Educator Stories
SparkFun is proud to work with schools and educational organizations around the country to provide engaging, hands-on learning experiences that encourage computational thinking. Here are just a few of those stories.
Effective, District-Wide Implementation of Physical Computing Teaches Programming and Computational Thinking
When Adams 12 Five Star Schools needed to create a new seventh-grade computer science course, they turned to SparkFun.
More Educator Success Stories
These kids are learning that one simple little mistake like ledPin vs. ledpin will mess up their whole code. It is translating over to their core classes and how they need to pay attention to their work at all times. Some teachers have mentioned tougher kids and kids who have struggled with grades are starting to perform better as they are being more careful with their work.
Danny Hernandez, Teacher, Westview Middle SchoolSt. Vrain Valley School District, Longmont, CO
Teaching this course can sometimes be difficult, not because the material is hard to learn, but because the students can’t get enough of it. We have to make sure our students actually take breaks; they will pretend to play Minecraft, and then we’ll see them wiring their LEDs to a breadboard.
Alycia Meier, Curriculum Development & Education Hardware SpecialistiD Tech
This was the perfect tool [the micro:bit] to be able to reach every learner and give multiple opportunities for students to try things. Not just something robotic but something artsy and creative.
Katie White, Innovation Strategist Beaverton School District, OR
Using the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit, I’ve really learned how to overcome some issues like..having to fix code if it was a little bit wrong. I like how there are so many that things you can do and you don’t need to necessarily stick to the actual book that we’re given. We can make our own code do different things.
Jacob, 10th Grade StudentCranbrook Upper School
Getting girls involved in STEM.
An instructor and Lilypad user at ID-Tech's Alexa Cafe speaks about her experience getting girls involved in STEM education.
Hear Her Story
"I really love to be able to watch these girls throughout the week developing their projects and ideas, and slowly having that spark light up inside of them."
Instructor at IdTech
What others are saying...
About Challenging Students to Learn
"I want my kids to think, and that’s what I believe they will learn to do if they are put in a situation where they aren’t given all the steps. They have to learn how to think to solve those problems, not just follow a recipe. The worst thing in the world to me is a kid who only learns to follow a recipe."
About Increasing Student Motivation
"My students take more ownership for their learning and are more curious and motivated when they are creating. It naturally creates an atmosphere of collaboration and curiosity in my classroom where students and teachers alike are asking, ‘What if we tried this?’ or ‘Is there a way to do that?’ Students come in at lunch and want to take home projects over the weekend. One student who was supposed to be in a study hall practically joined my class just to do projects for fun."
About Inspiring Girls to Pursue STEM
"All the girls showed an immediate sense of pride and excitement when flipping the binder clip and lighting up their [paper circuit] pins. I was surprised by how accessible the project was to everyone who participated and how girls of all ages could relate and get excited about it. The girls could also have varying knowledge about electricity or circuits and still relate to it on a variety of different levels."