Welcome Educators!
This page is currently divided into two sections:
Please remember you need to be logged in to see all of the restricted educator-only downloads. Need an account? Email us at education@parallax.com with your school email address and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. More changes are planned for this section in the near future, to help you navigate our resources more easily. Stay tuned!
The ActivityBot 360° Robot is our most capable and versatile small robot. Perfect for classrooms in middle school level and above, this robot can be programmed with the visual BlocklyProp programming tool or in text-based C-language. With its block-based approach to program building, BlocklyProp is a perfect entry point for students who are new to programming, electronics, and robotics, or who may struggle with traditional text-based programming.
This section contains downloads and resources for educators teaching with the Propeller microcontroller or any of its stand-alone boards (excluding ELEV-8 Flight Controller resources). This section does not include ActivityBot-specific resources.
The Propeller chip is a multicore microcontroller that is programmable in high-level languages (Spin™ and C) as well as a low-level (Propeller assembly) language. This microcontroller is the brains for our ActivityBot robot, ELEV-8 Flight Controller, and more.
The Scribbler 3 (S3) the perfect place for students and teachers to begin their STEM/STEAM journey. Programming, robotics, and even integrating math and art are all possible with the S3.
This section currently contains a growing set of solutions for the "Your Turn" sections of our S3 web tutorials. This material is restricted to registered educators only. If you are an educator who does not have an account on Learn, you can send an email to education@parallax.com (from a valid school email address) to register.
The BOE Shield for Arduino Robot allows the tried-and-true Boe-Bot robotics platform to be powered by an Arduino. Although the internet is full of ideas and projects for the Arduino, there are few good resources for getting started and learning the core skills necessary to be proficient with the Arduino as a microcontroller. By adapting our Boe-Bot materials to the Arduino microcontroller, we have created a student-friendly, yet thorough introduction for students and teachers who want to use the Arduino and are new to programming, electronics, and robotics.
The BASIC Stamp Microcontroller is one of the most user-friendly microcontrollers available. The BASIC Stamp is programmed using PBASIC - arguably the easiest text-based language for beginners to learn. Ideal for students who are new to programming and electronics, the BASIC Stamp, the Board of Education, and the Homework Board are time-tested platforms, making them some of the best places for students to begin learning.
Can your student's robots run through the maze without touching the masking tape, yet stop right on the target?
Touch sensors and accurate turning are the skills being tested as a robot drives from wall to wall, aiming to touch the high-scoring spots as many times as possible in 60 seconds.
Devise a strategy to touch the walls at as many high-scoring spots as possible in 60 seconds. The catch? Students don't know the numbering until 30 minutes before the contest! A great idea by Gary Reynolds, Physics Instructor at Santa Ana High School.
