STEM
Texas Instruments Introduces Tool to Help Students Learn Coding
Texas Instruments has
introduced a new learning tool designed to help students learn more
about
coding and engineering design.
The TI-Innovator Hub is a
box, small enough to fit into a student's hand, that has a built-in
microcontroller that integrates with and plugs into a graphing
calculator that
Texas Instruments also produces, the TI-84 Plus CE or the TI-Nspire CX.
The device is a spinoff of
the more sophisticated TI LaunchPad Board that engineers use to design
everything from smart watches to 3D printers.
With the ultimate intention
of helping students develop science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM)
skills, they can use it, for instance, to learn how to write a program
that
plays a single musical note and eventually put together sounds at
different
frequencies to create an entire song.
The TI-Innovator has been
designed with middle and high school students in mind. Consequently, it
is
enclosed in a durable case to protect against wear and tear, and it can
be shared
and used by several students at once.
The product was part of a
pilot experiment at Heritage Middle School in Deltona, FL.
"Before, I really wasn't interested
in what programming was," said Heritage eighth-grader Jasmine
Jones-Pas, "but
after I started working with the Innovator, it was like a whole new
world was
opened."
TI Education Technology
President Peter Balyta said, "The TI-Innovator allows students to get
hands-on
with technology and not ever realize they are learning important STEM
principles, like coding, that they need to be successful in the
classroom
today, in college tomorrow and in their careers in the future."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.