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The Arecibo Observatory's next phase as a STEM education center starts in 2024
Nearly three years after the Arecibo Observatory's main telescope collapsed, the NSF has awarded $5.5 million in funding to four institutions who will transform it into a STEM education center.
Stellantis' Drive for Design is looking for high school car designers
The challenge for Stellantis' Drive for Design contest this year is to design the electric Ram pickup of the future.
TikTok now offers a feed dedicated to science and tech
TikTok now has a feed devoted to STEM videos, but it comes as politicians want to ban the service.
Maker of the Stem Player drops Ye, builds a portable projector
The makers of the Stem Player are back with a portable projector with a confusing premise and a high asking price.
NASA will test Alexa voice control aboard the Artemis I mission
Alexa will be available in space when NASA brings it aboard the Artemis I mission.
Nintendo's 'Game Builder Garage' taught this comp sci dropout how to make games
Nintendo's 'Game Builder Garage' might actually get reluctant coders into game-making on their Switch console.
Nintendo's new $30 DIY game is 'Game Builder Garage'
'Game Builder Garage' for the Switch encourages players to make and share their own games.
Apple's next-gen AirPods Pro might not have their iconic stem
Apple might redesign its wireless AirPods Pro earbuds next year to make them smaller and possibly eliminate the iconic straw-like stem at the bottom.
iRobot's Root rt0 is a $129 coding bot for kids and curious adults
iRobot's Root rt0 is a cheaper and more accessible way to learn how to code.
Kano's $300 DIY Windows 10 PC Kit is finally ready
A little more than a year ago, Kano unveiled a colorful build-it-yourself tablet running Windows 10. The Kano PC was sold, it turns out, but only to a small group of fans that were happy to act as unofficial beta testers. The Kano PC is a chunky tablet that you have to assemble with components wrapped in colourful plastic.
This virtual robotics camp is launching just in time for summer
I found an interesting possibility though, at least for my 8-year old: virtual robotics camp. More Zoom, yes, but Zoom with Robots! While UBTECH’s Camp:Aspire is an interesting stay-at-home STEM option, it’s not the only game in town.
The best online STEM resources, according to a veteran teacher
After the schools shut down last week, my social media feeds and inbox lit up with color-coded homeschooling charts and agonizingly long lists of everything I should use to educate my kids. Fear, panic and an overwhelming sense of grief settled over me as I considered not only how I was going to explain what was happening to my curious kindergartener and second grader but also how we were going to manage working, schooling, living and staying sane and healthy in our tiny condo for the foreseeable future. As veteran teachers, my husband and I vowed to maintain normal as best we could. We'd stay virtually connected to family and friends and let the kids play and be bored and eat cookies and watch movies and attempt whatever work their school sent home. To calm myself, I composed my own non-exhaustive list of resources, called "Things I might actually use if the internet doesn't die" and sent bits of it to a few friends, who exhaled relief and gratitude. "Thanks," they said. "I might actually use these!" Here it is, reconstituted. I hope it lets you exhale too.
Daisy is a tiny $29 computer for building custom musical instruments
Coding your own musical instruments just got a lot more convenient. Music tech company Electrosmith has launched the Daisy, an open source microcomputer packed with everything you need to code your own pedals, synth, modules and instruments -- and it's the size of a stick of gum.
Making music with BeatBox, a Labo-like drum machine kit
When I first heard about the BeatBox, I was skeptical. A build-it-yourself drum machine made from cardboard? Wouldn't that disintegrate within half an hour? Finger-tapping isn't as violent as, say, regular drumming with wooden sticks, but when you're in the zone you still tend to hit the buttons with melodic oomph. (At least, that's what I tend to do.) After a few seconds with the crowdfunded instrument, though, those fears evaporated. I'm no musical expert, but it's clear the BeatBox has been thoughtfully designed and can take a chunk of performative punishment.
The new Hot Wheels coding kit requires fine motor skills (updated)
Modern parents are faced with a bit of a tech dilemma. You want the kids to learn STEM skills, but you also don't want them spending all their time in front of screens. To combat this problem many coding tools incorporate some kind of physical element that kids have to put together or manipulate; with building toys like LEGO the marriage of physical play and computer programming makes a lot of sense. Then there's something like Hot Wheels, which never really claimed to be educational. This year the brand upgraded its basic racing experience with Hot Wheels ID, which added NFC to the cars and Bluetooth to the track, allowing the playset to keep tabs on how fast your vehicles are going and how far they've traveled. Now the product has a new coding aspect, via Apple's Swift Playgrounds. And it sounds great in concept. But after some time spent with it, I'm not sure this is a very good use of a very expensive playset.
mTiny robot review: Screen-free coding for kids
My five- and seven-year-old constantly fight over who gets the iPad first. We have one, and they get to use it in tiny doses, usually when I'm at my wit's end. Their favorite app? ScratchJr, MIT's go-to coding tool for kids. They like to code. No. They love to code, like the good little 21st-century humanoids they are. They love coding so much and I am so unwilling to give them their own devices that I decided to try something new. It's also something that sounds so counterintuitive it actually might work: screen-free coding.
Sony launches a $250 version of its Koov robot coding kit
Sony has launched a smaller, more affordable version of Koov, its candy-colored coding toy for kids. A Koov kit contains blocks, motors and sensors kids can put together to create robots and small machines they can program. It can make classes a lot more fun and ignite kids' interest in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) subjects. But it also costs $520 a set, which could be too much for schools with little funding or teachers who pay for classroom supplies out of pocket. The new Koov Trial Kit only costs $250.
Girl Scouts can earn five STEM badges through Microsoft partnership
As part of its ongoing campaign to foster STEM education, the Girl Scouts of the USA has partnered with one of the biggest names in tech: Microsoft. Moving forward, Girl Scouts troop members will be able to earn five separate badges by taking part in free workshops held at Microsoft Stores across the US.
Ubtech’s latest educational, dancing robot is bigger and more lifelike
There are plenty of educational coding robots, but few have moves like UBTECH's dancing robot MeeBot. UBTECH launched the JIMU build-your-own-bot kit for MeeBot in 2016. Today, the company unveiled MeeBot 2.0.
Kano's latest coding kit is a Star Wars-themed motion sensor
Back in January, Kano revealed that it was working with Disney on a Star Wars-themed coding kit. It's taken a while, but today we finally know what the company -- best known for its colorful Raspberry Pi computers -- has been cooking up: Star Wars The Force Coding Kit. The Bluetooth-enabled motion sensor includes a circular case, printed circuit board with nine LEDs, and two tops that contain Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire iconography. Once assembled, it can be used to control lightsabers, Porgs and other Star Wars paraphernalia in a companion app that's compatible with Windows 10 PCs, Macs, iPads and Amazon Fire HD 10 tablets.
