CIEL has accomplished 2018 DISD STEM Expo mission successfully that provides students with fun coding experiences and helps address the needs of DISD’s expanding STEM education. Under the theme of "Coding is Fun", CIEL presented 3 hands-on sessions with 5 tools (Ready Set STEM, Lego Wedo, micro:bit, BB-8, and Sphero).
- The Ready Set STEM Creator kit has many different projects and includes several programming software applications to teach kids coding basics. We programmed the STEM kit to work with Scratch and control the Lego Wedo we created.
- Lego Wedo is a Lego kit that includes a motor, sensor and tilt mechanism. It includes Lego software that allows easy coding to control the motor, sensor and tilt. Scratch can also be used to code the Lego Wedo creation. We created a Lego shooter.
- micro:bit is a tiny programmable tool, designed to make coding easy and fun! You can code, customize and control your micro:bit from anywhere! You can use your micro:bit for all sorts of unique creations, from robots to musical instruments and more. By combining the micro:bit with the moto:bot, participants were able to get it to travel where they wanted to go.
- BB-8 is a robotic toy based on the droid from Star Wars that is capable of rolling around, and controlled by the Lightning lab application. Participants were able to take BB-8 to space for this activity.
- Sphero is a spherical robot toy that is programmable with an app called Sphero Lightning Lab. It is more enjoyable when you make it roll around, change colors, and more by using Scratch and other coding programs. It was fantastic for participants to control it by a smartphone or tablet.
