Workbench Partners With 2 STEM Curriculum and Content Providers

Workbench, which until recently was known as CWIST, has partnered with two more education-related companies to create online communities known as "workbenches."

Workbench develops and maintains a platform that accommodates online communities in which users can interact with a company and with one another to share programs, lessons and experiences. In addition, the content created in these workbenches can be leveraged by educators to drive interactive, hands-on learning in the classroom.

The two new partner companies are SparkFun and Parrot.

SparkFun provides maker kits that allow students to use sensors, switches and controllers to learn skills related to geometry, science, art, physics and coding.

"Our goal is to make the world of electronics accessible to everyone by providing the tools, resources and support to help budding inventors fulfill their vision," said Nathan Seidle, founder and CEO of SparkFun.

Parrot uses educational tools to create projects involving drones and robots to help students develop similar skills.

With an integrated and custom learning management system within Workbench, teachers can use it to assign lessons and monitor student progress. Workbench will begin working with schools and districts across the country to facilitate this maker-driven education later this year.

Workbench already has partnered with Sphero, which makes app-enabled teachable robots, and PowerUp Toys to offer its PowerUp Flight Deck for building and using paper airplane drones.

"We revolve around project-based learning, so we wanted our new name to reflect this key focus on making, building and learning," said Workbench Founder and CEO Chris Sleat. "But this is not your father's workbench. These online sites, or 'workbenches' provide fun, exciting learning experiences that teach programming, coding and other critical STEM skills."

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

Featured

  • laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.

  • chart with ascending bars and two silhouetted figures observing it, set against a light background with blue and purple tones

    Report: Enterprises Are Embracing Agentic AI

    According to a new report from SnapLogic, 50% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents, and another 32% plan to do so within the next 12 months..

  • stacks of glowing digital documents with circuit patterns and data streams

    Mistral AI Intros Advanced AI-Powered OCR

    French AI startup Mistral AI has announced Mistral OCR, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) API designed to convert printed and scanned documents into digital files with "unprecedented accuracy."

  • student using a tablet with math symbols dissolving into a glowing AI

    Survey: Students Say AI Use Can Reduce Math Anxiety

    In a recent survey, 56% of high school students said that the use of artificial intelligence can go a long way toward reducing math anxiety.