Session 3

Spark Student Projects Creatively with Canva

Room: Keystone

Presenter(s): Frannie Shue

Description: You will leave with ideas and projects that your elementary students (although you can adapt to the middle school level) can do on Canva.  These projects will be integrated subjects where differentiated instruction and assessment can be used easily.  Canva is not only a teacher tool but a student's tool for making creative projects, allowing students' ideas to spark learning.  Bring your computer with you so you can follow along to create a project to take back to your classroom or school district.  

Grade Level Focus: Elementary focus (K-6)

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Specialists, Librarians/Media Specialists

Bio: Frannie Shue has been teaching for a decade now. Currently, she is the Technology/Library Skills Teacher for K-5 at Bald Eagle Area School District for five years.  During this time, she has presented at PETE & C and the Creatively Conference on Scratch Coding in full inclusion classrooms.  Daily she uses  Canva, Scratch Coding, Google Classroom, library skills, and many different tools for students to use to create various projects and learn new ideas.

Strategies for Putting Creativity to Work in Schools

Room: Meadow

Presenter(s): Larry Keiser, PhD

Description: Following a brief, interactive presentation on why teachers and students need to move beyond simply “doing” creative activities, participants will explore the importance of recognizing creativity as it occurs and engaging in it with intention. They will examine common barriers to creativity, including functional fixedness and unintentional squelching, and consider how they could thoughtfully leverage AI to support creative thinking. Participants will complete several self-assessments related to a creative mindset that they can use with their students or colleagues, and practice using several hands-on tools and techniques to integrate creativity into instructional practice more effectively. The session will conclude with a discussion of seven specific ways creativity is commonly undermined in classrooms, while simultaneously modeling what it looks like to lead and teach through creativity.

Grade Level Focus: Overall focus (K-12)

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Specialists, Principals, Librarians/Media Specialists, Technology Directors/Facilitators, Superintendents, Curriculum Directors/Specialists

Bio: Larry Keiser, PhD, led Drexel U’s Creativity & Innov. program, co-authored Connecting Creativity & Motivation Research. w/End Users (Cambridge Univ. Press) & Crisis in Teacher Ed.: Creativity Lacking (In Press), is Assoc. Ed. for 4th Ed. Encyclopedia of Creativity, will Keynote at 2026 World Creativity Conf., sat on Board of Am. Creativity Assoc., received>$21M funding (US & PA Dept.s of Ed, NSF, foundations) for alternative teacher certification. pathways, PD for STEM educators, & enhancing student creativity.

Sensory STEM: Play, Learn, Explore

Room: Juniata

Presenter(s): Emily Book and Kaitlin Pauling

Description: 

This session challenges the idea that meaningful STEM experiences require large budgets by showcasing how one elementary program designed a highly engaging, low-cost summer STEM camp for K–5 learners. Grounded in real classroom practice, participants will explore the planning process, low-cost material strategies, and ways to intentionally embed the 4C’s into every activity. The session will highlight sensory-rich STEM experiences that incorporate hands-on learning through taste, touch, smell, and sight to spark curiosity and deepen student engagement.

Participants will leave with ready-to-use STEM activity plans for K–5 that are low-cost, hands-on, and sensory-rich, along with pre-made presentation slides for each featured activity that can be easily shared or adapted.  In addition, attendees will learn practical ways to adapt activities across grade levels and leave with the confidence and inspiration to create meaningful STEM experiences regardless of budget.

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Specialists, Principals, Librarians/Media Specialists, Curriculum Directors/Specialists

Bio: Emily Book has been an educator for 18 years. She is in her third year building the K–5 STEM program in the Greenwood School District and also serves as the district’s Gifted Support Teacher. She recently received her STEM endorsement from Wilkes University and, in 2025, was named PPL's Elementary STEM Teacher of the Year. She is deeply committed to creating innovative, hands-on learning experiences that engage and empower her students.

Kaitlin Pauling is in her sixth year of teaching at Greenwood Elementary.  She has taught 5th grade and is in her 4th year of teaching 1st grade. She has fallen in love with hands-on learning through the lens of small group instruction. She is passionate about implementing technology and STEM in every lesson she can! Kaitlin is also a KTI Star. 

PA 4-H Engineering Design Challenge 

Room: Dogwood

Presenter(s): Toni Stuetz

Description: The goal of this challenge is to encourage critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and problem-solving in a non-traditional learning event and to have fun in the process. Participants will apply their STEM knowledge and skills to solve problems by identifying and researching them, then making and implementing a plan to design a solution.  Student will create a Rube Goldberg style machine, with the option of participating in a state-wide contest.  Participation in the Statewide contest is virtual, and students can enter as individuals or small teams.

Grade Level Focus: Overall focus (K-12)

Audience: Classroom Teachers, Technology Directors/Facilitators

Bio: Toni Stuetz has worked with Penn State Extension in Chester County since 1991, supporting traditional 4-H programming and various urban and suburban program outreach initiatives.  She has served on the Pennsylvania 4-H STEM Program committee, National 4-H STEM Challenge design team, Co-chairs the Engineering Design Challenge team, and the 4-H Embryology and Meet the Plants school Enrichment committees.

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Building Better Scientists with LEGO Education Science

Room: Board

Presenter(s): Jeremy Umbenhauer

Description: Attendees will transform into the student role in this exploration of the new LEGO Education Science Kits. We will work through one of the build lessons designed for the grade 6-8 kits and discuss some things that I have learned in my first year of implementation.  The target audience would be K-8 educators as LEGO Education Science Kits are banded K-2, 3-5, and 6-8.  

Grade Level Focus: Elementary focus (K-6); 6-8

Audience: Classroom Teachers

Bio: Current 8th-grade Science Teacher. Former HS Chemistry Teacher. 2025 KTI Star. Regional Director - South Central PAECT.