Project Lead The Way (PLTW) has been a big part of my teaching and my life for the last fifteen years. One of the best parts of my experience with PLTW has been the Summit conferences. Over the years, these events have evolved—there was a time when they held one big conference, then they transitioned to smaller regional events, and now they alternate between a large conference every other year and an off-year event called Masterminds.…
Creating cybersecurity classes can be fraught with concerns, as schools and districts often harbor apprehensions about the potential for inadvertently fostering hackers or criminals. It’s essential that these programs incorporate a strong moral component. Fortunately, my experience has shown that many students self-select out once they realize that cybersecurity involves more than just breaching systems.…
The following excerpt is from Seymour Papert’s book Mindstorms, published in 1980, yet its relevance to current classroom practices persists. The book is over forty years old and is still as important today as it was in 1980. The passage below speaks to a project by students using “Turtle” programming to create a holiday sign.…
Today I landed in Orlando, Florida getting ready to present at the PLTW Summit for the next three days. I have been to many conferences in the last 30 years. This weekend will be the last one as an APS teacher.…