hoopla – The Free STEAM Education Resource Every Kid Needs
STEAM education is all about science, technology, engineering, arts and math, and teaching those areas in meaningful, relevant ways. We often use the term passion pursuits here at STEAM Powered Family when we talk about STEAM. It’s the idea that within STEAM we can encourage kids to take an interest in and guide their learning into areas that are important to them. Those topics they are passionate about? They are the key to unlocking a child’s confidence and inner strengths, so they can become confident, self-motivated learners. The idea is fantastic in theory but sometimes it can be hard to implement in the classroom, unless you have the right tools. It’s even better when those tools are free!
hoopla – The STEAM Learning Resource to Power Up Your Classroom
Disclaimer: I have partnered with hoopla digital and have received compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.
When I talk to parents, teachers and homeschoolers about STEAM and passion pursuits I hear a lot of the same things over and over again.
It seems like my child’s interests change every week.
How am I supposed to learn it all, so I can keep up and teach my child?
My child wants to know so much about the topic, I have no idea where to find the information and resources we need.
I can’t afford, or access, all the materials we need on the topic. When we go to the library, the materials are always checked out when we need them.
I totally get it. I’ve struggled to keep up with my kids and their passion pursuits for many years. The thing is, once you embrace STEAM and passion pursuits, your kids really get excited and driven to learn. They take the wheel and drive their STEAM education to some amazing and fascinating places. Often, as the teacher, it can feel like the kids are moving at top speed. It can be hard to keep up with such a drive to learn, but recently I learned about a really cool, FREE, resource that has made our STEAM lesson plans and passion pursuits so much easier.
That tool is called hoopla and it’s been at your fingertips this whole time.
What is hoopla Digital?
hoopla digital is a digital library where you can borrow movies, television shows, eBooks, audiobooks, comics and music. The best part? It’s all free with your library card!
Recently hoopla has made a significant investment in STEAM education content, across all ages (yes even us passionate learner adults have access to some amazing STEAM materials). This means not only do they have a massive list of STEAM resources in a variety of formats, but they have categorized the materials into STEAM Learning genres to make the materials quick and easy to find.
To get started you simply need to get the app on your mobile device (IOS or Android, we like to use our tablet), or you can access it from desktop. Log in with your library card and you are on your way!
How hoopla Works for STEAM Learning
Once you login you can browse to the various media types, then pop into genres and find the STEAM Learning categories. In both Television and eBooks they have their STEAM Learning broken down by age making it even easier to find age appropriate materials.
Looking for something specific? No problem. Simply use the search tool to find even more amazing resources.
Once you find the resource you want, tap the borrow button to unlock the learning!
Your resource is instantly available for you to use. That’s right! No more waiting for materials to be returned. This is HUGE for using this resource in the STEAM classroom for passion pursuits. As any teacher or parent can tell you, kids will suddenly come up with the most out of left field questions and sudden interests. And often they want to dig in NOW!
Perhaps your early elementary child suddenly has a driving need to learn some coding? No problem! Hop onto hoopla and grab the new Disney Coding Adventures with Frozen eBook.
Is your teen asking questions about Stephen Hawking? No problem, in moments you can exploring a documentary on his life and research.
The best part is that the materials can all be used offline. So, no matter where you are, you can have your child learning and chasing those passion pursuits!
hoopla and STEAM
STEAM learning is such a powerful approach to education, but to be successful, it helps to have some amazing tools in your toolbox. hoopla digital is one of those tools that everyone can benefit from, and best of all, your library card unlocks this powerful resource making it accessible to everyone.
Want to know more? Check out this next article where I share some insights into how I am using hoopla in our own lives and classrooms to embrace some amazing learning opportunities.
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