RAFT Blog, News, and Events

RAFT’s AI Chatbot: A Smarter Way to Support Hands-On Learning

March 4, 2026

At RAFT, we’re always exploring new ways to help educators bring hands-on STEAM learning into the classroom. With support from the Cisco Foundation, RAFT launched an AI-enabled chatbot designed to help teachers confidently implement STEAM lessons and provide more personalized learning support for students. This tool acts like a digital teaching assistant, helping educators adapt…

A Legacy of Learning: The Guidry Foundation and RAFT’s Endowment Fund

January 26, 2026

For over three decades, RAFT has been fortunate to be supported by partners who believe deeply in the power of hands-on learning. Among them is The Mark & Carolyn Guidry Foundation, longtime champions of education, creativity, and opportunity for all students. Founded in 1994, the Guidry Foundation was established by Mark and Carolyn Guidry to…

Annual Fundraiser Recap: RAFT to the Future of STEAM Education

September 25, 2025

On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, RAFT hosted its annual fundraising event: RAFT to the Future. Over 130 supporters were present at RAFT, which was transformed into a beautiful space for the special event for the night. That evening, we honored the individuals and organizations that have made a profound impact on RAFT and the education…

STEAM Dream Summer Camp 2025: A Season of Innovation, Discovery, and Fun

August 19, 2025

This August marks the exciting wrap-up of RAFT’s 2025 STEAM Dream Summer Camp and DreamBox season-our biggest yet! Over the course of eight action-packed weeks, we delivered more than 180 hours of hands-on STEAM programming, engaging TK-8 students from across the Bay Area in engineering challenges, storytelling adventures, and STEAM experimentation. With programs running across…

Introducing Sarah Slavin, New CEO of RAFT

Jan 29, 2018 | Comments Off

Sarah is excited to lead this outstanding organization into its next phase of innovation and impact. SAN JOSE, CA, January 30, 2018 – Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT), a non-profit organization and leading provider of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) based hands-on learning,…

Use the Winter Olympics to engage your students

Jan 20, 2018 |

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are right around the corner! This worldwide event offers excellent opportunities to use the Olympics to inspire your students to learn about many mathematical concepts such as slope. How can the Olympics help students understand slope? Think of ski…

Impacting Children Worldwide: RAFT’s Trip to Kenya

Jan 16, 2018 |

RAFT employee, Sylvia lodge, recently made a trip to Kenya and was able to visit a school in a Maasai village. The school employed one teacher who worked with about 59 students ranging form three to twelve years of age. They were having classes…

RAFT Impacting Children Worldwide – The Syria Story

Jan 6, 2018 |

This past year, RAFT members Consuelo Montoya and Carol Muhn took RAFT kits to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon for the more than 280,000 school-age refugee children not able to attend school. As Carol Muhn recounts, “We taught the teachers at Beyond Association’s Child…

Let’s Celebrate National Dice Day

Dec 4, 2017 |

Did you know that each year on December 4th in the United States people observe National Dice Day? Many games use dice as a way to add random challenges by generating numbers from a toss of the dice. The value of the toss is…

We’re Thankful for You!

Nov 18, 2017 |

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and this is an excellent time in the school year to take a moment and reflect on the teachers and students for whom you are grateful! Thanksgiving is a holiday that reminds us to stop and think about…