STLinSTL 2018

Teaching 21st century skills is a cornerstone of today's education.  These skills often include items such as: critical and creative thinking; media and technology literacy; and working in a collaborative and flexible environment. How does coding and computer science fit in?  Is it really necessary that everyone learn to code?

In this hands on workshop we will tackle this thorny question and explore a number of approaches taken at MICDS to include coding and computer science in the middle/high school curriculum.  We'll discuss what has worked and what has not.

A number of computing environments will be available for testing and exploration by attendees during the workshop.  No coding experience is needed.

Participants will become familiar with Tufts University’s Novel Engineering, an integrated approach to teaching engineering and literacy. We will practice using children’s literature as the basis for designing, building and improving a solution to a character’s problem. Using simple and open-ended materials, Novel Engineering is a creative and fun way to easily meet STEAM curriculum goals.

NGSS and the new Missouri Learning Standards ask students to stop "learning about" science and start "figuring out" real-world phenomena. In this session, we will give an overview of what scientific phenomena are, and why they are an integral part of three dimensional learning. We will share resources with participants, including examples of phenomena and how to integrate them into lessons. Discussion will be encouraged as we "figure out" how to identify and incorporate phenomena together!

STEM SALAD a session on mixing a little curriculum, a little maker, a little food and whole lot of C’s. (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity).

Amplify STEM by joining Visitation Academy middle school teachers in a hands on session where you will collaborate, research, design, pitch, 3D draw, prototype, self-assess, cook, build, and self-evaluate, shark tank and TED Talk. This will be the complete package. You will be guided through this cross curricular project completing the same activities used with our students (condensed version). This is a nuts and bolts session with inclusion of successes and failures. Be prepared for a possible failure. Are you wondering how to form groups, how to integrate curriculum, how to create cross curricular activities, how to evaluate STEM projects, and how to use the makerspace and even include food science? Join us to learn with PBL that includes Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Language Arts, Math and Technology.

It's obvious that students need basic math skill to be successful in school, but often that's not enough reason for our students to want to progress in math. Providing students with real world math applications will answer the question, 'When will I ever use this?'

STEM SALAD a session on mixing a little curriculum, a little maker, a little food and whole lot of C’s. (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity).

Amplify STEM by joining Visitation Academy middle school teachers in a hands on session where you will collaborate, research, design, pitch, 3D draw, prototype, self-assess, cook, build, and self-evaluate, shark tank and TED Talk. This will be the complete package. You will be guided through this cross curricular project completing the same activities used with our students (condensed version). This is a nuts and bolts session with inclusion of successes and failures. Be prepared for a possible failure. Are you wondering how to form groups, how to integrate curriculum, how to create cross curricular activities, how to evaluate STEM projects, and how to use the makerspace and even include food science? Join us to learn with PBL that includes Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Language Arts, Math and Technology.

How can chocolate chips estimate the value of pi?  How could exponential growth led to a movie’s demise?  How can ideas of Calculus be introduced with M&Ms? When posed with these questions, students often ask to learn the answers.  Placing mathematical ideas in bitesized applications can engage students and invigorate the classroom.  Come learn these and other math activities.

Sports analytics is a growing field. Exploring the numbers of sports can help a team or be fun as a fan.  How do you get in the game with numbers? What types of questions can be examined? Let’s discuss outlooks that help with successful analytics and a variety of questions that can be analyzed.  From March Madness to helping national media with their analytics questions, Dr. Tim Chartier of Davidson College has directed his students in digging into sports using math and computer science.  His projects have varied from helping the NBA, NFL, NASCAR, and ESPN to aiding his own college teams. Learn how to play a sport — as a sports analyst!