I.  Seeing the science/engineering in children’s thinking

Technologies: Video Data

Target Grade Level: All

Description:  From the time they are babies, children work to make sense of the world.   Developing and encouraging their productive reasoning about science and engineering is an important component of STEM education.  In this development lab, participants will engage in watching and discussing video of children engaged in science explorations and engineering design projects.  The goal of the development lab will to help participants to be able to identify the beginning of productive student reasoning in science and engineering. Participants are encouraged to bring video from their own classroom of students engaged in explanation or discussion around a science or engineering project (does not need to be LEGO-based).

II. Engineering & Literacy

Technologies: NXT & WeDo

Target Grade Level: Focused on Elementary but all are welcome

Description:  Children need a rich problem to engage in engineering design and they benefit from a context for reading and writing.  This development lab will explore how engineering can support literacy as well as how literacy can support engineering.  Participants will look at examples of existing activities that integrate engineering and literacy as well as participate in brainstorming and designing new ones.  Participants can bring a favorite book to use to inspire the design of an integrated activity. 

III.  SAM – Tools for children to create representations of their ideas

Technologies: SAM and Web Camera

Target Grade Level: All

Description:  Writing and drawing comprise the primary methods for students to express their ideas.  These methods limit what those viewing the ideas can understand about children’s ideas.  This development lab will introduce participants to the SAM software, which facilitates Stop Action Moviemaking.  Participants will make movies and discuss how allowing students to represent in a medium that let’s them show how things change over time impacts what students are able to express.

IV. Labview Education Edition

Technologies: Labview Education Edition and NXT

Target Grade Level: Middle School and Higher

Description:  The next step after the LEGO Mindstorms Software (NXT-G) is Labview for LEGO Mindstorms.  Participants will explore the new software with support from experts and engage in an open-ended design challenge to develop their skills. Time permitting, participants will design and demonstrate their own challenge.

V.  Facilitating Engineering Design

Technologies: Design Compass, Robobooks, NXT

Target Grade Level: Upper Elementary and Higher

Description:  The engineering design process is used to help designers move from ill-structured problem to defined and documented solution.  However, the process was designed for adults engaged in messy, real-world problems.  As we think about how to bring engineering into the K-12 classroom, we need to thoughtful about how to engage students in meaningful engineering design problems and how to scaffold their development of relevant skills.  In this development lab, participants will engage in an open-ended engineering design challenge and explore different ways to support and scaffold the process.

VI.   Physics Glasses:  Augmented Reality and other fun things with Image Analysis

Technologies: LabVIEW and Web Camera

Target Grade Level: Upper middle school and higher

Description: In this development lab, participants will explore alpha versions of image analysis and representation tools such as Physics Glasses and the Smart Camera toolset.  Physics Glasses is an augmented reality tool where objects in a live video feed are analyzed and then re-represented on the computer screen with measurements and calculations superimposed onto them.  Current versions of the tool will analyze and superimpose position, velocity, kinetic, and potential energy onto objects in the scene.  By the time of the development lab, an alpha version of a project system will be available where graphic representations (e.g. paths and vectors) are projected onto objects in the real world.  Through the Smart Camera toolset, participants will explore how to use a webcam to produce the kinds of measurements done by Physics Glasses.  Without the augmented reality view, the Smart Camera tool can be used to data log and graph quantities such as the number and location of objects and the rate of change in size of an object.  These quantities can be applied to a diversity of physical phenomena such as kinematic quantities, basic spectral analysis, evaporation rates and diffusion rates.  Join us in this development lab to help create a vision for future classroom products that can leverage the capabilities of these cutting edge tools.