SBIR-STTR Award

BUILDERS Classroom represents a revolutionary and transformative advance for teachingK12 students crucial skills for Computer Aided Design (CAD) spatial cognition modeling and Computational Thinking (CT). BlocksCAD Inc. will leverage the widely popular BlocksCAD software to create BUILDERS Classroom. BUILDERS Classroom supports Topic Area 8.6 -Rural and Community Development - with a focus on improving rural educational opportunities for K12 students by providing a complete curriculum and teacher portal with class management functionality lesson plans mapped to standards assessment and analytics tools and adaptive learning features in order to teach STEM concepts such as CAD programming modeling and engineering design to elementary middle and high school students. BUILDERS Classroom is a subscription-model web-based device neutral tool that will complement existing practices and support students' progress from introductory block-style coding activities (e.g. Hour of Code Scratch) to 3D modeling designing and printing. In this way the BUILDERS Classroom will advance student understanding of core STEM areas including Engineering and design Math and CT and reduce barriers towards reaching underserved populations. The Innovation. BlocksCAD is a unique tool leveraging 3D design as a learning tool for a variety of STEM concepts. BlocksCAD was developed by members of the BUILDERS Classroom team and currently has over 35000 student and teacher accounts around the world. BUILDERS Classroom leverages the best of BlocksCAD to alter typical instructional approaches providing multiple integrated learning opportunities for a wide range of ability levels. Teachers using BUILDERS Classroom and assignments through their teacher portal will see student improvements in CT spatial visualization math coding skills higher order planning and execution for projects and attitudes toward STEM areas while providing students plenty of room for engaging self-expression. Students will have the benefits of hints and feedback as they work through assignments automatic grading and teacher comments on assignments. Further classroom and student progress are tracked and presented in a Teacher Dashboard that allows educators to easily see how their students are doing. And teachers have the flexibility to leverage the existing support structure to create their own projects and assignments. The Value Proposition. Many rural K12 teachers and districts simply do not have resources to" go it alone" with complex and specialized curriculum development and class management. This puts rural students at a disadvantage lacking the "economies of scale" that more densely populated areas can leverage to offer a wide variety of programs. BUILDERS Classroom provides a fully-integrated CAD curriculum with classroom management capabilities lesson plans assessments that map to state standards and crucial ease-of-use and turnkey data assessment and implementation. Currently no CAD program or service exists that combines programmatic CAD with classroom management or assessment capabilities. In addition no parametric CAD programs are tailored for elementary and middle school students. Thus BUILDERS Classroom can jump-start CAD training for students delivering this material earlier in the education pipeline and improving related student skills in math CT and coding and spatial cognition. The Customer. The core customers for BUILDERS Classroom are K12 classroom teachers after-school and out-of-school education programs and school districts interested in STEM learning Maker culture and expanded learning strategies. Through our engagement with teachers using BlocksCAD tools via the DARPA MENTOR2 program we have designed BUILDERS Classroom to reflect educator needs and include missing key features.