We will be introducing Makey Makey to teachers and exploring how they can help students build their own controllers with everyday materials like playdoh, coins, graphite pencils, even their own body! The kits will help students discover the difference between conductive and non-conductive materials, invent sensors, and use their imagination to control any computer program. This will deepen their knowledge of circuits and coding without having to learn a computer language. These kits provide a gateway for students with a proclivity for arts to incorporate electronics into their creative endeavors. Makey Makey bridges the gap between the physical world and your computer, allowing for hands-on creative tech projects.
Join us for an interactive, hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd to discover how the Carolina Certified Version takes these high-quality instructional materials to the next level— more accessible, more user-friendly, and enhanced for classroom safety. Participants will leave with practical strategies and valuable resources to energize their classrooms.
In this session, educators will explore how the science of learning aligns with curricular approaches to teaching the MT Science standards. We will discuss assessment techniques informed by the science of learning and how technology can support assessment. Teachers will have time to collaborate and analyze different approaches.
Instructor, Professional development lead, SMRC, Montana State University
Jeannie Chipps facilitates professional development at the Science Math Resource Center. As a former high school science teacher and after school science team coach/makerspace director, she enjoys working with teachers to create learning environments that support diverse learners... Read More →
Students engaging in the scientific method requires authentic engagement, real collaboration, and rigorous debate about the data students have collected for themselves and for their team. This workshop will show teachers how to give their students the agency to practice science and assume responsibility for conducting it together. Whether contributing to existing theory or revolutionizing a paradigm, consensus-building is the necessary social skill that science demands of students. In this workshop, we will practice two consensus-building protocols that will shift the ownership of learning from you back to your students. You will walk away with a framework for lesson development that saves you time and energy, practical tools to help you implement this strategy within your existing curriculum, and a ready-to-use physics unit on waves. Make your students smarter, your workload smaller, and your instruction more effective than ever.
In this session, we will engage in a learner-centered approach to developing scientific principles through data. Participants will work together to build a model of a phenomenon that they observe through videos and experimental apparatus. We will conclude by looking at student data from their engagement in a similar activity. We will discuss how “pedagogical tools” can be used to facilitate knowledge construction in the classroom using science and engineering practices.
