EdBoard Technologies

EdBoard Technologies, an award-winning startup education technology company founded by two ATLAS Creative Technology & Design master's students Ruhan Yang and Cody Candler, both members of the ACME Lab, and a core team of six other students, including Ryan Good (TAM ‘18) and Joia Reeder (TAM ‘20), offers colorful hardware and curriculum focused on teaching students as young as six about electricity and electrical circuits. With fun, tiered groupings of lessons, some of which involve storytelling, children progressively expand their understanding of electrical concepts.

EdBoard is inspired by a “breadboard,” a device widely used in electronics for teaching, experimenting and testing circuit design. Made of opaque, monochromatic plastic and covered with hundreds of tiny holes, breadboards require fine motor skills and some knowledge of the embedded wiring in order to use them. In contrast, EdBoards are made from transparent acrylic with clearly visible iron rods running the length and width of the board. Kits include colorful components equipped with magnetic posts and illustrated circuit diagrams that slide under boards, mapping out circuits and setting up problems.

Preliminary studies indicate that novice students are able to comprehend certain electrical engineering concepts more quickly when using EdBoards than with standard breadboards.

Of Note:

  • EdBoard started a kickstarter campaign on July 21, 2020.
  • EdBoard won fourth place at CU Boulder's New Venture Challenge this year, coming away with $12,500, after giving one of the most polished presentations of the evening. As NVC12 wrapped up Zayo Chairman and CEO Dan Caruso announced he wanted to place an order for $5,000 of EdBoard’s products. The team initially reached the NVC hardware finals in the 2019 NVC Championships.
  • The team also won third place and $1,000 in the 2020 CU Boulder’s NVC Women's Entrepreneurship Prize.
  • EdBoard received $8,275 from Catalyze CU, a summer accelerator that offers equity-free funding.

ACME Lab    EdBoard Website

 

Associated Researchers

Publications

Ruhan YangCody Candler, and Ellen Yi-Luen Do. 2020. "EdBoard: An Educational Breadboard". In: Proceedings of the Interaction Design and Children Conference 2020 (IDC'20). (London, England (virtual)–June 17-24, 2020).