Climate Action Kits Relaunch with Focus on Remote Learning and Canadian Manufacturing
As a Waterloo Region-based education company and founding parent company of The Canadian Shield, we at InkSmith are proud to announce that we are relaunching our popular coding and robotics product, the Climate Action Kit. The relaunch includes updated curriculum to support asynchronous learning and delivery methods that are COVID-ready and suitable for all educational environments, including remote, in-classroom and hybrid models. As part of our redevelopment, we've also relocated the Climate Action Kits' manufacturing to our facility in Waterloo to develop a truly Made in Canada product.
As the parent company to the pandemic pivot success story that is The Canadian Shield, we are well versed in modifying processes and products in response to COVID-19.
“Just as we’ve adapted to Canada’s medical PPE supply chain needs, we’re adapting to best serve K-12 educators and students. With our new resources we’ve invested in completely rebuilding our curriculum to support in-class and at-home asynchronous learning. We’ve also started manufacturing our robotics kits right here in Waterloo so that we can develop and deploy new education products quickly,” said Jeremy Hedges, InkSmith CEO and Founder.
Powered by the popular BBC micro:bit, the Climate Action Kit is a robotic inventor's kit designed to introduce students to climate change issues through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through use of the kit and accompanying curriculum, students will build, design and code solutions to creatively address the SDGs.
“We are faced with a current situation where our education system is constantly evolving, and we must rely on tech now more than ever before. Educators need to be able to pivot at any point in time, and InkSmith is providing our teachers with the opportunity to do so while still ensuring that content is engaging in a classroom and can be implemented in a remote learning setting,” said Michael Leonard, Experiential Learning & Innovation Lead at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. “We are constantly looking for hands-on and exploratory activities for students and InkSmith’s EdTech products fit that mold for us.”
The Climate Action Kit has been updated with three in-depth, interactive curriculum modules that include COVID-ready content and resources. Suitable for grades 2-12, features of the new curriculum include: asynchronous learning capabilities, classroom-ready support materials, and curriculum alignment to STEAM subjects.
“Fast forward several months after school closures and I’m revisiting the Climate Action Kits, along with the newly created supporting resources. Not only do the Climate Action Kits provide teachers with opportunities to engage learners, they provide opportunities to empower learners to take on the challenges of tomorrow,” said David Carruthers, a Grade 6/7 teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board in London, Ontario.
The Climate Action Kit retails for $44.99 and is now available for purchase. We will also be relaunching the k8 Robot, another micro:bit powered robotics kit, in the coming months with new curriculum modules and coding activities designed for remote learning.
For more information about the Climate Action Kit, to purchase, or preview the curriculum for bulk purchases, please visit our website at inksmith.ca or contact us at sales@inksmith.ca.