As I was planning my sabbatical and evaluating the best conferences to attend, I came across STEM Camp Edu. When I read the goals of this week and looked at the sessions, I knew this was the camp for me. Many people attend technology only conferences that incorporate STEAM, like ISTE and PETE & C. STEM Camp was all about those technologies, but also included sessions on the design process and methodologies surrounding STEAM lessons. This is, in my opinion, an important part of STEAM education. The technology tools we use like Spheros, Ozobots, Robotics bring technology to our students, but without teaching part of a design or engineering process, I worry that these tools can easily become toys.
I met Tom Guellich (my friend in the top picture) at ISTE. If you've ever been to ISTE you know that there are literally thousands of people in attendance. This year they topped some 15,000 attendees. So imagine how surprised I was checking-in at STEM Camp to run into a long lost friend! Tom is the "FLITE" Instructor at at Hereford Elementary in the Upper Perkiomen School District. FLITE stands for "Fundamentals Learned through Innovation, Technology, and Exploration". What a neat title as opposed to STEAM teacher! He was one of the great lead learners at camp and taught us how to code drones....I was totally hooked!
The 2nd picture were my wonderful dorm mates. They are all Future Ready Librarians who will be incorporating STEAM into their library curriculum. The last picture is our final project for the week long camp. We were to use the provided makerspace to create an arcade game that incorporated the elements of STEAM. I am proud to say our design won first place...thanks to our friend the Pigeon! For those of you who don't know, author Mo Willems has an incredibly popular book series around a rather demanding pigeon. Talk about combining literacy in every aspect of STEAM! The goal of our game was for two players to race each other using a Sphero to get the pigeon ultimately to a hot dog! We incorporated lights and sound to make a really fun game.
After a full week of day and evening activities, I was exhausted driving home from Kutztown University. However, I can tell you the camp was so well run and I learned many things that I can take home for my students next year. The best part of camp though were the participants and friends I made along the way, who are passionate about incorporating STEAM into their lessons. It was a great mix of elementary, middle and high school teachers across varying areas, from schools across the country. I have to say I was most intimated being grouped with the physics teachers, but what a great way to learn from each other! Because of STEM Camp, I am now part of a larger PLN with such teachers from across the country.
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