Hello All,
I am teaching a robotics class for 7th-10 grade students. My school has been looking into buying Arduino robotics kits but I know from my own experience in buying these kits on amazon that most of them are just junk boxes with missing/broken parts. Is there a reputable company that educators can buy fully complete kits where I can get assurances that the kits will be complete and ready to assemble out of the box?
Arduino themselves have a specialty EDU section for schools and such.
They also have IIRC set curriculums and such also which should make it a simple task for teachers.
I have tagged this post to the correct department for you and maybe Monday thay will respond.
Bob.
Arduino starter kits...I guess this may also help?
Hello,
Arduino Education offers many different solutions for teaching and learning robotics and other STEAM subjects. We currently have the following options:
Arduino Education Starter Kit
Teach middle school students (11-14) the basics of programming, coding, and electronics. The Arduino Education Starter Kit contains all the hardware and software you need for 8 students (in groups of 2). You 10 get step-by-step-lessons, teacher notes, exercises, and for a complete and in-depth class experience there’s also extra optional resources including activities, concepts, history, and interesting facts.
Arduino Student Kit (Education Starter Kit designed for remote learning)
You’ll get all the hardware and software you need for one person, making it ideal to use for remote teaching, homeschooling, and for self-learning. There are 10 step-by-step lessons with exercises, and for a complete and in-depth experience, there’s also extra content, including invention spotlights, concepts, and interesting facts about electronics, technology, and programming.
CTC (Creative Technologies in the Classroom) Programs:
CTC is Arduino’s STEAM program where students are introduced to the foundations of programming, electronics, and mechanics through a series of playful, well-documented projects and easy-to-assemble experiments. CTC utilizes a collaborative learning curriculum designed for schools that wish to incorporate emerging technologies into their classrooms. Tailored for students ages 13-17, the program has been designed for teachers, instructors, and other professionals working in the education field to be able to lead the program no matter their background.
The program consist of a hardware component toolbox for a whole classroom, and the curriculum is hosted on our online platform for teachers and students and is where the teachers training and support takes place.
CTC 101: is a stand alone program, you will get access to the online platform for up to 3 educators and 30 students and the toolbox contains enough material for 6 groups of students (up to 5 students per group) at the same time. There are 2 options: the self learning program, that includes all that is mentioned before, and the Full program that adds, on top of what's been mentioned, a training and the option to have webinars with the Arduino Support team. Th program consists of 5 modules, covering different topics within electronics and programming. Each module has 5 - 6 concepts and 3 - 7 different projects.
CTC GO!: Is a module-based program. Every module includes online content and training, plus a toolbox with materials for up to 24 students.
CTC GO! Core Module: basic module, focused on the basics of programming and electronics. 8 lessons + 8 projects (in groups the students create 2 of the 8 projects)
CTC Go! Motions expansion pack: to increase what was learnt from the core module with notions on mechanics, motors and their control using electronics and programming. 4 lessons + 4 projects (in groups, the student does 1 out of the 4 projects)
The main difference between CTC101 and CTC Go! is the length of the included content and its continuity.
Arduino Starter Kit
Designed for anyone 14+, the Starter Kit gets you started with electronics quickly and easily - no prior experience required. Available versions: English (EN), Italiano (IT), Français (FR), Español (ES), Deutsch (DE), Japanese (JP), 中文 (CN), 한글 (KO) عربى (ARA). It comes with a project book with 15 projects.
Also available in a classroom pack.
Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab
The Arduino Education Science Kit Physics Lab provides middle schoolers (ages 11-14) with a hands-on experience, enabling them to explore forces, motion, and conductivity with their classmates in 9 experiments. Developed in partnership with Google, the Arduino Science Kit Physics Lab is an Arduino-based physics lab, fully compatible with Google Science Journal available on Android. Click here for the Pirate Ship preview!
Arduino Engineering Kit
Challenge engineering students and help them develop physical engineering skills with the Arduino Engineering Kit. Featuring cutting-edge technology, the kit is a practical, hands-on tool that demonstrates key engineering concepts, core aspects of mechatronics, and MATLAB and Simulink programming. Ideal for advanced high school and college students, the three projects teach the basics of modeling, controls, image processing, robotics, signal processing, and more - plus they’re fun to do!
Arduino Certification Program
Arduino Fundamentals is an online exam that provides official certification on your knowledge of Arduino related electronics, programming and physical computing. The exam is based on the concepts introduced in the Arduino Starter Kit, as it offers all you need (components, project book and support) to get started with Arduino, coding and electronics in a hands-on way.
In any case, please take a look at the Arduino Education Webpage in order to learn more about all the options.
I highly recommend SparkFun inventor kits. I have purchased from them for years now and they provide lessons/learning materials as well as providing the educators with hands on training to get started as I had absolutely zero experience when I got going.
@Theresed, thank you. Exactly what the OP needed...
In my opinion, buying parts from Creation-Crate would be great. Although the Arduino boards don't tend to work very well, you can always buy them separately. It includes a booklet with instructions for the more advanced projects and all the parts you need for those projects. It will be shipped once every month for 18 months. (Used to be 12 months, but they are constantly adding in new projects!) Go to creationcrate.com and I hope this helps. 
It might not be fundable by anyone, but the Lego Robot creator 51515 is awesome. If you want it on the cheap, get this:
At 85€ it is basically Mindstorms (combined with PyBricks.com), buy the RGB sensor with it for 25€ and you have a great starter kit. The brick contains a gyroscope as well, so you can teach Segway like robot line followers and stuff like that with what looks to be a dull Top-Gear car!
This set is similar: LEGO 42124: Off-Road Buggy | Brickset: LEGO set guide and database
The Top-Gear car has better bricks and wheels though.
The great deal with the new technic LEGO is that prototyping is really fast, the new motors and big frames make conceptual building an awesome experience. Starter kits only tackle the brain part, not the construction. Without the 3D printers the school has, things are pretty tough from home.
I would NEVER EVER recommend anyone ANY Arduino Starter kit with LEDs, resistors, the crappy blue LCD's and a bunch of cheap sensors. Especially the Chines clone ones, they are obnoxiuous. Kids get nuts from putting those prototype wires in breadbords for complex electronics, and a LED is a horrible device conceptually with its zero resistance and one-way current direction. They want to start coding right away. Most instructions make things even worse as they ignore pull-up resistors in-chip and start asking to put resistors (impossible with the flimsy legs) or pushbuttons (short too thick legs) in breadboards.
Also great are the Microbit add-ons by Kitronik.
Get a micro:bit, get a buggy and a GameZip64, and you can so some really nice coding: with the Arduino IDE of course, thanks to Sandeep Mistry's great IDE plugin (which is way faster than uploading HEX files from MakeCode!)
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