Engage! K-12 is an interactive and hands-on learning experience organized by eye-catching themes (such as soccer-playing robots or autonomous cars). Students and teachers can access the browser-based learning ecosystem from any device. A user-friendly interface allows teachers, even those with zero programming experience, to bring their lessons to life with virtual or physical robots.
Engage! K-12 currently houses a wide variety of lessons focusing on subjects or concepts that students often struggle with. Lessons are searchable by grade level, subject, and CCSS or TEKS standard, and cover topics from coding to STEM to storytelling. Teachers can use RobotLAB’s existing lessons, customize them for their classes, or create their own. Each lesson leads students from idea to construction to application to results.
Every lesson is designed to spark students’ curiosity and use this engagement to teach them the subject at hand. For example, a lesson that combines coding and algebra begins with the teacher showing a video of humanoid robots playing soccer. The question “How do the robots know where to kick the ball?” leads to a discussion of using linear equations to solve the problem at hand.
Students then use integrated tools such as drag-and-drop programming and a graphing calculator to help them manipulate virtual robots to kick the ball to the goal. They can then receive immediate feedback by watching their commands played out by physical robots. Schools have the option to add their existing robots to the online lessons or choose the budget-friendly Simulation Mode of Engage! K-12, which uses virtual robots only and allows students to learn from anywhere.
Engage! K-12 includes classroom-management features, student assessment, and themed lesson plans for different grades, enabling schools to easily integrate it “out-of-the-box” into their curricula. Engage! K-12 also includes interactive tools to enhance the learning experience in the classroom, such as a customizable polling system that allows students to share answers and teachers to instantly find out what concepts the class has and hasn’t grasped. Students’ responses are translated into a word cloud to stimulate class discussion and collaboration.
Thank you to all the team, great job!