STEAM Education
LEGO Education Brings Coding and Robotics to Middle School
LEGO Education today
started shipping SPIKE
Prime, a hands-on classroom robotics and coding system for grades
6–8.
SPIKE Prime is different from other robotics/coding systems in
several ways.
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Its lessons are designed to be completed within a 45-minute class period, including build time, coding and execution.
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It offers a “Buddy Build” system designed to force students to collaborate, rather than creating a situation where one student does all the work with the others sit around and watch. Buddy Build divides up a project so that each team member has specific responsibilities.
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It includes an “integrator brick,” which “allows for building together with both the LEGO Technic and the LEGO system platforms, further expanding systematic creativity and the building possibilities,” according to LEGO.
SPIKE Prime ships with curriculum, software and hardware components,
including:
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Four complete lesson units;
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32 lesson plans, most designed to be completed within 45 minutes;
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528 bricks;
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SPIKE Hub, a box that acts as the brain for SPIKE creations and includes sensors, ports and LEDs; and
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SPIKE app, which is the digital environment for SPIKE Prime. “Available across platforms, the SPIKE App connects the digital world to the physical LEGO bricks and elements,” according to LEGO. “Students will find a coding canvas where they’ll use a Scratch-based language to bring their creations and models to life.”
SPIKE Prime runs $329.95 and is available now. Complete
details can be found on LEGO Education’s site.