Our professional development offerings are designed to make it as easy as possible to bring electronics and computational thinking to the classroom. From our premier, week long course introducing a variety of electronics to one day workshops on specific products to custom consulting, we offer the trainings you need.

Take a look below at our professional development options.

FIVE Day, Public Workshop
Microcontrollers for Educators

Microcontrollers for Educators

Implementing Computer Science in the Classroom

Our flagship workshop series, these five-day classes are designed to provide educators (middle school and up) a foundation in electronics, programming, computer science and computational thinking for the classroom. In these courses, we will introduce the basics of circuits, electricity, engineering and computing. Each course will focus on the technical aspects as well as the pedagogy, activities, pacing, and strategies for implementing a project-based STEM classroom using the designated microcontroller.


Highlights:

  • Each day consists of learning in the morning and hands-on time in the afternoon.
  • The class ends in a project-learning showcase where participants design and build a project.
  • 3 continuing education units are available through Colorado State University upon successful completion of this class.
  • No prior experience is necessary to complete this course - we will teach you
  • Topics covered include paper circuits, building circuits, robotics, getting started with coding, project based learning modules, and more.
  • Includes $400 worth of take-home classroom hardware.

This Year's Workshops:

Workshops have concluded for 2019.

Fill out this form if you would like to be informed when the next Microcontrollers for Educators workshop is scheduled.

What Educators are Saying

Additional In-person Professional Development

One Day Workshops

Designed to ease the introduction of SparkFun hardware into the classroom, our one day workshops cover the basics of how to use specific products in a classroom setting as well as tips for taking your learning further and designing projects using electronics.

Courses Offered:

  • Learn Arduino with the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit
  • Getting Started with the micro:bit
  • Intro to Raspberry Pi in the Classroom
  • Robot Dance Party: Intro to Robotics
  • Exploring E-Textiles - Intro to Sewable Electronics
  • Exploring E-Textiles, part 2: Programming with LilyPad Arduino

Consulting

Have a specific goal in mind but not sure how to make it happen? We can provide custom consulting to fit your needs. We have helped districts create curriculum for new classes, design computer science progressions over the course of multiple grade levels, implement makerspaces and more.