2024VSTE Annual Conference

You have done the work. Did it work? Did your plan yield results? If you are a person that enjoys data or thinks that Spreadsheets are the best tool ever, then this session is for you! I will provide data you can use, but please come with data also.

Drop your anchor and explore creative and engaging ways to integrate the new computer science standards into your social studies lessons. Come and learn how you can seamlessly integrate robots, coding, and technology tools such as AI and Genially to create dynamic lessons for K-8 that not only grab students? attention and engross them in history and social studies, but also effortlessly integrate the new CS standards. There will be time for hands-on learning and experimenting with technology tools such as Bee-Bots, Sphero Indis, Ozobots, digital escape rooms, and MagicSchool.ai. You will disembark with ideas and resources that you can use immediately with students.

Many programming environments only offer English as an option for coding. What if you could design your own custom blocks for Makecode in a language that meets your students' needs and have them setup with their device in their target language? In this session we share resources on developing custom multilingual coding environments and operationalizing them in a dual language immersion program. We will share strategies and templates to develop your own blocks in Makecode and quickly set them up to use in the classroom, natively. We will share the process and what has worked and what hasn't!

Throughout this session attendees will briefly learn about Boolean Girl?s mission before participating in an intro lesson to AI in Scratch. First we will explore the AI travel chatbot, OCTA, before brainstorming our own chatbot ideas and beginning to build it in Scratch. Participants will walk away with a lesson idea, along with other coding instructional resources.