This course is geared toward middle school, high school, and college educators. The Robotics with BlocklyProp course will be an engaging one-day STEM Professional Development featuring Blockly graphical programming and the ActivityBot robot.

Join Parallax’s educational team for a hands-on exploration of BlocklyProp—our new implementation of the Google Blockly visual programming language. Learn about robotics and product design using the Propeller multicore microcontroller, ActivityBot robot, sensors, and displays. Parallax’s BlocklyProp system provides a solution for running a class where students can use graphical programming or C. Students who have used Scratch or Blockly for screen programming will pick up this tool quite easily. This flexibility speeds skill acquisition, reduces frustration, and provides a STEM/STEAM learning experience where students can achieve success in a short class period but also develop bigger semester-long projects and designs.​

• Bring your own: Laptop computer running Windows 7/8/8/10 (not RT), Mac OS, or a Chromebook. If you need to borrow a library Chromebook in order to attend, contact Kathy Lane lanek@boulderlibrary(dot)org.

Course Content

• Included in the course is an ActivityBot 360 Robot Kit and additional hardware.
• The ActivityBot will be built and programmed and then we'll move to a project-specific focus. It will include discussion and tips for implementing these topics into your classroom.
• Learning objectives: build and program an ActivityBot; program a microcontroller by writing programs that display messages, remember values, make computations with math operators, and interact with external circuits; and build circuits to apply principles of electronics, including voltage, resistance, current, signal generation, and signal monitoring.
• Parallax tutorials, standards correlations, and an answer key for educators. We will show you how to apply our Blockly system in semester-long courses with a specific parts kit and syllabus.

Have questions about our robots and educational resources? Call the Parallax Educator Hotline at 916-625-6801 or email education@parallax.com.

This event is part of Boulder Computer Science Education Week, December 1-8, 2018.

Create apps. Code robots. Design stories. Explore new technologies, new programming languages and environments, meet robots, try coding, engage with problem solving and gadgets. Meet extraordinary people of all ages doing amazing things during Boulder CSED Week.

Boulder CSED = free Computer Science Education programs for everyone at your library, school and tech partner organizations.

We have code at our fingertips as we drive our cars, check the news on a laptop, or message a friend with our cell phones. Boulder CSED Week invites learners of all ages (adults, school aged kids, and even pre-schoolers) to consider code and create with it! Experience robots, and control them with code, make a block based program or write out coded instructions, learn how to code a new device or make an app, visit with a robot at story time, and more! All of Boulder CSED Week’s program are free and open to the public. Programs are hosted by local experts, educators, and makers, and inspiring technologies offer pathways for code-learners of all levels of experience. Some programs ask for pre-registration. Join us - create with code for this year’s Boulder CSED week!

Volunteer. Present. Build, test, experiment. Solve tricky bugs. Be a code creator!

We are delighted to host programs with these awesome partners who volunteer their time for Boulder CSED 2018!

Code Raspberry Pi, get started with VR, and learn Processing with SparkFun
Jump, shake and roll with Sphero
Start coding by simply writing words with Workbench Education
Make action figures talk with Toys2Life
Blocks code, robots move with Questbotics
Hack a robot with ROBAUTO
Design 3D games with AgentCubes
Erect LEGO robots with Play-Well TEKnologies
Voice command Dash and Dot with CU Science Discovery
Assemble and code robots with Kids2Glow
Educators code robots with Blockly led by Parallax
Explore Boulder data with Art of Data
Create 3D CAD models with SketchUp
Play with Robots and Program an Hour of Code Dance Party with MindSpark Learning
Think like a robot with ModRobotics
Work on any project you wish with Youth Maker Hangout
Fashion a light up card with Boulder Public Library
Construct a 3D printed object with BLDG61
Enjoy robot storytimes with Boulder Public Library

We're grateful for the sponsorship generosity of ROBAUTO, Texas Instruments, Makey Makey, Bitsbox, Scratch, Workbench, Parallax, ArcBotics, Google, BrieBug, SparkFun, Galvanize, BrieBug, FitBot and the Boulder Library Foundation for making CSED Week possible!