop apps to create something quickly just by describing it. Of course, as with everything AI, understanding how to prompt well makes all the difference.

I like using Claude with VS Code when I vibe code, as I know a bit of the programming language Python and want to be able to see what’s happening to the code and do some manual troubleshooting. It’s also relatively cheap.

To be brutally honest, though, AI is far more capable than I am at writing code, and I quickly have to defer to it if and when things don’t go as expected.

The difference between the two approaches is significant. With a tool such as Lovable, the “guts” are hidden and dealt with automatically, whereas with more traditional vibe coding tools you will need to set up your own environments or run programs directly on your computer to get something you can use.

What are the risks of vibe coding?

This leads into one of the biggest risks of vibe coding: you don’t fully hold the reins.

An LLM can misunderstand what you want. It can also make mistakes, confidently create code that does not work, or create fragile systems that look good but are hard to change or maintain. As complexity increases on a project, you might find yourself losing control of it. This can be particularly problematic when the AI ties itself up in knots trying to understand what you want or fix something it does not know how to fix.

This is where choosing the right AI tool can help a lot. In my experience, some AI coding tools can get stuck and claim to have fixed an issue when clearly it has not, or even worse, created a new one somewhere else.

As with all LLMs, you need to be able to decipher the language when it tells you something such as, “Oh sorry, I see what I need to do now, let me fix that,” so you know when it is genuinely correcting the problem and when it is just trying to be helpful but is actually more stuck than Winnie the Pooh in a jar of honey. Best-case scenario this can lead to wasted time or credits being used up without the issue being resolved.

It’s good to be aware of the recent horror stories, such as AI coding tools deleting databases or removing whole features from a product. It’s also worth being careful with the idea that vibe coding means anyone can now create an app. That is true up to a point, particularly for simple prototypes, experiments, and personal tools. But creating a safe, reliable app that other people depend on is a different thing altogether.

You might be able to describe what you want in plain English and get the AI to generate the code, but that does not remove the need to check, test, and understand what has been created. The easier AI makes it to build something, the easier it also becomes to build something fragile without realizing it.

This is why relying solely on a vibe-coded program that is integral to your work can be risky. But there are areas where vibe coding is, frankly, a bit magical.

What are the benefits of vibe coding?

Vibe coding feels like a genuine shift because it lets people who are not developers start making software, in the same way the early web let people publish without owning a printing press.

One of its most powerful benefits is that it allows someone with an idea to create a working proof of concept quickly. That does not mean the end result is ready to be used by hundreds or thousands of people, but it can be enough to show what is possible.

Creating a visual and working prototype can also help guide a development team and stakeholders. Instead of simply describing what you want, you can show an early version of the tool or app and use that to shape the discussion.

Vibe coding can also help you learn by doing. You can ask the AI questions and ask it to explain what it is doing and why. Over time, this can start to give you a better understanding of how the code works.

One of the most powerful uses of vibe coding, in my opinion, is creating small tools or programs that are very specific to your needs. Whether that’s a simple game you want to create for your students, a classroom quiz, a revision tool, or an app that helps keep parents up to speed on school changes, vibe coding can help you get there more quickly and at far less cost than using a development team or, in some cases, paying for a third-party provider.

Vibe coding can also be useful for experienced developers. They might not use it in quite the same way as a beginner, but it can still help them move faster. Sometimes the AI is useful for getting the first rough version of something working, even if the developer then has to go back through it, tidy it up, and make sure it is actually safe and sensible.

The important point is that vibe coding is strongest when it is used for experimentation, learning, and prototyping. It is less suitable when the software needs to be secure, reliable, long-lasting, or used by lots of people without proper review.

How to explain vibe coding to students in class

The best way to explain vibe coding to students is to say that it is giving instructions to an AI and seeing whether the AI can turn those instructions into a working program.

The student is not writing every line of code in the traditional way. They are describing what they want the software to do, then testing whether the AI has understood them correctly. That’s the key difference.

In normal coding lessons, students often start by learning syntax: the rules of the programming language. They learn how to write a variable, a loop, a function, or a condition, and then use those building blocks to make something.

With vibe coding, the starting point is often the idea instead. The student might begin with, “I want a quiz about volcanoes,” or “I want a game that helps me practice spelling.” The AI then creates the first version of the code.

That does not mean the student has finished. In many ways, that is where the learning starts. The student has to work out whether the AI understood the task. Does the program do what they expected? Is the information correct? Does the scoring work? What happens when a user makes a mistake? Can the student explain why the code behaves the way it does?

This is the part students need to understand. Vibe coding can feel instant, but it is not simply pressing a button and getting a finished app. It is a process of describing, testing, questioning, fixing, and improving.

Repetitio est mater studiorum.

Or to say it another way, repetition is the mother of learning.

And while repetition sometimes gets a bad rap (as in “drill and kill”), properly utilized, repetition can help cement foundational concepts and allow students to advance to more deeper and nuanced forms of learning.

The learning platform I Know It provides a wide range of activities and exercises for K-5 math and English language arts practice, as well as progress reports for educators and parents and gamified feedback for students.

What is I Know It?

I Know It is a math and English language arts practice site that provides extensive, individualized exercises for students in grades K-5.

The platform includes some of the most engaging features of gamification, such as congratulatory graphics and animations, sound effects, awards, and badges. I think it strikes an excellent balance between fully gamified interactives on one hand and dry data-driven instruction on the other.

I Know It goes beyond simple practice modules by aligning the majority of its exercises with Common Core Standards or selected state standards. Plus, its student-friendly features will encourage timely assignment completion as well as exploration of additional, unassigned problem sets.

How Does I Know It Work?

I Know It makes it easy for educators to sign up for its generous free trial. Simply provide your name, school name, phone number, and email and you’re ready to explore the site. Once signed in, teachers can set options for the following parameters:

• Standards (Common Core, Texas or Florida)
• Hints (none, three or unlimited)
• Animations (on/off)
• Students may explore on their own (yes/no)
• Questions may be read aloud (on/off)
• Progress report to parents via email (yes/no)

Given the level of control and optimization provided, I Know It has a remarkably clean interface with intuitive navigation. It’s also very easy to edit any of these parameters at any time later.

CREATING A CLASS

Create and name your class from the My Students tab. The easiest way to populate your online classes is to use the Rapid Roster feature, which accepts text input, or copy-and-pasted names from a text file, spreadsheet, or email. The system will then create the user names and passwords for you. These can be edited later if you wish. You can also print out a PDF with all student names and passwords.

GETTING TO KNOW THE EXERCISES

I Know It offers two categories of practice: math and English language arts. To start exploring practice sets, select a category and grade from the top menu or from the teacher dashboard. Now you’ll see the entire range of problems for that grade, with large bold print headings so you can easily find your preferred activities.

To get a quick view of a problem type, mouse over the description and an example will pop up. To try it yourself, click to open the problem. Your view will be identical to the student’s view, so you can see what happens following a correct answer or an incorrect answer.

Note the animation option toggle in the lower right corner. Students who prefer not to have graphic or animated feedback can adjust their own settings.

If you’d like to experience and test the platform exactly as a student would, sign in as a student in a separate browser. First add a student; e.g.; Test Student. Open a new browser (for example, use Edge if your teacher account is open in Chrome) and sign in as Test Student, logging in with user name, the class code and the password. A separate student email is not required.

ASSIGNING EXERCISES

To assign activities from the teacher dashboard, select grade and subject (math or ELA), then select the desired exercise. The Assign Lesson window gives you multiple options for the assignment, including number of questions (1-80), which students to assign, display options, auto reassign, and several others.

What Are the Best I Know It Features?

LESSON DIFFERENTIATION

One of most useful features built into the I Know It platform is the ease with which teachers can differentiate lessons. This can be accomplished in two ways:

1. Assigning a lesson of a lower or higher grade level to individual students.
   Instead of assigning fourth grade math sets to Jane Doe, you can assign second grade problem sets, since she's currently working at that level. You can then quickly assign grade-level work to the rest of the students if desired. Importantly, there will not be a grade level displayed on assignments.
   
2. Setting the "ability level" to a lower or higher grade.
   The "ability level" is an optional feature that, if set, will guide the level of exploration exercises offered to a student. These are the optional activities displayed underneath the student's assigned work.

PROGRESS TRACKING AND REPORTING

Student progress tracking allows teachers to see overviews of a class or student, or drill down into details if desired. "Recent Activity" lists students, lessons worked on, and scores, with a link to a detailed view for each student. Here teachers can view all of a student's questions and answers as well as time spent on tasks.

Teachers may also export a printable PDF progress report for selected intervals, or view awards won by students for completing lessons. Weekly progress reports will be emailed to parents if enabled in Settings.

BUILT-IN ACCESSIBILITY TOOLS

Each activity window sports a sound icon in the top left corner, allowing questions to be read aloud. Incorrect answers yield explanations clarifying the correct answer and offering the chance to view the question and answer again.

Does The Robot Have A Name And Why Is It So Much Fun?

Maybe it's just the fifth grader in me, but I love the animated robot character that responds to answers (if animations are permitted in settings). The variety of playful animations for correct answers—all with apt and amusing sound effects—include: blowing bubbles; barking dogs; flying birds; rain; rainbows; rocket ship taking off, circling the moon, parachuting back to Earth; juggling; a flower garden springing from the head; eating an apple that turns into a pie; and more.

My guess is that most kids will enjoy these animated rewards and hopefully, be more motivated to complete their work. Sadly, the riveting (and no doubt, riveted) robot is nameless.

How Much Does I Know It Cost?

I Know It offers three account types: Family, Single Teacher and School/District, with varying pricing and features. A 30-day free trial, with no credit card required, makes it straightforward to discover if the platform is right for your class.

The Family membership allows one parent and up to four children, using a single login, for $45 annually.

The Single Teacher account includes one teacher and 25 students (each of whom has an individual login) for $150 annually and the option to add additional student licenses at $7.50 each.

The District/School account provides additional benefits, such as a unlimited teacher accounts, a dedicated account manager, teacher training, phone tech support and others. The cost is per student and varies depending on the size of the school or district.

Buzzmath is, as the name suggests, creating a real buzz around the subject of math for young students. The idea is to bridge that gap between students who thrive on problem-solving, naturally, and those that struggle to grasp the sometimes abstract ideas.

By offering live feedback and gamified math interactions, Buzzmath works to help bring all students into a fun and engaging digital environment for learning.

Aimed at students from ages 6 to 16, this inclusive learning platform offers curriculum-aligned content that's made fun through the gamified process. They are allowed to explore at their pace, crucially, so they can feel in control while also giving teachers useful insights into their learning.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how Buzzmath could work for your class.

What is Buzzmath?

Buzzmath is a digital math practice platform that offers gamified tasks as a way to help students gain mastery in math.

The platform offers more than 14,000 math-based questions for students to tackle. This is very much useful as a tool to complement teaching, rather than to teach directly. Educators can assign activities, for example, as a way to reinforce learning after something new has been taught.

While teachers can tailor learning to individuals or groups, in either case there is storytelling and gamification involved with missions, rewards, and challenges to keep students motivated.

Teachers can use this to have students practice curriculum-aligned skills and see progress to then better tailor future sessions as needed.

Since Buzzmath is web-based, it should be easy to access across devices and internet connections -- both in school and at home.

How does Buzzmath work?

Buzzmath can be used freely, by students exploring the activities at their own pace. Or it can be utilized to assign tasks to students or groups specifically.

Students answer questions and are immediately given feedback with answers marked as correct or incorrect. In the latter case, guidance can be triggered to help them grow through productive failure.

Students can retry questions as needed and access hints or examples to help them progress. Teachers are then able to monitor progress using a detailed reporting dashboard. This can help to spot learning gaps from data such as time spent on task, attempts made, and overall accuracy.

Accessibility features include audio narration and visual glossaries to help students with varied learning needs get the most out of this service.

What are the best Buzzmath features?

While there are a huge selection of questions on the platform, thanks to dynamic variables, students are able to practice without the problem of repetition fatigue holding them back.

The real-time feedback and ability to retry allows students to feel supported while working at their own pace. This also equates to direct support that allows for independent working without teacher time being required. That should also lead to deeper levels of learning rather than surface-level answering.

Since teachers are able to personalize learning to suit individuals or groups, this can work as a very specific tailored learning support system.

Educators have access to a powerful dashboard that allows them to monitor student progress. Data such as time spent on tasks, attempts made, completion rates, and concept-level performance, can all help teachers define future learning requirements.

The gamification of everything -- with stars, badges, and missions -- can really help to keep students engaged and come back for more practice, naturally.

How much does Buzzmath cost?

Buzzmath varies in pricing based on usage. A limited 30-day free trial is available for teachers who want to give this a go before committing to any particular plan. The plans break down like this:

Schools and districts: Typically licensed per student, with pricing starting around $1 per student annually (minimum spend applies).

Families: Around $20 per month or $120 per year for home use.

Custom quotes are often required for institutional use, particularly outside the US.

Buzzmath best tips and tricks

Start with diagnostic assignments
Use early tasks to identify gaps before tailoring future work.

Use retries as learning moments
Encourage students to reflect on mistakes rather than rush through answers.

Assign differentiated pathways
Target individuals or groups with specific activities to support mixed-ability classes.

NASA Space Place is a digital resource that's built to help educators bring space and earth science into the classroom in an exciting way.

Also, crucially, it combines the rich resources of NASA is a way that offers depth but simple access for teachers. The fact this has been up and running since 1998 is clearly reflected in how well it has been refined and tailored to suit children over the years. The result: a powerful tool for the upper-elementary-aged students.

This free resource blends scientific accuracy with playful, engaging layouts, making complex concepts feel intuitive rather than intimidating.

The curriculum-friendly resources cover science topics from climate and the solar system to space tech and more. For a STEM-focused offering that comes from a credible source, this is a really wonderful option to have.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how NASA Space Place could work for your class.

What is NASA Space Place?

NASA Space Place is an education platform that offers a free way to teach upper-elementary students through inspiration and engagement -- all provided by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Science-specific areas covered include the solar system, Earth sciences, the Sun, and the universe, plus broader science and technology topics. Topics vary in depth and complexity to suit different student abilities, going from black holes to climate change.

Usefully, this is all set up as an engaging exploratory environment, rather than just a static set of tools. That means there is reading, there is watching, but there is also doing. Students can read about a topic, then play a game on what's been learned, followed by a hands-on activity in class or at home.

Educators have a dedicated section with materials such as printables, resources, and guidance across English and Spanish.

How does NASA Space Place work?

NASA Space Place is browser-based, so it can be accessed from most devices and internet connections. Everything is arranged into helpful categories that allow teachers and students to navigate by topic or activity type, for example.

So a student might browse a subject such as Earth then filter into articles, games, and hands-on activities -- ideal as it can be suited to how that particular student prefers to learn.

Articles break down scientific concepts into simple, digestible explanations, often supported by visuals or animations. Games reinforce learning through interaction. While DIY activities encourage practical application, such as building simple models or conducting experiments at home or in class.

Teachers have a few ways to take advantage of the platform. They can use it as a lesson starter, a supplementary resource, or even a flipped learning tool through which students explore topics independently before class discussion.

The material is aligned with real NASA missions and scientific research, so it also offers a level of authenticity that can deepen student engagement.

Plus, it can all be scaled. It's aimed at younger learners but the clarity can be helpful to older students who need to work on foundations.

What are the best NASA Space Place features?

NASA Space Place takes often complex scientific ideas and makes each one easily accessible and digestible -- but, crucially, without oversimplifying anything. This is thanks to those different formats available that can suit varying learner styles.

The games, which offer an interactive way to learn, are a powerful feature. Students can explore satellite tracking or planetary motion in a hands-on way, turning abstract ideas into something tangible. Then, the short videos and animations help visual learners grasp topics such as eclipses or space weather.

For teachers, the hands-on activities can be very useful with crafts and experiments offering experiential learning that can reinforce theoretical knowledge.

A wide range of subjects are covered here, from climate change and Earth systems to deep space exploration. The platform connects classroom learning to real-world science and ongoing NASA missions.

Educators can access the resources, such as printables and guidance, as a way to enhance teaching and make using this platform even more valuable and time-rich.

It's also worth mentioning that the bright visuals, simple language, and general sense of curiosity-driven exploration can all help to maintain student engagement.

How much does NASA Space Place cost?

NASA Space Place is completely free to use. No subscriptions, paywalls, or premium tiers to navigate. Everything on the platform is openly accessible to students, teachers, and parents.

In addition, there are no hidden requirements in terms of hardware or software. Because the platform runs in a web browser, it works across most devices, including desktops, laptops, and tablets. This flexibility makes it suitable for classroom use, remote learning, and homework alike.

NASA Space Place best tips and tricks

Hook with play
Start lessons with a quick game or animation to spark curiosity and ease students into complex space concepts.

Guide exploration
Set focused tasks that have students navigate specific sections of the site to build independent research skills.

Make it hands-on
Use the DIY activities as the core of lessons to turn abstract science into practical, memorable learning experiences.

I recently wrote an article about the gamified STEM teaching and learning platform Brilliant. While Brilliant is indeed a top performer, it's not the only math "game" in town. I decided to round up a selection of similar online math platforms to help teachers find the perfect match for their students.

For this review, I focused on math or STEM platforms that provide a robust set of online practice tools and manipulatives. Platforms that relied primarily on printed materials were excluded, as I wanted to focus on the learning and engagement benefits of digital manipulatives.

These exceptional math learning tools are fully free or modestly priced, and aimed at engaging learners of all levels with their interactive tools, gamified features, graphics and sound effects. Simply put, they make learning and doing math fun. And because teachers have the ability to individually assign lessons, each platform serves as a personalized learning tool for every student.

Best Online Math Platforms for Education

BEST FOR K-8 MATH CURRICULA

ZEARN

Zearn, a nonprofit platform designed by teachers, provides more than 1,000 research-backed K-8 digital math lessons, and has earned the highest designation (Strong) rating from Evidence for ESSA. Individual teachers can sign up for a full suite of content at no charge, while schools and districts can pay for premium features. A teacher's account includes all Zearn math instructional materials, for up to 35 students and one teacher.

Unique among the platforms featured, Zearn provides brief video introductions that demonstrate how to solve problems in upcoming lessons. In addition to the interactive video lessons, it also provides fluency practice activities and mastery-based quizzes.

Zearn is also distinguished by its level of reporting. Using the four types of reports— Pace, Progress, Tower Alerts, and Sprint Alerts—teachers can easily monitor student progress and pace of lesson completion. Importantly, the two "Alerts" allow teachers to identify students who are struggling with content and fluency.

BEST FOR TARGETED SKILLS PRACTICE

Struggly

Struggly is a preK-8 gamified math supplement that emphasizes the value of persisting through mistakes. Instead of a sad buzzer sound with an error message, kids are congratulated for their mistakes. By acknowledging that mistakes are foundational to learning and brain growth, Struggly takes some of the pressure off both high-achieving and low-achieving students.

Consistent with Struggly's teaching philosophy, no instructions are provided for its engaging exercises. Instead, high-quality animations, pop-ups, and sound effects guide students on where to click on each page. Users can click on "hints" to get help if needed.

Struggly makes it easy for teachers to try its interactive tasks before assigning any. Currently, there are 68 separate tasks available, searchable by Common Core State Standards or topic. Although 68 is relatively few, each task includes a number of levels, so a single task can serve as deep practice across multiple grades. Struggly aims to release one to three new tasks per month.

Although Struggly is a modestly-priced paid platform, it offers a generous 60-day free trial—with no credit card required—to determine if it will be a fit for your classroom.

I Know It

I Know It shines as an easy-to-use K-5 interactive math practice site. Its clean, uncluttered interface offers intuitive navigation for teachers and students alike.

To find lessons, simply select Math from the top menu, then click on your desired grade from K-5, also on the top menu. Teachers can easily try each lesson simply by clicking on it, and also directly assign any lesson from within it. Creating classes and adding students is similarly frictionless.

While it's a fully interactive platform, I Know It's lessons aren't gamified at the same level as other platforms featured here. However, its amusing robot mascot does provide encouragement via sound effects and comic reactions to answers, right or wrong. Hints and encouragement are offered along the way as kids work through their problem sets.

Annual memberships, costing a modest $150, include up to 25 students, while the 30-day free trial (no credit cared required) will allow educators to fully experience the platform's tools and benefits.

BEST DYNAMIC TOOLS AND VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES

GeoGebra

A fully free interactive math platform for grades 4-12, GeoGebra focuses on dynamic tools that help students visualize and understand concepts in algebra, geometry, numeracy, statistics, and more.

GeoGebra boasts an impressive library of more than one million math learning resources, including lessons, exercises, digital books, and interactives, contributed by the GeoGebra Content Team, as well as GeoGebra’s global community. Users can create and upload their own resources incorporating applets, text, video, images, PDFs, notes, questions, and more.

GeoGebra's intuitive website is easy to navigate and use. It's ideal for exploration, demonstration and formative assessments. Given the platform's extensive scope, educators should familiarize themselves with the interactives and curate relevant resources prior to classroom implementation. Fortunately, GeoGebra offers strong guidance via its Help pages and YouTube channel.

Although an account is not required for either students or teachers, teachers will need to create one in order to fully utilize this versatile and engaging platform.

Polypad

The fully free award-winning Polypad is a digital math playground that uses multimedia interactive tools, sound, and music to teach geometry, algebra, probability, and statistics to middle and high school students. Requiring no login or installation, Polypad runs on all devices and browsers, and provides an extensive set of pre-designed puzzles, activities, and lesson plans.

Available in English and Spanish, Polypad allows users to add co-teachers to their classes and offers detailed student progress reports. The recently added Snapshot Tool makes it easy for educators to select and sequence student work for class discussion.

Polypad also distinguishes itself with logic-based games, such as chess and dominoes, as well as interactive music tools that let users explore and compose music digitally. Open to teachers and students, the Polypad Art and Music Contest is an excellent opportunity to showcase creativity and skill in using the Polypad tools. These unique features of Polypad qualify it as not only a top-notch STEM tool, but also a first-rate STEAM tool.

BEST FOR ENRICHMENT

Brilliant

Brilliant features super snappy graphics and sound effects that mimic those of your students' favorite video games.

But Brilliant is much more than amusing characters, badges, points, and sound effects. In fact, it offers a huge variety of grade 3-12 STEM lessons in math, computer science, science, and data. Each lesson contains multiple levels, progressing from simpler to more complex, allowing students to build mastery and confidence as they work.

Ideal for highly motivated and advanced students, Brilliant allows users to jump ahead in lessons, preventing boredom for quick learners and encouraging them to explore STEM topics on their own.

Premium Brilliant is 100% free for qualified educators and their students.

Brilliant is a gamified online and app-based STEM teaching and learning platform that offers highly interactive lessons with step-by-step problem solving, dynamic visualizations, and brief explanations designed to keep learners engaged.

Brilliant’s slogan, “Everyone is a Math Person,” suggests its appeal to learners of every aptitude, and conveys its aim to reduce math anxiety and foster students' self-motivation.

The platform not only appeals strongly to students, but also to educators, as full premium memberships are available free to qualified educators.

What is Brilliant?

Founded in 2012, Brilliant comprises a STEM learning website plus Android and iOS apps. It partners with the nonprofit Mathcounts Foundation to support math education for middle school students and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges as supplementary education in math, science and technology.

Brilliant’s STEM games and puzzles are highly visual, interactive and engaging, while providing immediate feedback as students progress through problem sets and lessons. Its gamified interface uses clever sound effects and top-notch animations to reward and encourage persistence and concept mastery.

Aimed at students in grades 3-12, Brilliant offers thousands of lessons in the topics of math, computer science, science and data.

How Does Brilliant Work?

To apply for a free premium education account and start teaching with Brilliant, sign up at educator.brillaint.org. You will then be prompted to create two accounts - an educator account and a student account. The student account is required in order to explore and test the interactive courses and lessons, and view the site from a student perspective.

The next step is to create classes and invite students. This can be done easily via an invitation link or by syncing with Google Classroom. In this way, student accounts will automatically be created as premium accounts, free of charge. Note that educators log in at educator.brilliant.org, while students log in at brilliant.org.

Finding and Assigning lessons
Brilliant’s well-designed lessons dashboard makes it easy to find lessons for your students. First select the desired subject tab, then search by topic, grade, or standard. From the results page, teachers can copy the lesson link, post directly to Google Classroom, or preview the lesson before assigning. To complete the lesson as a student would, you’ll need to use your Brilliant student login that you created earlier. The platform will prompt you to do so.

Student Progress
While Brilliant is not an assessment platform, it does provide progress notes on students by reporting on the number of lessons each student completes and time spent on each lesson. The Highlights dashboard offers an overview of the class performance, including the total number of lessons completed and time spent, as well as listing students ranked by lessons completed. These reports, while not granular, do provide a general sense of the progress gained by individual students and the class as a whole.

What Are The Best Brilliant Features?

Brilliant’s clean interface, sophisticated graphics, and sound effects yield a fun and fluid interactive experience, allowing students to learn by doing. Gamified features such as streaks, points, and battery charges boost engagement and provide small rewards on the way to topic mastery.

Lesson Abundance and Variety
The sheer variety and abundance of STEM lessons in math, computer science, science, and data is remarkable. Within each lesson, levels progress from simpler to more complex, offering multiple exercises to reinforce learning in different ways. Suggested grade levels give teachers the ability to carefully curate lessons based on student grade and achievement. Since lessons can be separately assigned, teachers are able to individualize instruction according to student skill level.

Self-directed learning
Brilliant is an excellent platform for self-directed learning, as it allows students to follow their STEM curiosity without worrying about grades. The ability to jump ahead in lessons will be especially appreciated by advanced students who need less practice time to gain mastery.

Enrichment
Brilliant is ideal for highly motivated and advanced students. Instead of feeling bored and restless when they finish their lessons ahead of their classmates, they can move ahead to the next related lesson or simply "jump ahead" to a topic that intrigues them. At the same time, with its scaffolded lessons and the opportunity to repeatedly practice a single concept, it's also a great tool for struggling students.

Is Brilliant Safe for Kids?

Brilliant does not share, sell, or disclose any personal information of students, nor does it use student information for marketing or other non-educational purposes.

Additionally, the website states that Brilliant for Educators is designed in compliance with global privacy laws, including COPPA, FERPA, and GDPR.

How Much Does Brilliant Cost?

Thanks to a grant-funded program, Brilliant Premium is 100% free for qualified educators. Just as important, students of qualified educators are also qualified for a free premium account.

Eligible educators include the following:

• Elementary, middle, and high school teachers at accredited K-12 schools.
• Principals, superintendents, and other administrators at accredited K-12 schools or districts.
• Camp instructors, club leaders, or nonprofit employees working directly with children for educational purposes.

For general users, Brilliant operates on a freemium model, with basic features such as daily lessons available to free users. Premium users can take advantage of unlimited learning in an ad-free environment, personalized practice, and the ability to jump ahead in courses.

Equatio is an arguably revolutionary technological tool that brings math and science into the digital age.

For years there has been a lag as the typing of equations has been awkward and graph sharing inconsistent, leaving the jump to digital less well-covered for science over arts.

Equatio changes that by offering a more inclusive and optimal way of working with math and science equations digitally.

Developed by TextHelp, this tool lets users type naturally, handwrite on a touchscreen, or even speak equations aloud, in order to enter these digitally.

For teachers this is a great way to lessen the workload for assessments, worksheets, and more. And it offers consistency across devices.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about how Equatio could work in your class.

What is Equatio?

Equatio is an equation editor that allows math and science work to be created, edited, and shared digitally with ease.

One of the main selling points of this tool is that it offers a level playing field for all students by providing the tools they need to access equations though different methods.

These access points include handwriting math, speaking it, or visualizing it by converting from existing worksheets.

From students with special educational needs to EAL students, this platform aims to give independence to everyone who wants to engage with STEM learning. It even works in exam situations to ensure everyone can get access as they need.

This tools helps students and teachers communicate digitally through the use of formulas, graphs, equations, and visual explanations.

That works across a host of platforms and devices including Windows, macOS, Chrome, iOS, and online environments.

How does Equatio work?

Equatio works both as a stand alone app and a toolbar that can run overlaying other tools such as Google Docs, Word, Chrome browsers, and more.

This allows you to input in various ways that include typing, handwriting, speech, screenshot import, LaTeX input, or selection from symbol palettes.

Usefully, there is a predictive math engine that allows you to type naturally and it will help complete the rest to save time, if possible. For example, typing “sqrt” produces a radical symbol, and typing “2^3” automatically converts into an exponent.

This reduces the need for multistep formatting and allows students to focus on mathematical thinking rather than notation mechanics.

This applies to handwriting and speech inputs as well, as the system does the conversion for the user to make it as easy and quick as possible.

Teachers can setup multi-step problems, interactive tasks, or diagrams within the Mathspace digital STEM workspace environment. This lets students annotate, draw, rearrange, and show working clearly.

What are the best Equatio features?

Equatio features a really helpful Screenshot Reader tool that acts as a way to bridge the physical and digital worlds.

This allows teachers to capture images of printed worksheets, textbook pages, exam questions, or online graphics to have these converted into a digital example. The system will extract the mathematical notation and leave that available in an editable form.

The Mathspace, a virtual whiteboard of sorts, is ideal for problem-solving, modeling, or showing work. Teachers can create interactive worksheets, scaffold steps, or build manipulatives that students can rearrange.

Desmos graphing is fully supported so functions can be plotted, manipulated, and embedded into assignments. Students can quickly test ideas, explore behavior, and analyze relationships.

Equatio goes beyond algebra for math. Chemistry formulas, atomic structures, physics notation, and scientific operators are all supported, making it a full STEM tool.

The tool has a host of accessibility functions. Equatio supports learners with dysgraphia, processing difficulties, motor impairments, and more. It also integrates exam-access features for approved candidates.

How much does Equatio cost?

Equatio is available through a combination of individual subscriptions, institutional licenses, and pilots. While pricing can vary by region and deployment, the broad structure is:

A 30-day free trial for individuals, or a 90-day pilot for schools and districts wanting to test the tool with multiple users, is available.

The Individual license options, starting at $170/year, offer paid annual plans for single users.

The School or district licensing options off site-wide deployments with volume-based pricing, central management tools, and broad access for staff and students.

Pricing for a K-12 Group is $17/student/year, or for a K-12 District is $2.05/student/year.

Equatio best tips and tricks

Use Mathspace for modelling
Build worked examples in which each layer appears gradually. This helps students follow reasoning rather than just seeing final answers.

Create reusable templates
Set up equation frameworks, graphing tasks, unit-conversion grids, or chemistry balancing worksheets once, then duplicate each year.

Combine handwriting and typing
Encourage students to start by handwriting intuitively, then convert to typed notation to check for accuracy. It builds muscle memory and symbolic fluency together.

What happened to the Hour of Code?

Since 2013, Hour of Code activities have been helping educators worldwide to teach coding and computer science principles to K-12 students during Computer Science Education Week every December (this year December 8-14).

Now, with the rapid penetration of artificial intelligence into technology, communications, industry, and education, it’s time to build on the success of Hour of Code. The Hour of AI is upon us.

The Hour of AI follows the principles of the Hour of Code -- that any educator can teach about artificial intelligence with the right guidance. Students will learn to understand and create with AI instead of simply being passive consumers of it.

Fortunately, it’s not an either-or choice. While the Hour of AI has claimed its place in Computer Science Education Week, there are still many fine Hour of Code lessons and activities to choose from.

Whether Hour of AI or Hour of Code, the purpose is the same: To get kids excited about computer science via brief, enjoyable lessons, typically based on digital games and apps. However, you can also teach AI, coding, STEM, and computer logic with “unplugged” analog lessons, some of which are listed here.

Most of the following free Hour of AI/Hour of Code lessons and activities do not require an account or login. All are easy to access and can enrich your classroom’s computer science curriculum all year round.

Hour of AI Lessons and Activities

CS For All Hour of AI
Everything educators need to know about the Hour of AI, including a wealth of print and digital resources, activities, and a how-to guide for hosting an Hour of AI event.

Digital Schoolhouse Computer Science Workshops
The UK-based non profit Digital Schoolhouse provides a robust set of free workshops for teaching computer science topics from Big Data to Ultimate Games Careers. Each workshop includes a teacher’s guide, PowerPoint class presentation, exercises, and additional digital materials.

Digital Schoolhouse Playful Computer Activities
Computer activities don’t always require a computer. Use this terrific assortment of creative lessons to teach computer-related concepts such as computational thinking, binary language, game design, and more, all packaged with amusing characters, puzzles, and logic problems. The carefully designed materials include everything teachers need to bring the lesson to the classroom—except the Playdough, of course!

Digital Schoolhouse Hour of AI: AI unplugged
How does generative AI work? This excellent unplugged AI lesson answers this question and explains the basics of generative AI -- no digital technology required! Included are a teacher guide, worksheets, and an editable PowerPoint presentation. For students nine years and older.

Raspberry Pi Experience CS Curriculum
A free computer science curriculum that’s designed to be incorporated into core content, such as math, science, social studies, and language arts. Ten standards-aligned units cover subjects including weather, art, music, and ecology, and provide lesson plans, slide decks, assessments, and other teaching resources. Grades 4-8. Free account required.

ISTE Artificial Intelligence Lessons
Available in English, Spanish, and Arabic, these hands-on AI project guides help teachers implement a variety of AI lessons in the classroom, from unplugged to chatbots and video games. Education email required for lesson download.

Mix & Move with AI
From the innovative nonprofit Code.org, this lesson brings dance, music, and AI together to teach kids 8-18 years old how to combine creativity, coding, and AI. Includes educator’s guide, lesson plan, classroom slide deck, and prep video.

Coding with AI
Is it possible to use AI for learning a subject rather than cheating? Code.org says yes. Its Coding With AI program is a five-lesson course exploring how kids can tap into AI as a learning support and resource. Each standards-based lesson includes a teacher’s guide, agenda, activities, and assessments. Integrated with Google and Microsoft for easy login and digital sharing.

Hour of Code Lessons and Activities

Blockly: Educational Games that Teach Programming
Simple and elegant game-based coding site that allows novice users to quickly jump in and start learning to code, first with blocks, then with text. Each of the eight game categories introduces an important coding concept, from loops and conditionals to functions. Shareable links promote collaboration. No account required.

Code with Anna and Elsa
From code.org, this step-by-step guide allows students to code a fun animation featuring the popular characters from Frozen. Explanatory videos and tooltips help users navigate and complete each step, while the “run” command shows them if they got it right. A free account is not required, but creating an account allows teachers to assign and track work.

Tinkercad Codeblocks
Block-based coding is a great start for aspiring coders of any age. First create a free account, then explore tutorials on shapes, 3D movement, templates, and much more. Once students have gained some experience, they can try remixing template code, or even create their own.

Khan Academy: Hour of Code
Khan Academy’s interactive videos, challenges, and projects make it easy to dive into STEM teaching and learning coding. The clean, easy-to-navigate interface provides step-by-step guidance and resources for coding drawings, webpages, databases, and more. Create a free account to save resources and document your progress. Not sure where to begin? Consult the teachers’ guides, which cover programming with JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL, and more. Integrates with Google Classroom.

The Tech Interactive: Computational Thinking
Computational thinking is not just for coding. Learn how the four elements of computational thinking—decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms—can be applied not only to coding, but also to problem-solving across the curriculum. Then check out the CT K12 lessons and activities here.

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Coding Lessons
Twenty coding lessons of increasing difficulty feature the Grinch and scenes from the beloved book.

Hour of Code: Simple Encryption
Previously the domain of militaries and spies, encryption is now an important part of modern life for anyone who uses a digital device. This simple encryption puzzle starts at the lowest level and builds in complexity. Fun and educational.

Intro to App Lab
Create your own apps with App Lab’s tools and guidance.

Girls Who Code
Free JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, Scratch, and other programming lessons that students, parents, and educators can complete at home.

MIT App Inventor
Users create their own mobile app with a blocks-based programming language. Need help? Check out the coding tutorials here.

Microsoft Make Code: Hands-on computing education
Fun projects utilizing both block and text editors for students of all ages. No account needed.

Scratch: Get Creative with Coding
No account needed to start coding new worlds, cartoons, or flying animals.

Scratch Jr
Nine activities introduce kids to coding with the programming language Scratch Jr., which lets children aged 5-7 create interactive stories and games.

Watch the video above or listen/download the audio below.

Alabama has achieved what many thought impossible: climbing from dead last to the middle of the pack in national math rankings. The state, which historically jockeyed with Mississippi for 52nd place on NAEP assessments, now ranks 32nd — a dramatic improvement driven in part by the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI).

"We are in the middle of the pack," says Rachel Broadhead, who works with the statewide initiative. "That's a big deal for a state that's been at the bottom for as long as anyone can remember."

AMSTI operates on what Rachel describes as a "three-legged stool" approach: professional learning opportunities, physical resources, and job-embedded on-site support. The initiative benefits from regional hubs that place staff closer to classrooms than most statewide programs can achieve.

AMSTI recently extended its partnership with BW Walch to continue scaling the implementation of the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) professional learning program statewide.

Through AMSTI, thousands of Alabama teachers have already been trained in OGAP’s systematic, research-based frameworks—helping them identify student misconceptions early and respond with targeted instruction.

“This partnership with AMSTI has demonstrated what’s possible when teachers are empowered with evidence-based professional learning that deepens their understanding of how students learn math,” said Al Noyes, CEO of BW Walch. “OGAP enables educators to look beyond right or wrong answers—to see inside students’ reasoning, address misconceptions, and help every learner build lasting mathematical understanding.”

The multi-year extension will expand professional learning opportunities, deepen district-level support, and introduce new online tools to strengthen ongoing coaching and collaboration.

This snippet of the conversation features advice to district administrators about making time for PD.

• Tech & Learning Conversations with Kevin Hogan

Achievement in math doesn't happen without motivation—and the most successful districts know how to combine the two.

During this recent webinar, hosted by Christine Weiser, Tech & Learning Content Director, and featuring Cassandra Haines-Riiska, Educator Success Specialist for Prodigy Education and Edward Courtney, an elementary teacher for Long Beach Public Schools in New York, as well as content from Lisa Marceau, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for North Adams Schools in Massachusetts (who could not attend), attendees heard real-world examples of how creating fun, engaging math experiences drives student persistence, improves outcomes, and helps close achievement gaps.

Whether your district is looking to accelerate learning, improve equity, or simply help students enjoy math again, the discussion provided practical, research-informed approaches to explore how math plus motivation adds up to lasting achievement for every student.

As Marceau shared by proxy, “The struggle IS the learning.”

WATCH ON DEMAND HERE

The Indispensable Link: Motivation Fuels Achievement

A central theme of the webinar was that math achievement is inextricably tied to student motivation. The most successful districts understand this connection and actively work to combine the two.

“Motivation comes in so many different shapes and colors,” said Courtney, emphasizing the importance of finding joy in learning, meeting students where they are, and celebrating every success, no matter how small. He noted that shifting negative feelings into positive ones can instantly change a student's day and motivate them to persist.

When students are curious, challenged, or seeking recognition, they are more likely to push through difficulties. Intrinsic motivation, the desire to learn for learning's sake, leads to deeper engagement, long-term achievement, and eventually mastery. Motivated learners view mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than failures, fostering a resilient mindset.

Engagement, particularly through interactive and game-based platforms such as Prodigy, builds momentum by making learning feel like progress and enjoyment. This leads to more frequent practice, greater focus, and boosts both academic and social skills. Ultimately, motivation leads to measurable performance gains, with research consistently showing that motivated students often outperform or catch up to their peers, even those with different starting proficiencies.

Cultivating Math Motivation: Strategies from the Field

Lisa Marceau's experience further illustrated the power of motivation. Faced with students lacking the drive to tackle challenging math problems, her mission was to reframe math as a "superpower" fueled by curiosity and motivation. Her district aimed to instill ownership over learning, observing that motivated students put more effort into difficult problems, engaged in math discourse, and collaborated more with classmates. Incorporating digital games was key to fostering deeper, interactive learning and demonstrating that math can be fun, leading to improved achievement and scores.

Key tips for fueling persistence include:

• Encouraging a Growth Mindset: Teaching students to believe in their ability to grow builds confidence and persistence.
• Embracing Productive Struggle: Helping students understand that struggle is an integral part of learning deepens conceptual understanding.
• Providing Support: Teachers and coaches must provide clear guidance on where and how students can seek help, building a supportive culture.
• Connecting Math to Real Life: Demonstrating the real-world relevance of math helps students see its necessity for achieving their goals.

Success Stories: From Individuals to Districts

“There's no victory that's too small of a victory,” said Courtney. “Even just one problem correct will really make a difference and it will really stand out with the student. It could make or break their entire day." He shared how a second-grader struggling with basic math facts who, through daily engagement with Prodigy and targeted assignments, improved her fluency by 20% in six weeks. This demonstrated the impact of consistent practice and the platform's built-in rewards.

At the classroom level, Courtney observed improved peer collaboration and increased attendance across grades K-5 when motivation-based learning tools were integrated. Teachers reported increased engagement and participation, with one fourth-grade class seeing participation jump from 60% to 100%. Courtney's personal journey from a "terrible math student" to someone who now loves teaching it underscores the transformative power of making math fun, engaging, and accessible.

On a school and district level, Edward's school in Long Beach, New York, implemented Prodigy during a period of budget constraints and potential closure. The students' motivation to keep their school open, fueled by the Prodigy State Challenge, led them to become state champions multiple times over. This collective goal fostered a strong sense of community and celebrated learning milestones, creating a positive school culture that continues to thrive.

Lisa Marceau's district also saw remarkable success, with 95% of their K-6 staff attending Prodigy training, including non-math teachers. This "top-down" approach ensured a common language and district-wide support for the initiative. Her school became the Massachusetts champion for the heroic tier, answering nearly 30,000 questions in a single month.

Scaling Proven Practices

Scaling these practices involves:

• Building a Culture of Growth: Encouraging a growth mindset and celebrating progress school-wide.
• Integrating into Curriculum: Embedding math games and competitions directly into lessons, rather than treating them as "extras."
• Monitoring and Sharing Data: Tracking student engagement alongside achievement and sharing results with students to foster motivation.
• Quality Professional Development: Providing hands-on workshops, peer collaboration opportunities, and tech training for staff, with continuous support.
• High Expectations and Useful Resources: Setting high expectations for all students and staff, and providing the resources they need to succeed.

By prioritizing motivation, celebrating effort, providing targeted support, and leveraging engaging tools such as Prodigy, educators can transform math learning into a joyful and achievable experience for every student.

Struggly is a gamified online math supplement that encourages and rewards student persistence, creativity, and strategy in solving digital math puzzles.

Aimed at students in grades preK-8, Struggly’s games are standards-aligned and allow students to explore and learn diverse math subjects, from arithmetic and fractions to algebraic thinking and reasoning, all through playful, engrossing gameplay.

Struggly’s clean interface, fun graphics, sound effects, and badges add to its appeal for both students and teachers.

What is Struggly?

Struggly is an award-winning digital math supplement that challenges young learners to engage with math topics via its online gamified platform.

While there are many platforms offering math games, Struggly’s emphasis on the value of playful struggle sets it apart from others. Its uncluttered, easy-to-use website features stylish and fun cartoon characters, graphics, and sounds.

“Struggly is all about supporting students to embrace struggle as an integral and exciting part of the learning process,” says Tanya LaMar, CEO of Struggly. “Our emphasis is on sense-making rather than procedural answer finding; our tasks are designed to promote this.”

How Does Struggly Work?

It’s easy for teachers to create a classroom and start adding students, either via CSV file upload or by manual addition. To add students manually, simply check the “Autogenerate passwords” box and fill in first and last name and user name. No email addresses required! Instead, once the class is complete, print a PDF with the student login information generated by Struggly. Simply share the classroom link and students can login via QR code or password.

Teachers assign tasks and monitor student progress via the “Student Progress” dashboard. Progress is reported in terms of persistence, creativity, strategy, and completion as well as number sense, patterns, and mistakes.

Struggly’s gamified tasks are unusual in that no direct instructions are provided. Users are presented with a relatively simple interactive gamefield that they explore with their mouse, clicking on likely graphics in order to understand the task and the results that ensue from a particular action. In other words, users must not only provide the answers, but also the questions! This is part of the Struggly philosophy, which emphasizes student learning through creativity and strategy during gameplay.

Student errors are met with various messages encouraging them to persist. I confess to a certain amount of frustration (okay, a lot of frustration) as I struggled valiantly with the Arithmagons game above level one. My error was in seeking a solution based on all of the elements in the gamefield while failing to see that each group of three elements contained its own solution. However, Struggly’s algorithm did not offer any hints or help except to display my incorrect answers.

Fortunately, the “About” commentary that accompanies each task clarified my error in understanding the gamefield solution. Since students don’t have access to the game commentary, it’s important for teachers to notice when kids are struggling past the point of benefit in a particular game.

What are the best Struggly features?

Dashboards

Struggly’s dashboards allow teachers to easily track student progress in their assigned tasks. In additional to individual progress, overall class statistics can also be viewed. Other dashboards display all tasks, task activity in real time, and class rosters.

Educator Guidance: FAQs, Webinars, Interviews and Video Guides

While students are encouraged to struggle with their assigned tasks, educators (thankfully) receive plenty of useful direction from Struggly’s FAQs, which serve as a quick-access educator guide to monitoring progress and teaching with Struggly. To dive deeper into Struggly’s tools and methods and to understand how other teachers use Struggly, check out the Free Resources, which provides extensive exploration via webinars, interviews, and video games.

Reflect and reason questions

Each task page includes “reflect and reason” questions, intended for use once students have practiced a task and become familiar with it. These thought-provoking, open-ended inquiries guide students in solidifying and articulating their understanding of the underlying game principles.

Struggly Mode

Struggly mode allows students who have completed an assigned task to jump into playing other unlocked tasks. Additionally, they can “earn” more playing time and more unlocked tasks by playing on their own time and at home.

How much does Struggly Cost?

Struggly features refreshingly transparent pricing for individual education plans: the Basic account costs $240/year and includes up to 30 student accounts and one teacher.

The Tailored account costs from $8/student per year and includes site or district licenses with teacher and administrator accounts.

Families have the option of an annual account at $120/year for up to five children, or a $12 monthly account.

A generous 60-day free trial with no credit card required is available to educators to determine if Struggly will be a fit for their classroom.

Imagi is the coding platform designed to be fun and game-like while sticking to curriculum-based coding teaching.

ImagiLabs, the company behind this platform, went into this with education in mind specifically. More to the point, this was created as a way to assist teachers in getting the curriculum across to students, while staying as fun and game-like as possible.

Unlike many other options out there, this also offers physical charms with LED lights that students can program for real-world STEM experiences of their coding having an affect.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Imagi in your class.

What is Imagi?

Imagi is a platform designed to help students learn, and educators teach, coding to ensure skills in the Python language.

This web-based system is built to be accessible from most devices and to enable teacher-level controls. Yet, it's also designed to be gamified for the most STEM fun for students while still learning those curriculum-based lessons.

The addition of ImagiCharms, real-world gadgets with 64 LEDs, helps make the experience more tangible so students can feel empowered by the effects their coding can have in the physical world.

Designed for grades 3-9, this covers the basics but also takes learning to more complex levels so students can use their understanding of Python coding in real-world situations.

Crucially, this offers a bridge from block-based coding into text-based languages that's perfect for the starter age group this caters to initially.

How does Imagi work?

Imagi offers a selection of pre-made lessons, slides, worksheets, and more, which all make this easy to use, even for teachers with little to no coding teaching knowledge. Even beginners should be able to teach Python with this system.

Since this is standards-aligned and curriculum-based, teachers should be able to simply create a class and begin assigning work for students. The teacher dashboard allows for this as well as tracking of progress and assessment understanding, all in one place.

The lessons are gamified, making the learning engaging while also offering code editor options so the freedom to be creative is also available here.

What are the best Imagi features?

Imagi features the physical ImagiCharms, which are small gadgets with 64-LED screens. These can be programmed by students to see their coding efforts have real-world effects.

This process is referred to as Matrix coding, and it lets students write what the 8x8 pixel grid is displaying. Students can create pixel art and animations that pair to the device so they can view it live.

Teachers have a helpful dashboard that allows them to work through the curriculum. This also offers a place to monitor student progress so as to offer feedback and support as needed.

The AI-powered debugging buddy offers students personalized feedback and support to save teachers on time.

How much does Imagi cost?

Imagi comes in several versions including a free option, and then tiers to suit needs.

The Free version gets you the first four lessons that equates to about eight hours of learning. You also get classroom management for up to 50 students, plus guided onboarding.

The Pro version, at $18/student, gets you more than 30 lessons, which is more than 50 hours, the AI Bebugging Buddy, personalized onboarding, co-teachers, and discounted ImagiCharms sets.

School and district plans are also available at custom quote prices, for buying in bulk.

Imagi best tips and tricks

Make art and math
Use the 8x8 grid programming to make art or work on coordinate geometry all while teaching coding.

Go Pro
Opt for the Pro version to take advantage of time-saving features such as the AI debugging buddy feature.

Use projects
Follow pre-made projects to hit curriculum goals while also playing with pixel art and allowing students to learn about the ImagiCharms.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

School is back in full swing for many, with many exciting introductory activities, All About Me boards, and Get to Know You questionnaires. As we get more into carrying out lessons, teachers will also need ways to collect formative math assessment data to ensure that students are making progress, identify gaps in learning, and to gain an overall pulse on the classroom environment.

While Desmos is a popular digital tool for math teaching and learning, there are other tools and ways that can be used to capture math assessment data across various areas including algebra, economics, geometry, and statistics, to name a few. The great thing about many digital tools is the flexibility of use across content areas.

In a previous article we discussed leveraging technology to assess student learning, broadly focusing on infographics, mind mapping and demonstrations across content areas. In this article we discuss ways to use Plickers, polling, and QR codes and to capture real-time formative assessment data in math classrooms.

Plickers

As many schools have been altering cell phone and device policies, Plickers offers an opportunity for teachers to use a free online technology platform to create formative assessment questions, and allows for students to respond without the requirement of having to have a technology device. To learn more about how Plickers work, check out Plickers: How to Use It to Teach.

Plickers can be used to collect formative math assessment data when teaching arithmetic and algebra by having students select the correct solution to number problems and algebraic equations. It might be helpful to allow students to have a dry erase board or scratch paper to work through some of the problems, as both are low-tech options that would align well with the use of Plickers. When done with their work, students hold up the Plicker response card (looks similar to a QR Code) that matches their selected answer.

Plickers may be particularly useful in schools with limited or no broadband internet access, and the collected data will still be able to be accessed in the future for review.

Polls

As an alternative to a quiz, engaging poll questions could be asked during lessons to capture formative math assessment data. Many polling tools are available, with different features.

Slido is one option, which is seamlessly embedded into Google Slides presentations, while Kahoot! offers a more gamified experience. Regardless of the tool used, asking a variety of poll question types can help gather unique information on students’ learning. This means using multiple choice, open-ended, word cloud, and even the doodle features.

When creating a poll question, a teacher can insert images of household and community items and spaces, for example, and have students submit a poll response on what type of angle it closely represents. Using polls with graphs and tables while asking students questions about statistics (probability) and economics (supply and demand) content could encourage discussion, and help clarify their understanding of topics.

QR Codes

QR codes could be seen as more of a high-tech version of Plickers. Scanning a QR Code will require a device, but can also allow students to move around the classroom and work more independently or in teams.

QR codes can be used for simple and complex math word problems. For example, a gallery walk with QR codes could be placed around the classroom to encourage movement, and students can use the QR codes to solve the word problems. QR Codes scanned can take students to a prompt that could be on a platform into which students can type, such as Padlet or a Google Doc. In these platforms, students can work through the word problems, jot down notes, and develop the solution. You can also create a resource space for where QR codes lead to alternative questions (hints) that can support students in solving the word problem.

Whether you use Plickers, polls or QR codes, choose technology tools that you and your students have access to and that can help you gather, in real-time, formative assessment data, while making learning math an engaging and exciting experience.

• Leveraging Technology to Assess Student Learning
• Revising Lessons to Include AI

Skill Struck is an educational platform that aims to work with K-12 students to help with computer sciences and AI literacy.

While this is used to help teach AI and computer skills, it also leverages those two features as part of the package. The end result is an adaptive teaching resource that can work with each student for a personalized learning experience.

Teachers can also use this platform with tools designed to help make education simpler, such as the ability to build chatbots, and more.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Skill Struck in your class.

What is Skill Struck?

Skill Struck is a digital platform that is designed to be used by teachers and K-12 students as a way to learn computer sciences and AI skills.

In fact, this offers a complete K-12 CS and AI curriculum that the company says prepares students for industry-certified skills using the various tools on offer.

The learning can be self-paced for students to allow for confidence building while growing skills. This is thanks to auto-grading, which provides feedback so students can progress without taking valuable teacher time.

Students can learn coding, work on typing skills, interact with games, puzzles, and more, all thanks to an array of teaching options.

How does Skill Struck work?

Skill Struck offers a curriculum and grade-based selection of lessons and tools. Teachers can use the premade lesson plans, and the auto-grader, as ways to focus on the one-on-one teaching time with students, who can learn at their own pace.

The mapped out and structured curriculum makes teaching time more free, while the variety of tools allows students to stay engaged and learn consistently.

Thanks to useful videos and descriptive instructions, many students will be able to follow along and progress with little teacher guidance needed.

Admins and teachers are then able to access data to see directly how effectively these tools are working, or not, in a class and with each student.

What are the best Skill Struck features?

Skill Struck features a range of tools. For students that includes:

• Launch Pad to begin K-5 students on CS with unplugged activities, puzzles, and games.
• Voyage for 6-12 students to work on projects and code editing with auto-grading.
• Type Station to help K-10 students work on their typing with a selection of courses.
• Chat for Schools, an AI chat for specialized tutoring and to help detect cheating.

Then teachers also have a dedicated selection of tools including:

• Educator Portal for premade lesson plans and a student progress dashboard.
• Community with more than 400 unplugged activities to help connect students and teachers.
• Community Plus for professional development courses.
• Learning Studio, in which educators can use AI for personalized learning options.

How much does Skill Struck cost?

Skill Struck offers free and paid for variants of its services.

The free tier has some "free for classroom" features, including some coding lessons, activities, and challenges. These are all autograded but are limited.

The paid tier, charged on a bespoke basis, gets you more, including web-based coding platform access, state-standard aligned curriculum alignment, portfolio projects, and AI tools.

Skill Struck best tips and tricks

Start simple
Try the basics for free to see if students and staff enjoy this tool before deciding to go for the full package.

Build a bot
Create AI chatbots to allow students to get answers to common questions without taking teacher time.

Reward with games
Use the games and puzzles as ways to reward students for successfully progressing through coding and the like.

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Teachers may recognize the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) brand as one bearing a strong reputation for trustworthy news and information on wide-ranging global topics, including many relevant to the American audience. So when I learned (in Edtech Show & Tell August 2025) that the BBC had launched new preK-12 teaching resource, I took a close look at its offerings.

The BBC Learning Hub website is easy to navigate and features plenty of colorful previews that are sure to engage students. While the number of resources (~1,700) is relatively modest at this time, it’s likely that many more will continue to be added. Given the BBC’s trustworthiness as an information provider, and the fact that the site’s resources are fully free, educators are well advised to check it out.

How does BBC Learning Hub work?

To access all resources, users can quickly create a free account with email, or log in with an active Google account. To locate resources, simply click on the Classroom Resources in the top menu and enter a keyword in the search box, or click on the convenient list of resource types: Videos, Collections, Lesson Plans, Blog Posts, Student Articles, Printables, and News Clips. Clicking a resource type leads to a filtered search page, where users search by type, grade range, subject, and topic.

Teachers can save resources to their account, assign via Google classroom, print, or share as a link or pdf.

The Learning Hub’s strongest subject is clearly science, with more than 1,000 resources, and social studies, with more than 300. Math, English language arts, and social-emotional learning are sparsely represented at this point, but I would guess more will be added in the coming months.

What are the best BBC Learning Hub features?

Science and Nature Videos
It’s no surprise that the science and nature videos on BBC Learning Hub are top notch. Many are excerpted from the BBC’s vast library of high-quality nature and educational series, and include segments narrated by the best in the nature video business: Sir David Attenborough.

Explore the world of polar bears, penguins, turtles, sea otters, reptiles, strange predators of the deep, and many more fascinating animals and ecosystems. Even better, the Learning Hub has turned each video into a lesson plan, which includes questions, activities, vocabulary, writing prompts, and printable worksheets.

To find related videos grouped in a single sharable link, filter your search by "Playlist." Teachers can also create their own playlists of related resources.

Student Articles
"Student Articles" aren't written by students, but rather for them. Nearly 150 leveled reading passages cover diverse topics from the life of children in the Middle Ages to microplastics. Each passage is available in two to three versions suitable for students reading at Lexile levels from 400L-1400L, or grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

While the brief articles aren't a complete lesson plan, these can serve as a source for homework assignments or as a supplement to relevant curriculum.

News Clips
Comprising high-interest topics such as Minecraft, esports, and teen wrestling, the Learning Hub's news clips are brief, engaging videos that examine important, interesting and occasionally obscure news stories. With the accompanying printable worksheets, news clips can become the core of a complete lesson plan.

How much does BBC Learning Hub cost?

The BBC Learning Hub is fully free for students, teachers and all other users. A free account is required to access resources.

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FitMoney $uperSquad is a gamified platform that aims to help students learn about finances. It does this for free through the resources on this digital platform.

The idea here is to teach those financial skills that perhaps fall between the cracks of standard education. This, in theory, can help kids to have a great financial understanding that could set them in better stead for future life decisions.

So while this can be taught in class, it can also be done on student time, and then perhaps supplemented by class lessons, as a way to integrate these skills into other areas of education and their lives.

This guide aims to explain all you need to know about how FitMoney $uperSquad could work in your class.

What is FitMoney $uperSquad?

FitMoney $uperSquad is a digital learning resource aimed at students K-6 as a way to teach financial literacy.

As one California teacher puts it: "In a world in which so many adults are struggling with how to spend, save, and invest, this curriculum will help students with building strong financial habits early in life."

The curriculum is divided into modules, and is taught in a game-based way to ensure it's fun and engaging for students across a wide range of ages.

This is broken down into various ways to be taught from educators to students to caregivers. The idea being that this can be a supported learning experience no matter the child's circumstances.

How does FitMoney $uperSquad work?

FitMoney $uperSquad is fun to interact with thanks to a selection of videos and games. While the videos primarily are used to teach concepts, the games allow students to gain deeper understanding and mastery of that topic.

All set in the land of Fitonia, students progress through the modules gaining coins and certificates as they go. These coins can be spent to personalize their avatars, further adding to the learning about earning and spending.

Core lesson subjects include what money is, how to value it, and how to count. Go a little deeper and it moves on to areas such as credit, saving, budgeting, insurance, taxes, and investing.

Suggestions for extending the learning are plentiful, which can be helpful for teachers to expand on to help students gain a more rich understanding of what's being taught.

What are the best FitMoney $uperSquad features?

FitMoney $uperSquad is helpfully broken up into modules that allow teachers, and students, to learn in a digestible way that progresses through the subject of finances with increasing complexity.

Since the games are fun, colorful, and engaging they can help to teach students of varying abilities and ages -- giving them all access to this useful life skill.

It offers five to six courses than span a year, with lessons tailored to grade levels and discussion guides for use by teachers and parents with students.

Teachers can sign up to be part of the design challenge for STEM middle school learning, too. Also, the online certificate is built for classroom use with teachers and students working through together.

All 12 modules are available in English or Spanish, and can be self-directed from a browser to make this as accessible as possible.

How much does FitMoney $uperSquad cost?

FitMoney $uperSquad has been built to offer these skills to students without charge. One of the pillars of the company's structure is to offer these learnings for free to all who seek them.

That means there is no need to give personal information, no charges at all, and no advertising.

The company accepts donations as part of its mission to offer this service to as many children as it can for free.

FitMoney $uperSquad best tips and tricks

Start solo
Have students work their way through appropriate modules before working as a class on what was learned.

Work as a group
Present the videos to the class and work through the games as a team, helping each other supportively to master each area.

Supplement
Expand from an area and supplement learning with real-world experiences that can help students see finances in action.

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The principles of mathematics underlie all physical properties of our world. Math is the language of the universe, and as such, everything in both nature and modern life depends on it.

But math is a tough subject for many students, who may find it remote, unintuitive, and unrelated to their daily life. Yet it doesn't have to be that way. The GeoGebra platform allows student to learn math concepts through visual and interactive tools that encourage exploration—and even play.

What is GeoGebra?

GeoGebra is an award-winning suite of math apps and interactives that integrates and visualizes the teaching of algebra and geometry. Founded in 2001 by Markus Hohenwarter, a talented master’s student, the platform is free for teachers and students, and is available for desktop computers and mobile devices.

In partnership with Illustrative Math, GeoGebra also provides a digital math curriculum easily integrated with Google Classroom.

How is GeoGebra Pronounced?

The word GeoGebra, a portmanteau of algebra and geometry, is pronounced with two soft gs, as follows: Jee-OH-je-bra.

How does GeoGebra Work?

Although an account is not required for teachers or students, it’s best for both to create a free account. For teachers, it's essential in order to make the most of the platform. By doing so, they will be able to easily access their favorite tools, lessons, and applets.

Users can create an account with email or sign in with their existing Google, Office 365, Microsoft, Facebook, or Clever accounts. Teachers who find it simpler not to have to deal with login issues during precious class time may choose not to require student accounts.

GeoGebra’s free apps support all devices and operating systems (Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS), allowing students to use GeoGebra on phones or other mobile devices.

GeoGebra’s interface is clean and uncluttered, fairly intuitive, and a pleasure to browse. Nonetheless, due to the extensive offerings, teachers should be prepared to spend some time exploring the site, trying out the interactives and lessons, and bookmarking resources, before teaching with it.

Finding Resources
Teachers can search for math resources using the search bar or the Math Topic Map, which includes eight topics ranging from Arithmetic to Statistics.

What are the Best GeoGebra Features?

Resource Library
GeoGebra hosts an extensive resource library of more than one million math learning resources, including lessons, exercises, digital books, and interactives, available in several languages. Resources are contributed by GeoGebra’s global community, many of whom are expert users and educators. The GeoGebra Content Team, an international group of professionals, is the "official" platform content author, working under strict guidelines and standards. Yet many other authors also provide top-quality resources, and users can follow authors in order to easily track their latest contributions.

Real-Time Monitoring of Student Work
Once an activity has been assigned to students, teachers can view their work in real time. A thumbnail image updates automatically as students work.

Powerful Calculator Suite
GeoGebra's calculator suite offers six calculators for math and science:

• Graphing
• 3D Calculator
• Geometry
• CAS (computer algebra system)
• Probability
• Scientific

Calculators provides extensive tools for drawing lines, angles, polygons, and circles, as well as the ability to insert images, text, tables, and spreadsheets.

Users can quickly graph an equation by entering it freehand or using the scientific keyboard.

Help Links/Learn GeoGebra
Although many of the tools and operations within the GeoGebra platform can be understood intuitively or through trial and error, some may not be obvious. For example, I confess that I thought that the parallel line tool wasn't functional, because every time I tried to use it, it failed. Finally, I clicked the little "Help" link and quickly realized my error and was able to create the parallel line. Throughout the platform, there are many such Help links associated with tools.

For those who would prefer to review the FAQS and tool overviews first, the Learn GeoGebra page is a great place to start.

How Can Teachers Use GeoGebra in the Classroom?

Demonstration
Teachers can use GeoGebra to demonstrate math and science concepts dynamically, dragging lines, points, sliders, and shapes in order to visualize the effects of changing parameters.

Exploration
By assigning ready-made or customized activities in class, teachers can give students time to explore and practice in a low-pressure environment.

Formative Assessment
GeoGebra's practice modules provide hints and instant feedback, allowing students to learn from their mistakes, while teachers can view student progress in real-time thumbnails.

Is GeoGebra Safe for Kids?

GeoGebra complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and does not share personal information with third parties. No personal information beyond an email address is required to create an account, although users may choose to include additional information after the account is created.

How Much Does GeoGebra Cost?

The GeoGebra License states that users are free to copy, distribute and transmit GeoGebra for non-commercial purposes. That means it’s 100% free for students and teachers who use GeoGebra for the purposes of academic study and teaching.

Commercial users pay a fee, which helps to support the non-commercial academic use and allows the platform to update and improve.

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The very best tools to teach STEM can vary across a wide range of software, hardware, and active teaching techniques, so finding the ideal ones can be challenging.

This guide aims to lay out some of the best options out there right now for teaching STEM to various ages and abilities. Each tool will offer a unique feature, which is listed front and center, so you can easily pick out the one, or ones, that will serve your classes best.

From apps that teach coding using robots to software that gamifies math for engaged learning -- there are lots of options to suit many STEM needs. Lots are even free and widely accessible.

Read on to find the best tools to teach STEM in your class.

Best tools to teach STEM

Best overall

Tappity

Tappity is a superb example of balancing fun and engagement with personable teaching of direct lessons. This features interactive videos, with people the students get to know, as a way to guide and teach science that has students taking part.

The app uses a selection of games, video, quizzes, and stories to have students explore the world of science in a way that leaves them feeling like they're really there. This is curriculum-focused so it can offer a powerful teaching aid for educators to use both in class and beyond.

This is so fun you may find your students are progressing along outside of class as they come back for more. Aligned to Next Generation Science Standards for K-5, this is a paid tool that you can try before you buy, which works on student devices and is genuinely fun and a powerful teaching tool.

READ: Tappity guide

Best for math free or cheap

ClassPad.net

ClassPad.net is a fantastic online resource that offers an advanced scientific calculator for free, plus teaching features on a subscription. Students can use this for free, on any device with a browser, to carry out primary computational and trigonometric functions.

Usefully, this helps for working with graphing and number line stickies as a useful teaching resource that's ideal for those who learn more visually. These lines and graphs can be drawn and edited using touch controls for a tactile way to explore the number variations and affects.

It also offers TeX support, which allows students to make notes and describe their work, and have teachers leave prompts for a more communicative way of working together to explore math.

READ: ClassPad.net guide

Best for coding free

Blockly Games

Blockly Games offers a fun, free, and widely accessible way to teach coding that can be picked up by beginner teachers and students alike. This uses block-based coding, which later moves into more complex Java Script, as a way to begin a coding journey of learning in an intuitive and balanced manner.

This helps students begin learning computational thinking, logic, and math across eight simple games that can be played online or downloaded for offline play. Since everything is free and self-explanatory, this is a great way to begin teaching coding for younger students or teachers new to this area.

READ: Blockly Games guide

Best for physical coding

Sam Labs

Sam Labs is a STEAM learning platform that uses both software and hardware to teach coding in a physical world scenario. It does this thanks to a selection of devices that can be activated -- and interacted with -- thanks to code students can write in the app.

This works from K to grade eight, from block-based to more complex coding. In all cases it allows for physical results that can be exciting, empowering, and fun for students.

While this works with the company's own hardware, it can also be integrated with other hardware including LEGO, helping to make it widely accessible and engaging.

READ: Sam Labs guide

Best for science modelling

Tinybop Schools

The Tinybop Schools platform gives students and teachers a way to explore science modelling in a digital space. This allows learning in an interactive way, with an experiential science experiment model that is curriculum-aligned.

This offering, that works in app form across devices, lets students explore various science areas including life sciences, physical, earth, and more. Each shows real processes, such as how a mammal gives birth, the weather changes, or what happens in space.

Language support is available for 40 different options across these simple interactive games, and it also offers a free platform option with lots of teacher supportive resources.

READ: Tinybop Schools guide

Best for science interactive video

Pivot Interactives

Pivot Interactives offers a lovely digital way to teach science in an interactive and experiential manner while using video. Crucially, this system uses physical experiments on which students can overlay measuring tools, digitally using video, in order to interact with that recorded experiment.

All that means you can have students measure a ball rolling distance using a ruler, to answer a question about that experiment. This offers access to a host of experimental experiences without costing teachers in equipment or setup time.

At time of publishing there are more than 500 original videos plus 9,000 created by third-parties -- and this is growing all the time as teachers can add their own experiments.

READ: Pivot Interactives guide

Best VR/AR STEM

Prisms

Prisms uses augmented and virtual reality as a way to teach science. The idea is to offer physical science experiment experiences but without the time and cost of performing any in the physical world. By going virtual, it allows students to individually go at their own pace, interacting with their own personal experiment.

By allowing students to kinesthetically manipulate numbers, they can see visually how math changes affect physical results. This can make for a more immersive math and science teaching experience that is understood more easily by more students.

READ: Prisms guide

Best for Apple coding

Swift Playgrounds

Swift Playgrounds is an app that's designed specifically to teach coding for Apple devices. As such, this is available on iOS and macOS hardware and teaches how to code for those platforms.

So this represents a very useful skills for students to learn as they potentially may want to create apps and games for use on Apple devices -- allowing them to test any and share with friends, too.

Students learn Swift coding in a simple and accessible way that's scalable for ages and abilities. If you've got access to Apple devices, this is a great way to teach coding.

READ: Swift Playgrounds guide

Best for science projects

Science Buddies

Science Buddies is a web-based offering that gives teachers support in the form of resources to help create and carry out science projects. It can also be used directly by students or with parents as it's all accessible online for free.

Usefully, this offers suggestions of materials and projects based on grade and subject spanning STEM. You have access to helpful instructional videos, guidance, images, project details, and more. All that should allow students to carry out science projects, with enough guidance, to both learn and enjoy the experiential nature of the adventure.

READ: Science Buddies guide

Best for hands-on

Kide Science

Kide Science is a screen-free way to learn about science using experiments with engaging and challenging problem-solving scenarios. The website offers a whole host of resources for teachers, parents, and students to help get started. Training, blog posts, videos, a podcast, professional development, and more are available.

Aimed at ages three to eight, the lessons can be adapted to suit that range or abilities. Crucially, this is child-led and only requires an adult for guidance where they might otherwise get stuck. But since this is about problem-solving, if you've got the right aged material, they should theoretically not need adult support -- for a really empowering learning experience.

READ: Kide Science guide

Pivot Interactives by Discovery Education is a science resource designed to help teachers and students use real experiences to learn in an active and engaging way.

While physical world experiments are always an option, imagine having a wide variety of these already done and available in video format. This can save time and money, and allow for a far wider reach than might be possible with traditional in-room experiments.

Unlike some of the competition in this area, these STEM-friendly videos are highly interactive -- so you can make lessons in which students learn actively as part of the experience.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Pivot Interactives in your class.

What is Pivot Interactives?

Pivot Interactives is a web-based experiment center that uses interactive videos as a way to engage and teach students about science.

The selection of videos are interactive, so teachers can add questions and ways for students to interact with the experiment videos, to work out new outcomes.

A wide selection of STEM-friendly videos are available on the site itself -- more than 500 original, plus 9,000 third-party options at time of publishing -- with more being uploaded all the time.

Teachers can work with standards alignment while students can access this content from most digital devices. This means there should be a very easy uptake for all involved with minimal training and learning required to get going.

The end result should be a wealth of experiments that span the spectrum to help teachers introduce new STEM topics, expand on these with experience, and to assess student understanding -- all with active engagement at its core.

How does Pivot Interactives work?

Pivot Interactives is a web-based platform that offers a wide selection of videos and interactive questions for use by students and teachers.

Teachers are able to select videos of experiments that are relevant to what's being taught. They can then use the overlay tools -- including rulers, protractors, grids, light and color monitors, and more -- to allow students to take measurements from the videos.

This interactivity allows teachers to make the experiments live in the room so students can interact in a way that requires further investigation.

Many options for follow-up questions are available, including graphs, tables, teacher-graded short and long answers, plus auto-graded multiple-choice questions.

Teachers have a class key that they can share with students, allowing them to easily log in via the website when needed.

What are the best Pivot Interactives features?

Pivot Interactives lets students take measurements from videos in a unique way, which makes these as interactive as a video can be. It also sets this apart from the competition in a way that makes for a far more immersive and engaging experience for students.

Teachers are able to record and upload their own videos that can work with the various tools. This can be done thanks to a selection of supporting tools, including guides, walkthroughs, and blogs. As such, there is a large and growing selection of videos available to use, already uploaded for public use.

Teachers can organize the selection of videos by certain categories, including the subjects and topics, but also via specific standards. You can also search by states, data sets, sensors, simulations, science practices, and more.

How much does Pivot Interactives cost?

Pivot Interactives offers a free trial as well as a selection of priced options for school and district scales.

The Classroom license offers more than 500 activities for a year, the ability to customize activities, hands-on sensor integration, student collaboration, LMS integration and on-demand professional development. Pricing varies on class size, but for a class of 30 the cost per seat is $5.50 for a total of $165 per year.

The District plan offers everything above plus a reporting dashboard with metrics, advanced restoring and SSO, advanced LMS integration, on-demand professional development, content alignment with state or custom standards, plus dedicated wider support. Pricing for this on a quote basis.

Pivot Interactives best tips and tricks

Experiment live
Lead an experiment on the big screen so the class can learn how the platform works as you learn together.

Follow-up
Create a selection of questions for use during the experiment as a way to direct action and learning.

Get creative
Build your own experiments and make this fun as its recorded in class by the group working together to make the videos.

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Prisms is a uniquely powerful tool that uses augmented and virtual reality to create immersive science and math learning experiences.

The company behind this appears excited to say that this represents a "new paradigm for education." A bold claim, but one that appears to be backed up by some very well thought out, designed, and built VR experiences.

The end result is a way to teach STEM subjects through physical experiences, rather than simply having to conceive what numbers and concepts might represent.

The platform was founded by Anurupa Ganguly, an MIT engineer turned educator. After working with districts for over a decade she decided we needed a new way to teach, and Prisms was born.

This guide aims to help you assess if Prisms could be a useful tool for your class.

What is Prisms?

Prisms is a digital learning platform that uses VR and AR to help teach math and science concepts in a more physical way.

The idea is to allow students to kinesthetically manipulate numbers around them in space to see how that can change and affect them -- before applying that to pen-and-paper work.

If a student can learn a STEM concept physically -- their way -- so that they can better grasp it at the outset, the idea is that they can then use that in future, and build on that more easily as they progress.

Using VR experiences, students can manipulate mathematical concepts while keeping focused on a real-world task, combining the two naturally so they can learn how it works through actual use.

How does Prisms work?

Prisms uses VR so you will need to have students wearing a headset and using the motion controls to interact with the augmented reality experience.

Currently, Prisms offers a service that not only delivers the software but also the hardware, which includes providing Pico and Meta Quest VR kits to schools. It is also working on Apple Vision Pro integration at time of publishing.

Educators are given guidance and training on both the use of the VR kits as well as working with the software. This includes ways to transition from the virtual learning environment to paper and pen work.

In one example, students are asked to put trash in a waste can before being taken to a virtual dump site to see that waste building. They are then in a virtual x-y space where they can manipulate the amount of trash coming in versus the capacity to deal with that, in order to see how too much can be a problem. At the same time they're learning how to formalize concepts of residuals in math.

What are the best Prisms features?

Prisms focuses on specific areas so teachers are able to work on a specific scale with students, based on the curriculum and their individual needs. While that covers wider areas such as Algebra 1, Geometry, Advanced Algebra, and both High School Chemistry and Biology, there's more.

Within grades 7 and 8 there are specific math concepts, including fractions, surface area, probability, ratios, volume, angles, functions, inequalities, and plenty more.

Prisms modules are created to fit into a teacher's calendar with pacing to suit. The idea being to teach bottle-neck topics, not just to review these.

A full day of professional development is available for teachers to understand how the Prisms idea works, to play with the hardware, learn the lesson cycle, get supporting curriculum materials, discover the Teacher Dashboard, and more.

Support is then ongoing with round-the-clock access to coaches and tech support for teachers.

All modules are available in six languages as well as English: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Russian.

How much does Prisms cost?

Prisms offers hardware, software, and support all as part of a package for classrooms and schools.

The basic setup gets you 35 VR headsets and chargers, at $20,000 per classroom. The software is then charged on use at $12-$14 per student, depending on scale.

Prisms best tips and tricks

Use the support
Go to the training and use continuing support to get the most out of all this platform has to offer both students and teachers.

Lead with this
Use these VR experiences as a way to teach new STEM concepts in which students can physically play and discover themselves.

Monitor with the Dashboard
Use the Teacher Dashboard to see exactly what students are seeing in order to help them along when needed and monitor understanding.

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Many of us grew up hearing that watching TV “rots the brain,” but that sentiment has never applied to Sesame Street. In fact, research shows that simply watching Sesame Street helps kids learn in a variety of ways, from increasing literacy and knowledge of math concepts to school readiness and emotional learning. In some instances, the positive impact of watching Sesame Street on children matched much more costly and resource-consuming interventions for young learners.

The beloved children’s show is made by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop and launched in 1969. Sesame Street’s future was recently uncertain when the streaming service Max announced it wouldn’t renew its contract with the show last December. Netflix, however, has stepped in to save Sesame Street, with a deal that will see new episodes debuting on Netflix as well as PBS and PBS Kids.

In anticipation of the show coming to Netflix, I thought it would be a good time to examine its educational impact. To that end, I spoke with Marie-Louise Mares, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Steven Holiday, an advertising professor at the University of Alabama. Both have studied the impact of Sesame Street on children and their education and provide a closer look at the science of Sesame Street.

The Science of Sesame Street: How The Show Teaches Kids

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street and other shows, built educational science into Sesame Street’s DNA.

“Right from the word 'go,' they involved educational scientists,” Mares says. “There's always been both formative research, where the writers and educational psychologists and so on are kind of generating scripts and plans, and are doing this kind of rapid cycle pre-testing.”

The show’s creators have also done summative research to evaluate the effectiveness of the show, and in so doing, better understand how children learn overall. That includes assessing and thinking about aspects such as the length of segments and presenting the same lesson in varied ways.

“It's considered really effective, in part because they're willing to tweak it and alter it based on the sort of feedback they're getting from the kids and evaluations of the kids,” Mares says.

Using Advertising Strategies to "Sell" Kids Kids Learning

Holiday has researched how Sesame Street uses Madison Avenue sales techniques to “sell” learning to children. Sesame Street has a magazine format and features commercial-like segments that teach kids about reading or math. This is by design, Holiday says, noting that the show’s original creators knew that commercial breaks actually help sustain interest.

“They hired somebody who was from the advertising world and said, ‘Hey, make these actual commercials that are structured like commercials that are going to sell something to kids. Let's sell them letters and numbers,'” he says.

Good educators often take this type of advertising approach naturally, and Holiday’s research found that Joan Ganz Cooney, a co-creator of Sesame Street, believed Madison Avenue sales people had actually stolen many of their best sales techniques from effective teachers.

Whatever the origins, Holiday believes using advertising strategies to educate children could be better harnessed overall, including from app developers.

The Educational Impact of Sesame Street

Watching Sesame Street has repeatedly been associated with positive outcomes in children and for such things as early school readiness.

In 2013, Mares was the lead author on a meta-analysis of 24 studies conducted with 10,000 children in 15 countries. This study found that watching Sesame Street was associated with significant positive learning outcomes, including literacy and numeracy, learning about the world, health and safety knowledge, social reasoning, and attitudes toward out-groups. Overall, Mares research suggests that children who were scoring in the 50th percentile on tests before viewing the show could be predicted to score in the 60th percentile after viewing it.

The positive gains associated with watching Sesame Street that Mares observed were similar to other interventions, including nutrition programs and pre-K classes.

“[The effect sizes] are kind of on the upper end of small by some metrics,” Mares says. “But when you compare them to other kind of attempts to intervene in cognitive learning outcomes or emotional outcomes with kids in similar countries, it's along the lines of many of those other interventions, and those other interventions are often much more difficult to have reach and scale, because they're often in-person, and evolve giving money, giving food, etc, having preschools, and so on.”

Other research has found similarly positive effects.

Getting The Most Out of Sesame Street and Other Educational Shows

To maximize the educational impact of watching Sesame Street, both Holiday and Mares say the best thing a parent or caretaker can do is watch the show with their child, though they acknowledge that isn’t always possible.

Even just listening in and talking about the concepts with your child later can help, Mares says. She adds that in her research with parents of young kids, they often tell her that shows such as Sesame Street or Daniel Tiger are most helpful when they reflect back on it as similar situations occur in real life.

"Daniel Tiger often has these kinds of lessons about how to handle reading or washing your hands after you've used the potty, or whatever it may be,” Mares says. So if a child is getting upset, a parent might ask them what Daniel does, and remind them to “take a deep breath and count to four.”

Holiday says parents should make sure to ask their kids questions about the show, ideally as they’re watching it but also later.

“The parental co-viewing and communication, where you're there with them, and you see the content and you have them think through the content, will amplify that learning,” he says.

The Sesame Learning Channel, available exclusively through Discovery Education, offers ready-to-use early childhood resources for educators, including to support whole-child success in foundational math skills, language and literacy skills, and health and wellbeing, with lesson plans, embedded educator support tips, micro-PL videos, family supports, and more.

• AI-Assisted Characters Help Students Learn From TV, According to Harvard-Led Research
• Gamification: Pros and Some Cons, According to Research

Farming has always been a high-tech endeavor, says Scott Stump, CEO of The National FFA Organization, formerly Future Farmers of America.

“Agricultural education really was STEM before STEM was an ubiquitous icon for all things science, technology, engineering, and math,” Stump says. “FFA was formed in 1928, and all of it has been about really building the science, business, and technology skills within the next generation of those who are going to be producers, either in the form of a farmer or rancher, that are going to be the veterinarians, the chemists, and the food safety experts that are ensuring that this country can continue to provide the world's most abundant, safest, and most economical food supply across the globe.”

Stump, a former classroom agricultural educator, is passionate about how integrating farming education into existing STEM and CTE curricula can help build engaging lessons that not only help students understand the importance of STEM concepts and the real-world applications but also expose them to important career opportunities in the agricultural industry.

Farming-Related STEM and CTE Resources

FFA is a school-based leadership organization with chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The organization works with educators throughout the country, looking to incorporate farming and agricultural lessons, and provides additional tools for teachers via its website.

“We have a whole educator resources section,” Stump says. “If teachers want to take biology and really make it practical for students, if they want to take chemistry and make it practical, we have a wide variety of quick resources to kind of integrate AG as the application.”

He adds, “Over the past two years we released a full suite of resources on sustainability in agriculture that walks through all of the practices that farmers and ranchers and everybody across the food value chain are taking and implementing to ensure that we have the smallest carbon footprint that we can have and actually be a part of the solution.”

One example of this is how large-scale farming can sometimes create carbon sinks, a system in which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, Stump says. “The Midwest, with all the corn growing in the summer, actually pulls in a lot of carbon out of the atmosphere. How do we do that better?”

Answering this question, “Is one of the solutions we're continuing to work forward and connect students to,” he says.

Farming Education and Career Opportunities

Stump says some schools have large outdoor farms that act as living labs for students in various science classes. Even schools that don’t have those resources can still get students outside and working with plants.

Back when he was working as a teacher, Stump says he would take his students outside to the school farm with the biology teacher. “We would actually section off a certain area, and our job was to specify all of the life forms that were in that space, both plant and insect, and really try and identify what the healthiness of that ecosystem is,” he says. These types of activities truly become a way of bringing that learning to life in a way that sparks innovation, he adds.

Many students who move from these farming-centered classes go into providing innovation in the industry. For example, one recent FFA alum is developing a company that has designed an early warning system for blight by using a plant’s natural ability to change color when it becomes distressed, Stump explains.

The FFA maintains a resource of more than 300 career opportunities related to agriculture. These include science and biology roles as well as production roles and engineering and design roles related to equipment that supports the industry.

AI and Agriculture

Beyond chemistry and biology, data science and AI are also playing an increasing role in agriculture and agricultural education. The FFA is working with many schools to integrate precision farming into the curricula, which uses smart sensors, data science, and AI.

Recently, the organization partnered with Microsoft to bring FarmBeats, a precision agricultural program, to more than 185 middle and high schools. The program provides schools with a curriculum and kits that include a ready-to-use agricultural sensor system.

“Schools get basically a small motherboard that connects to sensor systems,” Stump says. These monitor plant environments for temperature, moisture, sunlight, and more. The info is then stored on the cloud, and AI is used to interpret that data and suggest ways to facilitate better growing environments.

“It's exciting to introduce students to that kind of technology, because we know that as they continue moving forward, most jobs are going to have an AI component to it,” Stump says. "The earlier we can start equipping them and getting them to be AI aware and AI competent, it will equip them to be better in the marketplace as future employees, inventors, and/or entrepreneurs."

Stump adds, “We've got to get more students thinking about how to solve these big problems in the world by using tech and AI, and leaning into the STEM components, because that's where a lot of solutions are going to come from.”

• Design Principles for Outdoor Teaching
• Using the U.S. National Parks to Support STEM Learning
• Best Free Earth Day Lessons and Activities

The very best tools to teach coding can make learning this valuable skill not only more easy but also fun and engaging so students want to come back for more.

With the huge wealth of code teaching tools out there specifically designed for education, the main problem is finding the right one for your needs as an educator and for the students that are going to learn.

This guide has compiled only the very best tools to teach coding so you can pick the ideal one for your specific needs. That includes coding with gaming, coding with music, coding in AR and VR, coding with physical gadgets and plenty more.

Crucially, there are a mix of paid and free options in this list, and most work using a browser -- so these should be widely accessible.

Best tools to teach coding

Best to teach coding overall

Kodable

Kodable is a superb example of combining gaming and coding into a fun and engaging platform that's great for a wide age and ability range. The idea here is to not only teach coding -- from K+ -- but also to cement that learning through the games that encourage practice.

While the front of this is cartoon character-filled fun, behind the scenes students are learning JavaScript that can be used in a future coding career. The ability to build games also makes this a really empowering experience for students who want to learn but also create.

Teachers have a helpful dashboard with lots of information on student progress, which allows them to intervene when needed, but also to control difficulty levels.

With plenty of free resources, as well as premium plans, this offers something for everyone and is a really great way to get started with coding.

READ: Kodable guide

Best real-world coding

OctoStudio

OctoStudio is a free coding app that combines coding and smartphones. Created by MIT Media Lab, this uses a phone's audio and video recording smarts to build media using real-world recordings that can then be manipulated using the coding style.

Usefully, this allows kids to get creative on their own devices while also learning code passively as they use it to make their creations. This works using Scratch-based coding, so it's useful in the real world. Students can make shaking the phone activate a sound or turn on a light, for example.

Thanks to 20 languages coverage, easy-to-use menus, and the ability to share simply, this is a really great way to teach and have students learn.

READ: OctoStudio guide

Best for computer science

CodeHS

The CodeHS offering is designed specifically for schools and fits into the curriculum requirements, making it ideal for computer science teachers and students. Aimed at high school students, this offers far more complex learning.

The platform offers a suite of teaching tools that cover more than 100 classes. This uses a sandbox with output window so students can see how their code works, directly.

Usefully, this teaches a range of coding languages including JavaScript, Python, C++, and HTML. Teachers can monitor student progress, or lack thereof, so interventions are possible at the right moment. Tutors, on the paid version, are a useful addition to help students get support while using this platform.

READ: CodeHS guide

Best for fantasy gaming

Ozaria

Learning with Ozaria is more like playing a full-on fantasy game, and as such, means the practicing and cementing of skills is near effortless for students.

Despite this being a proper game, with its own universe and rich character stories, this also fits in with the curriculum to help teachers.

CodeCombat is the game being playing in this world, and through it, students learn Python and JavaScript from grade 3 right to 12 -- as individuals or in groups.

The teacher dashboard is there to monitor progress and even make assessments using a dedicated tool. Everything focuses on SEL to help build integrity while learning coding.

READ: Ozaria guide

Best creative

Elementari

Elementari works as a creative artistic project creation tool that also teaches coding at the same time. In this way it's a super effective way to offer coding to those kids who might prefer a more creative focus over the logical coding teaching many platforms feature.

Usefully, students can edit projects created by others, helping them spark ideas. Lots of media is available to pick from, including images, music, and illustrations. They then create a story using the coding back end to bring it all to life.

READ: Elementari guide

Best for beginners

Ready Maker

Ready Maker uses games and very simple coding-style controls to introduce coding to beginners and younger students. The drag-and-drop style interactions are super simple to learn, and since this is all about making games, it can offer a creative outlet.

This uses Unity code, so it's good for app stores publishing, yet starts super simple so it's easy to pick-up. Lots of helpful tutorials are available, and the Remix button allows students to work with something already created, so they can ease into it.

This also offers more complexity, and games that are made can be played too, with lots from which to pick.

READ: Ready Maker guide

Best for Apple

Swift Playgrounds

The Swift Playgrounds platform is designed to be fun and easy to get started with, and will teach code specifically for Apple devices.

This gamifies learning on iOS and Mac devices by which students can learn the Swift coding language from as young as age four. Students can create games with the platform and use previews to give any a try, while also seeing directly how the code affects end results.

Students can select code chunks or input directly if they know the language a bit more. Thanks to guidance and collecting gems, it creates a pathway that students feel progress along and can come back more often to get further.

READ: Swift Playgrounds guide

Best for AR and VR

CoSpaces Edu

CoSpaces Edu is a great way to teach coding skills along with animation for AR and VR creations. Working across many devices, this is widely accessible and works from grade three right up to 12.

This uses drag-and-drop style controls to let students manipulate objects that can then be coded to have actions in the 3D space. Students can build on desktop then experience it directly on a mobile device.

The layout makes for a great way to teach collaboratively by which groups work on creating their own virtual space and situation for others to play in and enjoy.

READ: CoSpaces Edu guide

Best for younger students

Tynker

Tynker is a fantastic option for younger students who are being welcomed into the world of coding. This uses fun cartoon characters, lots of colors, and games to immerse young users.

Aimed at age five and up, this uses block-based coding to teach the logic of code and coding lessons. This develops as students progress, and also teaches HTML, JavaScript, Python, and CSS coding at a more advanced level, so it can be useful for real-world scenarios.

Lots of community-created projects are available, and students can share theirs easily, making it great for collaboration and assessments.

READ: Tynker guide

Best for teachers

Blackbird

Blackbird is a good option for teachers new to coding who want to teach it. This tool, which is web-based and easily accessible, also features a training program for educators to learn the system and how best to teach coding with it's offerings.

This is aimed at middle schoolers and uses JavaScript as the coding language. That makes this specifically focused on getting kids jobs in coding. The Show Me option is a great way to help students, guiding them to the correct answers if unsure -- without the need for teacher intervention.

Thanks to a submissions section, this is built for classwork, allowing students to send coding to teachers for assessment and feedback.

READ: Blackbird guide

Best for curriculum

Codementum

The Codementum platform is a great way to teach coding in a curriculum-aligned way. This offers a tool that has a dashboard for teachers to monitor student progress and to assign future work, all in one place.

This is game-based, so students feel as if they're in a self-paced gaming experience while also learning Python and JavaScript coding options. Since this all works on ability levels, rather than ages, it will help progress students from their specific experience level.

Helpfully, this is broken down in courses that help make teaching easier. Thanks to AI and machine learning sections, this is very up to date and ideal for preparing students for the future job sector.

READ: Codementum guide

Best for robots

Sam Labs

The Sam Labs coding platform uses both software-based teaching as well as hardware. That makes this a great option for teaching how coding can have real-world effects and is ideal for more hands-on students that want to see things working as a result of their code.

Use the company's own blocks or others, such as LEGO, to have coding actions create affects. This is great for STEAM learning, allowing students to get creative by using the app and blocks with DC motors, LEDs, audio devices, buttons, and more.

This is superb for scaling up to add complexity and with lesson packs, activities, and guidance videos, it can be very easy to teach with even for those educators without much coding experience.

READ: Sam Labs guide

Best for fun

CodeMonkey

The CodeMonkey tool is a really fun way to teach coding to younger students and those who might otherwise be difficult to get engaged. This uses both block-based and text coding in a way that's ideal for scaffolding learning across ages and abilities.

Students have a monkey main character that they work with across levels for fun continuity through the hundreds of levels. They play while learning Python or CoffeeScript as they go through the various puzzles.

Lesson planning tools are in the paid version that can help make this ideal for educators to use.

READ: CodeMonkey guide

Best for teaching broadly

Code Academy

The Code Academy platform teaches coding but it goes further to cover web development, computer science, and plenty more related skills. This covers beginner basics and moves through to more complex lessons with Java, C#, HTML/CSS, Python, and others all covered here.

The free version is great for getting started but there are paid plans to offer far more depth to the learning available. Career path projects are a great way to learn with specific results, such as a data scientist, for example, which is a 78-lesson plan.

This uses quizzes, projects, and more to make the learning fun and engaging. This is also self-paced and self-contained for focused learning and minimal teacher interaction needed.

READ: Code Academy guide

Best screen-free

Kaibot

The Kaibot offering aims to teach the basics of coding while also being a screen-free experience. This uses a robot with wheels and cards with commands. Line up the cards and the robot will 'read' these and carry out actions.

This is simple to use, hands-on, and is aimed at K-3 and older. The app offers more complex interactions and learnings, if you want to use a screen. That should mean a very natural move from the physical into the software end of coding, ideal for beginners.

READ: Kaibot guide

Best free

Blockly Games

Blockly Games is a fantastic free coding creation that teaches block-based coding basics as well as more complex ideas.

This no-frills offering uses puzzles and games to teach block- and Java-style text coding options. The idea is to offer logic and computational thinking to kids so they can naturally progress into more complex styles of coding.

Students can make their own games for a fun and empowering learning journey.

READ: Blockly Games guide

Best collaborative coding

Pencil Code

Pencil Code is all about visual and collaborative learning with this using CoffeeScript -- a pro level language -- to guide students into real-world coding that's genuinely useful. This extends to Java, HTML and CSS for a really comprehensive coding experience.

This is designed so students can work with each other, collaboratively, on projects -- as they may need too when working in this way later in life. They can code with music, drawings, games, and more.

This offers complex coding if needed and uses a creative space to help learners explore and grow naturally.

READ: Pencil Code guide

What If Math uses a relatively new concept to enhance the way math is taught so that kids are given more relevant skills for today's digital world.

The company says that the way math -- and algebra specifically -- is taught today is based on a concept developed by Leonardo of Pisa in 1202 as a way to help traders. This, it says, is now redundant thanks to all the digital tools that use spreadsheets to do that part of mathematical working.

This is where What If Math comes in, as a way to teach math using spreadsheets so students gain real-world math skills to eventually help them in the workplace. In the more short term, it provides them with the tools to explore questions that can help expand their knowledge of math, logic, science, and more.

This guide aims to explain all you need to know about What If Math to see how it could work in your class.

What is What If Math?

What If Math is website that uses spreadsheet-based teaching to help students learn math in a functional way that can be directly implemented with current digital tools.

This platform works with K-12 curriculum to help students learn math on a functional foundation using spreadsheets. These, the company says, are what it thinks of as laboratories. Within this space students can explore, try, and be challenged using the powerful tools that are already available.

Since this works with spreadsheets as the base, it's possible to do this kind of teaching using free options such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to play with tablets, graphs, formulas, and visualizations.

The system works with various layer to help guide students into learning more.

How does What If Math work?

What If Math offers what it calls Labs. These are spreadsheet-based lessons with single experiment concepts that allow students to explore that question of what if?

Usefully, lessons are designed with timing in mind and are made to last the duration of a class period. That said, since these offer open-ended questions, there is the option for students to explore further and in more depth as they please.

Another area is Explorations. These are projects that set a problem task that students have to work through as collaborative groups. These involve real-world activities and can involve using spreadsheets, functional thinking, computer science, and data science.

In both instances, the lessons are designed for teachers to be taught to a class and shared with students to access as they need.

What are the best What If Math features?

What If Math offers a way for teachers to pick and chose what parts to use and offer as experiential learning for students. That can be the more individual-focused Lab materials or the more active and group-focused Explorations.

In both cases, since these are built to be taught in class, there are excellent timings to work through in a lesson, as well as to set further explorations outside of class.

Since the Labs are designed for use with real spreadsheets, these teach students valuable skills that can be used in science, business, math, and more.

Since this use of spreadsheets is a form of programming, this sets students up for coding in a way comes from a place of understanding and experience.

Select a link and you're immediately taken to the Google Sheets lesson plan with guidance on how to work through that task.

How much does What If Math cost?

What If Math is totally free to access and use with all the Labs and Explorations available online for teachers and students to access.

What If Math best tips and tricks

Teach yourself
Work through a Lab yourself as a way to understand how this works and is taught before taking that to the class.

Use the Introduction
A helpful introduction part of the site teaches how this works and is a great way to ease students into understanding.

Share openly
Compile the lessons on your shared drive so students can have access to the materials as and when they need, allowing them to explore freely.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

The xTool P2S is a 55W desktop CO2 laser engraver/cutter, and is a well-constructed, versatile device with a solid build, large work surface, high-speed operation, and a suite of educational and safety features. All of this makes it a great fit for STEAM education, as well as any subject area’s projects to improve hands-on learning.

The Education Essentials Kit is bundled with everything you need to get started.

xTool P2S: Getting Started

Although a device such as this could have a steep learning curve to get set up and started, I found setting up and making my first project with the xTool P2S for education very easy. I had everything I needed in terms of tools, directions, and video tutorials, making the process simple. I really appreciated the content that was specifically related to safety.

The unit I tested came with a comprehensive education bundle that includes a teacher’s guide, onboarding video curriculum, and a materials kit with templates and settings, ensuring quick success for both educators and students. Dual 16MP cameras provide a live preview and auto-focus, making material placement and setup intuitive, even for beginners.

I found the free xTool Creative Space (XCS) software (compatible with Windows, Mac, and mobile devices) very user-friendly. It offers a large library of learning resources in the “Software Learning Center” that helped me learn the program quickly. I enjoyed its user-friendly workflow and one-click operations for importing images, setting outlines, selecting material, and adjusting engraving/cutting parameters. I utilized both my own content as well as the editable content shared by their vibrant community of users on their “Design Find” website.

The “AImake” AI feature will also create designs for you from your prompts. Furthermore, the 5k+ member xTool for Education Facebook Group is a great place to learn, share, and get inspiration from all over the world.

xTool P2S: Key Features

• Safety features - Enclosed design, auto-locking lid, USB lockout key, emergency stop, AI fire detection, fire safety set, air purifier, and laser safety goggles.
• Curricular and support content.
• Powerful 55W CO2 laser with engraving speeds up to 600 mm/s.
• Working area - 26 x 14 inches, with the ability to expand for support of extra-long materials up to 118 inches with the optional passthrough, plus an optional rotational engraver for round objects such as drinkware.
• Curved surface engraving feature.
• Cutting capacity - hardwood (Walnut)–18mm, and acrylic– 20mm (approximate ¾”) in a single pass.
• Wifi and USB, plus compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS

xTool P2S: Cost

The xTool P2 Education Essentials Kit as tested is typically priced around $6,439. It contains xTool P2S, SafetyPro AP2 Air Purifier, P2S & P2 Honeycomb Panel 2.0, Laser Safety Goggles, Fire Safety Set, Laser Material Education Package, xTool Care for P2S, and Educator guide.

Optional accessories such as the rotary attachment, riser base, or conveyor feeder can increase the total investment but add significant versatility. Visit the xTool website for more pricing and option information.

xTool P2S: Key Takeaways

The xTool P2S is a powerful, accurate, and versatile 55W CO2 desktop laser. It engraves and cuts a wide range of materials quickly and precisely, making it suitable for a variety of classroom projects. The bundled education guides, video curriculum, and easy-to-use software lowers the barrier to entry for teachers and students, even those new to laser-cutting technology.

I found the features that really set the P2S apart from the competition are the dual cameras, auto-focus, curved surface engraving, and robust safety feature set. Its fast operation and easy setup mean students can see their ideas come to life in a single class period, keeping them engaged and maximizing learning time. Furthermore, the large, expandable workspace with optional passthrough capability allows for both small and large projects, supporting creativity and real-world applications.

The xTool P2S is a highly capable, education-focused laser cutter that delivers speed, precision, and versatility, making it an excellent choice for schools and makerspaces seeking to empower student creativity and technical skills.

• Educator Edtech Reviews

Given ever-constricting budgets and the growing need for hands-on STEM experiences, getting the most out of makerspace investments is critical. So what better way to get more hands on a tool than having it available to more than one school?

Enter Maker Spaces Go Mobile.

“When we housed individual machines in schools, they operated in very much of a silo mentality due to the size of our district,” says Susie Simmons, Instructional Technology Coach at Bonny Eagle Schools in Maine. “Our vision with the mobile makerspace was to cut back on isolating components and increase our collaboration across the district. It empowered us to bring a larger number of pieces of equipment into a building at any given time when they need it, which helps make any projects move faster than if they were trying to accomplish it on one stationary machine.”

With the help of collaborator/partner and fellow instructional technology coach Stephen Avery, the program was thoroughly considered before launching.

“We really wanted to have kids interact with the technology and use it, rather than putting in the gatekeeper of an adult who is really the one using the tech and undermining the educational experience,” says Avery. “We worked it into not just CTE-style STEM courses, but for all students.”

Simmons was recently recognized with an Innovative Leader Award for Most Innovative Learning Spaces Award at the Tech & Learning New England Regional Leadership Summit.

Simmons and Avery discuss their impressive Maker Spaces Go Mobile project, offering six tips for districts wanting to connect such spaces with curriculum on a deeper level.

The Making of a Mobile Makerspace

As mentioned, the main focus of the project was to provide students with hands-on, creative opportunities.

“3D printing was still a big piece of the goal,” says Avery. “It was known technology and something we’d been doing for a while. Three years ago, we were also fortunate to add a set of GlowForges, one in each of our middle and high school buildings. GlowForge, a laser cutter and engraver, is very quick technology by comparison to 3D printing. It has great applications for design thinking, prototyping, and problem solving.”

Being able to spread need across the use of multiple machines also has clear benefits.

“Back in the day, a project could take several weeks and a few overnight hours of 3D printing,” says Simmons. “With our new system, the same project can be done within the course of a school day. It’s been really gratifying to work with teachers used to the old methods and now we just show up with a mass supply of pieces of equipment to get things done.”

The “mobile” element of a mobile maker lab space proved interesting.

“We actually moved a laser around a couple of times,” says Avery. “That particular machine was quite heavy and very prone to damage. In search of a more mobile solution, we selected two different types of lasers from a company called xTool. One is a bed-style diode laser called the S1.”

The team also purchased a small, portable engraving unit called the F1, ideal for speedy, small projects with students.

“While we were shooting for the moon, we added a Cricut Venture system,” says Avery. “This large-scale, industrial-sized and output-ready Cricut machine is capable of doing vinyl and other thin substrate work, to be able to cut and design for staff and student use.”

The bonus was should one elementary school need a project completed, without a hands-on piece of tech physically in the room, they could send files and jobs to be printed and delivered as a type of a processing center.

Cutting Class is Encouraged

One makerspace project featured students making physical currency in a social studies class to understand setting up their own little countries and the economy that goes with it. Other efforts have been more practical.

“One of my favorite projects was helping a student in special education with a physical limitation in art class,” says Avery. “The tech made a carving project to make linoleum stamps accessible, despite the student’s lack of physical control needed to manipulate the tools. We created digital designs and used the laser for the physical carving so that the student was able to fully participate. We continue to look for ways that we can support through meaningful opportunities to remove obstacles.”

The program has “earned its keep” further, making gifts for celebrations and staff presents, stencils for the facilities department, even manipulatives for a math class. It helps when it comes time for budget decision to justify expenses.

“We’ve been doing laser work during reading challenges or family engagement nights,” says Simmons. “Students design their own keychain or bookmark. Because of the speed at which we're able to produce those items, the kids walk away with their creation in their hand, which is awesome.”

Simmons notes that there’s even a plan for a major waste issue districts struggle with—recycling 3D printer scraps.

“We ended up buying a wood chipper off Amazon of all things,” says Avery. “We used it to break down our failed models, our scrap, and then melt it into sheets that we can actually cut with the laser to make new products.”

Money Matters

Like many districts, Bonny Eagle benefited from regional partnerships and grants.

“After receiving a grant from the Perloff Family Foundation in Maine, Bonny Eagle Schools expanded the existing 3D printing system across the district,” says Simmons, “The technology in those buildings was beginning to show its age. It no longer worked at the quality or speed we needed to support our programs.”

Located in Maine, the DoE Learning Through Technology Team at the state level offered a Teach with Tech grant. The duo decided to apply with the goal of supporting makerspace youth across K-12.

“We hoped to replace the aging 3D printing technology across the district and provide other methods of creation,” says Simmons. “Our larger vision was for the two of us currently on paper supporting grade 6 to 12 to support K to 12 instead.”

“We were very fortunate in our district to be able to have professionals support embedded professional development,” says Avery. “It's essentially a peer who can support-teach with the teachers. We created a train-the-trainer model and are actively brainstorming projects to avoid introducing technology as a toy. We want to identify it fits as part of the teaching strategy and instructional style to help further and deepen student learning. Those abilities are great for kids moving on into an engineering program, design thinking . . . but the creative problem-solving is really just a great overall life skill.”

6 Steps to Mobile Makerspace Success

Simmons and Avery share their tips for creating mobile makerspaces.

1. Make sure that you have people on staff invested in making it work. Find people on staff who can take the vision and make it happen, and support them doing so. It’s crucial.
2. Be the learner in the process. Without somebody to bounce ideas off and partner with, it’s a heavier lift and becomes really challenging.
3. FInd opportunities just to play, even if you don't have the technology yet. A lot of tools have free software with which you can experiment. The tech is often in libraries and community maker spaces. Be a student again and get some hands-on time to stretch your imagination.
4. Consider the infrastructure involved from a physical standpoint. If you are planning to do something such as this in a mobile setting, how are you going to transport it between schools? Bonny Eagle Schools has a district van and all of the equipment is on carts. Lean on your facilities department to move it safely.
5. Know that it's going to take some time. The duo is still working on building capacity within this district, so this program hasn’t been an overnight success. So be willing to be patient and don't expect it to show the fruits of your labor in year one. Trust the vision and support your staff in making it happen.
6. Don’t undersell the importance of collaboration. The coaches were begging for an opportunity to talk with colleagues and put their heads together in a room. Time is precious, but even an hour of time together to sit down and talk through ideas can be really invigorating and productive.

The Tools They Use

• Heavy duty utility carts for moving the equipment
• Bambu Lab A1 and A1 Mini 3D Printers
• 4-Color AMS Lite
• Cricut Venture Makerspace Educators School Bundle
• xTool F1 Portable Diode/Infrared Laser
• xTool S1 Enclosed Diode Laser Cutter
• TinkerCAD, AutoCAD
• Physical materials such as air handling, storage totes, replacement parts, and consumable materials such as filament, vinyl, and wood.

• Innovative Leader Award

Basing any STEM-based project on a solution for a real-life problem will help the lesson stick, and connecting it to a subject that affects everyone, such as food and farming, cultivates the learning even more.

“The STEM standards for elementary, middle, and high school lend itself to any type of agriculture initiative,” says Trina Reaves, Director of STEM and Innovation at Clayton County Public Schools in Georgia. “We started organically. A lot of the schools had gotten aeroponics towers and aquaponics systems, really trying to show children how they could grow in alternate spaces other than traditional farming. We were having students look at real-world problems, such as Clayton County being in a food desert, and how they could solve them.”

Reaves was recently recognized for the Best Overall Implementation of Technology Award at the Southeast Regional Leadership Summit as part of the Tech & Learning’s Innovative Leader Awards.

Reaves discusses her impressive agricultural technology initiative and shares three tips to plant a similar program in your district.

Growing Solutions With STEM

“As I moved to start the program, I went to Forest Park High School to see their gardens which had been growing for 10 years,” says Reaves. “They were having a salad bar for the teachers. They had a student who was cooking meals the teachers could buy! The day I visited, he was making pan-seared herb-encrusted salmon with a citrus sauce and asparagus. Wow, all of this was going on and nobody really talked about it.”

Forest Park High School had a FarmBot, or tech helper that, once coded, guides planting of seeds, watering intervals, and other key tasks for a successful crop.

“I went to an aeroponics farm in North Georgia,” says Reaves. “They showed us their farm and how this could work for our plans. They suggested a seed business. I had one school which already had a FarmBot with the space and the capability to sell seeds, so we decided to start an initiative at Forest Park High School in which they would produce seedlings to sell to the rest of the district. We call it Agritech Solutions.”

An Organic Way of Connecting the Dots

Reaves pulled in the greater community to serve as mentors, and then let students shine in all the ways that are helpful for a growing business.

“Our aquaponics labs were supported by the science department in collaboration with the Georgia Aquarium,” she says. “One of the teachers at Forest Park helped them build a system to grow tilapia throughout the year to harvest at the end. At Drew High School, they have a culinary CTE pathway with a teacher who uses several aeroponic towers for ingredients in her class.”

The program went beyond simply farming.

“We didn't want this just to be about agriculture, we wanted it to also touch other CTE pathways,” Reaves says. “We have a minority business who's helping us with logistics and distribution. We're training a group of students at the school who are going to run the business. Besides the ag element, we have marketing students creating campaigns to raise awareness. The computer science students are creating the platform so schools can take and fulfill their orders.”

By welcoming in students with a variety of talents, Reaves has built an ecosystem for industry knowledge to thrive.

“The goal is for this to simulate a real-world business,” she says. “Students get practical experience through promoting and securing sales. We want this to sustain the program, so the business students are creating a business plan. The goal was to use this one initiative to support many different pathways while we're also working on a real world problem that's a part of our community.”

Planting The Seeds and Watching Them Grow

With one successful first launch, Reaves looked for ways to include additional schools. Each school designed a unique program–some instituted rain barrels, pollinator gardens, compost bins, beekeeping, and worm farms to support projects that include traditional farming, hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics, and even a fruit orchard.

“We have an elementary school that just launched their program with the help of Georgia Tech,” Reaves says. “The university’s engineers came and helped us set up Oliver Elementary School's FarmBot.”

A FarmBot can do as little or as much as it is coded to accomplish.

“Some people will just use them to simply grow produce,” Reaves says. “You can program it to plant the seeds in the system. You can tell it when to water. It takes away some of the manual labor. But we're going to use it to start seedlings and sell them to schools in the district. They plant, they water, the kids then move the seedlings out to sell and just start a new system. We have to keep that rhythm going. If Brown Elementary School wants 20 plants, you’ve got to have a system that's just continually moving. The FarmBot makes that work easier.”

Reaves’ ultimate goal is to raise production to the point at which seedlings can be sold to parents and the community, as an agri-bake sale concept. Of 37 schools, 22 have FarmBot systems.

“The seedlings can be used in traditional planting or in aquaponics or aeroponic towers,” she says. “When we went to the Northern Georgia farm, they shared that a certain number of towers break even when it comes to labor and costs. Seeds are what really grew their business. We're going to start selling to schools, but we are talking about having community farmers markets. That would be a first-touch point for parents to know they can buy seedlings, plants, or fully harvested crops from the students. However, we can also buy seeds if we're growing ourselves in the home.”

Besides offering students the full entrepreneurial experience, creating an opportunity to grow backyard produce addresses the county’s food desert issue.

“We're having a September Farm to Fork event in which we will have all the schools bring their first crop of the season, with a farmer's market for schools to show off their success and sell their yield while talking about the project with customers,” Reaves says. “It's going to be an informational event with vendors and classes about healthy living. The event’s location at Drew High School is right next to Southern Region Medical Center. The hospital staff will come talk about exercise, eating healthy, diabetes, and those issues permeating our community.

“I'm really excited about the opportunity here — it’s not just all about growing,” says Reaves. “You've got finance, you've got marketing, computer science and tech, there’s a whole business side of agriculture. Every time I turn around, there's an opportunity. I joined the National Women in Agriculture association in the Georgia chapter. So many are willing to come and support the schools. It’s really good to see more women and minorities, it’s very important for our kids to see underrepresented groups and to be exposed to as much as possible.”

3 Tips to Build A Sustainable Agritech Program

Reaves offers advice to anyone interested in growing a similar program.

1. For any STEM initiative, you have to have buy-in at the school level. “I started with surveys and forums to make sure everybody saw the vision and was onboard. One of the things I've learned a long time ago as an administrator is I support you wherever you are. I can't force you to do something because when I force you, it doesn't play as well as when you let it build organically.”
2. You need support from outside. Reaves recommends building relationships in the industry to show that you’re trying to feed their workforce in the long term. “Whatever they can pour into the students while in K-12 matters. We’ve partnered with colleges with scholarship and internship opportunities we want to provide our students around the Southeast.
3. Grant writing and donation appeals are imperative. Schools budgets are not large, Reave acknowledges, so supporting programs also requires skills such as grant writing. “Create sustainability for the project,” she says. “I don’t want this to go away if I retire. Make sure relationships and supports are in place for the long term to ensure the project lives on beyond a specific district director or principal in charge.”

Tools they Use

• Google Education Suite
• Adobe Express
• Canva
• Prisms (VR)
• Wonderworks
• Lego Robotics
• Tinkercad
• 3D Printers
• Mimio Boards
• Drones
• Boxlight Labdisc
• Aviation Simulators
• Vex Robotics
• Book Creator
• Canvas LMS
• Tower Gardens
• Produce'd Hydroponics Growbox
• FarmBot

• Innovative Leader Award

Tappity is an app-based learning platform, and more, which aims to teach science- and STEM-focused subjects using interactive learning.

While the Tappity website features downloadable courses, this is primarily designed as an app that can be downloaded for use by kids from the age of four and up.

A few app versions are available, with both K-1 and K-5 titled options you can pick from to suit the age of your little one. These are designed to tackle learning in a more interactive approach than simply videos, so students can explore and learn in a way that's engaging and that sticks.

This guide lays out all you need to know about Tappity for education.

What is Tappity?

Tappity is an app-based learning platform that teaches science of varying types through the use of interactive videos, quizzes, games, and stories. Primarily this uses videos, with responses required, so students feel like they're interacting with a real teacher.

The idea is to offer an app that is immersive and guided enough to help children, even of young ages, explore and learn around a STEM subject area. It is designed to work with the curriculum of the specific child's age so they're learning appropriate content to compliment school education.

This elementary school-aged app is aligned to Next Generation Science Standards for K-5.

How does Tappity work?

Tappity is an iOS app that offers an array of areas covered under the science remit. These include life, earth, physical, space, and more.

The website also has specific courses that can be downloaded to teach a subject area, such as STEM courses for math and science, and coding courses for making games.

The app is comprised of more than 100 topics aimed at helping children aged four to ten. While a lot of the interactivity happens right there in the app, this also offers workbooks and materials for hands-on experiences, both with parents and for teachers to use in class.

Crucially, there are live science teachers who work with students using the app. Kids can ask a question and receive an answer from a real person -- making this a powerful learning tool for at home as well as in class.

What are the best Tappity features?

Tappity is fun and that is a key point here as kids can learn by play, making it effortless and enjoyable so they want to come back for more.

Since this app is entirely narrated, even younger children, and those not yet reading fully, are able to interact and learn without barriers. The fact they can interact with a real person, as if their own personal science teacher, is a real bonus, too.

Usefully, lessons invite kids to ask their parents to come and see what they've learned. This is a nice way to create interactive moments, time away from the screen, and a chance for kids to cement their learning through saying it aloud.

Students fill in a science journal as they learn, and can access lots of short videos with interactive questions and discussion points to explore a subject. This variation is superb, with kids working through lessons, stories, experiments, and participatory videos as part of covering the material being taught.

The Tappity Live weekly science shows are another nice touch that gives kids something fresh and special to look forward to and enjoy each week.

How much does Tappity cost?

Tappity is free to download and does give you a few free options to try before investing in the full offering.

For free you can get access to the first Tappity story in each world and access to the Tappity Weekly Game Show -- without the need to create an account. A 14-day free trial is available for you to try before committing to the full package.

Tappity can be paid for monthly at $14.99, or annually at $74.99. Or go for a three-month plan at $24.99.

A Tappity lifetime membership that covers everything, forever, is available for $149.99.

Tappity best tips and tricks

Start together
Teacher or parent, it's a good idea to start the app together with kids so they can feel confident going ahead alone as they settle.

Expand out
Use the subject area covered to dive deeper, teaching ways to research further and expand knowledge outside of the app itself.

Meet weekly
Use the weekly game show as a way to group up and enjoy together, linking socializing and learning in a fun and friendly way.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Elementari could be called a storytelling software tool or it could be called a coding teaching app, and both would be accurate.

The idea here is to integrate teaching coding and working with arts and literacy, for true integrated STEAM learning. The goal is to use the coding to create stories, games, and the like, in order to learn code without actively having to focus on that part alone.

The company that created this is eager to also push forward the point that this helps with problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. And that it covers a wide range of ages from first grade to teens.

This guide aims to explain Elementari so you can decide if it could help your class.

What is Elementari?

Elementari is a coding platform that uses the arts to teach the science of coding. This works by offering a space to create stories and more with guidance that should mean anyone, even those with zero experience, can begin coding right away.

The system works with standards-aligned tasks so teachers can set STEAM-friendly projects that align with students' progression needs. Thanks to the level of guidance, and inclusivity features such as Read To Me, this can potentially support student-led solo learning in class.

The huge library of projects makes it possible to use those already created for editing as a way to create without having to go from scratch.

Everything is designed with a Google Slides influence, so anyone who has used that should find this easy to pick up right away.

How does Elementari work?

Elementari is about creating artistic projects but it works in a two-level way: the front end for media and the back end for coding actions.

Students can begin by either starting from scratch, editing the project of another creator, or by following dedicated lesson plans. This latter choice is a good place to begin as it offers guidance on how to progress and build a story.

Students can access a host of media including images, text, music, illustrations, and voice-overs to use as needed. They are then also able to work with the block-based coding for elements such as events, functions, variables and objects. Students work between these two levels to create the final story that can be read by others, similar to clicking through a slides-based project.

Once published, projects can be shared with the wider Elementari community worldwide.

What are the best Elementari features?

Elementari uses the two layers of that Layout Design tool to work with the media and an Event Graph tool to work with the code-based actions. This is a really helpful way for students to build across those two levels to get creative and make something that's interactive as well as informative.

The community is a helpful resource as there are lots of other published stories that can be remixed. Students also have access to a wide array of originally created images, sounds, and more that make for a broad resource when creating stories. It also allows students to create and upload their own media, to feel part of that sharing community, but also to see -- through automated tagging -- how their creations are being used by others in their stories.

Teachers can create classroom groups, which makes sharing and monitoring outputs simple. The auto-tagging and notifications of content used by others is really helpful for teaching the importance of copyright, as students get to experience it live in the community.

Crucially, this is a platform that makes coding a fun tool even for those students who might otherwise not be interested.

How much does Elementari cost?

Elementari offers some free options as well as paid for tiers to get access for students and teachers.

The Free tier works for up to 35 students and offers a single classroom space, limited interactive lessons, and limited assets library access.

The Educator tier, at $8/month billed annually, gets you the above as well as unlimited interactive lessons and assets, plus image uploads, student feedback, and tracking of student analytics.

Go for the Educator Plus option, at $25/month billed annually, and you get the above plus 150 students access, unlimited classrooms, premium training, and professional development.

The School/District tier, at custom pricing from $2 per student per year, gets you the above plus more than 150 students, teacher accounts, and 24/7 priority support.

Elementari best tips and tricks

Start a class project
Follow a guided story creation as a class to get the basics of how this works together.

Hand in
Have students submit work created in this system to showcase their learning on a subject while presenting creatively.

Group up
Ask students to create resources as a group, someone making images, another recording voice-overs, another writing, and so on.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

OctoStudio is a free coding app designed to help children learn to work and play with code.

This was created by the MIT Media Lab, specifically the Kindergarten group. If you recognize that, it's likely because this is the same group made famous for the creation of the coding platform Scratch.

The idea here, as with Scratch, is to keep things simple and fun in order to give children a taste for coding that they will enjoy, helping to encourage them to learn more.

This guide aims to help you understand all you need to know about OctoStudio and how it can work for your class.

What is OctoStudio?

OctoStudio is an app for iOS and Android that can be downloaded and installed for use on mobile devices. This is designed to use that device's camera, microphone, touchscreen, and processing power to create interactive coding adventures for children.

The idea is to make the coding experience a more physically active one in which kids can get out and use their devices with the physical world. The app offers freedom to create with the code, using real-world captured images and sounds.

This uses simple block-style coding to allow students to play with system that helps them get creative while also learning the basics of coding.

How does OctoStudio work?

OctoStudio can be downloaded and installed on Apple or Android smartphones and tablets. Once set, a child can follow the learning program that feels like playing, to get creative with block coding and real-world media.

Students can use the device's camera to capture images and videos or the microphone to record audio, for use in the coding creations. The code itself can affect the device, by turning on lights or making a vibration, for example. Shake the phone to play a sound, is one example of many possibilities.

Since these projects can be shared, it's easy for students to share with teachers. It's also available in more than 20 languages, making it widely accessible internationally.

OctoStudio also works offline, so if students aren't sharing, they can simply work with the device wherever they are.

What are the best OctoStudio features?

OctoStudio offers a really broad creative space in which to play. This essentially gives students all the features of the device in a way that lets them be creative and decide how they will interact.

While this is great for on-device fun, such as shaking to turn on the flashlight, it works well between devices, too. Students can use Bluetooth to beam blocks between multiple devices, so a student can tilt one device and it makes a sound on others, for example. This represents a lot of in class fun potential.

The ability to export as videos, GIFs or OctoStudio files, directly to Google Drive, offers an easy way to share work progress with the class or directly with teachers.

A helpful screen reader option is available when VoiceOver is activated on iOS or TalkBack in the case of Android devices.

Teachers have access to printable reference guides to help that can also be shared with students if they feel it will help offer more structure to the learning.

The OctoStudio YouTube channel and Facebook page are helpful resources for teachers and students to get ideas for projects. Helpful short tutorials are also available that can be useful for getting started or learning more complex code.

How much does OctoStudio cost?

OctoStudio is created as a totally free resource for students and teachers. It is also ad-free and does not require students to create accounts, so there is privacy as a given here, too.

OctoStudio best tips and tricks

Start together
Watch the guidance video together and work on a simple first project together so everyone gets the basics.

Chain up
Link devices using the beam feature for a fun way to have the class interact using their programming choices.

Homework
Have students submit a project using this tool, with text, images, video and audio as needed to get the point across.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

A new edition of Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators was released in March. The classic treatise on designing meaningful outdoor learning opportunities is written by David Sobel and was originally released in 2008.

Sobel, Professor Emeritus in the Education Department at Antioch University in New Hampshire, has written several books and lectured extensively on ways in which educators can decrease the “nature deficit” students face.

The new edition of this book features updated examples of outdoor design principles in action, provided by various educators. Sobel also addresses the more recent impact of the pandemic on outdoor learning. However, the focus of Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators remains a discussion of ways to build lessons around behaviors children naturally engage in while outdoors.

“[They] emerged out of my observation of kids in diverse settings in lots of different places in the world, and seeing that when kids are outside in natural settings and have access to free play and it's safe, then they tend to do the same things over and over gain, regardless of economic status or environmental habitat,” Sobel says.

He adds that by harnessing these natural tendencies, educators can enhance learning experiences for students across subject matter.

Outdoor Design Principles In Action

The first design principle that Sobel noticed is what he calls special places.

“Kids make forts or find special places, and it tends to happen in between around ages six or seven and 11 or 12, and it happens around the world,” Sobel says.

Knowing this, teachers can use children’s forts and other special areas to foster learning. “For instance, one third-grade teacher said to me, after reading my book, ‘I would take my kids outdoors one afternoon a week, and each of them found their own special place, and then they would do journal writing or math assignments or something else in their special place. And the kids were more focused, more engaged, and less disruptive,’” Sobel says. “Because she used the ‘special place’ design principle, it led to deeper engagement.”

One common design principle is ‘hunting and gathering,’ which kids around the world inherently do as there’s some biological impulse to do that, Sobel says.

“Another one is 'animal allies,'" he adds. "Kids have a desire to create close personal relationships with animals. Another one is 'maps and paths.' Kids are inherently fascinated with following paths and making maps of places.”

These inherent interests of children can all be harnessed to support their creativity as well as various school topics. Before a writing exercise or STEM activity, Sobel says, you might have students create a map of a small area outside the school, even just of a few square feet.

“The process of creating the map is a focusing device that makes you see things you wouldn't normally see,” Sobel says.

Outdoor Class Logistics and Technology

“There's a whole kind of set of things that you need to do in order to make outdoor time productive, learning time and not recess, or pure recreation,” Sobel says.

To do this requires outdoor management policies that are different from recess policies, and taking into account things such as student seating and that the environment is not too cold and not too hot.

Though important, those considerations are not covered in Childhood and Nature, which instead provides design principles for outdoor class activities you can create once those logistics are taken into account, Sobel says. For a look at outdoor class logistics, he recommends A Forest Days Handbook: Program Design for School Days Outside by Eliza Minnucci with Meghan Teachout, for which he wrote the foreword.

Though Sobel supports the movement in many schools to prohibit cellphone use among students, he says outdoor classes can support technology use overall. One way is by helping students become more engaged with any technology they interact with when they get back inside.

“There's lots of research on how having kids outside in an outdoor learning context increases their capacity to pay attention when they're back indoors,” he says. But there are also many ways of incorporating technology into the outdoor lesson itself.

Sobel's wife is a former sixth-grade teacher. For one exercise, she had her students take photos on a school walk. They sorted these photos by plant and tree type. “Then each kid became responsible for becoming the expert on that plant," he says. "And then they did research on their plant using their classroom computers.”

The final part of the project had them combine their natural exploration with artistic, scientific, and computer literacy skills. “They made a beautiful illustration and description of their one plant in a kind of artistic studio format,” Sobel says.

For more information about outdoor design principles, visit David T. Sobel’s website.

• Using the U.S. National Parks to Support STEM Learning
• Best Free Earth Day Lessons and Activities

Science Journal for Kids is an online resource created by teachers for teachers and students.

The full name is now actually Science Journal for Kids and Teens, so this now expands beyond the basics to more challenging scientific materials.

The site founder, Tanya Dimitrova, was an elementary science teacher and environmental science reporter before developing this STEM resource project. Now the team has grown and the offering is expansive.

The result is an online science magazine for kids with peer-reviewed research, written in age-appropriate language.

This guide aims to explain all you need to know to see if Science Journal for Kids and Teens could work for your class.

What is Science Journal for Kids?

Science Journal for Kids is an online science magazine for kids and their teachers. It features peer-reviewed research papers that can be downloaded and read for free.

Crucially, this is offered in a writing style that is tailored specifically to suit students of a younger age. The idea is to give them access to the ever-evolving world of science in language that is accessible and, hopefully, more enjoyable for them.

The papers come with more resources so that teachers can work with students to dive into STEM material in more detail. Having Kickstarted back in 2015, this has grown and developed to offer a great resource from a not-for-profit organization that has a goal is to help young scientists learn.

How does Science Journal for Kids work?

Science Journal for Kids is a magazine, albeit a digital one. It gets released on a regular schedule and is updated constantly with resources, so it's always growing online. It offers downloadable content that has been written, edited, and refined before being released, so quality can be expected.

Since this has been building over years, there are plenty of resources right there on the website to dive into right away. The date of publication is on there, so time-sensitive teaching can be taken into account.

If you simply want to teach a certain subject, or specific topic, you can search that way and likely find a paper and complimentary materials all there waiting for you to access and teach.

Once in an article, teachers and students can download the paper itself as well as the supporting resources. Then there are videos available that can be used to supplement the teaching experience.

What are the best Science Journal for Kids features?

Science Journal for Kids is a rich resource and the fact everything is so well organized makes it easy to use. Teachers can download papers and lesson materials so everything can be taught offline if needed.

Since it all is stored with helpful keywords attached, it makes searching a viable option to find specific STEM topics and subject areas.

Teachers have access to a host of "Lesson Plan Ideas" on each topic with the original academic paper there as well as lesson plans, resources on the topic, and even government documents to provide more information.

The helpful "Related SJK Articles" section allows teachers and students to explore further a subject while staying within related topics.

The related videos are easily accessible as all are hosted on YouTube. While some come from third-parties, as vetted by the SJK, there are also bespoke creations from the site itself. Although these generally just go through the papers with a voice-over.

How much does Science Journal for Kids cost?

Science Journal for Kids is a not-for-profit company that aims to offer its resources for free to students and teachers.

It does not appear that there is any tracking or advertising on the site, which requires no personal details to get using right away.

Science Journal for Kids best tips and tricks

Go to the scientist
Use the Ask A Scientist section to hear podcasts, see video interviews, or read blogs written by the researchers themselves.

Watch at home
Have students watch of listen to the complimentary videos before class so they come with an understanding of the paper up for discussion.

Follow the class
Have students find a paper, within an area you suggest, to pick for the next lesson discussion and break-out work.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

The Xploris is a versatile, all-in-one educational platform designed for K-5 students, offering an engaging way to integrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) into the classroom.

This compact and portable device combines hands-on learning with advanced features such as built-in sensors for data collection, compatibility with coding languages such as Blockly and Python, and an intuitive interface that supports cross-curricular activities, which is at the heart of the Next Generation Science Standards.

Xploris: Getting Started

I found getting started with the Xploris very straightforward. The device's user-friendly, colorful interface and feature set really showed me how it can easily integrate into STEAM curriculums.

The Xploris platform is really a hands-on, cross-curricular learning platform that includes a one year subscription to the MyStemKits website as well as a two-hour online training course ($200 value). Both are accessible via a user code included with the device.

The website contains 31 standards-aligned lesson plans to utilize the devices onboard sensors for ambient temperature/external temperature, distance, light, sound level, and voltage. With these I am able to run science experiments, log and analyze data, create custom animations and music, as well as program it to provide output based on sensor readings.

The software and resources provided me with plenty of ideas and support for designing engaging lesson plans.

Xploris: Best Features

• Portability: This is a compact device that is easily recharged. The fun 16 x 16 pixel LED dot matrix display is clear and bright, allowing it to be easily used both indoors and out.
• Interdisciplinary Learning: Xploris seamlessly integrates science, data collection, coding, art, and control, allowing students to explore complex STEAM concepts in a cohesive manner.
• Sensor Suite: The Xploris’s five built-in sensors (light, temperature, sound, distance, and voltage) allow students to conduct a variety of experiments and collect real-time data.
• Coding: Xploris’s compatibility with Blockly and Python coding languages gives students the ability to to code animations and music.
• Software Platform: The Xplorilab can be used independent of software but the Xplorilab software is a very powerful and user-friendly solution that looks great on a computer screen as well as an interactive whiteboard.

Xploris: Key Specifications

• Auto-calibrated
• USB 2.0 and BLE 4.2 connectivity
• 150-hour battery life (with screen off), 8 hours (screen on)
• Servo outputs allow controlling small servos
• Image-based readings to enhance understanding
• Remote data collection.
• 100 samples/second max speed.
• 100,000 samples memory size
• 30 animations or 1,800 still image memory size
• 16 x 16 pixel LED dot matrix display
• Rechargeable LiPO 3.7V battery
• Windows 11, Android, iOS compatibility

Xploris: Pricing

The Xploris STEAM are generally sold in bundles and have educational pricing. Education pricing is around $2,900 for a bundle. Refer to the Xploris for reseller information and pricing details.

Xploris: Key Takeaways

The Xploris is a comprehensive solution offering integration between STEAM subjects, making it a valuable tool for educators looking to provide a cross-curricular learning experience. The Xploris device is very user-friendly, allowing educators and students to focus on teaching and learning rather than learning how to use the technology.

The Xploris is also cost effective since it combines multiple tools into one device, which could help schools reduce overall costs of a STEAM program’s equipment.

The device can stand-alone by itself, but the additional software and lesson platforms give educators the flexibility to create lessons that encourage creativity and engagement through interactive hands-on projects.

Ultimately, this is a solution with the features that will definitely improve students' interest and learning in STEAM related subjects.

• Educator Edtech Reviews

The mind-bending world of quantum mechanics provides many opportunities to engage K-12 students in important STEM lessons, says Todd Campbell, a science education professor at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education.

Not only is the quantum realm fascinating for its strange implications, such as spooky action at a distance and the Schrodinger’s Cat paradox, quantum computing and other quantum research are growing STEM fields, which current K-12 students can potentially join and impact. All of which provides a compelling educational opportunity, Campbell says.

“We want students to see the exciting parts that are unfinished that they could play a role in,” he says. “We want them to see that we're at the edge, and there's applications and things that we haven't even figured out yet, and you could be part of that.”

To that end, last summer Campbell and colleagues from UConn’s departments of Chemistry and Digital Media and Design hosted a three-day professional development event for high school chemistry teachers with the goal of helping them create new K-12 curriculum for chemistry concepts. The idea was to provide specific lessons and ideas for ways in which K-12 teachers can introduce students to the quantum world and its applications in everyday life. To do this, they created a specific high school-level unit based on modern technology built on quantum mechanics.

Campbell shares how this lesson was developed and how the thinking behind it can lead to other quantum mechanic-based lessons.

Teaching Quantum Mechanics With The Help of Modern TV

Many students won’t have to look far to see how quantum mechanics influences their lives. If they have a modern TV, there’s a decent chance it’s powered by QLED technically, which is short for Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode.

Campbell and his colleagues have developed a K-12 quantum unit around these QLED TVs that was built to support lessons suggested in Next Generation Science Standards, which have been adopted by a majority of states. During the unit, students learn about how quantum dots and nanoparticles, which power QLEDs, were developed in the 1980s, with the scientists who invented these awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023. Students then have to do some work to understand and conceptualize why this technology is an improvement over a traditional LED TV.

“We wanted students to think with us about what is it about quantum dot LED television that make them better than just an LED television. So why are people so excited?” he says. “These quantum dots have found broad technical and health applications.”

Environmental And Justice Impacts

Impressive as the QLED technology is, Campbell and his colleagues wanted to ensure that their lesson also encourages students to think about the implications of this technology.

“Part of what we try to do in all our work is we try to think about how innovations for some could be pollutions for others,” Campbell says. “So we're trying to think about what are the hazards of quantum dots. And we thought about like cadmium mercury and lead, or the compounds that are generally used to make these, and those you know at that scale also could have hazards that we're not aware of.”

The impact that emerging quantum technologies will have on society are another reason why it makes sense to start giving students practical lessons in quantum mechanics, Campbell says.

“Students can be a part of ensuring that there's justice in how this work unfolds," he says. "So it's not some corporate conglomerate who decides to contract for quantum technology, it’s people who are deciding what is and isn't the way that we want to move toward this work without exploiting, extracting, and demolishing things.”

Advice For Teachers

The unit on quantum LED TVs developed at UConn is available to other educators. However, Campbell says it’s not the only way educators can incorporate quantum mechanical exploration into their lessons.

“This is one example of a cutting-edge contemporary science focus,” Campbell says. “There are lots of others, and you really have to use the basic disciplinary core ideas that we're teaching students to get there. So it's a really good application of those foundational core ideas to get to the edge of of what you might be learning.”

The big idea is that connecting the seemingly far-out concepts of quantum mechanics to an everyday item such as a TV helps students better conceptualize what quantum mechanics really is.

“Students learn things and as they apply them they can make a web of connections that leads to them being able to think with those ideas later,” Campbell says.

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ClassPad.net is an online calculator system that's designed for use by teachers and students in education.

This is not to be confused with the real-world gadget version, simply called ClassPad, which was released by Casio. This online version works in a very similar way, only without the need for the physical device.

While this digital version is designed to offer lots of functionality -- including geometry, algebra, graphing, and more -- the physical ClassPad does offer even deeper levels of functionality.

This guides aims to explain all you need to know about ClassPad.net to see how it could benefit your class.

What is ClassPad.net?

ClassPad.net is an online calculator resource designed and offered for free by Casio. This is the digital version of the more complex physical ClassPad device.

Since Casio has been perfecting this technology in its physical calculators for decades, the online version is well refined. This translates to something that is easy enough to use for younger and newer students but offers enough depth and complexity for more advanced users and their requirements.

The basic version allows for work with tasks such as primary computational and trigonometric functions. Features such as the graphing and number line sticky are available if you want to get a more visualized expression of the numbers.

Since this works across multiple devices, via a web app in a browser, it's highly accessible so students can use this on their personal devices.

How does ClassPad.net work?

ClassPad.net offers a free version of its web app that allows anyone to get going right away. This, called the Math Core, gives pretty helpful functionality that should cover most classes for the basics of a scientific calculator and more.

You can also use a single sign on, if paying for an account, to access the more complex version of the app that offers functionality more akin to the physical ClassPad device itself.

Students, and teachers, are also able to draw freehand, ideally suited to touchscreen devices. Then, it's possible to click and move specific coordinates using a cursor, which is well suited to a mouse-enabled devices as well as touchscreens.

Users can sign in with accounts including Google Classroom and Clever, making integration into a current class setup quite straight forward.

What are the best ClassPad.net features?

ClassPad.net is really feature-rich -- it's a full scientific calculator for free but more, too. Students can use this for trigonometry, arithmetic, geometry, function graphing, tables, sequences, and more.

Teachers are also able to get more out of this than a standard calculator might offer. Thanks to TeX support, it is possible for students to describe their work or make notes for use later. Crucially, teachers also can prompt tasks or setup calculations to work through. Essentially, this creates a guidance dialogue right within the app itself.

Since students and teachers can directly play with graphs and geometric features, it allows for a really interactive and visually clear way to manipulate the numbers.

This works on smartphones and tablets as well as computers so it can be used widely in class as well as outside the room. That can mean super affordable uptake for schools as well as a reliable device to support students wherever they are.

How much does ClassPad.net cost?

ClassPad.net does offer a lot for free, but for the more complex features there are paid tiers available.

The Free version gets you a full scientific calculator plus functionality for trigonometry, arithmetic, geometry, function graphing, tables, sequences, and more.

The ClassWiz plan, at $14.95/year, gets you the above plus ClassWiz Emulator, allowing teachers to share screens with students, for use with ClassPad Math.

Go for the Math Plus subscription, at $24.95/year, and you also get CAS, advanced statistical calculations, financial calculation functions, and handwriting recognition.

ClassPad.net best tips and tricks

Start big
Display the ClassPad app on the big screen and teach the class how to use it and how it can be fun to manipulate visually.

Get personal
Have students play with the app on their devices and tackle questions in the class to help them ease into understanding use.

Set tasks
Have students go home and work with the device for tasks, so they have to get to grips with it, then review how it went when back in class.

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CodeMonkey has won awards because it manages to straddle that line between teaching real coding to kids while staying fun and engaging, too.

From block-based to text-based coding, this covers an array of options to help scaffold STEM learning across ages and abilities.

While this is a great option for teachers and kids in schools, it can also be used with parents and kids from ages five and up to learn coding from scratch at home. The idea being that this is as accessible as possible and easy to get into for anybody that might want to get into coding or give it a try.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about CodeMonkey.

What is CodeMonkey?

CodeMonkey is a coding platform that makes learning fun for a range of ages and abilities, from five to 14 years old.

Since this uses a monkey as the main character, which learners control, this feels very much like a game with stability that offers reassuring continuity for young learners.

CodeMonkey has hundreds of levels to play through, each with scaffolded progression. Since the coding is needed to progress the monkey in the game, it is learned indirectly, which can help students that might otherwise struggle to concentrate.

Since this builds on code, adding new lines as levels progress, this is aimed at beginners and should be played from the start to best learn effectively.

How does CodeMonkey work?

CodeMonkey has students play through levels that begin with block-based coding and build to text coding using CoffeeScript or Python to solve puzzles.

Each level adds new coding so that students build their knowledge and the games can grow in complexity. Students are given feedback after each section, allowing them to self-correct as they progress.

Students will see the coding on one side of the screen with the monkey-based game on the other. This allows them to observe how the code directly affects the progression of their game.

Getting puzzles to work correctly, with maximum efficiency, becomes the key and this is star rewarded, so the focus is on getting this perfect to build those.

Difficulty increases progressively allowing students to learn at a rate that suits their ability. Teachers are able to track student progress to offer help if needed along the way.

What are the best CodeMonkey features?

CodeMonkey offers a really helpful option to jump between story mode and skill mode. While the first is fun for learning and progressing, the latter allows students a way to work on skills as needed -- so they can feel they're not being pushed too fast.

It also allows for creativity, with students able to make their own challenges. Equally, teachers can use lesson-planning tools that come with the plan version to help guide students beyond the story mode alone.

The focus on getting the maximum number of stars is a helpful goal as it is backed with tips on how to improve next time, allowing students to continually progress.

Teachers have access to lots of support including free webinars, video guidance, and professional development options as needed.

How much does CodeMonkey cost?

CodeMonkey offers both parent and teacher plans as options. While the teacher plans are charged on a quote-by-quote basis, there is pricing for the parental options.

An Individual parent plan is charged at $7/month and gets you one child account, one parent account, progress tracking, solutions for all exercises, and online support.

The Family plan, at $12/month, offers three child accounts, one parent, and all the above.

The Home School option, at $20/month, has the above plus two teacher accounts, five student accounts, lesson plans, and a classroom dashboard.

CodeMonkey best tips and tricks

Team up
For more challenging sections it can be good to have students work together to progress in groups or pairs for a more sociable experience.

Design rewards
For those that finish early, have them rewarded by allowing time to create their own challenges within the platform.

Hour of Code
CodeMonkey takes part in Hour of Code so be sure to take advantage of the challenges set at that time.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
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Since the pandemic, many schools have been struggling to implement ways to audit their STEAM-related tech. Whether their laptops are broken, their microscopes are missing, or they have equipment in boxes in a closet somewhere, many STEAM tools of the trade go unchecked. This can lead to unnecessary funds being used on tech that may already exist in a school or at another school in your district.

Here we speak with Kerri Wall, Senior Digital Innovation Administrator for the School District of Indian River County in Florida, about her innovative STEAM Checkout system, how it helps keep tech organized, how it helps save money, and how you can do something similar.

STEAM Checkout: How it Works

Keeping track of the sheer amount of STEAM tech in your school can be a daunting task, even for a dedicated inventory specialist. Even if you believe you know everything about what your building is housing, you might be surprised at what you find (or don’t find). Having a system in place makes for easier inventory and accurate record keeping, and that is the essence of Wall’s STEAM Checkout program

“I took over this position in visual integration and we were looking for LEGO spike robots for a class,” says Wall. “A teacher had requested them. We knew we had them in the district and they were somewhere. So we started looking for them. We still had classroom carts, and so we were going through the classrooms looking for computers that might have been stowed away. There was just an enormous amount of materials that were in closets. It was truly shocking.”

And thus, STEAM Checkout was born.

“What we did was we said, ‘We want to gather all of the resources that are in the district and put them in a centralized location and manage them,’” Wall says. “I had to do a lot of promising to schools that [if it’s your equipment, you’ll get first dibs]. We’ll make sure we get everything back, and then we will expand what you have access to. And I had several schools that I had a really good relationship with, so they were really all about that collaboration.”

Being able to pool resources district wide and have a multitude of devices at district disposal enriches the experience of each school involved, simplifies the organization process, and helps to reduce overall spending.

Another aspect of the STEAM Checkout system is the inclusion of professional development to ensure that educators are well-versed in how all available technology works. One aspect of school technology not being used, as Wall points out, is that teachers shy away from what is unfamiliar.

“We purchased our K-5 laptops, lab discs…and teachers weren’t using them,” says Wall. “They didn’t know what they were. So with creating the central checkout, we also had to provide PD. We’re really lucky that our district does a district-wide PD day as our kickoff to teacher planning. At that PD session we did an entire half-day session on all the equipment that was available on STEAM Checkout. They called it ‘tech tapas’. You spent 20 minutes and you put your hands [on a piece of technology], you did a little activity, and then we handed them a lesson plan.”

With this process in place, no one person holds all the information about the technology available in a classroom, school, or the district. All teachers involved in the PD session are able to use all of the tech available through the STEAM Checkout system.

How Can You Create Your Own STEAM Checkout?

Putting together a program such as STEAM Checkout is no small feat, but the payoff is clear when an entire district can share its resources. As Wall explains, getting everyone on the same page–or spreadsheet–is a good place to start.

“So the first step is we created a shared file,” says Wall. “We had a STEAM coordinator, and what they wanted to do is they wanted to know what the schools had. So they created a shared file. Here’s a tab for every school you have. Tell us what you have.”

What happens if a school misreports their inventory?

“You have to be boots on the ground,” explains Wall. “You have to be hands on the doors. Open the doors and look through the closet and take pictures and write it down. It’s laborious, but it has paid off so much for us…we did it. It was 22 days because we had 22 sites, and we just went all hands on deck. We went room to room, closet to closet. We documented, we wrote, we took pictures, and then we compiled a full list. That was such a financial savings because the district was buying supplies that the schools had. That was year one.”

After you compile the list, what next?

“Year Two was ‘Who will share,’’’ says Wall. “Let’s at least get some things that we can share [among the district]. Then Year Three was the true STEAM Checkout and organization. But you do have to have someone who centrally manages the equipment and the sharing of the equipment. I’m blessed that we have the space, that we have a location where we can house everything and can move it around the district. We have a delivery guy whose whole job is to pick up broken computers and return repaired computers. We just added STEAM Checkout to his route.”

Inventory, organization, and logistics are essential to getting a system such as this off the ground. And as Wall mentions, don’t be dismayed if it takes a while to get started.

“If somebody truly wants to do this, it’s at least a three-year process,” says Wall. “Year One is inventory. Year Two is the baby steps of getting buy in and participation. Year Three would be actually taking ownership of the supplies and figuring out how to organize them, house them, move them, and load them out.”

If you’re intent on changing how your district uses and shares its tech, a STEAM Checkout system can go a long way in achieving that goal.

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• Best Practices for Implementing STEM Resources

In an episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza famously started leaving meetings or conversations with friends early after he told a funny story in order to end on a high note.

I was recently reminded of this episode by David Miele, program director of Applied Developmental & Educational Psychology at Boston College, because there’s a lesson here linked to student motivation.

Researchers have long known that as school tasks become more difficult student motivation can decrease as they encounter more failure. Building in opportunities for success — for instance, by giving them easier math questions — can counteract this, but runs the risk of watering down the content being taught, Miele says.

Separate research indicates that people remember the beginning and ends of tasks best through what psychologists call "primacy" and "recency" effects. They also seem to better remember specific parts.

“People tend to overweight the pleasure or pain they experienced at the end of the task, but also at the most intense point of the task,” says Miele.

This is where the idea of George Costanza leaving on a high note comes in--research done with adults has found what is termed the “remembered success effect” in which academic tasks that start or end with extra opportunities for success were found to be preferred to the challenging tasks alone.

Miele and his colleagues, including Bridgid Finn (who Miele stresses was really instrumental in this research), wondered if they could boost student motivation without decreasing academic rigor by providing mostly rigorous questions in a text or activity but also including some easier questions at the beginning or end of the exam.

Ultimately, what they found suggests there are some simple ways teachers can motivate student activity.

The Remembered Success Effect

To study the remembered success effect in children, Miele and his colleagues worked with 570 third- and sixth-graders for a paper published in 2024. All students were given an assessment with 10 difficult math problems. Some students were also given five additional questions that were easier.

The study found that in both grades, students who got the additional questions at the beginning or end of the session valued the activity to a greater extent. Although the task with the additional easier questions took longer to complete, it didn't feel that way for students.

“There was also a tendency to perceive the longer task as having been the shorter task,” Miele says. This study potentially has big implications for how teachers motivate students through difficult tasks.

Takeaways From This Research For Teachers

Miele notes this research suggests there are steps that teachers can do to maintain students positive evaluations toward a really challenging task without watering it down. These steps have the added benefit of being low-cost and not requiring a tremendous amount of time for teachers to undertake, he says.

“It could be as simple as just taking some problems that they know to be relatively easier and positioning them in the beginning or end of the task,” he says.

Some caveats are needed, however. To get the desired effect, these questions need to go at the beginning or end of the assignment. Also, some studies suggest adding questions can still fatigue students even if they don’t perceive it.

“There might be potential fatigue effects associated with doing more math problems, even though subjectively, they're like, ‘I enjoy that task more.’ It doesn't mean that they're not a little bit more tired out by having solved more math problems,” Miele says.

Knowing this can influence how a teacher plans follow-up activities. Also, if you’re planning multiple activities, constantly tacking on additional questions could start to be counterproductive due to fatigue, Miele says.

Of course, more research on all this is still needed to better piece out how and when the remembered success effect can best be utilized. Miele is working on further studies to fine-tune how teachers can best use the remembered success effect.

But for now, we're going to follow George Costanza’s lesson and end here on a high note: “Alright, that's it for me. Goodnight everybody!”

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Polypad is an award-winning digital math playground. Its virtual interactive whiteboard incorporates shapes, colors, graphs, music, and other tools to teach geometry, algebra, probability, and statistics to middle and high school students.

The highly structured yet simultaneously free-form design of Polypad encourages students to explore on their own, while allowing educators a broad ability to customize lessons.

Originally created by the founders of Mathigon, Polypad was acquired by Amplify in 2021.

What is Polypad?

Polypad is a powerful virtual manipulative website for mathematics, designed for middle and high school students. Requiring no login or installation, Polypad runs on all devices and browsers.

With its clever drag-n-drop interface, multimedia tools, and colorful manipulatives, it’s sure to engage even the most reluctant math learners.

How does Polypad Work?

Students and teachers can immediately start using Polypad without creating an account. However, creating a free account allows saving and sharing with others, and is therefore ideal.

Teachers can create their free account easily via email, Google, Amplify, or Desmos Classroom account. Student account creation is similar to teachers, with the exception of kids younger than 13. Teachers can welcome these younger students to the platform by creating a free account in Desmos Classroom as described in student account creation.

The Polypad welcome screen highlights several interesting features, such as winners of the 2024 Polypad Art and Music Contest and testimonials from teachers and students. But if you’re ready to start exploring, simply click the Launch Polypad button. Or, to learn more about each of the tools, click Tutorials, through which teachers can discover how to customize, assign, and share Polypad activities with students.

Polypad boasts a remarkably clean, user-friendly interface and easy navigation, with an integrated help menu that makes it super simple to learn about every tool.

When you first open Polypad, you’re greeted by a blank virtual whiteboard with a bottom toolbar, side toolbar, and top left main menu. Click on any left menu element to expand its contents, view tooltips, or the help menu entry for that tool. To use any element, simply drag it to the whiteboard, where the intuitive toolbars allow you to easily change colors, draw, add equations, text and images or export as a png, jpeg, or svg image.

The core functions of Polypad are housed in the Tiles menu, where users will find a wide variety of interactive math tools, in the categories of: geometry; numbers; fractions; algebra; probability and data; and games and applications.

Using Activity Builder with Polypad

Polypad can be used as a stand-alone tool or as a collection of assignable activities and lessons. Amplify's Desmos Classroom Activity Builder allows educators to create multimedia assignable activities using a wide variety of tools for text, image creation, assessment, free response, and of course, Polypad.

To build custom teaching activities, visit https://teacher.desmos.com, create your free Desmos Classroom teacher account, or log in to your existing account. Then navigate to Desmos Activity Builder. In the left menu, click Custom Activities>>Create a New Activity. Name your new activity, select the viewing option (link or private), and briefly describe the activity. These attributes can be easily edited later, so feel free to use placeholder text until you’re ready to share or assign the activity.

Now select Polypad (and/or other elements) from the left menu to build your activity. When you drag the Polypad icon into the activity window, you’ve actually imported the entire Polypad functionality, allowing you to incorporate any of its tools into your lesson.

What are the Best Polypad Features?

Polypad Tutorials

Mathigon's YouTube channel hosts Polypad tutorials that offer step-by-step guidance from the Polypad team on using its tools. Exploring on your own, you might miss the hidden gem Hand Tiles or the fact that Hand Tiles interact with other tools, such as the Algebra Balance Scale. These video tutorials demonstrate the wide-open possibilities for teaching math with Polypad.

Puzzles, Activities, and Lesson Plans

Polypad's interactive tools are in one sense very simple -- users can start experimenting right away without an extensive how-to. Yet, for teachers who have never used Polypad, it may be a bit overwhelming to contemplate how best to implement them into the curriculum. Fortunately, Polypad's extensive set of pre-designed puzzles, activities, and lesson plans offer expert guidance and ideas for use with students.

Assigning Activities

Once you've created your custom Polypad activity, you're able to assign it to members of your class.

First, create your class by choosing Classes in left menu, then Add New Class. An invite code for students will be automatically generated. If you already have classes in Google Classroom, you can simply import from there.

When you open your activity, click the desired option in the Assign menu.

How Much Does Polypad Cost?

Polypad is fully free. It's also free for teachers and students to create a Desmos Classroom account and use Activity Builder to create, assign or complete activities.

Polypad Best Tips and Tricks

Polypad Games and Applications

Polypad's games and apps include chess, logic and computing, currencies, clocks, dominoes, and—best of all—music. Simply drag the keyboard into the workspace and start playing and recording. Not sure what to do? Open the Music and Sonification Help Menu for guidance on using the tools.

Make Your Shapes Sing

Polypad polygons not only have brilliant colors, but also incorporate musical tones that represent their properties, including vertices, perimeter, area, angles, and fractions.

Ask for Help

The built-in Help menu is fully integrated into the Polypad workspace. Just click the question mark on any tile to instantly view the tile summary, examples and lesson ideas.

Accessibility

For students using adaptive technologies such as screen readers, keyboard shortcuts enable them to fully participate in the lesson.

What's Next for Polypad?

Polypad used to be part of Mathigon.org. Both Mathigon and Desmos Classroom were acquired by Amplify, which is in the process of merging and integrating all three products. Tech & Learning is following the developments and will update readers on the integration of these valuable teaching tools.

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When it comes to teaching STEM, nothing quite beats the wow factor drones provide, says Henzé Gustave.

Gustave is the former chief metaverse officer and a drone education expert at Drone Cadets. He is also the founder of Skyhound Group LLC, a newly launched drone pilot training organization that is set to work with students across the globe. He has worked with students and educators across the U.S. and internationally to help teach about everything from coding, math, engineering, and physics to cybersecurity and teamwork.

Drones are increasingly used in agriculture, mining, search and rescue operations, and for tasks as diverse as helping power companies perform inspections on power lines. By learning about drones, students can become drone pilots and get real-world job training for these industries, plus the lessons learned while working with drones can be applied to many other areas beyond aviation, Gustave says.

Interest in all things drone-related recently saw an uptick thanks to a string of mysterious sightings that captivated the nation. These incidents started in New Jersey, but strange drone sightings were soon reported in other states. Theories about the origins of these unidentified devices range from government hijinks to mass hysteria to aliens, of course.

Secret government or alien drones aside, regular everyday drones have a lot to offer in terms of learning. Here are some of the things drones can teach students.

1. Teaching With Drones: Hands-On Building

Drone education is more hands-on than some standard computer science classes. In Gustave’s programs, students use kits to assemble their own drones. Even students who have some dexterity issues tend to enjoy this process, he says.

“We've seen an overwhelmingly great response to it because it allows the students to fully understand the functionalities of each component and understand how it works together,” he says.

2. Coding

Using drones to reinforce coding lessons is a great way for students to see the power of programming and how it influences the real world.

“We're in this digital world, and coding is one of those skill sets everyone should have,” Gustave says.

Drones help students learn block coding and other coding languages as they complete various drone missions. “We gave these students a task of get from point A to point C while avoiding point B,” he says.

3. Engineering

Students completing drone missions learn about coding but also about physics and math, Gustave says, as both core engineering principles are required to calculate what will make the drone perform at its best. For instance, maybe they can remove some components from a drone to make it lighter and therefore potentially move faster.

“We even teach them about the different voltages on the drones so that they understand what voltages are needed for the components that they're putting together,” Henze says.

4. Cybersecurity

“The drones are flying computers,” Henze says, which makes the devices a great vehicle to teach about cybersecurity.

“We teach the students how to find those little vulnerabilities, how to patch them up, and learn the basics of cybersecurity,” Henze says. “And they can take that skill set outside of the drone world and apply it to the greater cybersecurity space.”

5. Teamwork

Part of all these lessons is the equally important skill of students learning collaboration and teamwork.

“They're working together to solve a problem,” he says. This can be enhanced through the friendly competitive nature of things such as drone races.

“There's that excitement, you know, the team camaraderie and just bragging rights as well, being able to win a race,” he says.

6. Communicating Expertise

A bonus skill of late for students familiar with drones is that they can help explain what exactly has been happening in the night skies over New Jersey and elsewhere by explaining what conventional civilian drones can and cannot do.

Gustave says these drone sightings have sparked interest among drone students with whom he works. “They are very much more interested now because they have a sense of expertise,” he says. “They can properly articulate a little bit of what's going on to their parents or their friends.”

• What To Know About Buying Drones For Schools
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If you're considering buying robots for schools, this guide could help you find the perfect option based on what you actually need. Sure, you may want a robot, but do you know why it's good for your school specifically and in what ways you could get the most out of it?

The best robots for schools can help students to learn about engineering, design, building, and coding, to name a few STEM subjects. These robots can offer a great way to deliver some hands-on experience in building machinery, but also in coding for its software, too.

Before investing, it's worth thinking about who this is for in terms of age group but also subject area. Some bots have simple builds while others offer multiple complex coding options. Since price varies broadly it's worth narrowing down your uses before you start spending.

Read on to find out all you need to think about before buying robots for schools.

What's it for?

Deciding what your robot is for should be where you start. This will help you determine if you want something that's complex and needs to be built from scratch, or if you're more in the market for something that clips together, or comes pre-built.

Consequently, the age group you're going to be offering this to is a primary concern. Then, how they use that is next -- thinking about if there is an importance to be placed on construction, coding, or a mix of the two.

Also consider storage as you may want just one, or several, robots to cover the needs of a class or several age groups. In any case, these will need storage space and you may want to think about charging needs for continued use, too.

Build complexity is important as this could be something you leave kids alone to work on, or in groups. Or this might be something more complex that requires dedicated teaching time and hands-on assistance from the educator. So, essentially, think about how you're spending your time as well as money when investing here.

Programming

Since the build is just one part of using robots in education, it's important to think about the programming side of things as well. Once that bot is built, it'll be time to start coding actions that allow it to move and result in real-world results that can be very exciting and empowering for students.

That in mind, do you want a simple block-based coding system that any age could handle and offers immediate results for that instant reward? Or are you looking to use these robots as a way to teach more complex coding?

Some robots have multiple code languages that can be used with the system, allowing for a broad range of teaching options. These can also be helpful for teaching real code that students may use one day in a job.

Expansion

Some robots are made to be built once and then put to use with variations in the coding. However, there are some robots that form a part of a larger potential system, growing as you add more.

Block-based style of robots can feature add-on options, allowing you to grow what is available. Some offer new sensors or motor parts to make the robot more interactive or more agile, for example. These can represent a good way to expand as student's grow in skill, but also as the budget allows over longer periods of time.

That said, some of these systems offer deals through which you can buy many parts up front as a way to save money -- then you could add these as options as the students progress to reach a standard and are able to add more to the mix.

Features

The individual features of each robot option out there are pretty varied. Do you want a robot that can walk or are you looking for a rolling robo-friend that's more about steering controls for students?

Perhaps terrain variation is also key? You might want a drone that can fly, a boat that can go out on water, or a climbing robot that can traverse obstacles.

One big feature worth considering is controls. Check to see if the robot is iOS or Android compatible as that can mean easy controls via a smartphone or tablet, that you may already have available.

Sensors are a consideration as these represent the limits to your bot. If it's crammed with sensors to see, hear, feel, and more, then the number of options for coding new adventures and experiences increases. Robots that allow you to add more sensors as students progress is a good idea to help scaffold the learning.

Pricing

The price of robots varies widely which, as mentioned, is why it's important to know what you want it for before you start spending.

A robot that offers multiple coding languages will likely cost more up front, but that can represent a far more expansive learning experience for a wider range of student ages and abilities -- perhaps justifying that extra cost.

Going for a more basic bot, that's easy to construct and use, could also be helpful as a gateway experience that gets students into the learning without being too challenging. This will be limited to a certain age and ability range, but could be worth the money as it may spark a love of STEM learning in a child who didn't know they were passionate about it before.

Be sure to check warranty periods as well as the cost of replacement parts, to ensure you are prepared for ongoing costs.

• Best Robots for Schools
• 3 Tips for Teaching With Robots
• Best Coding Kits for Schools

Building a strong foundation in Algebra 1 is critical to students’ success in higher-level mathematics and in college and careers. But Algebra can be challenging to learn — and teach.

I moved from teaching seventh grade to teaching Algebra 1 at West Jones High School (WJHS) in 2016, which was the same year the state department of education introduced new college- and career-readiness standards for mathematics. While I was excited about the new standards, the textbook we were using was old (my colleague said it was the same one she used in high school), and our students struggled with the rigor required.

In the spring of 2017, only 37% of WJHS students scored at the proficient level or above on the state Algebra 1 assessment. We knew we had to raise our scores, so we took a different approach in 2017-18 and our school’s Algebra 1 proficiency rate jumped to 59% — a gain of 22 percentage points. In my Algebra 1 classes, my students’ proficiency numbers jumped from 38% in 2017 to 66% in 2018 and have been climbing ever since.

Here are a few tips and lessons learned in our efforts to turn our scores around.

Teach with rigor using standards-aligned resources

No matter what subject I have taught, I have always added to the curriculum provided by the school district to enrich the quality of my instruction and provide meaningful content to students. So, when the Mississippi Legislature funded a supplemental program called Math Nation and made it available for all Mississippi public schools to use if they were interested, my colleague and I decided to try it out to supplement our district’s textbook.

When I moved to the online math learning platform, I had never had so many resources readily available that aligned with our state standards. I had access to guided lesson notes along with lesson videos, practice, activities, and assessments for my students. I must admit, I was a little overwhelmed at first. So, I decided to try one thing at a time and built from there.

As I dug into the Algebra 1 resources, I realized that the year prior, I had just been skimming the surface. Now we get very deep very fast, and the content spirals and builds so students can reinforce and deepen their learning each time they return to a concept.

Whatever program you choose, use it with fidelity

My students and I use the Math Nation platform every day, and we use every component. That fidelity is important for student buy-in. Once my students see that I’m fully committed, they get behind it, too. Now, even when they struggle with a problem, they say, “Let me do this. I know I can do it.”

Meet students where they are and build from there

Every group of students that arrives in my classroom is different. Even if some learners aren’t quite ready for Algebra 1, I know they can do the work with the right supports. At the beginning of the school year, we often use the On-Ramp tool within the platform’s student dashboard to help diagnose and remediate gaps in foundational math or pre-algebra concepts. Each learner can also access these individualized remediation tools to address any unfinished learning they may have that relates to the content a unit will cover.

Within each unit, students can also access content videos with examples and practice problems. They can choose from multiple instructors who teach the same material but in different ways and at different paces. If students miss school, I can ask them to watch the videos at home, which frees up my time since I no longer have to stay after school to help them with makeup work. I also like watching the videos to view different teaching styles so I can find ways to relate to my students who learn in different ways.

Establish a professional learning community (PLC) to foster collaboration

I set up an official Algebra PLC meeting on Thursdays at WJHS, and I continue to facilitate this group today. Outside of our weekly meetings, we talk almost daily. Over lunch or in the hallway, we chat about what’s going on in our classrooms, and where students are struggling or doing really well. We share teaching strategies and activities, and brainstorm ideas. Thanks to our ongoing collaboration, we continue to grow in our teaching skills and expertise in Algebra 1.

Use data to monitor progress toward the standards and drive decisions

At the end of every nine weeks, we do a common assessment across our district. This allows us to see how our students score on each standard so we know where to intervene. We share our data in our PLC so we can dig into what worked well and what didn’t, and help each other improve. If we need to provide more practice to students on a particular standard, we can also look up where it has been or will be covered in the online platform and pull resources as needed.

Achieving steady growth

Over the last seven years, our PLC and online math platform have changed my teaching. Previously when I was teaching seventh grade, I felt like I was on an island by myself. Now, I have seen my dream come to life as I work collaboratively with my colleagues to improve student experiences and build a community that’s excited about math.

Our test scores show that our efforts are working. On the 2024 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP), 75% of WJHS students scored at the proficient level or above in Algebra 1. This not only exceeded the state average of 67%, but it surpassed the proficiency rates of our district’s other two high schools as well.

Our accomplishments are all centered on our love for Algebra 1. I have never taught as deeply as I do now. My students are engaged, and they’ve gained confidence in their abilities because they are experiencing success in a rigorous class. They see themselves as capable mathematicians, which sets the stage for successes here and wherever they go in their futures.

• Photomath: How to Use It to Teach
• Best Math Sites and Apps for Education

Tinybop Schools offers a digital space for science modeling with which students can interact and learn.

Rather than showing a process in a book, with arrows, or on a video, Tinybop creates interactive situations. The idea is to have students engage with STEM and scientific processes so that they can see how they work in a hands-on and memorable way.

Thanks to curriculum-aligned and multi-language content, this should make for a very useful resource for teachers to use in class and for students at home.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know so you can assess if Tinybop Schools is suitable for your class.

What is Tinybop Schools?

Tinybop Schools is an interactive models tool designed for schools to teach sciences to students. This covers life, physical, and earth sciences with many model examples for each, with which students can interact.

Thanks to a focus on simplicity, this is a drag-and-drop interaction STEM-teaching system that can be picked up easily, even by younger students. In fact, it often doesn't even require reading to understand.

Thanks to iOS, Android, and web app options, this is very easy to access across devices so students can use their personal ones or class setups as needed.

How does Tinybop Schools work?

Tinybop Schools lets a teacher setup an account that can then have student profiles created within that to be shared as needed. Students are then able to begin using the models right away on any device signed in with that account.

Teachers can introduce topics or use printable materials to help students understand what they are about to experience. Alternatively, teachers can set a model and have students begin to explore it on their own. Thanks to the self-explanatory nature of the models, and the curriculum-aligned material, it can make for a great way to have students explore and learn that way.

Students can explore life sciences, such as how a mammal gives birth or the human body digests food; physical sciences, including states of matter or weather; and earth sciences such as space and tectonics. Each category has more than enough to cover most teacher requirements.

What are the best Tinybop Schools features?

Tinybop Schools is so intuitive that it can be used from a very young age and by students of a wide range of abilities. In fact, it's so simple that often it can be a watch-only process that still teachers students plenty even without an ability to interact or read.

The language options are broad with the basics in English but translated content that is available in more than 40 different languages. Since this works across nearly any internet-connected device, it should be very widely accessible.

Some really helpful printables are available that make both teaching the topics and assessing them an option. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of digital feedback in the teacher dashboard as student progress isn't monitored or assessed there.

How much does Tinybop Schools cost?

Tinybop Schools offers a one month free trial and a few tiers of pricing options for schools to use.

The Homeschool level, charged at $50/year, gets you a single teacher sign-on and up to five students.

Go for the Classroom tier, at $150/year, and you get four teachers and thirty students.

The Schools tier is a custom option that allows for wider access at a bespoke price. This also offers curriculum mapping, translation, LMS integration, dedicated training and support.

Tinybop Schools best tips and tricks

Go free
Rather than introduce the tool, have students play with this to learn how it works, giving them a sense of control and satisfaction as they interact.

Print resources
Use the printables as a way to expand the exploration and to give students a deeper understanding of what they just experienced.

Assess
Take time to stop and assess student uptake to see how they adapt to this learning style, and in what ways you can add to the experiences as needed.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

CoSpaces Edu is an AR and VR creation tool designed specifically for teaching and learning.

More than 1,000 schools now use this tool, so it's been well developed and has grown to make it more accessible than ever. The idea is to offer a learning space that also helps students to be ready for the technological developments of the future, specifically in communicating and working within AR and VR spaces.

Thanks to COPPA and FERPA compliance, this is a safe space that's built for easy integration into schools nationally. With more than half a million educators using it, this is fast becoming a staple part of teaching in tech-savvy schools. And this guide aims to show all you need to know so you can decide if CoSpaces Edu is something that could benefit your school.

What is CoSpaces Edu?

CoSpaces Edu is an AR and VR tool that allows students and teachers to build their own immersive creations in virtual space.

The system is designed to help teach using both animation and coding skills to bring the augmented and virtual to life. The company behind this tool, Delightex, says: "We envision a future in which learning isn't motivated by test scores, but by rewarding experiences letting kids try new things and discover what they're capable of while helping them understand the world around them."

Thanks to a web application as well as mobile and tablet apps, this is widely accessible across devices, and so makes for a great collaboration teaching tool. Since this can work using affordable Google Cardboard-style VR, it's an accessible option, too.

Get creative, collaborate, and build before then using the end result as an experience for other students to enjoy and from which to learn.

How does CoSpaces Edu work?

CoSpaces Edu can be downloaded and used on smartphones and tablets or via the web app on most other browser-enabled devices. Of course, a camera with speakers and microphone are ideal for augmented reality experiences. And for virtual reality, a headset, or smartphone adaptor, will be needed for a more immersive experience.

For the design part, it's easy to work on a desktop or laptop, making it a straight-forward and recognizable experience for students. Since this is a single tool designed for all, it can be used from as young as grade three right up to 12 -- offering consistency that students grow to know and understand.

The setup is easy to learn as students can drag and drop objects, and then assign animations or actions to make these interactive in the virtual environment. This is a block-based coding interface that's similar to Scratch and so can be easily recognized or used as a transferable skill.

What are the best CoSpaces Edu features?

CoSpaces Edu uses its CoBlocks coding interface that is easy to learn but helps to teach the basics of how coding works, in an AR and VR space. Students can create simply using a desktop and then experience creations on a mobile device, for the easiest combination of input and output.

Thanks to a wide selection of pre-built lesson plans, there is plenty for teachers to use right away. It's possible to customize these options making for a personalized teaching experience that doesn't take long to have up and running.

Since there are various tasks involved in building, this is a natural way to teach group-based collaboration. And with plenty of examples to work from, it can be easy for students to pick up and delegate in their groups.

Thanks to a broad range of lesson plans and onboarding materials, this is relatively easy to learn even for teachers that may be new to this area. And with the broad creative potential, this can be used across subjects as a way to create projects while also working on computer skills.

How much does CoSpaces Edu cost?

CoSpaces Edu offers both a free version and a paid for premium plan with more features available.

The Free option gets you access for up to 29 students, two CoSpaces to create, one class, one assignment, 10 external files, and coding with basic CoBlocks.

Go Pro, at $50/year, and you get all CoSpaces Edu features and 3D objects, the ability to invite students and teachers, add co-teachers, publish to the Gallery, Remix the Gallery options, code with script languages, and use the built-in physics engine.

CoSpaces Edu best tips and tricks

Assign groups
Break down projects so students in groups have assigned tasks, such as object placement, camera controls, animations, object behaviors, and so on.

Submit assignments
Once the basics are learned, have students submit assignments that they create in CoSpaces, for others to experience and also learn from.

Remix the Gallery
Don't be afraid to use pre-built content in the Gallery and Remix it for your needs as a way to save time and still offer great interactive learning experiences.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

If you're considering buying drones for schools, this guide could help you find the ideal setup to ensure pupils and educators have the best experience possible. Once you know what you need, it should make picking the best drones for schools a better process.

A great place to start is need. Think about what need a drone will serve in your school. Is this to get some aerial shots of the buildings for promotional videos? Are these specifically for coding and programming lessons that result in real-world actions? Is drone building a great way to help teach engineering and physics? Or perhaps it's a bit of all of those things and more.

Essentially, by narrowing down uses you'll be able to make sure you only pay for the features you need and don't waste money on a drone that doesn't ideally serve your purposes.

Read on to find out all you need to think about before buying drones for schools.

What's it for?

Many different types of drones are now available, capable of a wide range of tasks. But for education specifically, you may want to focus on drones that are capable of helping teach both physical building skills and coding programming. Since many of these also have cameras, using one for other purposes after it's up and running should be an option as well.

That can narrow the list down quite concisely as school-specific drones, with education-focused systems, are fewer in number. You can still get big name options, with lots of support and constant updates, but just expect to potentially pay a premium for the brand name. That said, the extra cost may be there for a reason as these companies offer some well-developed units that are super robust and often are more easy to use and have long warranty coverage.

Programming

If the drone is going to be an extension of a need to teach programming, then you may want to consider models that have the best software support systems. A few options are out there so be sure to keep in mind the type of coding you want to teach and check that the drone is compatible.

Some drones offer multiple coding options -- including block-based -- and work with Arduino hardware, so it might be something with which students already have experience. This could simply offer an extension of that virtual world, adding in the excitement of real-world results from their coding efforts.

Drone size

The size of the drone could be an important consideration. Essentially, there are two categories to keep in mind, and these are weight-based: The sub 2kg range and the smaller microdrone range.

Generally speaking, the microdrones are targeted at, and are better suited to, beginners. These are more simple in their construction, smaller and lighter for easier flight and simpler storage. Essentially a microdrone is less heavy and so stands less chance of being damaged from crashing, making it well suited to younger students or those new to drone operating.

You may be using drones for sport, such as racing, in which case the lighter and often more nimble microdrones can be the better choice.

Flight features

Aside from the building and coding of the drone itself, there is also the features it offers which are worth considering. For example, you may want a drone with a decent quality camera to capture images and videos for use in other lessons and areas of the school.

Flight controls are another area to think about as most drones offer auto hovering and even object detection to avoid crashing -- useful features if younger students are going to be let lose with these units.

Replacement parts are a big consideration too as a crash is inevitable, and damage to a model that can easily swap out parts will make life much easier in the longer term. The availability and pricing of these parts are worth looking into before you commit to any particular brand.

Pricing

Inevitably the price of drones is a consideration. Since this is for school, you may require more than one and often deals can be had for buying in bulk. In fact, some systems even give you central app controls that allow you to better offer the software to students as well as to monitor use. You can also often get bulk charging stations so everything is charged and ready to go each morning.

Take a look at warranty cover as this may be something that gets used after a few crashes. As mentioned before, it also literally pays to check on how affordable and available spare parts are, as you'll likely have need of these.

• Best Drones for Students

CS First is a Google platform that is offered for free to learn computer science. The online system is a way to help anyone teach the subject more easily for a range of ages.

Primarily targeted at late elementary to middle school ages, this is a tool that aims to bring new students into the world of computer science in a range of ways. Ultimately, this is free as it allows Google to help grow its future workforce, including any students who can benefit from potentially working in that field.

Sure, there are plenty of computer science resources out there but this one, being from Google, is very easy to use, intuitively designed, and integrates well with most systems and subjects.

This guide aims to explain all you need to know, to see if Google CS First could work well for your class.

What is CS First?

CS First is a Google tool that is based online and accessible by anyone, and offers an array of resources for teaching computer science.

Built by Google, this is designed to run inside a browser, which makes it a very minimal setup that can be accessed from most devices and internet connections. While this is full of lessons ready to go, the platform is also filled with resources for teachers. It is designed for in-class use, rather than simply being used by students alone -- although both options are there.

Available in English and Spanish, everything is very clearly laid out and intuitive to use. As such, this can be used to teach computer science even by teachers who are new to teaching the subject. Since this uses the Scratch programming language it is very useful, and there are lots of online resources to support and implement that immediately.

How does CS First work?

CS First can be accessed online, and offers more than 80 programming situations across 19 themes. This allows students and teachers to work across areas such as animation, stories, music, art, sports, game design, and more.

Themed lessons are sectionalized into one hour activities or multi-day projects. Teachers can use the Curriculum Finder to work on specific areas that need to be addressed.

The lesson generally begins with a video that students watch to get an overview. They are then tasked with creating their own content by following the examples provided. Thanks to step-by-step guidance, it's possible for students to complete a project or work with very little assistance required.

Customization is an option to put a personal touch on projects. It's then possible to present these back to the class for moderation and assessment as required. Thanks to activity badges, most of the feedback is actually built-in along the way so students can see what still needs to get done to finish the work.

What are the best CS First features?

CS First offers a nice wide range of difficulty levels that span a decent age range, from late elementary to middle school. Consequently, there is something suitably challenging enough for most students in those age ranges to be able to progress at a good pace.

Thanks to the online nature of the platform and breakdown of content, this can be used in class, at home, or for distance learning. Usefully, this can be applied to many lessons, so computer science can become a part of learning another subject without the need for a dedicated class.

The dashboard is really useful and works well for those teachers using Google Classroom already. This fits into that system and shows student progress as well as offering lesson plans and guide access, competition certificates, classroom kits, downloadable files, and plenty more.

Thanks to digital materials along with solution guides, this can make for a very independent learning experience for students, allowing this to be used at home as well as in class with minimal teacher engagement necessary.

How much does CS First cost?

CS First is provided by Google as a totally free resource. That means any number of teachers and students can use this and all the resources are all freely available. Plus, there are no ads and everything is built for safe use in schools by students.

CS First best tips and tricks

Go slow
A lot is packed into a relatively short amount of learning time, so having break-out moments to reflect and absorb can be an effective way to teach.

Go fast
Load students up with project options so those that want to, can go deeper, while others can pick the pace at which they wish to learn.

Go home
Send work home so that students can gain confidence working alone but can also progress to more effectively use the Scratch skills as they may want.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Math is more than arithmetic, geometry, or algebra. It's also a language that describes everything in the universe to a precision far beyond what words convey, as well as a system of logical thinking.

Yet math is not a natural language for many kids. They may struggle not only with understanding math concepts, but also with understanding why it should matter to them.

But when kids become immersed in math games and activities, they learn in spite of their misgivings. Make your math lessons engaging, exciting and fun with these top math apps and websites, many of which are free or modestly priced.

Best Math Sites for Education

Illustrative Mathematics Curriculum
Founded in 2011 at the University of Arizona, Illustrative Mathematics is a research-based, standards-aligned comprehensive set of K-12 math curricula, including lesson plans, professional learning, and community support. Site visitors can browse lessons without logging in, but to explore the full curriculum, educators must create a free account and verify their identity.

Better Explained
Founded by a former Microsoft program manager, Better Explained aims to help students grasp math concepts, using real-world illustrations, colorized text, metaphors, and humor. This site isn’t just about math -- it’s also about how people learn. Explore topics such as “Learning math? Think like a cartoonist,” “Learning to Learn: Math Abstraction,” and many others. Informative and enjoyable.

What If Math
A fascinating free site dedicated to the idea of math as an experimental science and the use of spreadsheets to understand and solve problems, What if Math was created by math educators seeking a better way to teach math concepts. Dozens of spreadsheets cover topics from “Absolute Value Functions” through “What is x?” while the ebook What if..the Idea that Changed the World investigates the centuries-old basis for our current math education and how it no longer applies to our modern world.

Math Playground
No account is required to “give your brain a workout” with this extensive collection of math, logic, skills, and word games for K-6 students. Created by educator Coleen King, Math Playground is kidSAFE/COPPA Certified and includes only COPPA-certified children's ads. Want to go ad-free? Consider the modestly priced premium plans for teachers, as low as $5 monthly for an entire classroom. Shareable in Google Classroom.

ClassPad
A free online math tool that provides a digital “scratch pad” to solve any math problem, including calculus, geometry, graphing, statistics, and more, Classpad’s intuitive, sophisticated workspace is easy to try with no account set up required. Users can also quickly sign in with their Google account. A Tech & Learning Back to School award winner. `

Math is Fun
When I come across an interesting free site that looks like it was last updated in the year 2000, I investigate more deeply to be sure that's not the case. Although Math is Fun presents a dated interface, the site is fully functional and up-to-date. Moreover, its math games and logic puzzles are fascinating and, in some cases, unique. Well worth investigating . Free, no account required. Bonus: the "Hide Ads" feature will keep ads hidden for 36 hours. Ads can also be blocked by your browser's ad blocker.

ABCYA
Terrific resource for educational games in a wide range of subjects including math. Games can be searched by Common Core State Standards, as well as Next Generation Science Standards. Fully free for desktop use, premium plan for mobile devices.

Funbrain
The aptly named Funbrain offers a fine selection of math games and videos for kids in grades preK-8, searchable by grade and topic. Free, no account required.

iKnowIt
A comprehensive interactive math practice site for K-5 students, IKnowit's generous 30-day free trial (no credit card required) allows teachers to fully experience the site before purchasing. The annual cost of $150 provides access to more than 500 Common Core State Standard-aligned math lessons for one teacher and 25 students, each of whom has their own login. Clear navigation and good design makes it a pleasure to explore.

Math Games
A variety of fun, imaginative math skill games are offered free (with blockable ads) or as part of modestly-priced monthly or annual plans for teachers. District-level membership is also available. Searchable by grade, category, standard and skill.

Math Game Time
Large selection of free educational math games, videos, and worksheets, searchable by topic and grade. Despite the early Web 2.0 interface, the site is easy to navigate and loads quickly. No account required.

RoomRecess
Free K-6 educational math games, quizzes, and puzzles. No account required.

Zapzapmath
A curriculum-aligned site for math grades K-6, with an online teacher dashboard for tracking student progress and creating reports. The free basic account allows for one class of up to forty students, and provides teachers’ guides and student reports.

Best Math Apps for Education

Monsters vs. Fractions iOS
Free Common Core-aligned app that helps kids learn fractions through mystery, monsters, and zombies. 'Nuff said.

Mystery Math Town iOS
An adventure-style math game for kids 6-12 that covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students enter a town and try to unlock levels and characters by solving equations and finding variables.

Math and Sorcery iOS
An iOS games for learning basic math skills through playing an old-school 8bit-style role-playing game. Free with in-app purchases.

Moose Math - Duck Duck Moose iOS Android
Top-rated multi-level math game that allows kids ages 3-7 to earn rewards and decorate cities by solving math problems disguised as adventures. Topics include counting, sorting, arithmetic, geometry, and more. Common Core-aligned for kindergarten and first grade.

Prodigy Math Game iOS Android
Prodigy uses an adaptive game-based learning approach to engage students grades 1-8 in building and practicing math skills. Math questions are aligned with state-level curricula, including Common Core and TEKS.

Math Attax iOS Android
A fast-paced single or two-player mobile math shooting game. Players practice arithmetic while playing five math games. Tournament mode offers extra excitement.

• Photomath: How to Use It to Teach
• Frax: How to Use It to Teach Fractions
• Best STEM Apps For Education

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by 2029 employment in STEM occupations will increase by 8%, more than twice the rate of non-STEM careers. And the fact that the median STEM wage is more than double that of non-STEM wages underscores the importance of effective K-12 STEM instruction.

STEM subjects can be dense and difficult for students to engage with, which is why these top STEM apps can make a valuable addition to your STEM-teaching toolkit. Most offer free basic accounts, and all are designed to capture the imagination of users, through games, puzzles, and high-quality graphics and sound.

Best STEM Apps for Education

Periodic Table 2024: Chemistry iOS Android Web
An extremely popular free app that provides a wealth of useful information about the periodic table and its chemical elements. Click on any element to reveal a submenu of images, history, properties, solubility, Wikipedia links, and more. With more than 40,000 ratings, this app has a remarkable average 4.8 stars out of five. The developers keep the app updated and respond to selected comments. Don’t have a mobile device? Not to worry, the web version is accessible on your desktop computer and is super easy to use.

Tynker: Coding for Kids iOS Android
An award-winning app, Tynker Coding for Kids teaches the basics of coding and beyond with games and puzzles that teach coding principles. More than 200 starter tutorials help users practice skills with every new step. But it’s much more than simply learning skills -- kids can create and launch their own characters, weapons, drones, and more for Minecraft, Crystal Clash, and Barbie. Free app with in-app purchases. To unlock all features, purchase a subscription of $24.99 per month or $59.99 per quarter.

Froggipedia by Embibe iOS Android
A former Apple App of the Year, Froggipedia invites users to embark on a virtual exploration and dissection of frogs, all without textbooks, lab space or ethical concerns. High-quality images and animations demonstrate frog anatomy, life cycle, and behavior in a way that will engage kids in learning frog biology—and pique their interest in other life science topics.

K-5 Science for Kids - Tappity iOS
Guided by Haley the science expert, kids learn science with thousands of fun interactive lessons, activities, questions, and stories covering more than 100 topics, including astronomy, Earth science, physics, and biology. Lessons align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Free to try, with several paid subscription plans.

The Elements by Theodore Gray iOS
Animated by detailed, high-quality 3D graphics, The Elements by Theodore Gray brings the periodic table to life. With its strong visual appeal, it’s ideal for engaging science learners of any age, while older students will benefit from the depth of information presented.

The Explorers iOS Android
This former Apple TV App of the Year winner invites amateur and professional photographers and scientists to contribute their animal, plant, and natural landscape photos and videos to this extensive showcase of Earth’s wonders.

Hopscotch-Programming for kids iOS
Designed for the iPad, and available for iPhone and iMessage as well, Hopscotch-Programming for Kids teaches children age 4 and above the basics of programming and game/app creation. This multiple-award winner is an Apple Editors’ Choice.

Inventioneers iOS Android
Kids learn physics while having a blast creating and sharing their own inventions, aided by Inventioneers Windy, Blaze, and Bunny. Winner of Parents' Choice Gold Award.

Minecraft: Education Edition iOS Android
The ultimate building app for students, teachers, and kids of all ages, Minecraft is both a game and a powerful teaching tool. The education version provides hundreds of standards-aligned lessons and STEM curricula, tutorials and exciting building challenges. For teachers, students, or schools without a Minecraft: Education Edition subscription, try the hugely popular original Minecraft: iOS Android.

Monster Math: Kids Fun Games iOS Android
This highly touted gamified math app allows kids to learn and practice grade 1-3 Common Core Math Standards. Features include multiple levels, skill filtering, multiplayer mode, and in-depth reporting with skill-by-skill analysis.

Prodigy Math Game iOS Android
Prodigy uses an adaptive game-based learning approach to engage students grades 1-8 in building and practicing math skills. Math questions are aligned with state-level curricula, including Common Core and TEKS.

SkySafari iOS Android
Like a pocket planetarium, SkySafari lets students explore, locate, and identify millions of celestial objects, from satellites to planets to constellations. Try the voice control feature, or use it in augmented reality mode to combine a simulated sky chart with the real view of the night sky.

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In two years the United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday. This momentous event will also celebrate the American spirit, marking our penchant for innovation and advancement.

Recently, I had the privilege of accompanying some amazing students for some awe-inspiring science experiments thanks to the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and their partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Bring Me Your Scientific, Your Innovative

The day began with a trip to the Statue of Liberty. As many may know, the Statue of Liberty was a gift to the U.S. by way of France to commemorate the creation of our government. What some may not realize is that the island that Lady Liberty occupies is, itself, a park.

The event, dubbed the American Innovation Learning Lunchbox STEAM Kit Distribution, saw students from the Special Music School in Manhattan, New York, travel by ferry to Liberty Island to take part in a private tour of the statue and island, an interactive demonstration of the kits they would receive, and special-made American Innovation Learning Lunchboxes.

Once there, we made our way up the lengthy, narrow stairs of the Statue of Liberty, learning interesting facts about its construction, maintenance, and importance. Afterward, we convened behind the statue to watch as Dr. Frederic Bertley, COSI President and CEO, and Stephen White, VP of External Affairs, Strategic Initiatives, and Business Development, conducted three amazing science experiments, something which has never been done before on Liberty Island.

For the second part of our day, I accompanied COSI to the Locke School of Arts and Engineering, where the students gathered in the yard to watch Bertley and White conduct science experiments to the delight of the young faces.

The best part was that each student, both from Special Music School and Locke School of Arts and Engineering, received an American Innovation Learning Lunchbox so they could conduct their own experiments at home.

Bringing the Wonder of Science Home

I had the opportunity to speak with Bertley about the importance of introducing students to science with an emphasis on hands-on learning.

“This event was a mashup of several ideas,” said Bertley. “So we at COSI realized that, as much as we love our physical building, our bricks and mortar, our museums, because of the computers we have in our pockets, we have access to pretty much everything. So if you want to see and experience cool stuff from 50, 100, 200 years ago, you have to go to a museum. That’s where the art was. That’s where the hands-on activities were.”

Then, when the pandemic hit, COSI came up with an idea to keep students engrossed in science.

“When our doors were closed and people couldn’t come to COSI, we said, ‘We’re going to put COSI in a box,’” Bertley said. “We created a water kit, a nature kit, a human body kit, a dinosaur kit, and with each iteration, we had a lot of support.”

And how did the idea to celebrate America’s birthday come to be included?

“First, talking about American innovation,” said Bertley, “We’re celebrating 250 years of this great country. How great would it be if we did [science experiments] at Liberty Island, in front of the Statue of Liberty, which is not just for the United States, but the world’s symbol of freedom, liberty, and innovation. That’s why we’re here.”

The students enjoyed the day, the experiments, and showed a real enthusiasm for the science they experienced. It may very well be that within this group was the next influential scientist who will have been inspired by COSI and will help shape the next 250 years.

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