The maker movement has increased in popularity, including in schools where hands-on activities and lessons have become an essential strategy for learning. Schools across the country have successfully created and maintained dynamic makerspaces to spark student imagination and creative thinking as well as curiosity in learning more about STEM-related topics. 

The MimioSTEM Mobile is headed to a school or education event near you! What is it? We at Boxlight want to showcase our award-winning STEM solutions like MyStemKits, Robo 3D printers, and Mimio MyBot robots with an interactive experience in which educators will go on a Mission to Mars!  

There are positive benefits that interactive, hands-on education has on learning such as providing students with multiple opportunities to see the world beyond the classroom walls via real-world connections. STEM education has influenced how teachers guide their students to identify real-world problems, research and design practical solutions, and collaborate and communicate their ideas with others. A STEM tool that has become a familiar fixture in many classrooms and school makerspaces is the 3D printer.  

Using technology like Chromebooks is critical in helping students progress academically while helping them learn the skills that they’ll need through their personal and professional lives. While there are several ways to use Chromebooks for rigorous teaching and learning, here are 10 ideas to try soon. 

Creating a makerspace in a school or classroom has several benefits including but not limited to high student engagement, critical thinking skills are nurtured, and collaboration and communication is common. In a well-run makerspace, teachers and students are designing, testing, refining, and building materials that answer real-life needs. 

“Just one small thought in the morning can change your whole day.” - Dalai Lama 

The influence of STEM education on the maker movement is undeniable. The availability of constructive technology like 3D printers, robotics, new programming languages, and so on has made the implementation of maker education possible for more schools and districts. Why is the maker education movement on the rise?  

Leeds University Business School wanted to create a world-class specialist space that would meet the needs of all students in the Esther Simpson Building. This included equipping teaching and learning environments with state-of-the-art technology.  

Today is Read Across America Day (March 2)! Established in 1998, the goal of Read Across America Day is to motivate all areas of society to engage in reading. Classrooms across the country will host special guests who’ll read aloud to students, schools will decorate hallways and libraries with images from their favorite stories, and children will happily share their own well-loved books with others. Use today to launch National Reading Month and encourage your students to experience the joys of reading through various activities that highlight what the written word can do! Here are three ideas to start: 

We may not even realize the breadth of invisible barriers our kids face each day during class. These include the inability to access the instruction because of how a teacher presents a lesson or where they are projecting their voice in the classroom, learning and/or language ability and level of the student, poor acoustics of the physical space, and downgraded audio quality when streaming lessons online. Technological advancements in classroom audio distribution systems (CADs) have helped meet a variety of such needs for teachers and students, with greater demand for easy-to-use sound technology given the rise of remote and hybrid learning, concerns regarding missed learning, and the need to ensure equity and access as education rapidly evolves.