Learn how to use the iBlocks framework to guide your students through the Engineering Design Process, first building context and understanding around Rube Goldberg, simple machines, and then how they come together in a Rube Goldberg Machine. IBlocks content leads students through the planning, design, and construction of their machine and finally, the testing and evaluation, where students learn the importance of refining, remixing, and redesigning.

Are you looking for a unique activity using KIBO? Now that the winter months are officially here and snow is starting to fall, we are going to need a snowplow! In this session, we will explore how to turn KIBO into a snowplowing robot to clean up cotton ball snow. We will review the basics of KIBO, discuss important materials needed, and how to add code to make the snowplow do its job. We will also explore the steps for following the engineering design process to design the snowplow, put our work to the test, and make improvements along the way. Once the snowplow has been created, we will dive into some unique activity ideas. Get ready for a flurry of fun with KIBO!

Teachers are active learners. It’s part of the job and in their nature. Covid highlighted the great lengths educators go to find resources and better educate themselves so they can best serve their students. Self-directed, personalized learning -- which we say we want for students -- is sometimes overlooked in the professional learning space as there is a push for "seat hours." How do we change this rhetoric so teachers can spend less time sitting and more time doing? Join Michelle Blanchet from The Educator's Lab as she discusses what self-directed professional learning looks like for teachers and how your school might create a space and tools to support it.