Certified K-12 Robotics Programs
CMRA offers solutions from research-backed curricula, tracking and course delivery through our Learning Management System (The CS-STEM Network, www.cs2n.org), and training to help you feel confident in offering our courses. All courses are based around a popular robotics platform (physical robot and virtual robot options are available).
Our courses are research-backed and include real-world contextual applications that help students understand why they're learning the concepts, step-by-step direct instruction to learn how to program behaviors, challenges to apply their knowledge, and knowledge assessments.
Benefits of using our courses:
- Used by tens of thousands of educators around the world
- Delivered through our Learning Management System to track student progress and review artifact uploads
- Students learn real Computational Thinking gains
- Self-paced and scaffolded learning experience
- Includes hands-on activities (for physical robot courses)
How to get started
1) Take a look at the table below to see where the platforms available and our offerings (e.g. curricula) fit with your needs:
| Robotics Platform | Elementary School | Middle School | High School+ | Graphical Language | Text-Based Language | Virtual option |
Arduino (Shield-Bot) |
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NVIDIA Jetson Nano |
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LEGO SPIKE Essential |
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LEGO SPIKE Prime |
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VEX IQ (Gen 1 & 2) |
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VEX EXP |
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VEX V5 |
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REV DUO |
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2) Think about storage
One thing that you'll need to make sure you have is storage. If money is an issue, you can always use the bins that come with the robotics kits, but it will quickly because unwieldy and hard to find pieces. There are lots of storage solutions available out there, but which one is right for you?
| Situation | Sample storage solution | Notes |
| Mobile (You will be moving around a lot to different rooms or buildings) |  |
These are nice because you can carry them around and stack easily. |
| Stationary (You have a permanent room or location) |
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If you have a permanent space, these organizers allow you to have lots of multiple bins that can hold quite a bit of parts |
3) Professional Development - Get Trained!
Our curricula for physical robots are all available for free through the CS-STEM Network (www.cs2n.org), but if you need some training on our materials, we're happy to help. We want to make sure that all teachers feel confident and ready to teach their robotics classes. This is why we offer professional development for each of our courses. Each PD session is 36 hours of training, and can usually be used as Continuing Education credits.
| Robotics Platform | Professional Development |
| Arduino (Shield-Bot) |
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LEGO EV3 |
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LEGO SPIKE Prime |
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| VEX IQ |
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| VEX EXP |
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| VEX V5 |
Learn more about our Professional Development
4) Utilize our Learning Management System
All of our courses are delivered through the CS-STEM Network (www.cs2n.org). We have tutorials to walk you through how to use the system from Generating Student accounts, how to add activities, create Groups, etc.
5) Certify Students
Once you have completed the training for the particular courses, you are eligible to offer student certifications.