Nintendo is working together with the Institute of Play, a non-profit organization, to bring Nintendo Labo into classrooms to give kids a way to explore basic STEAM concepts. A pilot program is currently in progress. [Thanks, The Verge!]
Through this partnership, Nintendo Labo kits will reach around 2,000 students in about 100 schools across the US, while the Institute of Play will be creating a guide for teachers to integrate the kits into their lesson plans. Institute of Play co-executive director Arana Shapiro commented that the idea is to basically make a guide for teachers so they can naturally come up with ways to do something with Labo kits, while leaving room for teachers to explore new possibilities.
According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé, the program is meant to be “as turn-key as possible, to reach as many potential educators and as many potential students as possible.” Meanwhile, Shapiro mentioned that the pilot phase is going well so far. “Immediately kids are excited and engaged and ready to go […] The kids are all-in at the beginning, but the adults have a healthy amount of skepticism, and by the end they’re really excited about what they can do when we’re not there anymore.”
After the pilot phase, the Nintendo Labo program will be brought out to around 100 schools, with Nintendo providing the kits and Switches needed for the endeavour. The teacher’s guide will also be available for free to all later this Fall. In Canada, Nintendo will be working with education company Actua for a similar project.
Nintendo Labo is available on Nintendo Switch.
