Dive into the engineering design process in this fun, hands-on activity about earthquakes! Identify building features that help withstand damage due to earthquakes and use them in your own model. This versatile learning experience can be quickly and easily implemented in lessons about geography, physics, engineering, economics, and more!
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.
Great STEM learning begins with strong questions, not just an "answer machine". This session explores how we can move past the AI hype to use these tools as grounded design partners for inquiry-based learning. Instead of letting AI offload the thinking, we’ll look at how it can help teachers curate richer investigations, refine driving questions, and anticipate student misconceptions before they hit the lab bench. We'll include frameworks to help get you started, and also explore ways to use existing resources (like college-level open source textbooks) to help drive design and help ground your work with AI in academic literature.
Dr. Jason Neiffer believes that educational technology should be driven by learning, not flash. As the Executive Director of the Montana Digital Academy, co-convener of the Frontier Learning Lab, and a former classroom teacher, Jason has spent 29 years cutting through tech hype to... Read More →
How can hands-on STEM experiences translate into sustained career pathways? This session highlights findings from MSUB's pilot Drone STEM Camps, immersive week-long programs serving middle and high school students. Participants built and soldered drones, learned flight operations and FAA safety fundamentals. In our second year, students will apply aerial imagery to authentic regional challenges, connecting engineering design and geospatial analysis to workforce-relevant problem solving. Evaluation data from the pilot indicate increases in student STEM interest, confidence with technical skills, and awareness of aerospace and advanced manufacturing careers. The session will share instructional strategies for integrating drone manufacturing, electrical soldering, flight, and spatial analysis into classroom or informal STEM settings. It will also outline how these camps are being intentionally aligned with Career and Technical Education (CTE) frameworks, community and tribal college pathways, and industry partnerships. Participants will leave with practical models for developing workforce-aligned STEM programming that strengthens career identity, builds technical skills, and connects students to emerging aerospace and geospatial opportunities in Montana and beyond.
