This will give information that will enable participants to replicate a STEM outreach event with various theme ideas. The activities are all low-cost and adaptable across student ages and generations of family members. The activities are meant to provide opportunities for students and families to experience success in a fun and enriching way while engaging with STEM concepts from the NRC K-12 Framework. We will also discuss how we used this event as a way for our preservice teachers to experience and practice implementing informal education strategies. This event was hosted at our local STEM Center, but we will also discuss ways that it can be implemented at school STEM nights, at community events, or even as neighborhood "pop-up" events to reach diverse learners in equitable ways.

TAKEAWAYS:
STEM Outreach events can be a way to engage students and families in equitable STEM learning to encourage and support all learners. This will provide information on how to replicate a STEM outreach event we hosted at our local STEM Center along with ideas about implementing it in different formats.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Moore (Tennessee Tech: Cookeville, TN)

Participants will start with two STEM design challenges- paper airplanes and oil rig. They will read a clip from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) and discuss possible design challenge ideas for fourth or fifth grade students. They will explore a year long elementary plan of units and how to add STEM projects at regular intervals, as well as identify resources for ideas and grant opportunities for funding. They will be given a handout of children's literature and potential STEM project connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to integrate STEM throughout the year in elementary classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Boulden (Warner University: Lake Wales, FL)

Preparing preservice teachers with opportunities to engage with innovative technology may increase the likelihood that they will use technology in their elementary/middle school classrooms. Preservice teachers in an educational technology class learned how to use innovative technology prior to introducing students in the United States and/or Mexico to the technology. Preservice teachers took surveys and wrote reflections about their opinions of the effectiveness of the technology as an educational tool for science classrooms. opportunities

TAKEAWAYS:
Teacher educators will have opportunities to engage with floor-robots and virtual reality headsets during this workshop presentation. Researchers will detail highlights from a service-learning trip to Mexico prior to engaging participants in hands-on learning opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Jane Elizabeth Casey (Lamar University: Beaumont, TX)

This session begins with a video clip to engage. Participants are given a battery, lightbulb, and a wire made from aluminum foil and masking tape. They are directed to make the bulb light up (exploring). They will then be shown 5 resources and how they can be used to explain current electricity. Participants will be given materials to design and build a lighthouse with a working light and challenged to make the light turn on and off (expand). After the design challenge, they will be shown 3 ways to evaluate (formative and summative) student mastery of current electricity. After experiencing the learning cycle, we will look at examples of Next Generation standards and how to develop learning cycle plans as well as Florida science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to turn science standards, both Next Generation and state adopted standards, into learning cycle lesson plans for elementary students.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Boulden (Warner University: Lake Wales, FL)