SUMMER STEM INSTITUTE
STEM education is an approach to learning that removes the traditional barriers separating the four disciplines
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and integrates them into real-world, rigorous, relevant
learning experiences for students (Vasquez, Jo Anne. STEM Lesson Essentials, 2013).
The purpose of STEM education is for all learners, including girls and underrepresented populations in STEM
careers, to achieve literacy in the core disciplines, become critical thinkers and masters of 21st Century skills,
and ready and motivated to successfully pursue college preparation and careers related to STEM.
With generous support from the GE Foundation, the NYC Department of STEM is excited to offer the second of
three STEM Institutes, for teacher teams (2 to 3 educators), over the 2014 – 2016 school years. During the
three-day Summer STEM Institute, which will take place at Stuyvesant High School from Tuesday, July 7th to
Thursday, July 9th, 2015, teacher teams will have an opportunity to:




Develop a shared understanding of the important features of STEM education
Develop an awareness of approaches to STEM education
Build their leadership capacity to support STEM education within their school communities
Begin to build partnerships with other schools with similar interests to support your STEM initiative
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS
1. LEGO® Education STEM Learning Environment in an Elementary School (Grades 1-5)
Join us to experience how LEGO® Education materials support a highly motivated STEM learning environment
in 1st-5th grades by participating in a hands-on, minds-on workshop. Specific emphasis will be placed on how
to integrate the elements of STEM including the use of robotics to develop skills, creativity, and problem
solving.
2. Wind-Ups: Learning Energy Concepts Through Rubber-Band Vehicles (Grades 2-5)
Make an elastic-powered vehicle, and learn troubleshooting techniques to make it work the way you want.
Then explore its characteristics: how far will it go, how fast and in what path? Collect data to determine how
its design affects its performance. Develop energy concepts to explain how it works.
3. Engineering is Elementary (Grades 2-5)
The Engineering is Elementary Teacher Educator Institute is hands-on and learner-driven. You’ll develop a
deep understanding of the pedagogy and structure of the EiE curriculum. And you’ll take away a large
collection of valuable resources to help you facilitate your own EiE workshops and support teachers as they
implement EiE in their classrooms.
4. Green Design Lab Curriculum with Solar One (Grades 3-7)
Explore Solar One's Green Design Lab! The curriculum promotes real-world learning and sustainability through
5 units- Energy, Water, Food, Materials and Air. Teachers will participate in hands-on STEM activities, develop
lesson plans, and learn how to integrate environmental science across disciplines. Participants will receive
Solar One curriculum, standards alignment and a materials toolkit.
5. Pop-ups: Using Paper Engineering to Make Algebra & Geometry Come Alive (Grades 4-8)
Pop-ups are intriguing! Learn to make your own pop-up mechanisms using cardstock and tape. Explore how
these mechanisms work, collect data and analyze your data for its underlying patterns. These activities link to
literacy and provide bridges to measurement, elementary algebra and geometry in an engaging and surprising
way!
6. First LEGO League Robotics Workshop (Grades 4-8)
Robotics is an engaging vehicle to help students develop engineering skills and engage in STEM. Participants in
this workshop will learn how to build and program a robot while also acquiring the skills necessary to get in
involved with the FIRST Lego League and start a team in their school.
7. STEM Learning and Computing Through Game Design (Grades 4-12)
Any teacher can use game design as a tool in their classroom! Globaloria is a blended-learning platform with
courses to teach 4th-12th graders computer science, game design and coding using professional programming
languages. We train teachers and support them and their students throughout the school year. Courses are
research-proven and CCSS, NGSS and ISTE aligned.
8. LEGO® Education Mechanisms and Robotics Learning Environments for Real-World application
of STEM learning in the Middle Grades (Grades 6-8)
Join us to experience how LEGO® Education Simple and Motorized Machines and MINDSTORMS® Robotics will
challenge your middle school students to apply their STEM knowledge to creatively solve real world
problems. This workshop will immerse participants in a project-based environment to experience how to
bring STEM learning to life.
9. Strategies for STEM Success (Grades 6-8)
Engage in a variety of hands-on design challenges that can be used in your classroom with topics including
biomimicry and circuits. Each challenge focuses on specific learner goals that encourage the development of
skills necessary for STEM success. Best practices and protocols that structure the design process will be
modeled.
10. The Cooking LAB: A New Lens for Food and Science (Grades 6-8)
Learn how science can be taught through cooking with Kitchen Garden Laboratory. See how ingredients are
transformed from hypothesis (delicious meal), to formula (recipe), experiment (cooking) and analysis (Let’s
eat!). Explore food as a natural way to understand scientific and math concepts viscerally such as
crystallization, emulsion, dispersion, diffusion, spherification, surface tension.
11. Bootstrap: Videogame Programming with Algebra (Grades 6-12)
Bootstrap is a curriculum module, which teaches students to program their own videogames using purely
algebraic concepts. The class is compact and flexible, requiring roughly 20-30 hours of instructional time. Each
lesson is carefully aligned to state and Common Core standards for mathematics, allowing teachers to reuse
existing classroom time to integrate Bootstrap.
12. STEM Project Design Workshop (Grades 6-12)
We’ll start with an exemplar of a STEM project-based learning unit that you can use in your classroom.
Participants will then design STEM projects that will support the unique needs and interests of your students.
We’ll continue to work together in an on-line collaboration during the 2015-2015 school year.
13. Green Design Lab Curriculum with Solar One (Grades 8-12)
Explore Solar One's Green Design Lab! The curriculum promotes real-world learning and sustainability through
5 units- Energy, Water, Food, Materials and Air. Teachers will participate in hands-on STEM activities, develop
lesson plans, and learn how to integrate environmental science across disciplines. Participants will receive
Solar One curriculum, standards alignment and a materials toolkit.
14. Creative Coding In Your Classroom (Grades 9-12)
In this workshop you will be introduced to Processing, a free programming language and environment that
allows you to make data visualizations, games, interactive art, and animations with code. You will also learn
the basics of Arduino, a physical computing platform to interface with Processing, allowing you to use
electronic components to interact with Processing programs on screen, and control electronics with software
you've written. These tools can be used in middle and high school classrooms in project based activities,
teaching students the basics of programming and electronics in fun, engaging ways. Software for the
workshop is free, hardware will be provided, as well as books.
15. Engineering the Future (Grades 9-12)
Introduce students to the world of technology and engineering as a first step in becoming technologically
literate citizens. The program will help high school students answer the question, “Why should I study math,
science and engineering?” This program focuses on practical real--‐world connections.
16. Making the Standards for Mathematical Practice Come Alive (Grades K-6)
Leverage the neuroscience of learning through spatial temporal mathematics (ST Math.) Experience problemsolving lessons and instructional strategies that engage all students and provide access to rigorous, standardsbased problems through interactive, digital content. Learn how to use visual problems to promote student
perseverance and communication through classroom discussions and blended learning techniques.
17. STEM in the Garden (Grades K-12)
Interested in starting a school garden at your school, but aren’t sure how to begin? Looking for ways to make
your garden a center for hands-on, inquiry-based learning? Join Grow to Learn staff for an exciting workshop
focused on planning, building, and using a school garden. We’ll cover all the gardening basics plus engaging
STEM activities to use with students. This workshop is open to K-12 schools that currently have or are
planning a school garden of any type (indoor, outdoor, hydroponic, etc). It is recommended that attendees
bring a laptop to the workshop and come prepared with possible space(s) at their school for a garden and
approximate dimensions of that garden space. Schools will leave this workshop registered with Grow to Learn
(making them eligible to apply for Grow to Learn Mini-Grants and to receive free gardening materials),
prepared to begin a school garden project, and armed with STEM activities to incorporate into classroom
gardening!
18. Dive into Design Thinking – 2 Sessions (Grades K-12)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum will offer an interactive 3-day workshop for K-12 educators,
introducing design thinking as a vehicle for creative problem-solving across curricula. Educators will “play
designer” and discover a variety of hands-on activities that connect to project-based learning, STEM
disciplines, 21st Century Skills, and Common Core Standards.