Innovation and Inspiration

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the National CUE Conference with 15 teachers and administrators from our district. We all left the conference completely inspired, hopeful, and excited about advancing technology and STEAM integration throughout our district. One of my favorite quotes from the weekend came from Cindy Moss, "STEAM is a culture, not a class." Those words really helped me to reflect on the fact that I really want to help our teachers to think of STEAM as a district-wide learning culture, and not as an extra activity. Other words that really inspired me were Brad Montague (creator of the Kid President Videos) saying to "Choose to take a chance with what you have." This really reminded me to continue to take risks, even if all of the conditions aren't perfectly in place. With technology and STEAM resources changing so quickly, if you keep waiting, the moment will pass, and you could keep waiting forever. Hadi Partovi (creator of Code.or...

Last weekend, we had 35 students from Campbell Middle School compete in MESA Day at San Jose State! Students competed in different engineering design challenges, including the prosthetic arm, popsicle stick bridges, mousetrap cars, balsa wood gliders, egg drop, and bioengineering. Thanks to the dedicated MESA teachers, Richard Timpson and Pedro Garcia, the students were ready and proud to present their finished projects before the teams of industry judges. Below are pictures of the the 5/6th grade and the 7/8th grade prosthetic arm teams. The teams worked for months designing an assistive device that would pick up and throw as many bean bags as possible into a specific area. Our students used 3D modeling software to 3D print a hand that would best pick up and throw a bean bag. They then used an Arduino circuit board to program a motor to that would move the hand's fingers with the touch of a button. Finally, they used cardboard and other recycled materials to connect all pieces o...

This year we celebrated National Engineers Week as a district STEAM event! It was optional, but we had over 100 classes choose to participate! We started by preparing teachers for Engineers Week by hosting three Engineering Teacher Boot Camps at three different schools and libraries throughout the district. Teachers who attended learned about the Engineering Design Process and recommended engineering projects (including our STEAM Library Book Projects and the Tech Challenge Classroom Projects). They then shopped for the materials that they needed to do their favorite Engineering Project with their students and had the option of trying the project as well! I also had the privilege of getting to work with many classes on their engineering projects! Here are a few of the classroom highlights throughout the week: