Sam Labs is a STEAM learning platform that uses the physical and digital worlds combined to deliver a powerful learning experience to students.
This represents a way to teach students, from kindergarten through 8th grade, to work with block-based learning and coding. The use of the company’s physical blocks makes this a real hands-on experience that can engage students of all levels.
This is a creative way for students to plan, create, and learn with designs that guide them into the world of coding and beyond. And since this goes beyond the company’s own hardware basics into more conventional LEGO offerings, it can be a super engaging experience that only intensifies over time.
This guide aims to lay out everything you need to know about Sam Labs so you can decide if it’s a useful tool for your classroom.
What is Sam Labs?
Sam Labs is a company that offers wireless digital blocks that work in conjunction with their app and online platform to teach coding and block-based learning.
Sam Labs works by allowing students of different ages and abilities to design and create processes using their combination of blocks and coding software. The idea is to work on STEAM learning, block-based teaching, and coding skills all in one place.
Since this kit can be made to interact with other software and have physical actions, it allows students to be super creative and generate flows and interactions limited only by their imagination. A great way to start thinking about learning electrical engineering, for example, from a very young age.
Crucially, all of this is curriculum-focused and comes with a selection of resources to make teaching as easy as possible, including standards-aligned lesson plans and maps.
How does Sam Labs work?
Sam Labs works using a combination of its own Bluetooth wireless bricks and its Sam Labs app, which is available on a selection of devices including iOS and Android. Pair the app and hardware and you’re ready to start exploring the possibilities.
These blocks can be used in various formats, limited only by your budget, and feature DC motors, LED lights, buttons, audio devices, and even LEGO accessories. Combine them to carry out actions in the real world. So students start digitally, perhaps linking a social media signal, such as sending a message, with a real-world outcome, such as a block that lights up to show that your phone has a new message waiting.
While this sounds open-ended, and it is, there is also a lot of structured learning. This works well for students to see what is possible, but also for educators who may need to work toward a specific learning goal or program.
There is enough guidance available here to help even novice coding educators get started with ease. A physics teacher can use this to show the effects of force and motion, for example, while teaching coding skills at the same time.
What are the best features of Sam Labs?
Sam Labs is quite simple and intuitive to use, making it accessible to a wide range of ages and abilities. But it can also be expanded to offer a more challenging experience that ensures learning for even the most advanced students.
For teachers new to the platform, there is the option to get a demo by a Sam Labs professional. There are also many support resources available, including orientation videos, lesson plans, lesson packs, activities, and excellent customer support. customer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
A wide range of blocks are offered, but you can also use this setup with LEGO, which may mean taking advantage of a kit the school or students already own. This can breathe new life into toys and be a great way to reuse technology in an inventive and ecologically responsible way.
Helpfully, this can be more real-world, with basic block building for younger students, or it can be more code-focused for older, more advanced students who want to work on their programming and engineering skills.
All handouts and lessons that teachers can access are also editable, so you can adapt them to fit the focus of the lesson, making this a quick and easy way to teach. Since the software is divided into Maker, STEAM, and Learn to Code sections, it is easy to teach at the skill level and focus required.
How much does Sam Labs cost?
Sam Labs offers different prices, which you can calculate on the company’s website by entering what you need, whether it’s a school or district account, for example. You can also adapt needs based on Code, Maker or STEAM solutions.
An example is a single educator teaching a class of 35 people or less in California, with the Learn to Code Package. This was cited in $499 per yearplus a one-time hardware fee of $1,899 For a start.
There are many variations on offer, so it’s worth telling your needs to see what the price will be for you. This can be done in the Sam Labs Pricing Calculator.
Top Tips and Tricks from Sam Labs
build a circuit
Use the circuit building kit to teach students about energy, solar power, exchange systems and more, with real-world actions to get right.
Reuse LEGO
Get your old LEGO bricks and use them as part of the kit to teach from a place kids already know: building blocks, while learning new software codes along the way.
use the class
Create a challenge in the room to fix, such as an alert system when homework is due or a door-closing device on a class-based timer.
