SESSION LIST 

 

The unconference time will be anchored by four of the following anchor sessions.  

 

The selection of which sessions will run will be determined by member interest ahead of time through the online Chicago CSTA group.  The CSTA members shown by each topic below are teachers who have developed and used this material in their classes, curriculum development materials, and in PD sessions delivered elsewhere.

 

1.  Developing Web Apps [David Hayes]  Demonstrates an example of building cross-platform web apps.  This was presented as a tutorial session at SIGCSE in Baltimore in February.

 

2.  Micro:bits in ECS [Dan Law]  This was given as a tutorial at the 2017 CS PD week in Colorado, and as a CPS teacher PD experience November 2017.

 

3.  Nifty Assignments: Warm up to the CSTA Nifty Assignment session which will be presented at the July Omaha CSTA conference. [Baker Franke]

 

4.  Cybersecurity curriculum: Unplugged activities and hands-on widgets going through a progression about encryption, from Caesar cipher up through Public Key Cryptography.  [Baker Franke]  This is new tutorial curriculum developed for Code.org.

 

5.  Equitable teaching practice scenarios: Using an MIT-developed app to reveal and handle unconscious bias scenarios in classrooms.  [Baker Franke, with possible guest appearance by Kevin Robinson of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab]

 

6.  First impressions and explanations on programming drones in Tynker and Swift, allowing folks to play with them. [Shandor Simon]  Shandor will demonstrate how he has used programming drones in his classrooms at the Latin School, and will bring multiple drones for participants to play with.

 

7. Experiencing K-8 Developmentally appropriate CS Languages [Farrah Falco, JD Pirtle] Comparisons, examples, and appropriateness for different grade levels will be discussed for Scratch Jr, Beebots/Bluebots, Hopscotch, Scratch, Processing/Python, Javascript, A-Frame (for VR), and SonicPi.

 

8. Tools and Best Practices for K-8 Maker Literacies at different grade levels: Robot choices, 3D printer alternatives, Vinyl Cutter, Drones, tablets.   [Farrah Falco, JD Pirtle]

 

9.  Incorporating the project-based Google CS First learning platform into K-8 curriculum [Farrah Falco, JD Pirtle] An overview and samples will be given of the themed projects with roughly 10 hours of content each in the areas of Storytelling, Fashion & Design, Art, and Music & Sound.