The Educational Robotics Library has educational robotics and craft kits available to the Graduate School of Education, the CalTeach program, and affiliated educator and maker communities for teaching, research and outreach projects. Our mission is to allow students of all ages to access and develop skills with powerful, popular, yet expensive education tools.
Engineering education, robotics, and makerspaces are increasingly common in formal K-12 school settings, and a growing number of our students would like to develop skills or conduct research in this area. However, these kits are quite expensive and there can be a steep learning curve for educators and researchers before they are ready to acquire and use such tools in their classrooms and studies.
The Educational Robotics library is a collection of innovative educational robotics kits, selected to attract a diversity of audiences in engineering and design. These include well-known robotics kits such as LEGO Mindstorms, kits to build e-textiles and conductive art projects, and kits designed to safely engage younger children in exploring circuits. All of the different kits are listed on this website. For each set of kits, we have provided a “starter pack” of accessible tutorials and simple project ideas.
Kits are available for check out by students in the Graduate School of Education or CalTeach (priority), the campus community, and local educators (on a limited basis, with proof of employment). The library also updates and enriches educational technology courses already offered within the Graduate School of Education.