VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

students

Boolean Girls Clubhouse Reopening In NOVA

Image of chart demonstrating increasing coding confidenceBoolean Girl is a non-profit with a mission to diversify technology fields by teaching girls and individuals from underrepresented groups to code, build, invent, and animate.

We are excited to announce the reopening of our in-person clubhouse at Marymount University in Arlington.

What's Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is our Saturday morning coding and engineering event. It runs from 9-12 Saturday mornings. The next block of meetings starts Feb 26th. A block lasts 4 weeks but you can attend one or all four meetings in a block.

What do we do at Clubhouse?

Based on skill level and interest, girls choose one of three tracks. The current offerings include;

Track 1 - SCRATCH CODING FOR ALL. (Grades 3-6)

Track 2 - PYTHON II: CODE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE (Grades 5-8)

Track 3 - CRAFTY CIRCUITS. (Grades 3-7) This session takes a hands-on approach to

Coding using micro:bits to incorporate programming, engineering, circuits, and art.

Details

Because we limit participation to 30 girls, we typically charge $25 to encourage parents to show up. However, we have unlimited scholarships, just ask at info@booleangirl.org. 

When: Saturdays starting Feb 26, 9 - 12

Where: Marymount University, 1000 Glebe Road, Arlington

Who: Girls in grades 3 - 8

Sponsored by Amazon

Details and registration: https://booleangirl.org/clubhouse/

Download the flyer: https://bit.ly/3sO7vNX

Why only Girls?

While some think the diversity in tech issue is solved, this is not the case. Girls, students of color, and low-income children are not getting the STEM education they deserve. While some progress has been made in diversifying the sciences, an alarming lack of diversity persists, particularly in computer science. Girls make up 56% of students who take AP exams, but only 19% of those that take the computer science AP exam.

Further reading:

"More women in a STEM field leads people to label it as a ‘soft science,’ according to new research", The Conversation, January 24, 2022

 

KidWind- A Makerspace STEM Initiative

As a retired K-12 teacher and member of a community makerspace called Makersmiths, I volunteer as an educational liaison, working with families seeking opportunities for their children to become involved in STEM activities. One of Makersmiths initiatives is the KidWind-Virginia Challenge. During the 2018-2019 school year, I volunteered with two other Makersmiths members to sponsor two KidWind teams.

The teams learned about wind energy, how to design, create and test their blades on turbine stands. They learned to use multimeters and a Vernier Go Direct Sensor that uses Graphical Analysis software to determine their wind turbines’ energy production. At the spring 2019 KidWind-Virginia challenge event, the high school team won first place with their 3D printed blades and homemade generator producing the most energy and the middle school team earned two awards for their knowledge of wind energy initiatives, and for best documented blade design development.

photo of a high school maker project photo of a maker project, a large fan

Excited about their KidWind Challenge successes, our middle school students wanted to learn Tinkercad to design new blades and use 3D printers and a laser printer to construct blades for the 2020 wind turbine competition.

photo of student working at computer photo of wind turbine project

However, COVID-19 postponed the competition until spring 2021. We still held weekly meetings using Google Meet to offer advice as students completed their KidWind projects at home. I built the KidWind Challenge website to provide the students with information they needed to know about wind turbines. Since the middle school students also wanted to compete in the 2021 Kidwind Solar Structure Challenge, I built a solar structure website, too.

The students experimented with items such as solar panels, LEDs, switches, fans and water pumps found in their KidWind solar kits obtained from the JMU’s Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy (CASE) that sponsors KidWind-Virginia. The five middle school students eventually formed three teams that won first, second and third place awards in the middle school KidWind-VA 2021 Solar Structure Challenge. What were their projects?

photo of maker projectFirst place winners Connor, Caleb and Soren wanted to build a Kiosk solar project that contains a sound box. The sound box detects movement and plays a train sound whenever someone walks by it.  The purpose of the sound is to catch the attention of that person and draw them back to the kiosk to read displayed information.

In order for sound box batteries to remain charged, the boys used three rechargeable batteries wired to two solar panels on a platform at the top of the kiosk. Tilted at an optimal angle to capture the direct sunlight during spring and summer, the panel can also be manually rotated to follow the sun.

photo of water filtering projectSecond place winner Katie wanted to find a way to filter pond or stream water to use when watering plants. She created a water filtering system that uses a fish tank with a charcoal filter, two water pumps and three solar panels on a platform that can be adjusted to obtain the optimum angle to capture direct sunlight at different times of the year. The solar panels operate the two water pumps.

photo of project illustrating electrolysisThird place winner Sofi figured out a way to use solar power to run an electrolysis system that separates hydrogen from oxygen in water. The hydrogen would power vehicles instead of using fossil fuels. She first used batteries to produce power to run her electrolysis system, then she switched to using solar power.

When thinking about what our students learned completing KidWind projects, many academic areas come to mind. Students used mathematics to measure when building projects and when completing their experiments, kept a journal to document the scientific data they were collecting, and wrote their procedures and results for judges to read. They had to collaborate to problem-solve and use their oral communication skills to create videos showing their projects in action. Most of all, our students developed maker skills and learned quite a bit about clean energy initiatives.

We would like to start a blog for VSTE members to share their makerspace initiatives. Perhaps you want to ask questions about how to establish a makerspace that ties into STEM initiatives? Let us know what you are thinking or wanting to ask!

Written by Diane D. Painter. Diane is a retired Fairfax County K-12 special education teacher. She teaches curriculum and instruction courses at Shenandoah University and volunteers as an educational liaison at Makersmiths, Inc., a non-profit makerspace in Loudoun County, VA. You can contact Diane through the Makersmiths website.

Computer Science in King George County Schools

King George County Schools has been incorporating Computer Science SOLs since they were adopted in 2017. But including Computer Science skills in our classes started before they were officially adopted by the Department of Education.

screenshot of 5th grade CS Standards
Click for larger view

In the spring of 2016 King George County Schools had been experiencing overcrowding in the elementary specials rotation. After looking at several options including orchestra and foreign language, it was determined that STEM would be added to all three elementary schools as a way to introduce the students to engineering and increase exposure to technology, math, and science. During the fall of 2016 students began attending their first classes for STEM. Our first year was exciting and new for everyone. We were all learning as we were doing and the students were very excited about the new special. Some even ranked it better than PE, which helped us to know we had made the right choice.

elementary student playing with a robotAt this time, we were aware that VDOE was working on writing and adopting Computer Science Standards and we were following their work closely. As the standards were adopted we went through each standard to determine where the SOL would be taught (STEM, Art, Music, Library, Math, Reading, or with our ITL). Once it was determined where the SOL would be taught, we began to place them on our curriculum maps.

In the 2018-2019 School year we added a subscription to Learning.com for all three elementary schools and the middle school. Learning.com had the ability to cover all of the Computer Science SOLs for our schools and could be easily assigned to students by any K-8 teacher in the district. Leaning.com has continued to add additional lessons and activities for students, offer professional development for staff and assistance with curriculum as needed.

elementary students using robotsThe elementary school STEM programs use a variety of tools to teach Computer Science in addition to Learning.com. Code.org has been a wonderful (and FREE) resource that offers a variety of activities for our students and includes both online and unplugged activities for our learners. Additionally, we have added BeeBots, Dash and Dot Robots, Bloxels, Computational Thinking Games, and 3-D Printers to our labs to augment our programs. While each building has a slightly different set up due spacing and materials added with grants, all three programs continue to provide a variety of experiences for our learners.

students working on a STEM projectMiddle school students get a 10 day Lego Mindstorm Robotics unit as part of their 7th grade life science class. Additionally, the middle school offers semester-long elective classes under the CTE umbrella that include Keyboarding, Middle School Computer Science, and Computer Solutions. The middle school recently completed a major renovation and addition. This has allowed for the creation of a beautiful new Maker Space which includes 3-D Printers, Legos, Drones, and many other resources.

At the high school level, King George students have numerous opportunities to take computer science related elective courses that include: Informational Technology Fundamentals; Computer Information Systems; Design, Multimedia, and Web Technologies; Cybersecurity Fundamentals; Cybersecurity Software Operations; and Video / Media Technology. The high school has also started to create a Maker Space in their library. Each year they are adding additional materials to the Maker Space and encouraging students to create.

photo of STEM night activityBy introducing students to computer science in the elementary schools we believe the students are more prepared to make elective choices at the middle and high school level related to computer science. We also feel it is important for all students to have some experience with Computer Science and STEM at the elementary level because it often allows students an opportunity to be successful and show leadership in ways that are different from those assessed with formal testing.

King George County Schools has also included the community in our growth of Computer Science instruction by having Family STEM (now STEAM) nights. On these evenings, families come together at one of our buildings to experience a variety of STEAM related activities being taught or demonstrated by KGCS Employees, students, community members, and partners from Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. While this year we were unable to get together in person, our division hosted three nights online with multiple sessions being offered every 30 minutes.

If you are just starting to incorporate more Computer Science into your instruction, here are some tips:

  • Start small.
  • Look at available resources that your district already has in place.
  • Look for funding programs and materials from a variety of sources - like local educational grants and DonorsChoose.org to the CTE budget.
  • Remember that everything doesn’t need to be purchased at the same time.
  • Reach out to other districts and visit their programs.
  • Most importantly, don’t be afraid to give it a try.

Written by Yvonne Richard. Yvonne has been a K-6 STEM teacher since fall of 2016. Prior to becoming a STEM teacher, she has taught reading, first grade, second grade, and third grade self contained classrooms. Yvonne is a member of the Virginia Children’s Engineering Board of Directors and she is the editor of the Children’s Engineering Journal. Yvonne’s STEM Lab can be found on Facebook by following @KGES STEM Lab.

Elementary Students are Too Young for Virtual Learning! Or Are They?

During our TSIP (Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel) evaluations, I make it a habit to ask all of my teachers, “How's it going?” “Do you need help or assistance with anything?” Mrs. Candice Nurney, a second-grade teacher at Sussex Central Elementary School, answered “No, I’m fine and my students are doing well!” Given that her portfolio evidence is always exemplary, her evaluation was short so we had a few minutes to chat before my next evaluation. I was intrigued by her answers and wanted to know more as I have read the horror stories about virtual learning and elementary students.

Reflecting back to the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Nurney said and continued to reiterate that ATTITUDE was very important and instrumental in the success of her second-graders in the virtual learning environment. Just like every other teacher, she went into virtual learning with the fear of the unknown, but her positive ATTITUDE made the difference. It would have been easy to succumb to the negative stigma that elementary students are too young for virtual learning, but not Mrs. Nurney. She stated that how you approach the situation and your ATTITUDE will dictate success or failure.

screenshot of website by 2nd grade teacherAt the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Nurney took the time to​ explain and practice ​with her students, just as she would in the face-to-face environment. She mentioned that she kept her instructions simple and clear, as well as allowing ample practice time for her students while making sure she did not overwhelm them with too many tasks. Although the focus was given to the usage and features of the Canvas, Clever, and Zoom platforms for the first few weeks of school, the subject matter was still being taught.

Mrs. Nurney recognized the importance of these platforms and the role they would play in her success as a teacher in the virtual environment so she took the time to model screen sharing, muting/unmuting, reactions, and how to access documents and resources in Clever and Canvas with her students. She made it fun by using the popular Bitmoji classroom, which also made her Canvas page easy to navigate. In addition to her normal working hours, Mrs. Nurney made herself available after hours to assist parents and students so they could be successful. With persistence and patience, her second graders continue to thrive in this virtual environment. Despite this horrible pandemic and the normal challenges of virtual learning, she kept a positive ATTITUDE. Mrs. Nurney is a true testament to the saying, “a positive attitude will lead to positive outcomes.”

Written by Tim Mays (@tmays921). Tim is the Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Student Information Systems for Sussex County Public Schools. He is a VSTE Board Member and a member of VSTE’s Education Committee and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mentor. Mrs. Candice Nurney is a second-grade teacher at Sussex Central Elementary School and is currently a doctoral student at Liberty University.

YouTube: The Dilemma and Rockingham’s Solution

In Rockingham, we finally gave up hope that Google would rescue everyone from the YouTube predicament the company created for school divisions all over the US. We asked for assistance as far up the Google chain as we could go but learned it clearly has no intent to change its practice nor its stance.

The problem concerns Google’s G Suite for Education terms of service agreement that requires school divisions to obtain parent permission for minors to use YouTube and other Google tools it labels “Additional Services.” These additional services are its products Google considers to be more consumer applications and different from its “Core Services” which include Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Drive and others. Like MANY school divisions, we had not obtained the required parent permission to use YouTube in legal compliance with its terms of service.

According to Google:

Additional Services require consent for minor users: G Suite for Education requires in its agreement (section 2.5) that schools obtain parent or guardian consent for any Additional Services they allow students under the age of 18 to use.

Why does Google insist that divisions obtain parent permission for minors to use YouTube? You may be surprised to know that it has NOTHING to do with content nor appropriate use. Google’s issue concerns student data privacy. They admit that they don’t guarantee to protect the private student data they have access to when students use YouTube in the same way they protect the student data associated with student use of their core G Suite services like Google Docs or Google Drive. And they’re not interested in doing anything about it.

diagram showing relationship with YouTube and student data

In Rockingham, we considered our YouTube options. We determined there were FOUR.

  1. Ask for parent permission to use YouTube.
    Decision: NO. We simply couldn’t do that to teachers. How could they use the resource effectively when only a fraction of students (big or small, doesn’t matter) would be allowed to access it? That’s a nightmare scenario for the classroom. It was unrealistic to think we could get 100% permission.
  2. Remove YouTube completely. Ban its use. Make the problem disappear.
    Decision: NO. There are too many valuable resources there to simply dismiss it entirely. We would create a problem for ourselves arguably worse than the legal one!
  3. Do nothing.
    Decision: NO. We couldn’t afford to ignore the situation any longer. We were in violation of the G Suite for Education user agreement which clearly states that permission is required. Google even provides you with the boilerplate for your use with parents in asking for permission. Thanks, Google.
  4. Look for a workaround, some way to use it legally, in compliance with Google’s ToS.
    Decision: BINGO. We found a way and with no thanks to Google, I should add.

We employ a web-based tool called MyVRSpot.

Here are a few of the things we appreciate about this tool.

  • Our teachers are able to assign YouTube content by washing their YouTube links through MyVRSpot, a very, very simple process. It requires a minimal amount in terms of training.
  • Our teachers can authenticate through Google so no new logins are required. No student accounts are needed. Student accounts are available at a price which provide students some video creation features but we’ve found our subscription level to be perfect for the sole purpose of providing YouTube content. (We subscribe to WeVideo for video creation.)
  • The student interface for viewing the YouTube content is completely clean — no comments, no recommended videos, no “up next” videos. There’s no link to YouTube nor to the video hosted there.
  • Unlike other tools out there that may do something similar, MyVRSpot registers the user views on the original content hosted at YouTube. So there’s no harm nor loss to the author through our access in this way.
  • Our teachers report what turns out to be an unintended benefit — they love being able to have a place where they can create folders and organize their video links for use year after year.

We can now handle YouTube access for students in varying ways depending on grade level.

For K-5, we block YouTube all together. Students can’t access it on their division devices. As a 1-to-1 division where elementary students now take their devices home (a change for us, a COVID-19 response), we felt parents would appreciate it if we did not open Pandora’s box for them to manage. But students CAN watch ANY YouTube video that the teacher provides via a MyVRSpot link. It’s a win-win.

For grades 6-12, YouTube is turned off for students (meaning that it is not sending data to YouTube for the student users when logged into their Google accounts). However, students CAN access YouTube and use it to search and view videos as a non-logged in user, i.e., essentially an anonymous user. (Note, our Securly filter [https://www.securly.com/] remains in place, we apply YouTube’s strict filter, and device management helps us protect and hold students accountable on their Chromebooks.) Teachers use MyVRSpot to ensure that students can access any video they assign. We have found the standard YouTube strict filter to be effective but also inconsistent where some students may be able to view an acceptable video while the YouTube strict filter prevents it for others. MyVRSpot solves this problem.

Recently, we purchased some streaming video account subscriptions from MyVRSpot and those along with the Mevo Start camera have given us an extremely easy and reliable way to meet the needs of our schools who want to stream events to students at home, families, and the community. We also use this to stream our school board meetings and it provides a clean interface for viewers, free of comments and other distractions.

Thanks to our Technology Director, Kevin Perkins, who leads our division in many ways with this as an important one to ensure that we maintain the proper legal standing with Google and offer respect to our students in ensuring an environment that protects their privacy.

Written by Stephanie Failes. Stephanie is the Instructional Technology Supervisor for Rockingham County Public Schools. You can connect with her on Twitter @stfailes.