In this interactive workshop, you will use the NGSS K-2 Engineering Design Standards to integrate STEM into the storybook Mrs. Brown Went to Town and see how you can get your students excited about reading and science through engineering.

TAKEAWAYS:
Want to get your students excited about a story? Then have them be a part of the story and use their knowledge of materials and engineering to help Mrs. Brown! In this interactive session you will get to design and test your engineering project based on the storybook Mrs. Brown Went to Town.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Hill (Wicomico County Public Schools: Salisbury, MD), Anna Ball (Wicomico County Public Schools: Salisbury, MD)

Engage in teacher play with us and ponder how light sources and open-ended materials entice children to grow executive function skills as they construct systems that produce unique images.  

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in teacher play as they handle light sources and open-ended materials and receive a handout to help them get started in preparing an environment for independent STEM experiences that can be offered daily in their PK-2 classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)

Learn how to integrate the engineering design process and environmental education to engage students in this unit designed for upper elementary students! Participants will complete the Ocean Cleanup Challenge from the perspective of a student and learn about the Trashion Fashion Challenge.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will learn how to increase student awareness of ocean and land pollution through hands-on STEM challenges. They will also learn how to connect relevant, real world topics that matter to promote student voice.

SPEAKERS:
Meghan Marrero (Mercy University, Dobbs Ferry Campus: No City, No State), Johanna Vasquez (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY), Terri Agravat (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY)

Learn about the new NASA Next Gen STEM activity Sparking Participation with Real-world Experiences (SPARX), launching in school year 23-24. Explore this exciting opportunity and experience hands-on lessons from the SPARX portfolio - Priority Packing for the Moon.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with an understanding of what resources will be necessary on a mission to the Moon, a knowledge of NASA SPARX, and an activity to ignite students' interest in STEM through space exploration resources.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Sebastian (Education Coordinator), Martha Lopez (Education Coordinator: Houston, TX)

Explore how engineering benefits English learners as you engage in lessons designed to foster engineering, science, and language learning for elementary students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engineering activities can offer multimodal experiences for English learners that encourage their participation and contributions to the engineering classroom community and engage them in purposeful uses of language.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Cunningham (Museum of Science, Boston: Boston, MA)

Inclusive Community Science Workshops in schools, libraries, and communities fosters STEM learning, creativity, innovation, and identity through play, making, and positive social interactions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about instructional innovations, resources, and ideas for enhancing STEM learning and teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Jerry Valadez (Fresno State and SAM Academy CSW)

After being inspired by the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, participants will design their own musical instruments using “trash.” We will then learn how to add conductive materials to our instruments creating our own Garbage Band complete with music videos.

TAKEAWAYS:
While constructing their own musical instruments from recycled materials participants will explore conductivity as they use a variety of materials to create circuits adding to their Garbage Band experience. They will then learn how to make music videos via a green screen and iMovie.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Eades-Gill (Midland Trail High School: Hico, WV), Tiffany Pace (Cross Lanes Elementary School: Charleston, WV)

Create an electric car and race it against other participants’ cars. These cars are made using cardboard strips, paper fasteners, wooden skewers, tape and plastic wheels, in addition to motors and AA batteries, whose total cost is about $1.50.

TAKEAWAYS:
A car consists of a base, wheels, a battery, a motor and a drive system. Only one drive wheel is needed to propel the car, and the simplest drive system has this wheel attached directly to the motor.

SPEAKERS:
Jazlyn Mena (Castle Bridge School: New York, NY), Jody Hilton (P.S. 44 Marcus Garvey Magnet School of Engineering and Design and The City College of New York), Lacey Samsoe (Teacher: Brooklyn, NY)

In this session, participants will work on hands-on activities and test a prototype to learn about forces using the engineering design model and translanguaging for elementary grades.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to teach about forces for elementary grade level using an engineering activity and translanguaging (English/Spanish).

SPEAKERS:
Brianna Ricker (Student: No City, No State), Max Vazquez Dominguez (University of North Georgia: Dahlonega, GA)

After reviewing the steps of the Engineering Design Process, educators will engage in a read-aloud story by Ashley Spires called The Most Magnificent Thing. Connections will be made between the story and the Engineering Design Process. From there, educators will put on their ‘student hats’ as they view a read-aloud of a story called Those Darn Squirrels! by Adam Rubin. With this story, educators will think like their students as they engage in an Engineering Design Process using elements from the book. For example, they will identify the problem in the story (How can Mr. Fookwire keep the squirrels away from his bird feeder?), and learn about the constraints involved. They will then brainstorm, diagram, and build their model as a team. They will also present their model and use feedback to make improvements. After experiencing the EDP, resources will be shared with teachers to assist them in designing an EDP using literature across many grade levels.

TAKEAWAYS:
Plan for upcoming STEM integrated lessons by exploring resources and brainstorming ideas with colleagues

SPEAKERS:
Brenna Chambers (Manager of Professional Learning), Judith Lozoya (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ), Jennifer Petersen (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ)

Learn to make cardboard mechanisms and structures, create a mechanism that looks like a letter, and mount it to make a structure. Students in pre-K classrooms in Brooklyn, NY have learned to identify mechanisms and structures by engaging in these activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Mechanisms and structures are all around us! Mechanisms have independent moving parts, while structures do not. Increasing the number of fasteners can turn a mechanism into a structure while removing fasteners can turn it back into a mechanism.

SPEAKERS:
Jazlyn Mena (Castle Bridge School: New York, NY), Jody Hilton (P.S. 44 Marcus Garvey Magnet School of Engineering and Design and The City College of New York), Lacey Samsoe (Teacher: Brooklyn, NY)

Explore a socially engaged approach to engineering as you interact with lessons designed to help students consider how engineering connects to their lives and impacts stakeholders’ communities and cultures.

TAKEAWAYS:
Socially engaged engineering situates engineering in its larger societal context and helps students recognize how a range of stakeholders benefit or are harmed by engineering solutions. Through such work, students develop empathy and perspective-taking as well as more robust solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Cunningham (Museum of Science, Boston: Boston, MA)

A team of Primary and Lower School educators will share strategies for effective implementation of STEAM through the Design Thinking Process with students in grades Pre-K - 6. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience hands-on activities and gain experience with various technologies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to effectively implement various STEAM strategies with elementary students through hands-on activities, technologies, and literature.

SPEAKERS:
Tammy Felton (Instructor tech specialist: , GA), Amy Walker (Media Specialist: College Park, GA), Summaya Knight (Educational Technology Specialist: College Park, GA), Natalie Rachel (Woodward Academy: College Park, GA)

Strong winds generated by hurricanes and tornadoes can lift the roof off a house. Use a model for the engineering design process that integrates the NGSS three dimensions to design a better roof.

TAKEAWAYS:
The NGSS student performance expectation addressed in this workshop is: 3-EES3-1 Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Ostlund (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX)

Looking for a way to bring meaning to data collection and analysis? Join members of the Air Camp USA Team to see how to engage students in this hands-on approach to help your students think like scientists and engineers. Make predictions, test variables, and design your perfect straw rocket!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn hands-on strategies to help students develop measurement, data collection, and analysis skills they can apply in engineering design lessons. You will learn methods to differentiate this in any K-12 setting and leave with resources for your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Coblentz (Director of Operations: Dayton, OH), Christina Davis (Air Camp USA, Inc.: Dayton, OH)