This is Parallax’s 25th year serving educators and students in robotics, coding, and electronics! To celebrate, we wish to inspire and motivate more students by helping you run the classroom they’ll remember! We’re now accepting 150 motivated educators to apply for one of our two workshop tracks for Shield-Bot (Arduino C) or cyber:bot with micro:bit (Python). The applications deadlines are coming up really quickly and this week for the first workshop series!
Free, But with Hardware and Professional Instruction
These free workshops consist of three 90-minute afternoon hands-on Zoom sessions in a single week. Before the first class, we’ll send you the robot kit and provide instructions for getting started.
No Prior Experience Necessary
Educators who teach middle school through university-level courses in robotics, coding, electronics, or STEM tech fields are invited to apply. Because we’re providing the robots for free and don’t want to get tangled up in customs or international shipments, we also require that you work at an American school.
Shield-Bot with Arduino Three-session Educator’s Workshop March 14, 16, 18th
I recently attended Parallax’s training course and was blown away. As an educator, I always appreciate how thoroughly vetted and documented Parallax material is. It makes it so effortless for an educator to pick up programming and robotics. My students have been introduced into the joy of robotics for over a decade using Parallax robotics kits. In my opinion they are second to none in their thoroughness of teaching: electronics, electricity, wiring, and programming.
Parallax has trained over 5,000 teachers since we started.
What is the Parallax robotics program about?
Our efforts are centered around low-cost yet highly-capable hardware so that every student learns programming and electronics with their own kit. The Parallax program teaches students how to program microcontrollers to interface with sensors, motors, and digital/analog electronic circuits of all types. Students will learn to program in C or Python. Those who desire a deeper understanding of how things work can learn about real-time control, communication protocols, and analog/digital systems. Some students benefit most from the topical exposure of building the robot and circuits, while others want to understand how the low-level code really works. Both learning outcomes are supported by our tutorials.
Start by taking a look at the curriculum used in these two workshops for the Shield-Bot with Arduino C and the cyber:bot with Python.
What are we not about?
Short-term supply, obsolescence, learning dead-ends, and STEM learning toys. Our microcontrollers are used to teach students and make commercial products. Parallax isn’t a venture capital-funded company, either. Why does this matter? It means you’ll be able to service a Parallax fleet of robots 10 or 20 years from now.
Why are the Parallax workshops free?
The pandemic has been a difficult time for students to stay engaged due to the excessive amount of screen time, isolation, and lack of self-guided activities. Parallax can return the student-driven interest to learning with robots, and the time for educators to gain the skills is today — it’s that important. The decision to make the workshops entirely free was simple, really. We love what we do, we’ve got the right tools for learning – and the reward of enthusiastic teachers and students who work with our robots always reaffirms our plan.
Challenge yourself, learn something new and join us!
Together, let’s put the tools in the hands of every student and create tech-ready students around the country, especially at the inner-city schools. If you’re a teacher, join us this Spring and be one of 150 educators who is on the cutting edge! We know you’ll be enthused and leave the course with a challenge that’ll keep your students in the classroom through breaks and lunch.
Call the Educator Hotline to Tell Us About Your Needs
Should you wish to speak with one of our team, just make a call to our Educator Hotline (916) 701-8625 or send an e-mail to us at learn@parallax.com.
Ken Gracey, Parallax Inc.
