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STEMtastic Futures: Igniting Every Student’s Potential

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Session description

Educators and school leaders can explore and discuss one district’s innovative program to engage Kindergarten-5th grade students in STEM education, providing exposure to a variety of future careers and engagement in design thinking, digital citizenship, and coding. Participants will learn practical approaches to integrate equitable STEM opportunities.

Outline

Participants will be able to experience and discuss the three elements of the K-5 STEM program that we have implemented in each of our elementary schools where all students attend class on a rotation basis.

STEM Fluency Skills Station - Participate in a quick teamwork challenge and get questions to provoke students’ thinking about the skills involved. Learn about the skills and topics of STEM Fluency, including collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, resilience, digital citizenship, and keyboarding.

Career Exploration Station - Explore the ways the elementary STEM program connects to Career and Technical Education courses in middle and high school through the 15 units that expose students to potential career opportunities and engage them in the design process. These units also provide opportunities for students to apply their core classroom content knowledge in meaningful ways.

Robotics, Coding, & Computational Thinking Station - Try a hands-on coding challenge, where you'll guide a robot through a virtual Fiesta celebration. Explore how this activity fosters computational thinking and problem-solving skills. Learn about the variety of resources used by teachers when teaching common learning targets.

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Supporting research

"What STEM Can Do for Your Classroom" by Jason McKenna
"Aim to Grow Your Brain" by Joanne Billingsley
"STEM Play" by Deirdre Englehart, Debbie Mitchell, Junie Albers-Biddle, Kelly Jennings-Towle, and Marnie Forestieri

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Presenters

Melanie Strawbridge

Academic Technology Coordinator

Northside Independent School District

Amanda Quick

K-8 STEM Coordinator

Northside Independent School District

Session specifications

Topic:

Student Engagement and Agency

TLP:

Yes

Grade level:

PK-5

Audience:

District Level Leadership, School Level Leadership, Teacher

Attendee devices:

Devices not needed

Subject area:

Interdisciplinary (STEM/STEAM)

ISTE Standards:

For Students:
Innovative Designer

Exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

Computational Thinker

Understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.

TLPs:

Ensure Equity, Prioritize authentic experiences