I recently took a more active role in the SparkFunEDU Twitter account to see more of the cool things going on in our community. It was such a fun surprise to see the incredible projects and support people in the STEM world were tweeting that I wanted to share a few of my favorites in the hope that you too are inspired.
Wonderful Idea Co.
Run by @ryanejenkins & @ncatrettnicole , Wonderful Idea Co. has consistently produced some of the coolest and whimsical micro:bit inventions we have seen to date, including a slow-motion bubble blowing robot using the micro:bit and the SparkFun moto:bit. Just because they are using some of our favorite pieces of hardware isn’t the only reason we love this account! Wonderful Idea Co. has a real commitment to bringing their projects to the community and allowing students of all ages access to the intersection of creativity and technology. Follow @wonderfulideaco for daily updates to their projects.
Robot Maker Girl
One of the most exciting accounts we follow, @RobotMakerGirl is a young lady with an impressive resume for a 13-year-old! Allie Weber is an award-winning, patent pending Inventor and Maker, on the 3M 2017 list of Top Ten Young Scientists, and recognized by Teen Vouge on their 21 Under 21 girls who are changing the world! Outside her insightful Tweets, you can find regular updates from Allie on her YouTube Channel called Tech-nic-Allie Speaking (great name!). I can always rely on an inspiring pick-me-up Tweet from Allie while scrolling through our homepage. One of my all time favorites is this one from June of last year:
‘Kids are not "the future", we are here now. We are not going to change the world "someday" we are already doing it.’ - @RobotMakerGirl, 21 June 2017
Keep an eye on this kid, she is a true role model for girls and boys of all ages!
Charles Randolph
Charles’ account, @CharlesRandolp3, is a great resource for teaching tips, he is a Senior Instructional Technology Coordinator as well as a certified counselor, which gives him amazing insights into working in a classroom. Not only does he share his own ideas and projects, but his feed is a very well curated list of resources that he retweets. Scrolling through his Twitter feed is like a treasure trove of cool links and stories about what is going on in the edtech world. If you are attending the ISTE 2019 conference in Philadelphia, make sure you look Charles up, he usually has a cool workshop that you should definitely try to attend.
Link Engineering
I stumbled upon @LinkEngOrg because one of the accounts I followed retweeted a very cool tweet from this organization. The tweet was about engaging students in engineering solutions by providing real-life stories. This particular story was about an injured turtle using a Lego wheelchair to aid in the recovery process. I immediately commented on how great I thought this form of motivation was and @LinkEngOrg wrote me back saying:
‘Yes! Kids are naturally empathetic and want to help others. Plus, they are born engineers and problem solvers. #STEMed works best when it taps into that.’ -2 October 2018
I just love the idea that kids are natural born problem solvers! Follow this account and find a community of educators working with PreK-12 students in classrooms. The organization allows members to connect with each other and engineering education experts.
The world of Twitter can be an intimidating place. With all of the information that is thrown at you from every angle, it may be hard to know where to look for quality information. Start with these exceptional accounts for all of your STEM needs. Follow us @SparkFunEDU for the latest products, projects and things we just find fascinating! Who are your favorite accounts for STEM, EdTech and MakerEd content?
Maker Education, helpful information, STEM