Lego Mindstorms EV3 set to invade classrooms

Lego isn't all just about fun and games. While most kids love to play around with Star Wars Lego sets and craft their own creations out of the plastic connectors, the company wants to bring Legos into the classroom. Lego has announced that their new Mindstorms EV3 robotic sets will be set for classroom use on August 1.

The Lego Mindstorms sets are built to actively engage students and teach them about various fundamentals in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The Lego sets come with digital workbooks, so teachers shouldn't have a hard time learning about the new platform before handing them over the students.

We briefly got a look at the third-generation Mindstorms EV3 sets at CES 2013 back in January, and they essentially allow you to build different kinds of robots that you can control with an app on your iOS or Android device. The educational kits will come with software that will easily guide students through the process of building a Mindstorms robot.

Kits start at $340, and they're available to pre-order right now. That may a bit on the expensive side, and to equip an entire classroom with these sets would be quite costly, but as with most other educational tools, they should be able to hold up for a few years and be able to go through hundreds of students hands.