Sponsoring Company: Milestone C & STEMI

Bring AI tech to your classroom in an engaging way!  Visit this workshop to learn about how this technology is influencing and controlling our lives and how educators can teach your students so they are prepared and connected to the jobs of the future that are waiting for them.

SPEAKERS:
Dave Conelias (Milestone C LLC: Shelton, CT)

Learn about free NSTA resources that support integrating learning in Life Science, Computer Science, and Artificial Intelligence. Experience programming your own Artificial Intelligence device on your laptop. Discover the free professional learning available to support implementing the lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn code to program a simple dialogue with an AI Device. Discover how NSTAs free lessons authentically integrate Life Science, Computer Science, and AI. Learn about free professional learning that supports the lesson materials.

SPEAKERS:
Rob Wallace (: Kenner, LA), Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Prolonged exposure to radon, a colorless, radioactive, noble gas, is the second-leading cause of lung cancer. Researchers at Georgia State University (GSU) and GSU Perimeter College are conducting research to measure levels of radon gas in metropolitan Atlanta with support from the U. S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation. GSU researchers are testing soil samples and remotely monitoring radon levels. To disseminate this research to the broader community, the researchers hosted a week-long radon research workshop for 6-12 grade teachers in DeKalb County Public Schools, Georgia, in June 2022. Four teachers attended the summer radon workshop at the GSU Perimeter College-Decatur Campus. They participated in experiments on soil and water quality testing, soil porosity measurements, gene editing for cancer treatment, and virtual reality lung exploration. The project was highly successful and received positive feedback. This poster will detail the workshop experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how universities can successfully partner with local districts to provide research experiences for teachers to expand their content knowledge and lab experience. This project demonstrates the broader impact of the project’s initial goal of measuring radon levels in Atlanta.

SPEAKERS:
Samantha Andrews (GSU Perimeter College)

The vision of the Fairport STEAM Lab is to support, challenge, and prepare all Fairport students to be Future Ready. We believe that by engaging with curricular and extracurricular projects and inquiries, students will utilize their innate creativity to actively construct knowledge. Students engage with materials and technologies that help them share their learning and tell their stories. The Labs are a place for young people to develop skills that they can transfer to other parts of their lives as they prepare themselves for the future. The presenters will share our experience with building a Lab with attendees that are interested in creating them in their districts and how we have expanded our work to other area districts. We will explore how our curriculum is scaffolded to increase levels of sophistication regarding engineering design, computer science, and digital literacy concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with recommendations for creating STEAM Labs in their districts based on the blueprint that Fairport used to launch Labs that incorporate the NGSS Engineering Design standards, Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards, and a focus on social-emotional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Travis Wood (Fairport Central School District: No City, No State), Kristin Larsen (Honeoye Falls- Lima CSD: Honeoye Falls, NY)

We report results from a large-scale nationwide study titled “Researching Pre-College Factors that Lead to Persistence in Computer Science,” which has been supported by the National Science Foundation. This retrospective cohort study, including data from 6,044 students at 58 institutions of higher education across the U.S., investigated, among other questions, the effects on students’ computer science related career intentions of designated computer science classes in high school, and the teaching of computational thinking in high school classes other than computer science classes. We specifically looked at the effects of various types of in-school computer science classes (AP CS A, AP CS Principles, non-AP courses), of grades received, and of specific pedagogies in computer science classes, as well as in other classes.

TAKEAWAYS:
What difference do various "flavors" of in-school computer science classes (AP CS A, AP CS Principles, non-AP courses) make?

SPEAKERS:
Gerhard Sonnert (Harvard College Observatory: Cambridge, MA)

Prolonged exposure to radon, a colorless, inert noble gas, is the second-leading cause of lung cancer. Researchers at Georgia State University and Perimeter College are conducting research to measure and monitor the levels of radon gas in metro Atlanta through support from USDA and NSF grants. This project will detail the partnership between Georgia State University and DeKalb County Public Schools to provide an authentic experience by hosting a radon research summer workshop for 6-12 grade STEM teachers in 2022 and 2023. The teachers conducted hands-on laboratory experiments that modeled the research that is being conducted by the Georgia State University researchers and toured the sampling sites. The workshop received positive feedback from both cohorts. The workshop will detail how universities and school districts partner to strengthen the STEM pipeline and incorporate university-level research in a secondary classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how universities and K-12 school districts can partner to provide authentic science experiences to transfer high-level university research to a secondary classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Samantha Andrews (GSU Perimeter College)

The vision of the Fairport STEAM Lab is to support, challenge, and prepare all Fairport students to be Future Ready. We believe that by engaging with curricular and extracurricular projects and inquiries, students will utilize their innate creativity to actively construct knowledge. Students engage with materials and technologies that help them share their learning and tell their stories. The Labs are a place for young people to develop skills that they can transfer to other parts of their lives as they prepare themselves for the future. The presenters will share our experience with building a Lab with attendees that are interested in creating them in their districts and how we have expanded our work to other area districts. We will explore how our curriculum is scaffolded to increase levels of sophistication regarding engineering design, computer science, and digital literacy concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with recommendations for creating STEAM Labs in their districts based on the blueprint that Fairport used to launch Labs that incorporate the NGSS Engineering Design Standards, Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards, and a focus on social-emotional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Travis Wood (Fairport Central School District: No City, No State), Kristin Larsen (Honeoye Falls- Lima CSD: Honeoye Falls, NY)

We report results from a large-scale nationwide study titled “Researching Pre-College Factors that Lead to Persistence in Computer Science,” which has been supported by the National Science Foundation. This retrospective cohort study, including data from 6,044 students at 58 institutions of higher education across the U.S., investigated, among other questions, the effects on students’ computer science related career intentions of designated computer science classes in high school, and of teaching of computational thinking in high school classes other than computer science classes. We specifically looked at the effects of various types of in-school computer science classes (AP CS A, AP CS Principles, non-AP courses), of grades received, and of specific pedagogies in computer science classes as well as in other classes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn what works--and what does not work--in boosting students' computer science-related career interests and identity, and be able to use these findings to help make the case for CS in their schools.

SPEAKERS:
Gerhard Sonnert (Harvard College Observatory: Cambridge, MA)

Pathogen Patrol is a gamified learning experience created by Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and Tipping Point Media on the Roblox platform. This immersive classroom learning experience is designed to teach students about the human immune system's response to infections. Students are transformed into one of five different white blood cell types, and they must work with other players to protect the host from invading pathogens. The experience combines fun and engaging gameplay with applied learning, building students' problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and enduring understandings of the human body and its response to infection. PLTW believes that Roblox is the perfect platform to engage students in deep learning that builds the same transportable skills they develop in the classroom. In this workshop, teachers will be transported into virtual human hosts and experience stealth learning experience how stealth learning can create deep understanding of complex systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Well-designed immersive learning experiences can engage students and create deep learning opportunities through repeated gameplay.

SPEAKERS:
Sheila Robles (Instructional Developer: , TX), Taylor Puett (Project Lead The Way, Inc.: Indianapolis, IN), Jason Rausch (SVP of Programs: Indianapolis, OK)