Internet of Things (IoT) Instructional Devices in STEM Classrooms: Past, Present and Future Directions

This research to practice category full paper provides a survey of how Internet of Things (IoT) devices have made inroads in diverse commercial industries and how these devices have been implemented in pre- and post-secondary classrooms in the past, their current state in educational settings, and suggestions for future implementation. IoT implementation in the realm of education has primarily been limited to student transportation and food service for tracking buses, students, and school property. In this paper, the authors provide suggestions for how IoT devices can be implemented in classrooms as subject (instructional aid) and object (endproduct or deliverable) devices by instructors with the emphasis on facilitating effective teaching and hands-on learning. The authors provide two examples of such devices in this paper to illustrate the classification of instructional IoT devices into subject and object devices. The authors suggest that the current limited role of IoT in pre- and post-secondary classrooms is due to the lack of knowledge about this new technology; therefore, the focus of this paper is on the function of IoTs and the process of providing educators with the technology, instructional tools, and materials necessary to implement IoT devices within the classroom.