Pearson is adding LittleBits kits to its STEM curriculum

Manhattan-based startup LittleBits has worked hard to shake the “tech toy” label. While the company’s done a good job getting its kid-friendly engineering kits into the hands of schools, a new partnership with Pearson will certainly add an extra bit of legitimacy to the company’s methods.

The education publishing giant announced this week that it’s incorporating LittleBits’ modular block-based system into its grade three to eight science curriculum in the form of the simply named “Pearson littleBits STEM Invention Toolbox.”

The partnership is designed to inject a little extra interactivity into Pearson’s STEM/STEAM curriculum — something LittleBits knows quite well. As founder/CEO Ayah Bdeir told us when we visited the company’s new offices back in November, “I started to realize there was a real opportunity to inspire kids and empower them to get excited about education.”

The kits will be tailored to their specific grade level, focused on big ideas from energy conservation to earthquakes. Bdeir again, “This partnership with Pearson will enable millions of students to experience that wonder, and educators will be excited to know that they are helping their students get future-ready.”

The company’s been a standout in the increasingly crowded world of science-focused learned products. Last week, John gave its Droid Inventor Kit a thumbs up, calling it “the first STEM toy that works.” High praise, indeed.

It’s a good template for fellow Disney accelerator graduate Sphero, which recently announced that it will be going full bore into the education category after a recent round of layoffs.