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AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH ISTE Kimberly Oser Publisher Jules Denton Senior Associate Publisher Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director JoEllen Lowry • Jeanie Catron • Karrie Welborn Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Art Director Jonathan Schieffer Graphic Designer Caitlyn McGrath • Sarah Glenn • Heather Canale Customer Service Managers Stacy Davis • Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich Show Logistics & Distribution John Pechota Sales Floor Manager Marcos Morhaim Senior Account Manager Adrian Chacon • Rich Mariscal Account Managers Tara Neal Director of Operations Enrico Cecchi European Sales EdTech Show Daily is published by Oser Communications Group ©2017 All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy www.osercommunicationsgroup.com Lee M. Oser Founder EdTech Show Daily Wednesday, June 28, 2017 4 SIX TIPS FOR TEACHING ROBOTICS By John Heffernan, PhD, Technology Coordinator at Williamsburg Elementary Schools and LEGO ® Education Ambassador Want to get started in robotics? Here are six tips I've learned from teaching robot- ics for 12 years. 1. Be Thoughtful About Your Methods Think about your methods and sequences. Let kids experience the suc- cesses and (temporary) failures of the engineering process, while providing enough scaffolding and prior skills so that they can be successful. Don't let one experience affect a stu- dent's perception of engineering. One time, I built up a new sixth grade unit that emulated real-life engineering, but made it too difficult and students became frus- trated. However, now, with a full elemen- tary program initiated, students are con- sistently learning engineering and are less swayed by a single experience. 2. Add Variety Variety is important when teaching pro- gramming to young children. In my classroom, we use laminated cards with programming icons and students physi- cally place them in order to perform tasks. This explicitly teaches the students the action of each program- ming icon. We found the same thing with the mechanical knowledge of LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 – an elementary science, coding and robotics solution. We spent a lot of time in grades one and two discussing gears, levers, pul- leys, motors and sensors, which laid the foundation for students to understand basic robotics. We also encouraged stu- dents to think about the transfer of elec- trical energy from the computer to the motor and how mechanical energy is HELP STUDENTS EXCEL ON ONLINE ASSESSMENTS New online assessments demand more rigor and deeper understanding of the material than multiple choice tests. But they also require new skills. Inquiry- based simulations like ExploreLearning Gizmos (at booth #3041) can help. Love them or hate them, there's no escaping from online assessments. Now more than 30 states use computer-based testing in science, and even more do so in math. With computer-based testing comes the ability to ask questions in ways that would not be possible or practical with paper-based tests. Broader and more complex questions mean that students cannot just provide an answer, whether through memorization or guessing, but must show that they understand the ques- tions and support answers with evidence and reasoning. Research, however, suggests that those types of questions are what stu- dents struggle with. In 2009, the National Center for Education Statistics conducted a study of computer-based assessments using the National Assessment of Educational Progress. O v e r a l l , the study had two significant findings: stu- dents are suc- cessful with limited data sets and straightforward observations; students struggle with multiple variables, making strategic decisions and explain- ing conclusions and supporting them with evidence. The second conclusion is troubling since these are exactly the types of test items students face in computer-based assessments. In addition, data shows that the less experience students have with Continued on Page 29 Continued on Page 29