Advanced STEAM and Technology Summer Cohort

We just completed our very first Campbell Advanced STEAM and Technology Summer Teacher Cohort! We selected 11 very motivated and innovative teachers from our elementary and middle schools to participate. Keeping the cohort small allowed us to share personal teaching experiences and to have meaningful conversations around future classroom integration.
Andy Stoller (MakersFactory Instructor), Heather Haggerty (CUSD Technology Manager) and myself facilitated this week of professional learning. We really wanted our teachers to get a hands-on experience with three of our favorite STEAM tools and to experience them as both teachers and students. 

On Monday, we focused on 3D Modeling and Printing using TinkerCad and MakerBot. 

On Tuesday, we focused on MinecraftEdu in the classroom. 

On Wednesday, we focused on computer science using Google CS First.

On Thursday, we gave teachers opportunities to participate in different expert groups, based on topics that they wanted a deeper understanding of. We were very fortunate to have several members of our own CUSD Tech team (Kris, Wes, Ernie, and Walter) join us as technology expert group leaders. Some of the options that were available were setting up a CUSD Minecraft Server, MinecraftEdu Build Tools and Worlds, Robotics, Blender, 3D Printer Specifics, and Engineering Design. 

On Friday, we focused on STEAM and Technology classroom integration lesson planning, funding opportunities, and reflection. We will also be meeting during the school year to continue to collaborate with one another. You can learn more about resources and our ongoing STEAM and Tech adventures at: http://cusdsteamandtech.weebly.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5th Grade Dash Robot Biography Project

Image
The 5th Graders at Forest Hill Elementary School were hard at work turning Dash into the famous person that they had researched. Rosa Yang, Forest Hill's STEAM Task Force Teacher, helped me plan this project, to integrate the math, literacy, and social studies skills that her students were currently working on.  Since her students had just finished learning about metric measurement and rounding, we had them put them to the test to make a timeline to scale. Since Dash moves in increments of 10 centimeters, we had students round the lifespan of their famous person to the nearest 10 cm. They were then challenged to place the five most important parts of their person's life on the timeline, starting from their birthdate, rounding each one to the nearest 10 cm.  The fifth graders then wrote a sentence describing that important life event. They then used the iPad App "Blockly" to program Dash to start at the beginning of the timeline. Each student was then ab...
Read more

3rd Grade Dash Robot Life Cycle Exhibition Projects

Image
At Sherman Oaks Elementary School, all students in grades TK - 6 prepare an exhibition project to present to the community at the end of the school year. I was thrilled when 3rd grade teacher, Vanessa Diaz, reached out to me about planning their exhibition project around the 3rd NGSS standard of Life Cycles and incorporating programming with the Dash Robots.  In groups, students researched a plant or animal and the different stages in its life cycle. Each student was then responsible for typing a paragraph about a particular stage in the life cycle in Spanish or English (since Sherman Oaks is a Spanish immersion school). Students then worked with their teams to create a poster to organize the stages of their life cycle. We asked them to map out at least six different stopping points for Dash to stop and teach others about that particular stage.  When programming, we also challenged students to have Dash always facing the audience when he is saying something. This ...
Read more

Dash Robots and the 4 Regions of California

Image
The fourth graders at Lynhaven have been busy learning how to program the Dash robots and researching the 4 Regions of California. 4th grade teacher Andrea Tracy was a member of the Advanced STEAM/Tech Cohort this summer and was very excited to work on this pilot project with Dash. We started by talking about what is inside a robot and how they work. We then discussed that robots are special classmates and they need to be treated with respect. Some of the expectations that the students came up with were using nice words with Dash, giving him personal space, and being patient with him. We then had the fourth graders complete the puzzles in Dash Robot Driving School using the iPad App Blockly. The next day, students worked with their groups to measure and draw a map for Dash to lead a tour through their region. They had to use their measurement and conversion skills, since Dash only moves in increments of 10 centimeters. In each group, there was one student who was an expert in the...
Read more