Community – Wonder Workshop https://www.makewonder.com/en Empowering educators. Inspiring Kids. Thu, 15 May 2025 22:12:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.makewonder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ww-favicon_64x64.png Community – Wonder Workshop https://www.makewonder.com/en 32 32 Year 10 Wonder League Winners Announced https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/year-10-wonder-league-winners-announced/ Thu, 08 May 2025 18:15:38 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=12818

Here at Wonder Workshop, we’re dedicated to the mission to inspire every home and classroom to be a place of innovation–where children, parents, and teachers solve problems of the future.

Today, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 10th Annual Wonder League Robotics Competition.

The 2024-25 Wonder League Robotics Competition brought coding to life with a series of story-based missions In this year’s WLRC, teams were challenged to solve four time-traveling missions and design coding solutions. 

The competition received entries from around the world in two categories: The Innovator Cup (six- to eight-year-old) and The Pioneer Cup (nine- to twelve-year-old). 

All the Missions encouraged collaboration, sparked creativity, and engaged teams of one-to-five members in real-world problem solving. Teams completing five missions from September 2024 – March 2025 were invited to join up to 1,000 teams globally to compete in the final Invitational Round for $5,000 in Wonder Workshop products for their school and other prizes.

The winning teams across the two categories of the 2024-25 Wonder League Robotics Competition include:

 

Innovator Cup Grand Prize

Team Name: Sharingan

Team member: Vivaan A.

Coach: Shiv Agarwal

Washington

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: Rainbow Unicorns

Team Members: Ingrid L. T., Eloise L. T., Nea S. L., Mari S. L.

Coach: Brandon Lai

California

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: Fancy Innovators

Team Members: Mila V., Taylor G., Bailey B.

Coach: Ulrich Viereck

Massachusettes

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: Page Robots

Team Members: Katherine K., Zoe K., Lia A.

Coach: Hilary Seager

Massachusettes

Pioneer Cup Grand Prize

Team Name: Bulldog Bots

Team Members: Aisha A., Nakin D.,
Hugo L. Dev G., Dev N.

Coach: Hayley Jean

Bangkok Prep Intl. School

Thailand

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: NSU Coding Pandas

Team Members: Xinian X., Nikolai M., Grace S.

Coach: Michele Garren

Florida

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: Four Cyborgs

Team Members: Sylpa J. K., Izabella A., Malcolm J. Daniel S.

Coach: Jaime Harrington

New York

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: RISE 2.0

Team Members: Austin B., Delilah T.,
Marisa Y.

Coach: Jennifer Coady

New York

People’s Choice Award Winner – Innovator Cup

Team Name: Rainbow Unicorn

Team Members: Ingrid L. T., Eloise L. L., Nea S. L., Mari S. L.

Coach: Brandon Lai

California

People’s Choice Award Winner – Pioneer Cup

Team Name: Bulldog Bots

Team Members: Aisha A., Nakin D., Hugo L., Dev G. Dev N.

,Coach: Hayley Jean

Bangkok Prep Intl. School

Thailand

Imagination Award 

Team Name: Bot to the Future

Team Members: Ryder R., Denver H-L., Korina W., Miles A. 

Coach: Lana Shea

Illinois

Super Coach Award (celebrates our dedicated Coaches who are leading the most teams)

Coaches: Allison Carey and Caitlin Fuentes King

Number of Teams Coached: 8

View Video Submissions for the People's Choice Awards

View the videos

Launched in 2015, the Wonder League Robotics Competition has now reached more than 90,000 kids globally. This growing network of coding and robotics teams uses our all-inclusive program to inspire an early love of coding, computer science, tangible learning, and STEAM education. Through a series of story-based missions, the teams develop problem-solving, growth mindset, and creativity skills while learning to code. The competition introduced a “People’s Choice Awards” element in 2023 as an option for teams to proudly share their mission solutions for support from their communities.

]]> 10 Children’s Books Featuring Black STEM Pioneers https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/10-childrens-books-featuring-black-stem-pioneers/ Wed, 19 Feb 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=12636

In celebration of Black History Month, Wonder Workshop is delighted to share a fresh collection of books that shine a spotlight on the incredible achievements of African American innovators in various science and technology fields. Perfect for readers ages 6–12, these engaging titles not only spark curiosity about STEM but also encourage young learners to dream big, stay creative, and work hard. We hope this list inspires meaningful conversations at home and in the classroom, and helps readers understand how determination and imagination can lead to amazing accomplishments.

This is list is all new for 2025!

Work It, Girl: Blast Off Into Space Like Mae Jemison by Caroline Moss, illustrated by Sinem Erkas.

The illustrated biography from the Work It, Girl series tells the story of Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space, and her journey from a curious child to a trailblazing astronaut. Through 10 key lessons and self-reflection prompts, readers learn how to apply her resilience and ambition to their own lives.

Black Women in Science: A Black History Book for Kids by Kimberly Brown Pellum, Ph.D.

This collection of short biographies profiles 15 extraordinary Black women who made lasting impacts in STEM. From Bessie Coleman soaring as a pioneering aviator to Jane Cooke Wright revolutionizing cancer treatment, readers ages 9-12 will uncover stories of innovation and resilience.

Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk. 

Katherine Johnson’s love for numbers and curiosity about the universe led her to become one of NASA’s most remarkable mathematicians, playing a key role in the safe return of Apollo 13. This engaging biography follows her journey from a gifted child to a history-making scientist whose work changed the course of space exploration.

Black Inventors: 15 Inventions that Changed the World by Kathy Trusty.

Explore the remarkable achievements of 15 Black inventors whose innovations shaped the world. From Marie Van Brittan Brown’s creation of the home security system to Lisa Gelobter’s development of web animation technology, each story highlights creativity and perseverance. This book celebrates the inventors’ lasting legacies and the impact of their groundbreaking work.

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta, illustrated by Frank Morrison.

This beautifully illustrated picture book explores George Washington Carver’s childhood, where his secret garden nurtured his love for plants and nature. It follows his path from a boy born into slavery to a renowned scientist and botanist whose agricultural innovations transformed farming practices. Through vivid storytelling, this book highlights Carver’s curiosity, resourcefulness, and enduring impact on the environment and society.

Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas by Gwendolyn Hooks, illustrated by Colin Bootman.

Tiny Stitches tells the story of Vivien Thomas, a self-taught surgeon who, despite facing racism and never attending medical school, became a key figure in the development of the procedure used in the first successful pediatric open heart surgery. Though his contributions were left unrecognized in the official report, Vivien’s groundbreaking work changed the future of pediatric surgery.

The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan: Inventor, Entrepreneur, Hero by Joan DiCicco, illustrated by Ebony Glenn. 

This story follows the inspiring journey of an Garret Morgan, the son of freed slaves and inventive African American entrepreneur who turned his creative ideas into life-saving innovations. In addition to creating the prototype for the three way traffic signal we use today, Morgan designed a gas mask that would later play a critical role in a rescue operation following a deadly tunnel collapse.

Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight by Karyn Parsons, illustrated by Gregory Christie

Denied entry to U.S. flight schools due to her race and gender, the legendary Bessie Coleman traveled to France to earn her pilot’s license and become the first Black woman and Native American aviator. Upon returning to the U.S., she thrilled audiences with her daring air show performances, standing firm in her commitment to equality by refusing to perform for segregated crowds.

Sweet Dreams, Sarah by Vivian Kirkfield, illustrated by Chris Ewald

This illustrated biography tells the story of Sarah Goode, a creative inventor who was one of the first known Black women to receive a patent in the United States. In 1885, Sarah invented a revolutionary folding cabinet bed, providing a smart solution for people struggling with limited space in their apartments.

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice Harrington, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

This engaging picture book introduces young readers to Charles Henry Turner, the first Black entomologist whose curiosity about the natural world led to incredible discoveries about insects. From exploring how ants navigate to whether spiders can learn, Turner’s curious questions and experiments pushed the boundaries of science, even when he was confronted with prejudice.

]]> Dash and Launcher Giveaway https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/dash-and-launcher-giveaway/ Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:16:16 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=12358

Assign a Coding Pathway in Make Wonder and Enter to Win!

To shine a spotlight on an exciting feature of Make Wonder, we’re awarding a free Dash + Launcher Accessory to one lucky educator, picked randomly from all who assign a Coding Pathway between Nov. 15 and  December 15, 2024. (Free Tier users, there’s a way for you to enter too. Details are at the end of this post). 

Discover this key feature of a full Make Wonder subscription! Coding Pathways are ready-to-use coding lessons that teach core concepts. Students view instructional videos and tackle step-by-step coding challenges they solve with Blocks that program Virtual Dash right on screen.

With Coding Pathways, you can differentiate instruction by assigning Pathways that match each student’s needs and skill level. Read on to see how to assign a Pathway to entire classroom or to individual students.

How to Assign a Coding Pathway 

  1. Log in to the Make Wonder portal
  2. Navigate to the left side menu and click on the “Assign Coding Pathways” tab
  3. Choose a Coding Level A-F
  4. Click the orange “Assign Pathway” button

5. Pick your classroom

6. Select the students to whom you want to assign the Pathway. You may select the whole class or assign the level to individual students. Each student can only work on one Coding Level (A-F) at a time, but you may assign different levels to individual students within your classrooms based on their skill levels. 

7. Click on the Assign Pathway button

Once you complete these steps, your students can immediately access their assigned Pathway in Blockly and you’ll be entered into the Dash + Launcher Giveaway!

Student View of Coding Pathways 

When your students sign in to Blockly using your teacher code, they will see the assigned Pathway in their Assignments tab. 

Students then make their way through each challenge in their assigned Pathway. Progress is saved in Make Wonder, so students can pick up where they left off the next time they log into Blockly. 

Need Launcher Accessory Inspiration?

Have you used the Launcher accessory in your classroom? We’d love to hear how it went! Share your experience on social media and tag us @wonderworkshop. 

Check out these videos for fun ways to use the Launcher at home and at school.

Tell Us What Resources You’d Like to See Next

Your feedback helps us create resources and products that better support you and your students. If you have two minutes to spare, let us know your thoughts and ideas!

Share Feedback

Giveaway Entry Details

See Giveaway Rules for more details. No purchase is necessary. If you are a user of the Make Wonder Free Tier and are unable to assign a Coding Pathway to students, you can enter this giveaway by completing this form. 

]]> Wonder League Announces This Year’s Winners https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonder-league-announces-this-years-winners/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonder-league-announces-this-years-winners/#respond Thu, 04 May 2023 17:29:01 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=10934
Watch Video Announcement of Winners

Here at Wonder Workshop, we are dedicated to our mission to inspire every student to become an innovator capable of solving the problems of the future. Our annual Wonder League Robotics Competition plays an important role in advancing our mission.

Today we were proud to announce this year’s winners!

This year’s competition brought coding to life with a series of story-based missions featuring the impactful and exciting role robotics plays in space exploration. The competition received entries from around the world in two categories: The Innovator Cup (six- to eight-year-old) and The Pioneer Cup (nine- to twelve-year-old). All the Missions encouraged collaboration, sparked creativity, and engaged teams of one-to-five members in real-world problem solving. Teams completing five missions from November 2022 – January 2023 were invited to join up to 1,000 teams globally to compete in the final Invitational Round for $5,000 in Wonder Workshop products for their school as well as other prizes.

“Wonder Workshop is committed to preparing the next generation of young innovators and pioneers by providing resources to foster their creativity so they can find solutions to societal challenges. The Wonder League Robotics Competition offers hands-on practice of coding and empowers children to truly see their ability to tackle problems,” said Bryan Miller, Senior Director, Global Strategic Outreach, Wonder Workshop. “We’re excited by the fresh ideas, spirit, and innovation that came out of this year’s Wonder League Robotics Competition.”

Launched in 2015, the Wonder League Robotics Competition has now reached more than 87,500 kids globally. This growing network of coding and robotics teams uses our all-inclusive program to inspire an early love of coding, computer science, tangible learning, and STEAM education. Through a series of story-based missions, the teams develop problem-solving, growth mindset, and creativity skills while learning to code. This year, the competition introduced a “People’s Choice Awards” element as an option for teams to proudly share their mission solutions for support from their communities.

The winning teams across the two categories of the 2022-23 Wonder League Robotics Competition include:

Innovator Cup Grand Prize

Team Name: “Roger That”

Team Members: Henry and Charlie

Location: USA  

Coach: Lana Shea

 

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Space Ninja”

Team Members: Aanya

Location: USA  

Coach: Tara Sainath

 

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Wild Cats”

Team Members: Loïe, AvaJean, Hannah, Desmond and Piper 

Location: USA  

Coach: Jenny Sowry

 

Innovator Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Dragon Kids”

Team Members: Angela, AnaEmilia, Antonio and Daniel

Location: Mexico  

Coach: Aracely Rodriguez Flores

 Pioneer Cup Grand Prize

Team Name: “Space Explorers”

Team Members: Lara, Maria

Location: USA

Coach: Anna Dumitrascu

 

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “The Hunters”

Team Members: Anton, Oskar, Paul

Location: Germany

Coach: Tina Hoffmann-Deist

 

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Besties Who Code”

Team Members: Allie, Hannah

Location: USA

Coach: Andrea Smith

 

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Robotic Panthers”

Team Members: Nicolas, Velika

Location: USA

Coach: Miroslav Velev

 

Pioneer Cup Runner-Up

Team Name: “Carver Team TBC”

Team Members: Ben, Charlie

Location: USA

Coach: Donna Schmitt

 

People’s Choice Award Winner

Team Name: “Full Orbit”

Team Members: Braeden

Location: USA  

Coach: Lana Shea

 

“Imagination Award” (Invitational Round submission with the highest score in “Creativity and Original Thinking”)

Team Name: “The Hunters “

Team Member names: Anton, Oskar, Paul

Location: Germany

Coach: Tina Hoffmann-Deist

 

“Super Coach Award” (celebrates our most dedicated Coaches who are leading the most teams)

Coach: Jenny Sowry

Number of Teams Coached: 14

Location: USa

]]> https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonder-league-announces-this-years-winners/feed/ 0 New Features In the Works at Wonder Workshop https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/new-features-at-wonder-workshop/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/new-features-at-wonder-workshop/#respond Tue, 02 May 2023 16:00:43 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=10949
Watch Keynote on Demand

At the Opening Keynote of our Spring International STEAM Summit, we were thrilled to have our very own Bryan Miller, Senior Director Global Strategic Outreach, announce several exciting new developments that have been in the works at Wonder Workshop.

We have been working hard to bring you new, innovative features that will meet your needs and enhance your ability to teach students important lessons in coding, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

In case you missed it, here’s what Bryan announced!

  • We are excited to introduce Blockly Pro to Class Connect subscribers! We are releasing this Blockly Pro web-app in BETA in the next few weeks. Blockly Pro will enable students to program Dash using text-based coding so that students can transition from Blockly to Javascript. If you are familiar with the Cue app, many of the features of Blockly Pro will be familiar to you.

Are you a Class Connect subscriber interested in experiencing Blockly Pro for yourself? Share your interest here: https://forms.gle/bG78CW59HtwPTe8A7

Be First to Access Blockly Pro
  • Coding Pathways, our online, multimedia coding lessons, will add levels A-C of the code.org standards. We currently offer Coding Pathways for levels D-F, so this addition will complete the program.
  • In time for Back-to-School, we will introduce a new FREE tier of Class Connect, called Class Connect Basic. It will provide all teachers access to Class Connect so that a teacher can create and manage a classroom of up to 35 students who maintain their own progress through the Blockly Puzzles that teachers can monitor. Other features of Class Connect will be available with a paid subscription.
  • Read Aloud support, which is already available for Blockly Puzzles, is coming to Coding Pathways, as well as all Math activities in Class Connect. Now, pre-readers will have the support they need to take advantage of all of the learning tools inside of Class Connect, by clicking on a Read-Aloud toggle when they need it.
  • Our suite of online professional courses will be updated and improved in time for Back to School. The upgraded courses will include all of the new features we are introducing in Class Connect and Blockly.
]]> https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/new-features-at-wonder-workshop/feed/ 0 January WONDERful Educator of the Month – Lana Shea https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/january-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-lana-shea/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/january-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-lana-shea/#respond Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:28:35 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=7011 https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/january-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-lana-shea/feed/ 0 December WONDERful Educator of the Month – Joey Tanaka https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/december-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-joey-tanaka/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/december-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-joey-tanaka/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2019 20:58:01 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=6989 https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/december-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-joey-tanaka/feed/ 0 November WONDERful Educator of the Month – Bethany Arsenault https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/november-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-bethany-arsenault/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/november-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-bethany-arsenault/#respond Thu, 21 Nov 2019 20:30:18 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=6886 https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/november-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-bethany-arsenault/feed/ 0 October WONDERful Educator of the Month – Jasmine Saab https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/october-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-jasmine-saab/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/october-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-jasmine-saab/#respond Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:22:27 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=6865 https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/october-wonderful-educator-of-the-month-jasmine-saab/feed/ 0 WONDERful Moments with Wonder Workshop https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonderful-moments-with-wonder-workshop/ https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonderful-moments-with-wonder-workshop/#respond Thu, 19 Sep 2019 20:25:37 +0000 https://www.makewonder.com/?p=6835 https://www.makewonder.com/en/blog/wonderful-moments-with-wonder-workshop/feed/ 0