Schedule

What does it look like for students to grow from guided building to true engineering design? In this hands-on session, participants will experience the full continuum from Sphero Snap to Sphero Blueprint Engineering. Start by constructing a launcher using Snap, then transition into Blueprint Engineering to tackle a lever based design challenge that builds on those foundational concepts. Explore how this progression supports deeper understanding, problem-solving, and student independence. Walk away with practical ideas for connecting structured builds to open-ended engineering experiences in your classroom.

K-8th Grade: Get ready for AI’s Got Talent, where the true star of the show is teacher clarity. AI is not replacing educators; it is performing as a tutor, assistant, and coach, partnering with us to amplify what great teachers already do best. Step into the role of judge and director as tools like Google Gemini and NotebookLM demonstrate how they can strengthen clarity of learning intentions, sharpen success criteria, enhance instruction and modeling, refine assessment and feedback, and elevate cognitive rigor. Grounded in The Teacher Clarity Playbook, this session brings Making Thinking Visible to life by demonstrating how AI can help uncover student reasoning and make cognitive processes explicit. Discover practical strategies that move instruction beyond delivery and toward deep understanding, ensuring student thinking is clear, measurable, visible, and powerful.

Your science scores are telling you something — the question is whether your teachers can see what students are actually thinking in time to do anything about it. This session gives district leaders a practical strategy for raising science performance without replacing your core program: a supplementary model built on Argument-Driven Inquiry routines that make student thinking visible during instruction, when it can still be coached. You will see concrete examples of how adding two to three targeted investigations per unit has supported score growth in Texas districts, especially on open-response items and emergent-bilingual subgroup performance. You will leave with an implementation playbook covering what to add, what to train, what to measure, and what to expect in Year 1 versus Year 2. Designed for superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, and central office science leads from districts of any size. Connects directly to the Symposium theme: in STEAM, you cannot raise what you cannot see, and this session shows district leaders how to make student reasoning visible as a lever for science achievement.

Discover practical ways to bring the new TEKS to life with engaging, inquiry-based science lessons designed for every classroom. Join us for a dynamic, hands-on workshop where you’ll experience an inquiry-based lesson that integrates Scientific and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Recurring Themes and Concepts (RTCs), and disciplinary content. Learn flexible, classroom-ready strategies to support student-led inquiry, encourage active engagement, and adapt to your pacing needs— all while making science meaningful and manageable for every learner.

Have you settled into your place or are you still wandering to find your place? In this session we will use phenology to guide our interactions, encounters, observations and wanderings in and of the natural world to record the daily, weekly, and monthly phenomena of science. We will discuss and use nature journaling techniques to provide hands-on experiences as we walk through natural areas of the STEAM Center (meadow, forest, aquatic) - weather permitting. How important is it to understand our ecological address using the natural world and all that happens in and around it?

Students share their experiences in STEAM education and learning.....

This session is designed for elementary and secondary teachers, instructional coaches, and campus or district administrators seeking to strengthen science achievement through equitable, data-driven practices. Participants will explore how standards-aligned, TEKS-based instruction paired with real-time data tools can close achievement gaps and accelerate growth in grades 3–8, Biology, and IPC. Grounded in findings from a multi-site NWEA Impact Report study, the presentation highlights evidence-based strategies that resulted in significantly higher science proficiency gains for participating students. Attendees will gain practical approaches for supporting EB/ESL learners, struggling readers, and students with 504/IEP plans through inclusive, gamified STEM instruction. By connecting research, instructional leadership, and classroom practice, this session demonstrates how intentional, data-informed strategies can transform curiosity into measurable impact in STEAM education.

What happens when student-built engineering meets robotics? Be among the first to explore Sphero Blueprint Robotics, a new system that combines mechanical engineering with programmable robotics. Designed for rapid classroom implementation, teachers can have up to six working robots built in just two class periods and students competing in less than a week. In this preview session, participants will build and test Blueprint robots while experiencing the type of rapid engineering challenges students will tackle in class. Discover how quick success sparks deeper engagement as students iterate, improve, and refine their designs.

K-8th Grade: Get ready for AI’s Got Talent, where the true star of the show is teacher clarity. AI is not replacing educators; it is performing as a tutor, assistant, and coach, partnering with us to amplify what great teachers already do best. Step into the role of judge and director as tools like Google Gemini and NotebookLM demonstrate how they can strengthen clarity of learning intentions, sharpen success criteria, enhance instruction and modeling, refine assessment and feedback, and elevate cognitive rigor. Grounded in The Teacher Clarity Playbook, this session brings Making Thinking Visible to life by demonstrating how AI can help uncover student reasoning and make cognitive processes explicit. Discover practical strategies that move instruction beyond delivery and toward deep understanding, ensuring student thinking is clear, measurable, visible, and powerful.

This session is for all teachers who want to improve STEAM-Fluency skills in their students that will result in greater achievement outcomes in science (or any content area). We will demonstrate how to implement strategies that make thinking visible using vertical white boards in science. 

What does a student's understanding of chemistry or biology actually look like? In this session, you'll see exactly that — through infographics, podcasts, comic strips, case files, poems, and more. Menu projects give students agency over how they express science content, and the results reveal thinking in ways a traditional test never could.

We'll walk through how we design and implement menu projects in secondary science classrooms to simultaneously differentiate instruction, address TEKS, and invite genuine creativity. 

Come dig in: you'll explore sample menus, student work examples, and leave with a framework you can adapt for your own classroom. Whether you teach science or another discipline, you'll walk away with a flexible tool for making your students' thinking visible in ways that surprise & delight you!

Make the Invisible Visible: Teaching Students How to Think Through Tasks addresses a common challenge: students often don’t know how to approach a task or prompt, even when they know the content. Participants will learn how making thinking visible helps students know where to start, what to look for, and how to work through tasks. Through examples and interactive practice, attendees will leave with strategies they can use right away to build student confidence, independence, and problem-solving skills. This session is designed for 3rd – 12th teachers and instructional leaders and connects to STEAM by helping students think through challenges across subjects.

This session will focus on getting students to speak, listen, read and write using academic language in science throughout the 5E Model. Participants will explore visuals, engage in a Talk Read Talk Write using structured visuals and the QSSSA strategy, and get ideas of how to support literacy for Emergent Bilingual students as well as all students. 

Why do some projects fizzle while others catch fire? The difference is story. Join us to discover how storytelling transforms the Engineering Design Process from a technical checklist into a human-centered mission. Using cooperative learning strategies such as Kagan structures, we’ll show you how "All means All" by empowering every student to find their voice and design solutions that actually matter. Learn the Why, How, and What of building resumes—and futures—through the power of narrative. 

What happens when students watch math unfold in real time? In this hands-on session, educators will explore how sensors stream live, real-world data directly into the web-based Desmos graphing calculator, allowing students to visualize phenomena as they happen. Participants will experience free, standards-aligned, web-based activities featuring pre-learning supports, collaborative worksheets, and seamless integration with learning management systems. Designed for beginning and experienced secondary teachers and administrators, this session highlights how real-time data strengthens STEAM learning by connecting mathematics, science, and technology. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use resources and practical strategies for engaging, student-centered investigations powered by live data.

Schools are making STEAM integration a priority now more than ever before. Simultaneously, mental health in schools has never been a more prevalent issue. While tailored for school counselors, this session will also inform administrators, teachers, and other faculty members how a STEAM mindset can be used to  address student mental health needs.

We will build models that make science concepts come to life in this fun, hands-on session!  Using LEGO Education Science kits for K-8, we will explore how these concrete learning experiences help students remember science concepts and transfer their learning year to year and from the classroom to state assessments.  Everyone will leave with a sample box of our science kit, which is a fun tool for family STEM nights, too!

This session showcases a cross-curricular unit built around A Long Walk to Water, integrating reading/language arts, science, math, and social studies through the real-world issue of water access. Participants will explore how students engage in critical thinking, data analysis, and problem-solving while making connections between literature and global challenges. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for designing interdisciplinary lessons that promote collaboration, inquiry, and visible thinking. This session is ideal for upper elementary and secondary teachers of all experience levels, as well as instructional leaders interested in STEAM integration. The approach highlights how literacy can serve as a powerful entry point for meaningful, real-world STEAM learning.

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Ready to learn more about AI usage within a North Texas school district? This session highlights approved and safe AI tools that are recommended for use with students and includes great ways to implement them. Google Gemini, NotebookLM, GEMS, and more will be covered!

In this session we'll explore building career readiness by transforming students from AI consumers to AI creators through hands-on learning with Sphero products. Discover how AI seamlessly integrates into our daily lives and revolutionizes sports. Explore Sphero's unique approach to AI education, focusing on recognition, exploration, and ethical engagement. Witness practical AI applications through exciting activities like the Baseball Pitch Analyzer, sparking curiosity and fostering critical thinking with Sphero tools.

Music is an important part of many people's lives.  But did you know that it is an incredible STEAM resource as well?  Come and experience some practical, actionable ways to encourage, empower, equip and engage learners at the elementary level through the use of music.  Learn how educators at any experience level can use music as the centerpiece of a learning task, or as the glue binding multiple tasks together across disciplines.  Bring your technology and leave this session equipped and prepared to add music to your STEAM toolkit, no music experience required!

Teaching Engineering of the Future is an immersive experience where students learn by designing, building, testing and improving real-world solution to real-world problems. While using industry tools like 3D printers, CAD software and rapid prototyping equipment, this classroom will emphasize iteration and innovation encouraging students to analyze failures and refine designs using the Engineering Design Process.

Discover practical ways to bring the new TEKS to life with engaging, inquiry-based science lessons designed for every classroom. Join us for a dynamic, hands-on workshop where you’ll experience an inquiry-based lesson that integrates Scientific and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Recurring Themes and Concepts (RTCs), and disciplinary content. Learn flexible, classroom-ready strategies to support student-led inquiry, encourage active engagement, and adapt to your pacing needs— all while making science meaningful and manageable for every learner.

Challenging and fun, they are often the first steps of designing learning that becomes the foundation of future ready skills in a workforce that is technologically driven. At the STEAM Center in our PreK-8th grade program we use 7 different robots (Sphero indi cars, Bolt, RVR, along with Marty, JD the Humanoid, Root, Codrones, and TI rovers)  that can be coded by color, scratch, block, or python. Come play (code) with these robots and enjoy time discovering the fun of this type of technology that can be used in your classroom. 

In this session, we will explore machine learning and computer science concepts using the new LEGO Education CS & AI kits for K-8.  Come ready to learn and have fun!  This is a hands-on session with building, coding, and movement in table teams.  Everyone will leave with a LEGO Coding Duck, which mimics the duck professional programmers talk to when they are working out problems with their code.  

In the elementary science classroom, making thinking visible begins with a compelling natural phenomenon that sparks curiosity and drives student inquiry. As students observe and wonder, anchor charts serve as a living record of their evolving ideas, allowing the class to co-construct explanations and track changes in their understanding over time. By documenting initial models and evidence-based revisions on these charts, teachers transform abstract thoughts into a shared, visual journey of scientific discovery. This collaborative process not only validates student voices but also helps young scientists connect complex concepts to the real world.

Using a seminar-style format, secondary instructional leaders will engage in research by reviewing and analyzing articles on the importance of learning designs that support student ownership and inquiry. Participants will lead roundtable discussions about high-yield strategies that support the growth of gifted thinkers and innovative design. Through the use of protocols to synthesize the collaborative study, educators will walk away with practical ideas for embedding these strategies into existing frameworks to increase student agency and self-directed learning.

This session will explore how educators can make student thinking visible through interactive, TEKS-aligned, phenomena-based, 3-dimensional STEAM learning experiences using Penda Learning. Participants will learn strategies to uncover student misconceptions, promote critical thinking, and use real-time data to guide instruction and differentiation. The session will highlight how gamified, inquiry-based activities can deepen student engagement while supporting mastery of science concepts across disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Attendees will leave with practical tools to implement visible thinking routines that enhance problem-solving and reasoning in STEAM classrooms.

In this presentation we will show you how we use projects and in class activities to help students make connections to the real world by collecting their own data and analyzing the results. This helps students make personal connections by doing their own research on topics they are actually interested in! We will also go over some creative ways we have students present their projects that help them practice real world skills like clear communication, reading a rubric, and giving/ receiving feedback. This will be from the perspective of high school statistics teachers, but any subject and any level that uses data or is looking for some new project presentation ideas could potentially benefit! 

This presentation will demonstrate how to incorporate the depth and complexity icons into the engineering thinking and design process. 

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