Double Session I
9:00 - 10:45 am
Embedded Files
Blueprint Robotics: Classroom & Competition Robotics Reimagined
Blueprint Robotics: Classroom & Competition Robotics Reimagined
Time, system complexity, and logistics are common barriers to successful classroom robotics. Discover how Sphero Blueprint Robotics removes those barriers in this hands-on grades 7–12 session. Drive, build, and compete while exploring engineering design, mechanisms, sensors, and control systems. Aligned to NGSS, STEL, and Illinois Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Pathways.
Room: 162
Audience: Grades 7-12, Supervisors and Administrators, Teacher Educators, RObotics Coaches, STEM Teachers, CTE
Presenter(s): Dustin Vanderploeg
Drawing Students into Science: A Hands-On STEM Strategy for Multilingual Learners and Diverse Classrooms
Drawing Students into Science: A Hands-On STEM Strategy for Multilingual Learners and Diverse Classrooms
Science becomes accessible when students can see it, build it, and explain it.
In this interactive 110-minute session, participants will experience the Educational Bootcamp Speed Bag Drawing Method, a research-informed instructional approach that uses visual thinking, scientific drawing, and hands-on STEM investigations to deepen conceptual understanding while increasing access for all learners.
Designed especially to support multilingual learners, struggling readers, and students with IEPs and 504 plans, this strategy reduces language barriers without reducing academic rigor. Participants will engage in a collaborative STEM challenge, learn classroom-ready techniques that strengthen scientific discourse and sense-making, and discover how drawing can become a powerful scaffold for vocabulary development, critical thinking, and three-dimensional science learning.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies they can implement immediately to increase engagement, improve comprehension of complex science concepts, and create more inclusive science classrooms where every student has an opportunity to succeed.
Participants Will Learn To:
• Use visual thinking and scientific drawing to improve comprehension of complex science concepts.
• Increase access to rigorous science instruction for multilingual learners, struggling readers, and students with diverse learning needs.
• Facilitate a hands-on STEM lesson that promotes collaboration, scientific discourse, and evidence-based reasoning.
• Implement classroom-ready strategies that support equitable participation while maintaining high expectations for all learners.
Room: 117
Audience: Grades 3-5
Presenter(s): Sabrina Morgan, sabrina@educationalbootcamp.com
Educational Bootcamp: http://educationalbootcamp.com/
Building Youth AI Literacy & Voice through Discussion Forums
Building Youth AI Literacy & Voice through Discussion Forums
For the past year, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry has been holding youth discussion forums on AI across Chicagoland. These forums are designed for youth to develop their voice and confidence as they grapple with the challenging societal implications of AI. In this session, we will share our initial findings and attendees will participate in an AI discussion forum.
Room: 119
Audience: Grades 6-12, Supervisors & Administrators
Presenter(s): Nick Felts and Dr. Lauren Applebaum, Ph.D. nicholas.felts@griffinmsi.org Lauren.Applebaum@griffinmsi.org
Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Act It Out! Making Pushes & Pulls Come Alive Through Story
Act It Out! Making Pushes & Pulls Come Alive Through Story
Bring storytime to life through science! Participants explore pushes and pulls using movement, visuals, and storytelling to make sense of motion. This joyful, NGSS-aligned experience builds academic vocabulary, supports multilingual learners, and promotes talk, play, literacy, and sensemaking.
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