STEAM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As part of our revision to SBJC’s middle school STEAM Program and to assist our sending districts’ teachers in establishing STEAM Labs within their schools, the SBJC hosts annual professional development workshops. Teachers will be provided with the knowledge needed to run STEAM in their classrooms and will learn how to utilize SBJC as a resource. We provide workshops in the following areas:

How to Approach STEAM

Project-based learning and STEAM education go hand-in-hand. This workshop is designed to give participants a brief introduction to project-based learning (PBL) and how to design lessons and unit plans based around this teaching approach.

Graphic Design for Laser Cutting

Educators will learn how to teach students basic design principles to create simple graphics utilizing free software like Google Sheets, and professional software like Adobe Creative Cloud apps.

Lego Mindstorms Overview

Educators will understand how to teach STEM using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3. This workshop will help teachers feel confident using the hardware, software and curriculum resources.

Coding: Teaching Computer Science for Teachers who don’t know Computer Science.

Teacher’s will get an introduction to block coding software, Scratch. We’ll review our Computer Science Curriculum adapted from the Harvard Creative Computing guidebook.

3D Design

As part of our new middle school format, participating districts will have access to our 3D printers just by submitting an order. Tinkercad is the best place to get those students creating. In this workshop you will explore Tinkercad as a tool to incorporate 3D design into your lessons and learn the ins-and-outs of what’s printable on a 3D printer.

VEX Robotics Overview

This introduction to VEX Robotics will tie together robotics concepts and best practices with STEAM education topics. We’ll review the VEX IQ Curriculum as well as the options for VEX Programming.

Raspberry Pi Overview

Raspberry Pis are awesomely cheap computers. Educators will learn how to set up a Raspberry Pi and discover its capabilities. We’ll go over curriculum that’s available, and the types of projects your students can complete using these computers.

Microcontrollers and TouchBoards

Arduinos, MakeyMakeys, and TouchBoards will be introduced, and educators will have the opportunity to learn and play with these great tools, as well as develop lessons they and employ through the use of the products back in their classrooms.