NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The call to supercharge STEM and STEAM education has been heard, loud and clear. littleBits, the technology startup that is empowering everyone to create inventions, large and small, with its easy-to-use platform of electronic building blocks, is today announcing the littleBits STEAM Student Set, a toolbox designed with educators to engage students in powerful STEAM learning through invention. As STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education becomes a national priority following President Obama’s call to prepare 100,000 new and effective STEM teachers over the next decade and commitments of over $1 billion to STEM initiatives, the need for innovative educational tools is stronger than ever before. STEAM adds Art and Design to STEM studies, encouraging students to learn by inventing, creating and designing. With the littleBits STEAM Student Set and companion littleBits STEAM PD offering, educators now have a fun and exciting way to bring STEAM into their classrooms, libraries and makerspaces.
The littleBits STEAM Student Set engages a student’s natural love of play and curiosity through invention-based learning. Easy to scaffold, the toolbox supports learners in grades 3-8 with 19 Bits--littleBits’ electronic building blocks--and 38 accessories to bring buzzing, blinking and creative inventions to life. A littleBits Teacher’s Guide provides hours of detailed companion lessons, curricular connections, implementation strategies, and helpful tips, while a mobile app provides thousands more ideas for the classroom. A 72-page Student Invention Guide contains guided invention challenges with step-by-step instructions, from “Invent a Self-Driving Vehicle” to explore the concept of friction, to “Hack Your Habits,” which encourages students to track their habits and invent something to improve their daily lives. An Invention Log worksheet encourages student reflection and documentation, while a Curricular Crosswalk chart provides an overview of the Next Generation Science Standards, Grade Levels and Common Core Standards that can be met by, or extended to meet, specific STEAM Student Set Challenges. For example, when students are challenged to “Invent a Throwing Arm” with littleBits, they’ll experiment with forces of motion and simple machines, and will be asked to systematically document their progress with the littleBits Invention Log.
Following the success of the award-winning littleBits Gizmos & Gadgets Kit, recommended as the “ultimate invention toolbox” by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME and WIRED, littleBits turned its attention to education, aiming to address some of the challenges that educators and administrators were facing when trying to integrate STEAM into their classrooms. With over 12,000 educators and 2,200 schools using littleBits, the company designed the STEAM Student Set so that any educator, whether they have prior technical skills or not, could bring STEAM into their classroom in a fun and engaging way.
"We believe that STEAM is essential for every classroom, every makerspace and every educational program,” said Ayah Bdeir, founder and CEO of littleBits. “Elementary and middle schoolers need to be prepared for jobs and careers that quite frankly don't even exist today. Rather than rely on outdated, top-down models of instruction, we need to better engage and excite kids through relevant, invention-based learning, to help them become the creative thinkers, collaborators and curious lifelong learners who will change the world. littleBits wants every student to have the technology literacy and problem-solving skills to create their own inventions, whether it’s a device to assist someone with a disability, an arcade game or a new household gadget. We’re working with educators to provide a way for anyone, regardless of their technical ability, to bring STEM and STEAM into the classroom in a highly impactful and engaging way."
“littleBits are an essential part of our makerspace and project-based learning across grades. For instance, we had 3rd graders use littleBits to design a city, which combined engineering concepts with art and design," said Duncan Wilson, Principal of Fox Meadow Elementary School in Scarsdale, NY. "The STEAM Student Set is an amazing new product because it makes it even easier for educators by providing guided and open-ended challenges, companion lessons and standards alignment. Even teachers who are not at all tech-savvy find it easy to use and love how the Bits immediately engage kids in powerful STEAM learning."
The largest school district in the country, the New York City Department of Education, is using the littleBits STEAM Student Set as one of the learning tools for grades 2-5 in its Summer in the City STEM enrichment program.
The littleBits STEAM Student Set is available to pre-order at littleBits.com/education and will be sold through education product retailers for $299.95.
littleBits STEAM Student Set
Pre-order: March 2016
Release:
April 2016
MSRP: $299.95, 5% Discount for Educators
Ages: 8+
Available:
littleBits.com,
Barnes & Noble, CDW•G and Amazon.
Need a large-scale custom
solution? Call (917) 464-4577 to speak to a littleBits education expert.
littleBits STEAM PD
A 6-hour online professional development course (resulting in a PDU Certificate) supports teachers integrating STEAM into their classrooms.
To learn more: littlebits.com/steampd
About littleBits
littleBits is the New York-based hardware startup that is on a mission to Democratize Hardware by empowering everyone to Create Inventions, large and small, with a platform of easy-to-use Electronic Building Blocks. The company’s innovative building blocks snap together with magnets to allow anyone to build, invent, and prototype with electronics independent of age, gender and technical background – no soldering, wiring, or programming required. littleBits breaks down powerful technology – from music with the littleBits Synth Kit, to the Internet of Things with the Smart Home Kit – and makes the technology accessible and easy to understand. The company was founded in 2011 by MIT graduate, TED Senior Fellow and cofounder of the Open Hardware Summit, Ayah Bdeir, and has grown to be a global leader in hardware. Bdeir was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, one of Inc.’s “35 Under 35” and "Entrepreneurs to Watch," one of Entrepreneur's "10 Leaders to Watch," one of Popular Mechanics’ 25 Makers Who Are Reinventing the American Dream, and one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. The littleBits platform includes more than seven kits and 67 interoperable modules with millions of products sold in over 100 countries around the world. The company was named in CNN’s “Top 10 Startups to Watch”, one of the CNBC Next List, and has been profiled by the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wired, Popular Mechanics. To learn more, visit littleBits.com.
About STEAM/STEM
While the STEM movement—a call to elevate the studies of science, technology, engineering and mathematics as a national priority—began to take shape in 2006, a separate push to add the arts to that equation, transforming STEM to STEAM, followed soon after. By integrating art and design with STEM subjects, schools are working to strengthen students’ abilities to be creative and flexible problem-solvers, to explore different ideas, to recognize failures as opportunities for discovery and to communicate well with others. With STEAM projects, students learn by inventing, creating and designing—and understanding the true meaning of human-centered design.
