STEM is Elementary Newsletter March 2015

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Subject: March 2015 STEM is Elementary NewsletterFrom: "Robert Claymier" <[email protected]>Date: Sun, Mar 01, 2015 1:31 pmTo: "Bob" <[email protected]>

STEM is Elementary Newsletter

March 2015

Welcome to mySTEM is Elementary Newsletter

for March, 2015!Hello Bob, thanks for subscribing to my monthlynewsletter. This issue contains information on4 different elementary STEM events as well as othergreat resources. Enjoy!

ITEEA and Children's Council

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Conference

March 26 ­ 28, 2015

The ITEEA Board of Directors, the Milwaukee Planning team, and the WisconsinTechnology Education Association would like to invite you to the 77th Annual Conferenceto be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 26-28, 2015.

The conference is for STEM educators from grades K through post-graduate. Over 100Professional Development Learning Sessions will be conducted at this year’s conference.Sample sessions are listed below:

• Engineering and Manufacturing Build Creative Careers• A Comprehensive STEM Plan for K-12 Instruction• Bringing STEM Together• Robotics for Elementary STEM Education• Cutting Edge – Becoming a STEM-Integration School Friday• Is This Engineering? • How to Put STEM into Every Classroom• STEM for Out of Your Seat and On Your Feet Learning K-5 • Teaching Physical Science Concepts Through Engineering Problems

Highlights of the conference will include:

The ITEEA STEM Showcase – a Thursday afternoon event featuring teachers,teacher educators, and others who want to share their best technology andengineering (or STEM-related) practices and successful programs with oneanother.Administrator Strand – a special professional development program JUST foradministrators. Complimentary registration is also provided to this group.ITEEA Teaching Technology and Engineering Education Collegiate Association(TEECA) student competitions – TEECA hosts various competitions during theconference.ITEEA Attendee Reception on Thursday evening and the Exhibitor Raffle.Exhibitor-sponsored events and the Exhibitor showcase will also be held in theexhibit hall.

To learn more about the conference, go to www.iteea.org

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Elementary STEM Learning Fair

Presnted by the OTEEA and STEM is Elementary

April 17, 2015 Marion, OH

The Ohio Technology and Engineering Educators Association will behosting an Elementary STEM Fair on Friday, April 17 at the TRECADigital Academy, 100 Executive Drive in Marion, OH 43302. The half­day(1 – 4 PM) event will allow participants to share lessons and ideas,sample elementary STEM resources from institutions and vendors, anddiscuss issues concerning integrating STEM into the standards­basedelementary classroom.

Elementary STEM resources that will be at the Fair include: Engineering by Design http://www.iteea.org/EbD/ebd.htm Brackitz www.brackitz.com KEVA Planks http://www.kevaplanks.com Little Bits Electronics http://littlebits.cc DesignSySTEM http://www.teachinggarage.com/designsystem

MakeDo https://mymakedo.com Edison the Robot http://meetedison.com

Engineering Educators http://www.engineeringedu.com Snap Circuits http://snapcircuits.net Family Engineering http://www.familyengineering.org

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Entelechy Education, LLC www.enteletrons.com

Center for Math, Science and Technology, Illinois State University

http://cemast.illinoisstate.edu/educators/stem/elementary

The cost to attend the event is only $40 and presenters be admitted forfree. To register for the Elementary STEM Fair, please download andcomplete this form.

University of Cincinnati

STEM Conference, 2015

Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7:45 AM ­ 3:45 PM

Tangeman University Center, University of Cincinnati

Who should attend?

K-12 STEM teachers and administrators for public and privateschools who:

wish to network with educational organizations thatsupport STEM educationare seeking innovative instructional strategies in STEMdisciplinesplan to network with other STEM teachersare creating professional support systems for STEMeducatorsare interested in existing models for sTEM education

Leaders in higher education, business and industry thatsupport STEM education and STEM-related careeropportuniities who:

are seeking avenues to bridge students into STEM

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careersare interested in models for STEM education

The conference opens in the Great Hall at TUC, beginning with

the STEM Showcase, from 7:45 to 9:30 and features over 35

different informal educational organizations and higher

education institutes that represent a variety of STEM topics

and careers. Each informal organization offers education

outreach to teachers. The higher education representatives

will share STEM career opportunities with teachers for the

purpose of making their students aware of the various STEM

career possibilities available to them.

From 7:45 to 8:30, there will be a poster session display in the

front lobby of units on challenge based learning and

engineering design process presented by CEEMS and RET

teachers.

Beginning at 8:30, the conference also features 4 concurrent

break-out sessions including interactive workshops, led by

teachers, administrators and business and industry leaders.

Up to 7 professional contact hours offered. A Tweet challenge

- an opportunity for attendees to win educational prizes.

For more information, click here

Online Course:

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Introduction to Elementary STEM

The purpose of this course is to provide educators the opportunityto understand and experience integration of STEM lessons into thepre­K – 6 science curricula. Each of the course’s 10 sessions willrequire 2 hours per week to complete. Sessions will includediscussing the benefits of developing STEM literacy in school­agestudents; defining STEM; experiencing hands­on activities thatserve as exemplars for integrating STEM concepts with academicstandards for science; understanding how scientific inquiry andengineering design can guide implementing STEM projects inelementary science lessons; and reviewing resources forelementary STEM. As a final project, attendees will develop theirown integrated STEM lessons based on a science conceptstandard they teach at their grade level.

The next course will begin in June 2015. Attendees can also earnone semester hour of graduate credit through Ashland (OH)University and is available for anyone in Ohio, the U.S., or in theworld.http://To learn more about the course, click here

Kids Invent Tinker! NewsletterTinker! is a new monthly newsletter for inventive kids. It is thecatalyst to put their ideas in motion, to make the stuff they dreamabout, and to learn in the process. It's also their opportunity to havetheir creative work recognized by featuring their photos anddescriptions of what they build.Tinker! is upbeat, creative, and interactive. Kids send photos anddescribe their ideas to share with other kids. It suggests books,videos, and other resources that inventing kids might enjoy andnever suggests they purchase a particular product.

https://www.kidsinvent.com/tinker_nl.aspAlso check out their science activities, including boats, cars, motors, flying things,mechanical toys, rockets, alternative energy and more.

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https://www.kidsinvent.com/science_activities.asp

BirdBrain Technologies

BirdBrain Technologies is devoted to creating robots and otherelectronics that educate and inspire by enabling students to becreative in ways that are relevant to their natural interests. Theycurrently have two robot models, the Hummingbird and the Finch.

HummingbirdHummingbird is designed to enable engineering and roboticsactivities for ages 13 and up (8 with adult supervision) that involvethe making of robots, kinetic sculptures, and animatronics built outof a combination of kit parts and crafting materials.Combined with very easy­to­use software environmentslike Scratch, Snap Create Lab Visual Probgramme rand Ardublock,Hummingbird provides a great way to introduce kids to robotics andengineering with construction materials that they are alreadyfamiliar with. At the same time, Hummingbird to provide newchallenges by allowing programming in the Arduinoenvironment, Python, Java, and Processing, and bysupporting Raspberry Pi.

FinchThe Finch is designed to support an engaging introduction to theart of programming It has support for over a dozen programminglanguages and environments, including several environmentsappropriate for students as young as eight years old. The Finchwas designed to allow students to write richly interactive programsOn­board features include:

Light, temperature, and obstacle sensors Accelerometers MotorsBuzzer Full­color beak LED Pen mount for drawing capability Plugs into USB port ­ no batteries required

To learn more about the Hummingbird and Finch and see videos ofthe products, visit http://www.birdbraintechnologies.com

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Try Engineering:

Standards­based Engineering Lessons

Try Engineering: Standards­based Engineering LessonsOver the past decade, TeachEngineering has compiled animpressive digital library of 1,352 free, engaging, teacher­testedengineering lessons and activities for use in science, engineering,technology, and math classrooms.

Based at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Lab at theUniversity of Colorado, Boulder’s College of Engineering, thesearchable collection recently got a makeover. Improvementsinclude aligning activities with the Common Core mathematics andNext Generation science standards – with new alignments eachweek – and a new section called “Sprinkles” with abbreviatedversions of TeachEngineering’s most popular activities streamlinedfor use in after­school programs or other informal educationsettings.

Activities and curricular units can be browsed by subject area, standard, and key word, with a featured activity each month.

To find standards­based engineering lessons, go tohttp://tryengineering.org

Past FoundationPAST Innovation Lab is a leader in redesigning K – 16 education.We know that preparing students for 21st century careers is achallenge for educators, a challenge PAST has met by helpingteachers and schools adopt transdiciplinary problem-basedlearning (TPBL) as their instructional strategy.Transdisciplinary problem-based learning means students integratewhat they learn in every class to solve real world problems – that’slinking learning to life. Teachers work together to generateinnovative student learning experiences. It’s not about memorizinginformation or mastering one skill. It’s about combining knowledge

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from multiple classes and disciplines to solve real world problems.It’s exciting and rewarding for teachers and students!PAST’s online coursework for teachers introduces them to TPBL,and gives them the tools and support they need to reinvent theirown teaching methods. We consult directly with schools anddistricts to create TPBL environments that transform the waychildren are taught to better meet the needs of today’s students.

If you would like more information about PAST, please visit ourwebsite at www.pastfoundation.org or send us an email [email protected].

Soap Box Derby CurriculumIn October, the International Soap Box Derby and WesternReserve Public Media announced an agreement to expandeducational offerings through the Derby's Gravity Racing Challengeprogram.

The Derby program uses the tools and values of Soap Box Derbyracing to introduce science, technology, engineering and math(STEM) concepts to students in an enjoyable, engaging way. Theprogram is designed to provide K­12 educators and students withproject­ and standards­based intercurricular learning opportunities.

The Educational Services staff at Western Reserve Public Mediawill use the Soap Box Derby theme to develop a kit of resourcesand activities that link to the Ohio Department of Education's NewLearning Standards for fifth graders. Following STEM standards,the project curriculum will include videos, lesson plans, activities,background resources, assessments, and professionaldevelopment opportunities.

To learn more about the Soap Box Derby, click here

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That's my newsletter for this month. I hope you found some articlesand events of interest. I also hope to see you at an elementarySTEM event soon!

Please let me know what you would like to see in future issues.Also, please share this issue with colleagues and let them knowthey can subscribe for free through my website, below.

Bob Claymier

STEM is Elementary

[email protected]

www.stemiselementary.com

STEM is Elementary, 248 N. Franklin St, Delaware, OH 43015, USA

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