Unruly Studios - Best Cross-Curricular Solution

Company: Unruly Studios, Inc., Boston, MA
Company Description: Unruly Studios is the creator of Unruly Splats, the first STEM learning tool that combines coding with active-play. Students build their own games with programmable floor buttons that they can code to light up, make sounds, and collect points when stomped on. Unruly Studios' vision is to create an electronic playground that makes learning more playful, collaborative, and inclusive.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Education
Nomination Sub Category: Cross-Curricular Solution

Nomination Title: Unruly Studios' Unruly Splats

December 2019: shipped first Unruly Splats to schools after a successful Kickstarter campaign

September 2020: shipped new version of the accompanying Unruly Splats app in order to facilitate virtual and hybrid learning

Unruly Splats are the first cross-curricular STEM learning tool that combines coding with active-play. They are programmable floor buttons that students code to light up, make sounds, and collect points when stomped on to create games like whack-a-mole, relay races, and dance competitions. Games can be played in school, at home, or in a hybrid model using an app. A school membership includes Splats, unlimited seats in the coding app for teachers and students, and ongoing professional development opportunities to ensure teachers of any subject are empowered to incorporate STEM into their classrooms.

Unruly Splats are designed to help K-8 schools fulfill a wide range of high priority learning objectives across distance, blended, and in-person learning including:

Cross-curricular STEM learning: AGallup study found that 9 in 10 parents want their kids to learn computer science in school. Unruly Splats allow teachers to incorporate STEM into any K-8 subject, including general education, PE, and even music! https://news.gallup.com/poll/184637/parents-students-computer-science-education-school.aspx

Breaking down barriers in STEM by combining coding with play: The games kids play with Unruly Splats encourage physical movement, helping to combat a decades long drop in active-play for children exacerbated by the pandemic. https://mcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Research-Summary-1117.pdf

Collaborative games that connect students virtually and in-person: A cloud-based app allows kids and teachers to code and play interactive games with Unruly Splats, no matter the setting: in-school, virtual, or hybrid.

Inclusive activities rooted in the CASEL framework for SEL: Activities focus on the core CASEL competencies of social and emotional learning including self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Unruly Splats combine STEM, active-play, and collaborative learning in a way that’s never been done before. The product was developed by a team of experts in cognitive science, toy manufacturing, and education, with experience at Nickelodeon, iRobot, Disney, and Mattel.

In December 2020, one year after making the first shipment to schools, Unruly Splats were in use at over 800 schools across the US and Canada and reached 1 million “stomps” -- a high measure of engagement.

Unruly Studios prides itself on listening to teachers and understanding their needs. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the company brought to market dozens of new virtual-friendly lesson plans and a cloud-based app that helps teachers and students seamlessly transition between in-person and remote instruction. Unruly Splats have also proven to be ideal for COVID-friendly hybrid learning since they don’t require handling with hands, just stomping!

Here are three examples of how teachers have used Unruly Splats to keep kids engaged and physically active in the last year:

Cathy Truesdale is a Music Teacher at Canterbury School in Florida. When her school started coming back to the classroom, Cathy still had to figure out alternatives to singing and playing musical instruments. Instead, Cathy’s students coded the Splats to play different musical notes and stomped on them to make music!
Deb Dixon is a Library Media Specialist at Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Massachusetts. School is entirely remote, but Deb’s students are still using the Unruly Splats App to create and play games that incorporate active play. For example, her students built a treasure hunt game by coding a randomizer to turn the virtual Splats different colors. The kids then had to run around their homes to find objects of that specific color.
Thomas Girolamo is a PE teacher at Concourse Village Elementary School in New York. He successfully pulled off a school-wide fitness AND coding challenge this fall. As New York City schools switched between remote and hybrid learning, 150+ of his students competed against the clock either in-person or over Zoom to do the most jumping jacks and pushups in 20 seconds. The kids used the Unruly Splats App to program the timers and stopwatches.

Here is a video of Cathy Tuesdale’s music class in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o259Y4VVX1I
Here is a video of how Deb Dixon and the PE teacher at her school use Splats (made before COVID-19): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKAYTBLg36M&;feature=youtu.be
Here is a blog post with video and pictures from the fitness and coding challenge that Thomas Girolamo’s school participated in: >https://www.unrulysplats.com/blog/unruly-fall-fitness-challenge-final-standings
Here is a recent video of more teacher testimonials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H07eceCMo7I&;feature=emb_logo
Here is a recent Forbes interview with Bryanne Leeming, the CEO and founder of Unruly Studios: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marijabutkovic/2020/11/17/this-female-founder-is-creating-a-playground-that-breaks-down-barriers-in-stem-education/?sh=40ae57054f09
Here is an op-ed by Bryanne highlighting how PE teachers are helping students “beat the COVID slide” by reimagining PE and incorporating cross-curricular learning goals from STEM to social and emotional learning (SEL): https://districtadministration.com/pe-is-what-kids-need-to-beat-the-covid-slide/