Rock CS 2023 | Rocky Mountain Computer Science Conference for P-12 Educators

The purpose of this session is to familiarize HS teachers with college CS activities their students may experience. In this session, teachers will evaluate possible code plagiarism using a rubric and autograder information, explore ways to personalize an assignment using ChatGPT as a software engineering tool, and practice Peer Review group coding. With hands on exploration, teachers will crowdshare ideas about preparing students for college CS coursework.

This course is intended for general education, special education, and computer science teachers that want to learn more about Scratch Jr. Scratch Jr is a block based coding tool for younger children (ages 5-7) that allows them to program their own interactive stories and games. Scratch Jr requires learners to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. After attendees understand the basics of Scratch Jr. they will collaboratively plan for content and topics to use in their classrooms and create their own designs.

Learn how to plan and implement computer science applications and design challenges for in person/virtual after school clubs and your classroom. We will use Tinkercad in a design challenge format as an example of what can be applied in your setting. After the activity, more tools, apps, and learning activities will be shared with tips for integration. Workshop time will be given for you to connect your learning to your own setting with the support from me and others in the session.

Presentation Link

Come play aboard the Future-Ready Innovation Lab! We specialize in field trip-like and community events that aim at sparking an interest in STEM, including computer science. In this fast paced, hands-on session we will rotate through different stations that highlight tech tools to help kids get excited about STEM fields. With a focus on quick challenges for K-5, the tech tools will include: Ozobots, Sphero Indi, Class VR, Animation Creation, and Tello Drones. Get ready to have some fun and be the student.

In this session, participants will explore a giant map of Mars using a variety of VEX robots.  Teachers from all grades, K-12, will not want to miss this hands-on workshop!  Come see how the entire VEX continuum can be applied to teach students of all levels. This differentiated geography study can be adapted to meet a variety of social studies standards. Novice and experienced teachers will all enjoy these tiered, programming challenges.

UPDATE: This session has been combined with Mars and Beyond: Exploring Programming, Engineering, and Design Thinking through "The Martian" and Robotics. You can add either one to your schedule and have the opportunity to learn from both presenters!

This session is designed for late-elementary & secondary teachers interested in integrating programming, engineering, and design thinking into their curriculums. The session will use "The Martian" as a central text to explore themes of problem-solving, innovation, and resourcefulness.

In addition, participants will get hands-on experience with Sphero RVR robots and little:bits to learn how to code and control their movements. These tools will be used to teach programming concepts such as sequencing, loops, and conditional statements. Teachers will also learn how to integrate these robots into cross-curricular lessons, including science, math, and computer science.

Throughout the session, teachers will participate in a series of challenges and activities that will engage their problem-solving skills, and allow them to develop strategies for incorporating these concepts into their classrooms. Additionally, they will learn how to foster creativity and collaboration among their students, while building their capacity to design and iterate on solutions to real-world problems.

Overall, this session will provide participants with the knowledge and tools they need to inspire their students to think critically, work collaboratively, and innovate in the classroom and beyond.

UPDATE: This session has been combined with Exploring Mars through the VEX Continuum. You can add either one to your schedule and have the opportunity to learn from both presenters!

My Coding Classroom will give you a glimpse at what I’ve figured out about how to teach text-based coding (Python) and other computer science courses to secondary students. If you want some tips about classroom management, collaboration, creativity, and curriculum, this is the session for you. Come prepared to learn and create as you are placed in a classroom environment and explore a great, free curriculum which you can use to teach coding.

One of the well documented issues with computer science is getting students excited and engaged with the idea of coding. Physical robotics allows students to see their coding come to life. Various platforms have been used to introduce students to CS at a young age, but few have the vertical integration as seen with VEX Robotics. From Pre-K to the collegiate level, students can code physical robots, making 'Drive forward' the new "Hello, World!"

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, physical robots in a face-to-face classroom became an impossibility. A virtual robot program was quickly developed to function with a familiar coding platform to provide students and teachers with an alternative robotic solution that could be used from anywhere. This has become a staple of classrooms across the world with over 3.6 million unique users to date.

In this session, attendees will learn about the robotics platforms used by students of various ages in the VEX Robotics continuum. In particular, attendees will be coding their own physical and virtual robots using the Castle Crasher challenge for VEX 123 and VEXcode VR. They will learn how activities like Castle Crasher can engage students of all ages with CS.

In this session, we will explore Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions and the basic “how to’s”.   Specifically, we’ll talk about how to use these fun and exciting competitions to get students going!  The end result can be very rewarding for students and teachers alike.  Most of this class will be hands-on with our very own CTF.

Come learn how to celebrate individual student identities through a hands on coding project.  Start by incorporating Language arts as students develop identity poems.  Create pseudocode to represent identity as you choreograph a light show to play with a favorite song.  Create a shadow lantern to incorporate art and geometry.  Finish your project coding the light show with an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express.  (Please note this session does not provide Ada fruits to participants to take home.  Additionally, this lesson can be used with any device that has lights to be coded (including microbits or arduino!) 
(Understanding of simple block coding is helpful, but not required.)

In this session, you will explore Minecraft Education. You will work through a lesson on the basics of navigating and building a house in Minecraft. You will then explore some of the already built lessons available. I will show you the lessons specifically developed to teach different types of coding, block, html, javascript and python. We will have fun.
https://view.genial.ly/6481fa02079573001149d966/presentation-using-minecraft-in-the-classroom
Minecraft 101: Let's build individually - Training | Microsoft Learn

Minecraft Official Site | Minecraft Education
Minecraft Education
Minecraft Teacher's Lounge | Facebook
More training:
Minecraft Teacher Academy Cohort Registration - July (office.com)

In this session, we will explore a computer science scope and sequence for preschool through 5th grade. Participants will have the opportunity to explore sample activities and lessons that are appropriate for each grade level, and learn about the specific computer science concepts that can be introduced at each level. Throughout the session, we will incorporate robotics that compliment each level of development.  Here is a link to the presentation:  https://www.canva.com/design/DAFlRcZ8fBY/bnyA9FQu4s11heTITFP-6A/view?utm_content=DAFlRcZ8fBY&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

 We will present strategies, practices, practical tools, and models for integrating coding into other disciplines or interdisciplinary coding.  We will use CodeHS curriculum examples, but it will be broader than using CodeHS.  The strategies can be employed regardless of the curriculum or tool utilized.  People will not have to subscribe to CodeHS to use what is learned in the session.

Are you a teacher that finds yourself wanting to integrate computer science and real world problems into your classroom? In this session we will look at ways to bring computer science and work based learning opportunities to any content area. We will showcase self-paced computer science modules that help unpack the fundamentals of computer science education. CS for Success and Thrively have partnered to bring educators the opportunity to learn the basics of computer science, unpack the standards, and build an integrative approach to teaching computer science through the lens of any content area. Each participant will walk away with a plan, resources to help you integrate CS, and free access to the computer science learning modules and a Thrively pro license. 

 We will present strategies, practices, practical tools, and models for integrating coding into other disciplines or interdisciplinary coding.  We will use CodeHS curriculum examples, but it will be broader than using CodeHS.  The strategies can be employed regardless of the curriculum or tool utilized.  People will not have to subscribe to CodeHS to use what is learned in the session.

This session will help teachers access both Girls Who Code Club curriculum and Career and Technical Student Organization topics and competitive events to create fun classroom projects. Connecting academic standards with authentic demonstrations of student learning and development of career-readiness skills.  The goal is to connect academic standards to real-world problems, utilizing computer science skills to create a solution. Participants will engage in cooperative learning strategies and hands-on activities to create a classroom project or game of their choice.

Gimkit: https://www.gimkit.com/join/64838b70f78aac002b595590

Nearpod Slides (Student-paced version): https://app.nearpod.com/?pin=NIK2F

This course is intended for general education, special education, and computer science teachers that want to learn more about Scratch Jr. Scratch Jr is a block based coding tool for younger children (ages 5-7) that allows them to program their own interactive stories and games. Scratch Jr requires learners to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. After attendees understand the basics of Scratch Jr. they will collaboratively plan for content and topics to use in their classrooms and create their own designs.

In this session, participants will use AgentCubes Online, a development platform, to create one or more 3-D games (e.g., Pacman), followed by transitioning to creating a science model (e.g., wildfire simulation) using the same techniques. Participants will have full access to the software, which is normally subscription-based.

PLEASE CREATE AN ACCOUNT AT AGENTSHEETS.COM!!
In order to have full access to the software, you must create a login on the AgentSheets.com site. Use the link below to do this:
https://agentsheets.com/

Once you have created your account, please fill in the information in the Google form at the link below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSdFy08teotNeeWvUvQ2Sqs_IBGxb8FWdxZ24mEJaQFWWcaw/viewform

NOTE: The software currently requires one of the following devices: Windows computer, Macintosh computer, ChromeBook

Link to the presentation and resources:  https://sites.google.com/view/game-design-and-science-model/home

Please note: Fred will be presenting remotely, with Corrina & Mark on site to support teachers.

For your students to be successful in an IT career, they must understand the cloud: what it is, and how it works. It is incumbent upon serious computer technology teachers to offer cloud training. Three of the top cloud vendors are: (1) Amazon Web Services (AWS), (2) Microsoft Azure, and (3) Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

AWS is the largest and most developed of them all. Teaching AWS is not a walk in the park as it offers 200+ different services. Working with the cloud requires an understanding of myriad technologies: virtualization, relational and non-relational databases, hardware choices (CPU, RAM, etc.), operating system choices, and security, among others.

In this presentation I will show you a bit of what AWS Academy (your entrée into teaching AWS to students) looks like, and I will also show you the AWS interface itself. One of the best features of teaching AWS is that everything can be done via a browser. However, please be aware that the AWS interface in and of itself is a lot to learn. I want to caution you that this is a "long haul" endeavor. You will NOT know everything there is to know about AWS in this session, but my hope is that you will leave the session encouraged to explore in more depth how you can get involved and help students add a huge paragraph to their technical resume when they are applying for those first IT positions.

Participant Skill Prerequisites: The more you know about topics like virtualization, the better off you'll be. Additionally, if you have a sense of what "client/server computing" is, you'll have an easier time grasping the subject.  

Join me for an exciting journey into the world of machine learning! Discover how my 8th-grade science students used the K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm to code a weather prediction app with Google Sheets and Apps Script. You'll get to create your own weather prediction app by following our process, and discuss ways to integrate machine learning models into a variety of non-computer science classes. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of machine learning's possibilities and impact on student learning!

Participant Skill Prerequisites: Participants should have a basic foundation in JavaScript, Google Apps Script, or other coding languages

Presentation:  Click here to open your own copy of today's presentation

Come play aboard the Future-Ready Innovation Lab! We specialize in field trip-like and community events that aim at sparking an interest in STEM, including computer science. In this fast paced, hands-on session we will rotate through different stations that highlight tech tools to help kids get excited about STEM fields. With a focus on quick challenges for K-5, the tech tools will include: Ozobots, Sphero Indi, Class VR, Animation Creation, and Tello Drones. Get ready to have some fun and be the student.

Would you like to increase interest in Computer Science at your school?
In this session, we will look at the most effective ways to increase enrollment and female diversity in your classroom. Learn how Legacy High School received the APCS Female Diversity Award, which recognizes schools that are closing the gender gap and expanding young women's access to computer science coursework in AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) and AP Computer Science A (AP CSA). We will explore different marketing techniques to increase your enrollment. Bring a device so you can walk away with marketing materials ready to use this Fall! In this session, we will look at the most effective ways to increase enrollment and diversity in your classroom.
Bring a device so you can walk away with marketing materials ready to use this Fall!