MONTHLY MEGABITE October 2018
ITTIP Brings Bee-Bots To Fall STEM/ STEAM Nights The school year brings opportunities to provide students, parents, and community members about the importance of STEM/STEAM learning. While ITTIP’s mission is to “transform teaching and learn-
The mission of ITTIP is to transform teaching and learning in PK-12 classrooms through the use of technology by providing high-quality professional development for educators and engaging programs for students, in order to maximize their learning experiences and opportunities in a globally competitive workforce.
ing in PK-12 classrooms through the use of technology”, ITTIP embraces an integrative approach, especially in STEM and computer science.
Upcoming events Above: Ms. Playton assists a student as she uses one-to-one correspondence to identify the numeric value of a ten-frame.
Last month, ITTIP participated in
ers to move the robot forward, and
two informal STEM/STEAM nights
backwards, and turn it left or right,
hosted by Nottoway County Pub-
by clicking buttons on the top of
lics Schools and Longdale Elemen-
the device. The Blue-Bot differs
tary School in Henrico County. The
from the Bee-Bot in that it allows
STEM night in Nottoway County
users to also integrate the use of a
provided learning opportuni-
Bluetooth device, such as an iPad,
ties for over 400 students, while
to first program the robot on the
the elementary STEAM night at
screen, then watch the robot play
Longdale Elementary provided op-
out the programmed sequence.
Oct 15 Fall Break - Offices Closed Oct 17 SVRTC Meeting, Nottoway High School Oct 17- Virginia Children’s 18 Book Festival, Longwood University
In This Issue
portunities for about 300 students. During both events ITTIP provided
During the events, depending on
learning activities with Blue-Bot, a
the age of the participant, stu-
robot that incorporates the use of
dents were invited to program the
computer science skills.
Blue-Bot to help make one-to-one correspondence in mathematics
Page 1 Blue-Bots Page 2 Elementary Computer Science
Blue-Bot, which are the Bluetooth
(grades PK-1), add and subtract
Page 3 VSTE
version of the Bee-Bot, allows us-
numbers (grades 2-3), or practice
(Continued page 3)
2
October 2018 Megabite - Longwood University ITTIP
ITTIP: Computer Science At Dinwiddle Elementary School The state of Virginia recently passed Computer Science Standards of Learning (K-12) to begin implementation in the Fall 2019. While many secondary schools already have computer science (CS) programs and teachers, many elementary school educators will
and their fourth grade teachers to implement STEM learning experiences this school year. STEM Learning Specialist, Stephanie Playton, will be working closely with the team of teachers, including school and district specialists (e.g. special education, ITRT), as the
be responsible for implementing it into their current curriculum. This takes training and support.
learning experiences are developed and implemented.
In efforts to model how CS can be implemented into an elementary classroom’s current curriculum (i.e. STEM), ITTIP has partnered with Dinwiddie Elementary School
tive lesson development will be ongoing throughout the school year with some of the first implementations planned for mid-October.
The developed lessons will be inquiry-based and require students to participate in using critical and creative thinking, collaboration, Above: Teachers are collaborating on communication, and citizenship developing STEM and CS lessons for 4th graders. (i.e. Virginia’s 5cs). Collabora-
BootUp Are you looking for coding curriculum and need some ideas?
If so, BootUp is a
free curriculum resource! BootUp has a library of project-based, elementary curriculum for grades K-2 using Scratch Jr. and grades 3-5 using Scratch. Each activity has online coder resources and lesson plans with additional links to project examples and videos. In addition, they provide a collection of unplugged lessons to teach computational concepts and practices off the computer. While some previous knowledge of the gaming platform would be helpful in integrating these lessons, it’s never to late to learn! Check them out and see what you and your students think.
3
October 2018 Megabite - Longwood University ITTIP
Blue-Bots
(cont.)
Announcing New Member for The Board of Directors for VSTE
with problem solving through sequencing and storytelling with shapes and/or The Very Hungry Caterpillar (grades 4-5). Another activity had students practicing coding the Blue-Bot by following a sequence of shapes. Blue-Bots are versatile in that a variety of mats can be made for any content area. This allows for a lot of flexibility in the classroom for a teacher to be able to integrate computer science skills into content they are already teaching. The students at the STEM/STEAM nights were definitely excited to have a chance to code and use the robots!
Dr. Paula Leach, Director of ITTIP, joined the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) Board of Directors this Fall, as a representative for Region 8 schools. VSTE is a professional development and advocacy organization that was founded in 1986. While they hold an annual conference (see image below), the organization also provides faceto-face and online professional development opportunities that
terms. The board makes decisions
promote technology innovations
about VSTE’s activities and over-
in education. This mission and
sees the management of VSTE as a
vision closely aligns with ITTIP’s
non-profit organization. There are
own mission.
currently twelve Board of Directors across the state of Virginia, and
VSTE’s Board of Directors serve
one Executive Director, Dr. Karen
on a three-year term, and for a
Richardson.
maximum of two consecutive
Above: Dr. Leach assists a student with using the iPad to code the Blue-Bot.
Above: Dr. Paula Leach, new member of the Board of Directors for VSTE.