The AustSTEM Foundation has chosen to use the Kookaberry microcontroller platform in its applications and learning plans on this website.
Making STEM easy to teach and learn.
Trying to turn your Kookaberry on?
Go to the Getting Started Tutorial in the Learning Plans section.
Software Editors
Try out the Beta version of our KookaManager for Windows and Mac to easily manage our KookaBlockly and KookaIDE software editors
What is the Kookaberry?
It is a little computer (a microcontroller) measuring just 7cm by 4cm with a screen; battery; handle; and a menu of pre-coded applications and accompanying peripherals (sensors and control elements).
It is the platform powering the immersive STEM Experiential Learning Journey which will provide teachers with the necessary training and skills to bring the digital world to life in their classrooms.
Teachers and their students will learn how to capture, display, and analyse the data that is shaping every aspect of our daily lives.
The Kookaberry is designed and made in Australia and sits between the Raspberry Pi and micro:bit in both functionality and price.
It is simple to use, requires no coding experience, Internet, or WiFi, and brings the Internet of Things and real-world data into project-based learning throughout the curriculum.
It makes data accessible......
Learn more about the Kookaberry and how can it be used →
The STEM Experiential Learning Journey
The STEM Experiential Learning Journey is a programme developed by the AustSTEM Foundation to help them achieve their aim of increasing STEM literacy in Australian classrooms.
It is a whole-of-school programme introducing real world data and technology to subjects across the curriculum from Stage 3 onwards.
By taking the STEM Journey, teachers and their students will develop the practical skills to assess and draw conclusions based on real-world data and evidence, and be able to apply those skills in novel situations.
It is supported by a Journey Class Set and, most importantly, two Kookaberry teacher accreditation courses
Use across the curriculum
Current technology education tools are difficult to use outside of the technology classroom or maker spaces due to the time to set up; complicated connections; and the need to code them to achieve their intended purpose.
The Kookaberry overcomes these issues. and demonstrates how easy it is to understand the underlying technology and coding involved.
Current lesson plans and apps have been gathered into Tutorials relevant to a given subject. The first such Tutorial is for Music
Scientific Inquiry
The Kookaberry can measure, display, and store continuously changing real world data both inside and outside the classroom.
Instant data that will make Science, Mathematics and many other subjects exciting and relevant to the real world
Data can be transmitted from multiple Kookaberries using different sensors to a teacher's Kookaberry over their packet radios for analysis and display as a single Excel file.
Living in the digital world
The Kookaberry is a digital system like the digital systems that send a signal to the driver if their car is too close to the car in front; or a burglar alarm.....
When used in combination with its lesson plans, apps, peripherals, and projects, the Kookaberry brings the Internet of Things and real world of data alive in the classroom.
ACARA Technologies Curriculum
Supporting the curriculum
The Kookaberry supports teachers in delivering national and state science and technologies education outcomes.
NSW Science & Technology Syllabus
Integrated learning
Digital systems are now a part of everyday life, and every subject that is taught can benefit from using at least some of the technology that we take for granted outside of the classroom.
The Kookaberry' ability to quickly turn itself into many different tools makes it easy to use in subjects across the curriculum.
STEM progression and mentoring
The Kookaberry learning platform can be seen as a bridge seamlessly connecting primary and secondary STEM teaching and learning.
Students in Stage 5 (years 9 and 10), can give purpose to their practical technology studies by designing Kookaberry apps and projects for students in Stages 2 and 3 (years 3 to 6) and then mentoring them in their use.
Designed, developed, and made in Australia to support Australian teachers
The Kookaberry has been designed, developed, and is being made in Australia by Kookaberry Pty Ltd
Learning plans
Learning plans include everything that can contribute to the use of a Kookaberry for teaching and learning. Contributions by users will be both welcome and helpful to others.
They can be lesson plans; units of work; tutorials; experiments; workshops; projects or anything else considered useful by a contributor.
They will be mapped to curriculum outcomes and can be searched by Type, Learning Area and Year.
Apps
Pre-programmed applications (apps) ensure that relevant data, measurements, or specific activities such as servo or pump controls, are available as soon as an app is selected; peripherals are connected; and the app is run.
They are programmed in MicroPython and can be edited by users as required.
They are mapped to both Learning Plans and Peripherals, and can be searched by Category (Energy; Motion; Fun/Games; etc).
Contributions by users will be both welcome and helpful to others.
Peripherals
Plug-and-play peripherals include input devices such as sensors, keyboards, push buttons, potentiometers, and switches; and output devices such as loudspeakers, buzzers, servos, pumps, heaters, and relays.
They are mapped against Apps and can be searched by Output Type (analogue or digital); Type (Climate; Motion; Temperature; etc); Voltage; and Brand.
MicroPython Code Editors
AustSTEM commissioned the creator of MicroPython, Damien George, to write both a text based (KookIDE) and a graphical based (KookaBlockly) editor for the MicroPython code resident on the Kookaberry.
They both sit in a KookaSuite folder installed on a teacher's PC. This is accordance with the "no-internet" design criterium.
The KookaSuite folder also contains a Teacher's Window app which mirrors the screen of a tethered Kookaberry on a PC.
Professional learning
Two Teacher Accreditation courses are included within AustSTEM's signature product - the STEM Experiential Learning Journey.
Becoming comfortable with the Kookaberry's simple technology; and an understanding of all the different ways that the Kookaberry can enhance learning outcomes across the curriculum, is essential prior to classroom implementation.
The AustSTEM Foundation
The AustSTEM Foundation is a not-for-profit charity committed to raising STEM literacy in Australian classrooms