What's in the Box?
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. 1GB RAM. 1.2 GHz Quad-Core 64 bit CPU
- 9” LCD display with an HDMI cable
- 7800 mAh rechargeable battery
- Integrated speaker with amplifier and external volume control
- 16GB MicroSD card including 20+ Piper 3D StoryMode levels, PiperCode projects, and more
- Software updating capabilities (requires WIFI connection)
- USB Mouse
- Micro USB charging cable
- 20+ electronic components including breadboards, buttons, switches, LED lights, buzzers, and 25 jumper wires
- 8 square foot laminated blueprint with visuals for assembly
- 25+ laser-etched wooden and acrylic pieces
- 50+ hardware pieces
- Phillips-head screwdriver
"Judges liked its self-paced concept and especially favored its Minecraft-inspired lessons"
Kevin Hogan, Managing Director
"The Piper Computer Kit excelled during our evaluation process, scoring in the top 1 percentile of over 1,100 STEM products reviewed since 2014."
Andrew Raupp, STEM.org Founder
"The Piper Computer Kit stands out amidst an impressive array of options, as our top pick for the Best STEM Toy of 2020."
Dr. Mark Coster, STEM Toy Expert
"Judges liked its self-paced concept and especially favored its Minecraft-inspired lessons"
Kevin Hogan, Managing Director
PASCALINE C.
Proud Piper Parent
"Positively life-changing for our child — thank you Piper!"
"It’s a great product to introduce your child to engineering, computers, and coding. I love that the frame is made out of (sustainable) wood and that part of the product experience is building the computer itself. There’s a sense of accomplishment and ownership that comes from having built your own computer that a child doesn’t get with a finished product. I also love that it gives our son a better understanding of the inner workings of the hardware."
WE INSPIRE LEARNING.
With Piper, students learn STEAM with a hands-on and student-centered experience. When students learn through the Piper blueprint, software challenges, and coding tutorials, they develop problem solving and collaborative learning skills. After learning and practicing the fundamentals, they can then build off of this foundation towards a higher-level creative experience.
SHREE BOSE, COFOUNDER
ON THE PIPER VISION
Co-Founder, Piper Inc.
@shreebose
2011 Grand Prize Winner, Google Global Science Fair Winner
Class of 2016 Graduate, Harvard College
MD/PhD Candidate, Duke University School of Medicine
"Today more than ever, kids need a better and more engaging way to play and build with technology. That's why we created Piper, a toolbox that lets anyone build real gadgets and real electronics while playing Minecraft.
In today's world of sleek touch screen devices, kids don't have a second thought about what's behind the screen and how our devices actually work. At Piper, we think that by restricting kids to closed, black box devices, we're denying them the opportunity to actually become curious about what's behind the screen.
So Piper lets you do just that, to have a fun tool that lets today's generation of kids to build, tinker, and explore in the physical space — to become creators rather than consumers of technology. And to do all of that in a fun and engaging way."
Shree with Bill Nye the Science Guy meeting President Obama in the White House during after the 2012 White House Science Fair.
AFTER PIPER, STUDENTS WILL KNOW
AND BE ABLE TO...
- Build a computer with the parts provided by reading exploded diagrams on an engineering blueprint
- Learn about circuits and electrical components to connect complex circuits with simulations in Piper's StoryMode (our custom-built version of the Raspberry Pi Edition of Minecraft)
- Connect circuits with the Raspberry Pi, breadboards, and jumper wires to learn about electronics and connectivity
- Discover commonly used inputs and outputs (buttons, switches, LED lights and buzzers)
- Understand binary states and both series and parallel circuits
- Write code to solve problems using a block-based language, Google Blockly, in PiperCode
- Explore computational thinking and view the relationship between visual and text-based programming languages.
- Program physical devices and interactive games using Blockly in PiperCode
IN PIPERCODE, STUDENTS WILL...
PiperCode is also an opportunity to extend learning with deeper engineering design and computational thinking challenges. Learners quickly progress from simple to complex computer science concepts and practices. Specifically, students will:
- Review key electronics and programming understandings
- Understand how to use design thinking to solve problems
- Practice critical thinking
- Explore computational thinking practices by completing prompts, creating code, or debugging and remixing base projects.
- Express creativity by designing and creating their own projects
- Extend and transition between block-based and text-based languages