Back to School: Kits for Educators @educators #BackToSchool
As the school year approaches and teachers are putting together their lesson plans we thought we could help out. We picked out a handful of kits that are great for educators. We have a broad range of kits for all skill sets, most of these kits focus on getting students started.
The product pages contain links to step-by-step tutorials in the Adafruit Learn System and other resources made available by the manufacturers. Please read through the details thoroughly and contact us if you have questions.
This year we also saw the introduction
of the Circuit Playground and the BBC micro:bit, two great tools for educators.
Click through each item for more info!
Circuit Playground Express Educator’s Pack: Circuit Playground Express is the next step towards a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. We’ve taken the original Circuit Playground Classic and made it even better! Not only did we pack even more sensors in, we also made it even easier to program. You can now start your journey with Microsoft MakeCode block-based or Javascript programming. Then, you can use the same board to try CircuitPython, with the Python interpreter running right on the Express. As you progress, you can advance to using Arduino IDE, which has full support of all the hardware down to the low level, so you can make powerful projects.(read more)
Code.org Circuit Playground Educators’ Pack: For many years, instructors and teachers have asked us to come up with a better way to teach programming and electronics. We have worked on Circuit Playground for over a year to come up with a board that is powerful, beautiful, fun, and Arduino-compatible!
Circuit Playground is a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. It combines an ATmega32u4 microcontroller (just like our popular Flora) with full official Arduino support and a collection of useful sensors, inputs and outputs all built-in. The board is round and has alligator-clip pads around it so you don’t have to solder or sew to make it work. You can power it from USB, a AAA battery pack, or with a Lipoly battery (for advanced users). Circuit Playground has built-in USB support. Built in USB means you plug it in to program it and it just shows up, no special cable or adapter required. Just program your code into the board then take it on the go! (Read more)
BBC micro:bit Go Bundle: The British Invasion is here! No, not music…microcontrollers! New to the USA is the newest and easiest way to learn programming and electronics – the BBC micro:bit.
Designed specifically for kids and beginners, the micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that you can code, customize and control to bring your digital ideas, games and apps to life. It’s a small, code-able device that is a non-intimidating introduction to programming and making – switch on, program it to do something fun – wear it, customize it, develop new ideas.
The micro:bit platform combines the ‘bit, a pocket-sized coding device featuring several sensors and LEDs, with an awesome website full of coding examples and projects. Start out with the video tutorials, then check out the ideas page to get creative. From making your own games to taking selfies, the possibilities are endless! (Read more)
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Starter Pack – Includes a Raspberry Pi 3: We’ve hand chosen these accessories as the perfect accompaniment to your new Raspberry Pi 3 – Model B. It’s everything you need to get going with a high quality power supply, Raspbian 8G NOOBs SD card (newly updated to work on the Pi 3), lovely case, handy console cable, and lots of prototyping essentials. It’s a great jumping off point for the rest of our extensive accessory and pack collection. (Read more)
Adafruit ARDX – v1.3 Experimentation Kit for Arduino (Uno R3) – v1.3: Interested in making neat stuff with an Arduino but not sure where to start? This kit includes all the pieces needed to complete 11 different circuits, along with a experimenter’s guide booklet & breadboard layout sheets. Basically everything you need to be playing within minutes of its arrival. No soldering required! (Read more)
Arduino 101 CurieBot Pack: Welcome to CurieBot, your own mobile, customizable, and adorable, 32-bit, Bluetooth-enabled driving robot!
Based upon our popular three-layer round robot platform, CurieBot brings some special sauce to the table — delicious Arduino 101 sauce, that is! This powerful board comes in a familiar Arduino form factor, so you can use many of your favorite shields, such as the included Adafruit MotorShield v2. It’s an excellent introduction to our wide world of robotics! (Read more)
MintyBoost Kit – v3.0: The world’s first and only open-source hardware charger: The MintyBoost®! New version! Works with the new iPhone 4 & 5 and more! Please review the Minty Boost project page(s) before purchase and assembly!, some phones require different modifications to the kit to charge properly! Some phones such as the *iPhone 3gs are very sensitive to charging via USB and may not work in all environments or configurations.
Make your own iPod/iPhone/GPS/etc… battery-pack and recharger!
This project includes all the electronic parts necessary to build your own MintyBoost: a small & simple (but very powerful) USB charger for your iPod (or other mp3 player), camera, cell phone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge.(Read more)
Chibitronics Starter Kit: Make almost any surface glow, sense, or interact with Chibitronics circuit stickers!
Circuit stickers are an imaginative and easy way to make fun electronics projects without coding, soldering, or maker experience. Just stick your circuit sticker onto a surface and add a battery to get a unique project that reps your maker spirit. You can even connect stickers with conductive materials like copper tape or even conductive paint to create elaborate designs and art projects.(Read more)
August is Back to School Month here at Adafruit! Each week we’ll be bringing you a two #BackToSchool posts on the blog! Stay tuned for product and gift guides, tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System, and inspiration from around the web! Get started by checking out Adafruit’s educational resources, such as our kits and project packs, suggested products for young engineers, blog posts for educators and an extensive selection of books to help you learn!
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