by Dot Cannon

“Today will be epic!” tweeted the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation on Monday.

And the seventh annual California STEAM Symposium, which started at seven that morning in the Anaheim Convention Center, made that tweet seem like an understatement.

We walked into the 5,000-square-foot maker space, just after 7:00.

Staffers had set up projects which educators could make–and take, back to the classroom.

Among the projects: earthquake-resistant structures and these light-up sharks!

Welcoming newcomers

The 7:30 “LEGO Education Newcomers’ Orientation” hosted a capacity crowd.   On the table sat bags of LEGOs, for an interactive learning exercise.

“We’re really excited to have everyone here today, and are looking forward to a fun couple of days for all of you,” said Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation STEAM Program Director Glennon Stratton.

(As noted in a previous post, the California STEAM Symposium is co-hosted by CDEF, California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and CSU.)

“Our goals for you, at this event, are to provide resources and strategies, connections…interdisciplinary food for thought, and inspiration for everyone,” Glennon said.

An exciting new addition

Next, co-host Khieem Jackson, who is the Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction for the California Department of Education, shared some news as he welcomed the guests.   The Department of Education is setting up a STEAM unit!

“We can help intensify our efforts for STEAM education around California.  The STEAM unit did not exist before this event, so we’re super excited about that,” he said.

And Paulette Donnellon, Enterprise Account Executive with LEGO Education, asked attendees a question.

“So if I take six (LEGO) bricks, how many different ways can I combine (them)?”

The guests guessed numbers in the hundreds and thousands.

But the actual figure surprised them!

A collaborative learning exercise

Then came the moment they’d been waiting for.

Time to open the bags, and do the interactive learning exercise!

Attendees chose a partner, and each was to select the same six LEGO bricks.  Then, they’d stand back-to-back.

One partner would create a structure.  Then, that person had to communicate to the other, how to build that structure!

The goals of the exercise foreshadowed those of the symposium: meet new people, and learn together.

The first general session

Anaheim High School’s top-ranked chamber singers, Bella Voce, opened the first general session with their a cappella rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner”.

“Aptly named, right?” asked Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation CEO Jessica Howard, leading the audience in a second round of applause afterwards.

Thanking CDEF’s co-hosting partners and event sponsors, Ms. Howard pointed up the “fun” aspect of science, technology, engineering, art and math in her opening remarks.

“Each of us are students, and we’re students in learning about the world around us,” she said.

Recalling her own educational journey, Ms. Howard shared the story of a teacher who had surprised her.

(“In my freshman year of college, as a nonmajor math student, Dr. Kelly) said, ‘you will all pass calculus with an ‘A’,” she said.

“And there was really loud laughter in the room, as I hope you can imagine.  And he said, “…Each one of you can learn calculus, we’re going to do it together, as a team.  And it’s, by the way, going to be really fun.”

Those words, Ms. Howard said, set the tone for her life.  Although she became an art history major, she “was the kind of art history major who found fascination in the fact that we couldn’t, until recently, understand the composition of Roman concrete.”

“How do we know the components of so many other things…and how they actually intersect with STEM, and make it pretty STEAMy?”

Ultimately, she wound up loving both art and science, she continued, and “seeing how they informed one another”.

Education as equalizer

The main event, of the day’s first session would be a “Fireside Chat”, featuring State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond and former NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“Let’s get this lit,” Superintendent Thurmond began in his welcoming remarks.  “The students always laugh when I say ‘lit’.  Of course, my teenage daughters, they’re like, ‘Dad, don’t say ‘lit’.”

Superintendent Thurmond told the audience that education had changed his future.

“My mother came here from Panama, and was a teacher,” he explained.

“…I met my father for the first time ten years ago.  He served in Vietnam.”

His mother  died when he was six, Superintendent Thurmond said, and a cousin raised him.

“You know, I was a student who could have easily fallen through the cracks,” he continued.

“…Being raised on the free lunch program and food stamps… trying to get out of poverty, education was the great equalizer for me.

“My teachers talked about how education could change my life, and I believed them….And I think about it every single day, how it would have been easy for me to end up in California State Prison.  And instead, I ended up as California State Superintendent (of Education).”

The audience applauded.

“So, as we talk about STEAM, I see the opportunity to create a great equalizer, for all of our students.”

Superintendent Thurmond left the stage after his welcoming remarks.

And–a surprise

“We now have a bit of a surprise for you,” offered Ms. Howard.  “The Oak Park High School Rocket and Aviation Team, led by Toni Knight, wanted to say a quick hello.”

After a video showing the rocketry team’s activities, Ms. Knight took the mic.

“One of the biggest things we do during the year is participate in the American Rocketry Challenge,” she said.  “This is a competition open to all high schools and middle schools across the nation, regardless of resources or experience.”

The team, she said, had qualified, both this year and one year in the past, to work with NASA engineers in NASA’s Student Initiative.

But rocketry wasn’t the team’s only area of expertise.

“We also enjoy aviation-related activities such as drone operations and plane-spotting at our local airport.”

Another surprise was coming.

After telling the audience that the team would be offering a breakout session tbat afternoon, on how to get a similar aviation program started in a school, Ms. Knight concluded her remarks.

And the Oak Park High School Rocket and Aviation Team demonstrated their expertise by flying a drone!

The Fireside Chat with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was yet to come, as the Californis STEAM Symposium continued.

 

This is Part One of a three-part series.  Here’s the link to Part Two.

Day Two of the seventh annual California STEAM Symposium begins Tuesday, December 10th at 7:00 am in Anaheim Convention Center North.