District Administration® and FETC®’s Top Ed Tech Products of the Year contest spotlights the most innovative new solutions on the market that are helping school leaders meet the ever-evolving education technology needs of their districts and schools.
A panel of experts chose 15 winners from more than 130 submissions, all of which will be featured during the in-person Future of Education Technology Conference® Jan. 26-28 in Orlando.
Click here for more information and to register for FETC 2022.
Here’s a look at one of the Top Ed Tech Products of 2022:
LEGO Education SPIKE Essential
LEGO Education SPIKE Essential
What it is:LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential is a new playful, hands-on STEAM learning solution for elementary school students in grades 1-5. SPIKE Essential ignites students’ enthusiasm for STEAM learning through playful problem-solving, preparing them to be resilient, independent thinkers.
Combining the beloved LEGO brick, four new minifigure characters, a Bluetooth-enabled Hub, a Light Matrix, and a Color Sensor, students build fun and engaging creations and use the SPIKE™ App to bring them to life using Scratch-based coding. Available for download on all major app stores, the SPIKE App is accessible in 21 languages and includes standards-aligned lesson plans that are engaging for students and easy to implement for teachers.
One of the most unique aspects of SPIKE Essential is problem-solving through storytelling using the four new minifigures Leo, Maria, Daniel, and Sofie, who each come with their own distinct background stories, personality traits, and more. Students will relate to and see parts of themselves in these minifigures to engage deeper with the lessons as a result, but will also practice social-emotional skills by solving problems and collaborating with others.
SPIKE Essential is a true cross-curricular solution that supports children’s literacy, math, and social-emotional learning through engaging and hands-on STEAM experiences. With over 50 combined hours of educational content and fun real-world themes for each unit, the possibilities for creativity and exploration are unlimited.
The solution is accompanied by a free, comprehensive professional development program to ensure teachers have instant success teaching with SPIKE Essential.
Why we like it: This is not just the LEGO building blocks of the past. LEGO has created an engaging STEAM-inspired collaborative scratch coding and interactive problem solving and storytelling play activity that encourages socio-emotional development alongside academics. This innovative teaching and learning approach uses hands-on manipulatives to engage all elementary students with mini-figures, Bluetooth devices, SPIKE app, bricks, lights, and color sensors encouraging creativity. Free PD included.
As always, we encourage you to perform your own due diligence before making any investments.
