Robotics kits and resources can be expensive, and schools don’t always have money in their already-tight budgets to accommodate robotics tools. But you don’t have to say goodbye to plans for robotics education in your school.
Luckily, as interest in robotics education grows, so, too, do the funding opportunities for students and educators. We’ve gathered grants, scholarships, and internship opportunities to help educators increase their access to robotics education.
Related content: 8 resources for robotics education
Bookmark the following grants to have a list of active funding opportunities throughout the year. Some have deadlines and some accept applications on a rolling basis, and some of those deadlines may have already passed for the year, but you can mark your calendars for next year’s deadline.
9 robotics education grants
1. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow: This nationwide contest is designed to boost interest and proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), and challenges public school teachers and students in grades 6-12 to show how STEM can be applied to help improve their local community. Samsung employees are volunteering to advise on projects and offer their expertise to all 100 state winners. Mentors are committed to offering informative webinars, Q&A sessions, one-on-one Skype conversations and more.
Related Content:
eSchool News Robotics Guide
The eSchool News Robotics Guide is here! It features strategies to help you effectively integrate robotics into instruction, along with tips to find the right robotics resources to successfully teach key concepts. A new eSchool News Guide will launch each month–don’t miss a single one!
2. Amazon Future Engineer is a comprehensive childhood-to-career program to inspire, educate, and train children and young adults from underserved and low-income communities to pursue careers in computer science. The site points users to scholarship and internship opportunities.
3. DonorsChoose.org and AdoptAClassroom.org are great opportunities for educators to connect with donors for smaller needs–say, for instance, a single robotics kit or a handful of starter resources. You can also try Digital Wish and Class Wish.
4. The Motorola Solutions Foundation supports many programs, including programs that advance science, technology, engineering and math education, preparing the next generation of innovators.
5. ITEST provides direct student learning opportunities in pre-kindergarten through high school. The learning opportunities are based on innovative use of technology to strengthen knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and information and communication technology careers. To achieve this purpose, ITEST supports projects that engage students in technology-rich experiences that: (1) increase awareness and interest of STEM and ICT occupations; (2) motivate students to pursue appropriate education pathways to those occupations; and (3) develop STEM-specific disciplinary content knowledge and practices that promote critical thinking, reasoning, and communication skills needed for entering the STEM and ICT workforce of the future.
6. Pitsco Education offers a $350 grant each month to assist with making hands-on learning possible. This grant is awarded in the form of a gift certificate that may be used to purchase hands-on STEM products, curriculum, and more on the Pitsco website.
7. When writing a grant, educators sometimes have to provide details on what they plan to do with it or why they need the grant. LEGO Education offers guidance and samples for writing grants for LEGO-specific purposes–and this includes robotics with LEGOs.
8. NEA Foundation STEM grants provide the resources for districts to build and expand their STEM programs and the professional learning for educators to lead them well. The shared goal: giving more students access to the high-quality STEM learning they’ll need to succeed.
9. The third annual Cyber Robotics Coding Competition is an online coding and robotics tournament for students in grades 5-8 that enables schools, districts, after-school programs, and clubs to engage students in STEM learning. As in previous years, students will compete on the CoderZ Cyber Robotics Learning Environment, a cloud-based platform featuring a graphical simulation of LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots. The online platform has a coding interface where users can activate a virtual robot, or “cyber-robot,” and watch the results in a real-time simulation.
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