A Selection of Presentations from the 2018 STEM Education Conference

SCI-GIRLS STORIES: REAL WOMEN REAL JOBS

In her current role as a Process Development Engineer at Boston Scientific, Victoria Velez designs and develops new medical device technologies that help save lives. She leads the Hispanic employee resource group at Boston Scientific and has served on the board for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Twin Cities chapter for the last three years. She also is an active mentor with the CLUES Youth in Action program.
Victoria was recently featured in TPT SciGirls Stories: Real Women Real Jobs, a documentary that profiles women from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds and shares the challenges and triumphs of “a day in the life” in STEM workforce.

BREAKING DOWN THE STUDENT CENTERED TEACHING FRAMEWORK

Science from Scientists is a STEM enrichment nonprofit that brings real scientists into schools
to deliver hands-on, student-centered STEM lessons. We have over 90 lessons that are based
on a framework inspired by NGSS and the 5Es (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and
Evaluate). Join us as we break down the framework, and leave with ideas and tools to help
incorporate this student-centered approach into your existing curricula. Recommended for
grades 4-8.

Science from Scientists: Susanna Huggenberger & Renee Piersa

CONSTRUCT 3: GAME DESIGN FOR ANYBODY ON ANY DEVICE

Powerful 2D game engine Construct 3 runs in a web browser on ANY device—even mobile
phones—and starts out simple enough that even inexperienced coders can quickly create fun
and playable games. A short introduction would allow students to exercise design thinking and
integrate other content areas; exploring in more depth would introduce universal computing
concepts like variables, parameters, and instances of objects. Its event-driven structure is also
a great precursor to mobile app development. This session will guide participants through
making a simple game, give them time to develop a more advanced project, and send them
home with resources to explore further. Bring your own mobile phone or tablet. Recommended
for grades 5-12.

Minnesota Computers for Schools: Eileen King

MAKERSPACE MASHUP

Does your school have a makerspace, or are you thinking about starting one? Learn how
teachers are bridging the gap between hand tools and high tech and from woodworking to
Arduino. In this session you will experience favorite resources from schools with established
makerspaces, ideas for designing learning experiences for students, as well as tips and
lessons learned. Recommended for K-8.

Minnesota Independent School Forum: Beth Murphy, moderator
Nativity of Our Lord: Anne Dougherty
St. Alphonsus Catholic School: Rebecca Buller & Emily Mader-Gilbert
St. Mary’s School, Owatonna: Sharleen Berg

STEMTASTIC™

Learn how to weave environment, science, technology, engineering and math (eSTEM) together
with nature and your existing curriculum. Soil, land, air and water systems are the foundation
as we explore many examples of projects and experience STEM process. Work with Growing
Green Hearts and teacher teams to design, build, and test. Together participants will move and
morph great science lessons into fantastically fun, inexpensive, standards-based and studentcentered
STEM. Recommended for grades K-8.

Growing Green Hearts: Heidi Ferris

ENGINEERING FOR CONSERVATION: AQUATIC SYSTEMS

Join the Minnesota Zoo to explore ways that STEM is used to provide and care for animals
from lakes and oceans by highlighting the work of our zoo life support specialists. Session
participants will participate in analyzing water quality from various zoo water systems as well
as explore what the Minnesota Zoo is doing to help protect endangered mussels both on zoo
site and in Minnesota waterways. In addition, we will look at how the threat of bycatch is
affecting a variety of ocean animal populations and how a push for new fish netting designs is
reducing the impact. Recommended for grades 3-12.

Minnesota Zoo: Liz Gillies

USING STEM TO DIFFERENTIATE AND CONNECT THROUGH HANDS-ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES IN THE CLASSROOM

Explore how to use STEM as a platform to engage students in meaningful real-world
experiences, differentiate to your students’ needs, and provide your students with relevant
learning experiences to help them connect their understandings and skills to other content
areas. Learn how to structure lessons and units around STEM kits to maximize your planning
time and enjoy teaching STEM! Recommended for grades K-6.

Academy of Whole Learning: Kate Drechsler

CREATE APPS, MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Explore App Inventor, a blocks-based programming environment for creating Android and iOS
apps. During the session, presenters will demonstrate the basics of App Inventor, resources for
getting started in the classroom, and give examples of apps students have created.
Information will be shared on how learning computer science through building apps can
empower students to connect with and help their communities. Recommended for grades 6-
12.

College of St. Scholastica: Jennifer Rosato

EXPANDING STEM SKILLS

This presentation will demonstrate how to incorporate creative games and activities into your
STEM lessons for the purpose of enhancing the problem solving and critical thinking skills of
your students. You will leave this session with fun and effective ideas for using creativity to
inspire your students’ STEM thinking. Recommended for all grades.

Tim Barrett Consulting: Tim Barrett
High Tech Kids: Cheryl Moeller
Frassati Catholic STREAM Academy: Brenda Barrett