Carnegie Mellon University
Gelfand Center  ›  FREE Educational Resources

FREE Education Resources 

Great to use any time to motivate K-12 students [and learners of all ages] and to extend learning!

Created by CMU Faculty, Students, Staff and Alumni

This video activity series is designed to spark curiosity in young learners (and lifelong learners) as to how exactly computers work. Choosing to instead focus on computer hardware components instead of programming, viewers get a first-hand look at what parts make up their computers and how they work. Throughout the series two laptops are taken apart working from the outside to the inside, and each hardware component has it's own episode. When available, laptop components are compared to their desktop counterparts. 

Batteries

Hard Drives

RAM

Biomedical Engineering educational modules were created by Carnegie Mellon students who participated in 99-520, Experiential Learning through Projects, section O, a remote course held during the summer of 2020. Instructors for the course were Dr. Conrad Zapanta and Dr. Judith Hallinen.  The goal was for the students to create activities and supporting documentation to help high school students learn about a variety of areas of research associated with biomedical engineering. .

Here's an opportunity to learn about some research conducted at Carnegie Mellon. Each of the shows features “celebrity” guests [Carnegie Mellon faculty and students!] answering questions that our viewers have emailed to the Gelfand Center. Information about upcoming guests is emailed to Gelfand Outreach students, families and local teachers so that questions submitted may be specific or general for our panelists to answer. Send in your questions! Several GO STEM Show episodes are available and new content is being developed!

The Leonard Gelfand Center for Service Learning and Outreach connects the CMU community with the Pittsburgh region by collaborating with faculty, staff, and students to create and share STEM educational opportunities for students which highlight research and expertise of the university. The staff of the Gelfand Center developed these innovative modules for the Gelfand Outreach workshop series.

With our focus on science, technology, engineering, and math, we supported the design of these online workshops, sharing best practice for remote instruction, curriculum development, lesson flow and transitions.  We hope that you enjoy the learning experiences! 

Remote Lessons for Students 

The LGC is partnering with the College of Engineering for this program which provides an opportunity for CMU undergraduate and graduate students to virtually "meet" local Pittsburgh middle school students to share their research, talk about their lab experiences, participate in a Q&A session, and complete a related hands-on activity. The educational sessions are recorded and shared here so all can learn from these talented young researchers!

 

These modules were created by CMU graduate and undergraduate students as a course project. Students who registered for the course had an interest in sharing their expertise and in educational outreach. They were excited and passionate about how to develop activities and instruction for helping young students understand the STEM concepts that they are studying at CMU. They wanted to provide STEM educational opportunities for students in K-8 which highlighted research and expertise at the university. The staff at the Gelfand Center worked with the students to design these modules for the Gelfand Outreach Program. This project engaged individual students and/or teams of students to design and create a workshop model, similar to the Saturday Series classes, into this digital format.

Digital Education Modules

Developed from a desire to share information about STEM Career opportunities with future generations of students and show them current research environments, this series hopes to bring new ideas to current middle and high school students. CMU undergraduate students who are performing research in CMU faculty member labs become autobiographers and tell about their experiences from middle school to the present focusing on the moments that helped carve their path to STEM fields of study. Faculty members also share their current research with viewers and discuss the potential real world impact that their focused efforts can have in any area. After viewing the interviews, walk through the faculty member’s lab and see highlights of what equipment students are able to use in a 360˚ lab tour that’s VR compatible.

Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood, Charli Ann Hooper, Allison Rojas, Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Akari Kumagai, & Diamond Moody - Biological Physics

Dr. Rebecca Taylor & Charlotte Andreasen - Mechanical Engineering

Amazing research is taking place at Carnegie Mellon!  You can learn about this work directly from College of Engineering Faculty!

OLI provides dozens of college-level courses and is used by students whose teachers choose our materials for class. But independent learners can learn with OLI, too.

Daily: Ask Math Anything, with Po-Shen Loh

Dr. Loh is a Carnegie Mellon professor. For several years Po-Shen Loh routinely traveled the country (and world) on a weekly basis, giving math talks in different cities to increase interest and ability in math. When COVID-19 made it difficult to host in-person events, he launched a YouTube Live math show, Ask Math Anything, with Po-Shen Loh, in which he interactively answers math questions asked in real-time via YouTube Live. In 2021, several episodes of this show are in collaboration with MATHCOUNTS, where he will demonstrate the problem-solving process by showing how he thinks through problems that he is seeing for the first time.  See the schedule and information about recorded sessions by following the link above.

Eight episodes of THE ROBOT DOCTOR were originally aired in spring 2020,and are archived at The Robot Doctor at WQED and RobotWits LLC is a CMU spinoff company!

The limited series introduces the basics of Robotics: the what, why, and how with examples, and provides take-home problems to solve.

Pennsylvania educators also serve as Robot Doctor Pioneers, sharing their ideas for aligning the ROBOT DOCTOR with classroom lessons.  

 

Teachers from the Children's School share short, age-appropriate video lessons for young learners.  Topics include Dramatic Play, Story Time, Science and Outdoor Activities plus many others!

Students and faculty are learning and working remotely in the effort to combat the coronavirus. Recitals and performances have been canceled, but Carnegie Mellon's spirit of innovation lives on wherever you are!

In this running series, Play–In–Place, the talented artists of the School of Music are submitting performances recorded in their living rooms, porches, offices, back yards, or wherever they are sheltering in place

You may also want to visit the School of Music's YouTube Channel to see more performances and to take a tour!

The Science Inquiry Lesson was developed by the ISP Tutor Project at Carnegie Mellon University. In this lesson, middle school students can learn science inquiry skills such as selecting a research question about Crystal Growth, conducting background research, creating a hypothesis and more. Requires some teacher/parent facilitation. Includes complete lesson plan for teachers/parents. Computer/laptop required. Chrome browser recommended.

-Can be done at home
-Best for grades 6-8
-Materials Needed Teachers: Computer, Internet
-Materials Needed for Students: Computer, Internet
-Aligned to Next Gen Standards

Alice is a FREE gift from Carnegie Mellon University, initially developed by Randy Pausch.

Alice is an innovative block-based programming environment that makes it easy to create animations, build interactive narratives, or program simple games in 3D. Unlike many of the puzzle-based coding applications Alice motivates learning through creative exploration. Alice is designed to teach logical and computational thinking skills, fundamental principles of programming and to be a first exposure to object-oriented programming. The Alice Project provides supplemental tools and materials for teaching using Alice across a spectrum of ages and subject matter with proven benefits in engaging and retaining diverse and underserved groups in computer science education.

Research has shown that Alice has a measurable positive effect on performance and retention in computer science education. The team has researched and published their findings in support of the increased retention of “at-risk” students in introductory computer science course when Alice is implemented. It has also been proven to improve up to a full letter grade outcomes in early computer science courses when implemented as a mediated transfer from Alice to Java.   Access How To, Lessons, Exercises and Projects.

Free language education – no hidden fees, no premium content, just free; choose from one of 35 languages for English speakers.  

Duolingo is a CMU spinoff co-founded by CMU alumnus and faculty member, Luis von Ahn, who now serves as CEO, and one of his doctoral students, Severin Hacker, who received his Ph.D. from CMU in 2014.

With Expii you can choose where, how and when you learn.

We love learning. We know everyone can love learning if you relate it to your unique interests. Expii is the free platform that embraces what makes us all individuals: our voices, experiences, and cultures. Through creative, fun, practical, and personal lessons you can have your own aha moment. No matter what your learning style, Expii has something for you.Experiment. Mess up. Try again. The journey is yours.

Expii was co-founded by Carnegie Mellon University's Ray Li (S'17) and Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences Po-Shen Loh.

Explore robotics and computer science at home with our robots. No programming or technical expertise required to get started!  Participate in live classes, program remote robots, learn about books that can help you to learn about programmers, roboticists and engineers.

BirdBrain Technologies was founded by CMU Alumnus Tom Lauwers.

We love the book ENGINEERING BRIDGES by Pendred Noyce! The Gelfand Center has developed some activities to help students learn about bridges.

Here's a challenge that you can complete at home: with materials that you find around the house, make a 3D version of one of the TRUSS BRIDGES that are shown in the photo below.  Truss Bridges

https://www.cs2n.org/

The CS-STEM Network provides free and inexpensive curricula created by the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy. Educators and students with little-to-no background experience can follow along with these scaffolded materials and learn how to use their VEX, LEGO, Arduino and other educational technologies to reach meaningful learning outcomes. Virtual robotics platforms and educational tools are also available.

All curricula are research-based, align with standards, and focus on the development of CS-STEM skill sets. To learn more about these curricular products, visit our Curriculum area on the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy site: https://www.cmu.edu/roboticsacademy/roboticscurriculum/index.html