WINTER 23-24 STEM UPDATES & SUPPORT
Partnership Pricing
If your district uses or is interested in any of the tools listed below, please contact Travis Stormer tstormer@iu28.org, for partnership agreement pricing.
- ClickView
- Kami
- Newsela
- TalkingPoints
- GoGuardian (Pear Deck, Educalstic, TutorMe)
- Parent Square
Remake Learning Days 2024
We are looking for hosts for Remake Learning Days 2024! Do you know a school or community organization who would like to host an event? Is your school interested in signing up for the Career Ready PA Backpack Challenge? Would your 1st and 2nd graders like to participate in a STEM design challenge with another class across PA?
Click the link below to find out how you can join in the fun of Remake Learning Days 2024!
Youth Engineering Solutions (YES)
Youth Engineering Solutions (YES) is a free curricular resource from the Museum of Science, Boston. YES features high-quality, equity-oriented, research-based and classroom tested curricular resources for engineering with students Kindergarten through Middle School, both in school and out of school contexts. YES units engage youth in real-world engineering programs, through our equity-oriented approach framework which positions students as assets in their own learning. As they participate in socially engaged engineering, students develop engineering skills and foster engineering identities, while also addressing the STEELS standards in engineering. Through these hands-on engineering design challenges, students strengthen their knowledge of scientific concepts and computational thinking. Key to these outcomes is supporting teachers through educative curriculum materials and professional learning opportunities.
YES is hosting a series of free webinars, the first of which is this Thursday, December 14th at 4pmEST.
· December 14th @4pm Eastern: Equity-Oriented Engineering Webinar
· January 11th @ 4pm Eastern: “I Can Show What I Know”: Benefits of Engineering with English Learners
· February 1st @ 4pm Eastern: Engineering and Empathy: Exploring Benefits of Socially Engaged Engineering
YES is also holding a 3-day teacher educator institute at the Museum of Science, Boston, January 29-31, 2024.
Learning with Music
You can find content created by BrightNow! for free in 3 places:
- On Ready, Set, Music from PBS - content with an SEL focus,
- On PaTTAN's CS Songs - content with a computer science focus, and
- On OER Commons - content with a STEM focus
KTI Nominations Open
Keystones Technology Innovator Program identifies, invites and supports exemplary educators into a distinct and dynamic learning community. Keystones advocate the use of technology as a transformative tool to nurture the intellect, innovation and imagination of students.
KTI Program Objectives:
- Recognize outstanding teachers using technology innovatively to provide transformative classroom experiences across the Commonwealth.
- Advocate for educational technology.
- Enrich knowledge and skill base of teaching best practices.
- Cultivate technological expertise, creativity and innovation.
- Share lessons, strategies and practices with other state educators.
- Connect within Keystones community.
AI in the Classroom - A Resource
Many of the conversations we're having are about how teachers can use AI and how schools can develop policies (often to block or "combat") AI, and this is the first work I've been part of that addresses how we can teach our students about AI, the way it works, and the ethics associated with it.
The CS/PA Smart statewide workgroup developed Artificial Intelligence In the Classroom: Resources for CS EdWeek 2023 to share with educators to use for CSEdWeek and/or Hour of Code.
This resource is created as a collection of free curricular resources to support educators in teaching about artificial intelligence to students in K-12th grades. Many of these resources offer several opportunities and levels of educational materials, activities, and resources. We’ve taken the time to highlight some of the shorter 1-hour activities that one might explore using during CS EdWeek and/or Hour of Code, but note that many of these resources are far more robust and could be used across several days or weeks depending on time and curricular needs.
Dash & Dot - These durable robots have an approachable personality and use free block-based coding apps (Blockly, Wonder, or Path) that work on iPads or Chromebooks.
Dash can be programmed to sing, dance, navigate obstacles, respond to voice commands, and perform in ways that solve in-app challenges. Dot can be programmed to sing, respond, and interact. Check them out in the lending library!
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Participation in the ARIN Lending Library offers you access to over 100 STEM tools. Sign up for an account, search our inventory, request materials, and have them delivered to your school. Our library includes robotics kits for all ages, drones, virtual field trip kits, and more! Click here for more information.
Finch Loan Program from Birdbrain
BirdBrain Technologies’ Finch Robot loan program loans out the Finch Robot 2.0 to districts, schools, libraries, and other organizations across the United States. This free program is our effort to reach students who may not otherwise get the chance to program a robot during their normal school day.
Applications for spring and summer of 2024 are now open! Please put in your application by January 8, 2024. Click HERE for more information.
ARIN supports the implementation of the Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, Technology & Engineering, and Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (PA STEELS Standards) by providing assistance for building curriculum, instruction, and assessment capacity.
Please click here for details on upcoming trainings and supports for the STEELS Standards.
DESIGN LIVES HERE
Design Lives Here is a series of three lessons that equips teachers and students (grades 5th-8th) to participate in engineering activities within their school or afterschool program. Professional engineers serve as mentors to students throughout the year. Schools who participate are diverse – public, parochial and private – and have the option of making this part of their school day or an extended program. Each spring, all the participants come together for a day of engineering challenges, grouped in new teams to compete for prizes. Design Lives Here activities are inspired by the popular PBS KIDS program and website, Design Squad Nation.
Apply to participate in 2023-2024's Design Lives Here.
Click the link below to download the form and follow the instructions.
Seed Your Future
Seed Your Future is excited to announce our new professional development program for high school teachers in line with Next Generation Science Standards! We’re seeking 30 high school science educators for an expenses-paid immersive professional development experience June 2-6, 2024, in order to prompt plant science, horticulture, and floriculture careers for students across the US.
Participants will receive industry training and immerse themselves in onsite locations to learn about career opportunities, allowing them to experience horticulture in a way that will enable them to explain industry careers to their students in greater detail.
Application deadline is March 8, 2024.
Interested in applying? Sign up here!
Want to learn more before diving in? Follow this link!
Interested in donating so Seed Your Future can continue to provide rewarding training such as this? Donate here!
Seed Your Future
https://www.seedyourfuture.org/
ARIN supports the development and implementation of local, regional, and state STEM and Computer Science related competitions.
- ARIN Regional Competition - December 14, 2023
- State Competition - Hershey Lodge, February 2024
Media and Design Competition (MadCom)
- ARIN Regional Competition - March 12, 2024
- State Competition - Dickenson College, May 2024
- ARIN Regional Competition - March 26, 2024
- State Competition - Harrisburg, May 2024
24 Math Challenge - April 9, 2024
PA Governor's STEM Logo Competition 2024
- Deadline for submissions is December 12, 2023, at 9:00 PM.
PA Governor's STEM Competition 2024
- Team registration opens September 27, 2024
- Team registration closes on February 5, 2024
- Round 1 of judging will occur virtually from March 7 - 27, 2024
- State Finals will be held at PaTTAN Harrisburg on May 8, 2024
The Sea, Air and Land Challenge aims to provide students with an opportunity to tackle a difficult engineering project while in high school, provide students with an awareness of the tremendous technical careers in the DoD as a civilian or in the armed forces, and to help educators and administrators implement or enhance a successful STEM program into their schools and organizations even given time, budget and resource constraints.
The program is free to students, school districts and organizations. There is no fee for registration or the program material, however, each team is responsible for securing their own funding, a maximum of $600 per team, for their open-sourced robotic system as part of the challenge. Demonstrating effective budgeting and cost management for their project is considered in scoring each teams’ work.
School registration is now open for regions across the state. If you are interested in participating, you may register your school at: http://seaairland.psu.edu/register/. If you are interested in learning more, please click here, visit the website (https://seaairland.psu.edu/) or contact us at Sea Air Land Group (seaairland@arl.psu.edu ).