Category: Tools and Tips

Essay Tools and Tips

How to Create Actionable Hope in Our Students

December 2022

by Leah Van der Sluis, Director of Teaching + Learning, EXPLO Junior. Actionable hope needs to be the north star that guides our work in education right now, and the tools of immersion and overview…

Case Study Tools and Tips

Listen, Darn, Ask: Three lessons from OPPI

November 2022

by David Hamilton, Creative Director. What is OPPI? I just returned from Criel, France, where I was once again lucky to take part in OPPI, the most impactful education “conference” I’ve ever attended. “Conference” is…

Tools and Tips Video

Join EXPLO’s Marble Run Challenge!

September 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs. We invite you and your students to take on EXPLO’s Marble Run Challenge. Here’s a low-cost, ready-to-go, paper engineering challenge. All you need is some paper (cardstock is even…

Tools and Tips Video

Designs in 90 Seconds: The Design Cycle

September 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs. In our latest “Designs in 90 Seconds” video, we look at the design cycle and demonstrate the importance of cycling by testing early and often. As the name implies,…

Tools and Tips Video

Designs in 90 Seconds: Shadows + Trigonometry

July 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs. In our latest “Designs in 90 Seconds” video, we explore the connection between shadows and trigonometry. Trigonometry comes from the greek words “trigona” (triangle) and “metrisei” (measure). It is…

Case Study Tools and Tips

Chicken Run: Documenting Process Without Sucking the Life Out of PBL

June 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs. “Do you have astroturf?” That was Gary Chapin’s first question when I introduced this challenge: There is a chicken on a car about to roll down a ramp onto…

Tools and Tips Video

Designs in 90 Seconds – Shadow Casting

June 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs In our latest “Designs in 90 Seconds” video, we explore shadow casting. With a few pieces of cardstock, some Playdoh, and your smartphone, you can have a quick and…

Case Study Tools and Tips

Improving Your Teaching with One Piece of Data (Part 2): Observing Robots

June 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs, EXPLO Elevate. Recently, a high school robotics teacher asked me to observe her class. When I asked her what kind of feedback she was looking for, she said, “Anything…

Tools and Tips Video

New Video Series: Designs in 90 Seconds

May 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs We are excited to launch a new super-short video series called, “Designs in 90 Seconds.” At EXPLO, we believe making is a critical skill. In making these new videos, our goal…

Tools and Tips

Improve Your Teaching with One Piece of Data

May 2022

by David Hamilton, Director of Programs, EXPLO Elevate This is the first in a three-part series on how data collection + information design can expedite your progress toward a teaching goal (no matter what you…