Teachers Nationwide Gain Hands-On Tech Savvy Through UW Engineering Summer Program

Fifty-two K-12 teachers -- from as far away as Senegal -- and a dozen high school students from nine states across the country attended the University of Wyoming Engineering Summer Program for Teachers (ESP4T) July 20-24.

ESP4T is a hands-on workshop that gives teachers the tools to implement physical computing lessons into their curricula, including programming lessons in PictoBlox, C++, Scratch and Python, which were applied to the ever-popular Arduino and Raspberry Pi robotics units MechDogs, TonyBoT, SpiderPi and CoDrone.

The workshop was made possible by Tier-1 funding provided by the UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences and was orchestrated by Suresh Muknahallipatna, a UW professor of electrical engineering and computer science, with assistance from Annette Camp, an administrative associate in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Teaching assistance and technical expertise were furnished by a cadre of graduate and undergraduate assistants and experienced teacher mentors from schools across Wyoming.

New to this year’s curriculum were wheeled robots that were built in-house by the ESP4T team. Workshop participants put these robots through their paces with a round of robot World Cup soccer matches.

Each day, participants met with teacher mentors who have been through the workshop previously and are experienced in implementing lessons from the curricula into their schools. These groups become career-building mentorship groups that provide support long after the workshop ends.

“As someone with little to no background in engineering or computer science, one of the most exciting parts of this training was learning how to use Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Tinkercad for the very first time,” says Argie Castro, a teacher from the Northern Cheyenne Tribal School in Busby, Mont. “I never imagined that I could build circuits, write code and see my projects come to life. Every hands-on activity boosted my confidence and reminded me that it’s never too late to learn new skills that can transform teaching and learning.”

As part of the workshop, participants had access to the full curricula and lesson plans for each of the modules with which they worked, so they will be “out-the-door ready” to introduce concepts in cutting-edge computing to young learners. Lessons also are adaptable to students of many ages.

Francisco Bernadas, a teacher at Chama Valley Independent Schools in Chama, N.M., plans to introduce physical computing to students as young as kindergarteners.

“This was an excellent workshop, and I really enjoyed the hands-on activities, because they helped me learn by doing with the support of the friendly and helpful UW teaching assistants,” Bernadas says. “I am excited to use these STEM ideas in my kindergarten/first grade classroom to make learning fun and help my students build curiosity, creativity and confidence.”

Thanks to Muknahallipatna’s team, these lessons in physical computing will reach an estimated more than 1,600 students in classrooms throughout the nation and abroad.

On July 23, Kraig Sheetz, UW executive vice president; Parag Chitnis, UW vice president for research and economic development; and Steven Blanc, of the National Science Foundation’s ASCEND program, stopped by the Science Initiative Building to observe the workshop in action. The three praised both the K-12 teachers and UW students present for their efforts in cultivating invaluable skills in STEM in the coming generations.

“The two things that inspired me most were the energy and the creativity that the participants demonstrated in their workshop. Teachers of all ages were actively engaged with the technology, with the pedagogy and with their colleagues,” Sheetz says. “It truly reinforced the optimism I have for educating our next generation of engineers, who will be ready to tackle ill-defined problems in an era of rapidly evolving technology. Hats off to the UW staff and faculty who planned and executed this great event for teachers across Wyoming and the nation.”

To learn more about ESP4T, go to www.uwyo.edu/ceps/resources/outreach/programs/esp4t/index.html.

Participants, listed by hometown, were:

Albuquerque, N.M. -- Mark Anthony Sayat and Ronel Turquesa.

Busby, Mont. -- Argie Castro.

Casper -- Cameron Leaf, Shari Shaw and Tarra Tyson.

Chama, N.M. -- Francisco Bernadas, Luz Ferrer and Vladimir Ferrer.

Cheyenne -- Ryan Gonzales, Matt Hettchen, Angela Kinsolving and Katie Mitchell.

Chicago, Ill. -- Mary Vince Gumahad and Ninfra Rowenda Ligue.

Cowley -- Chad Lindsay and Lindsay Lindsay.

Dakar, Senegal -- Papa Touty Traore.

Denver, Colo. -- June Abergos.

Evanston -- Tim George, Amber Martines, Gar Powell, Rose Stark, Randy Swann, Adrienne Unertl, Colin Wilson, Jodi Adams and Helen Van Grinsven.

Gillette -- Kurt Ludemann.

Hobbs, N.M. -- Dave Alvarez and Giselle Alvarez.

Kearns, Utah -- Monte Benson.

Ladson, S.C. -- Maria Desbrow.

Lander -- Monte Else.

Laramie -- Ben Brewster, Boa Byeon, Diane Cook, Brooke Spicer and Julia Tyser.

Lovell -- JeriLyn Love.

Monte Vista, Colo. -- Mary Ann Labadan.

Mountain View -- Lindsay Kiefer.

Naples, Fla. -- Joanna Campanile and Janell Matos.

Powell   -- Brandi Dearcorn.

Rio Rancho, N.M. -- Jennylou Pangilinan-Riel.

Riverton -- Chad Lemley, Joshua McCoy, Brian Wright and Jennifer Hammock.

Sheridan -- Marcie Immell, Jason Lanka, Nancy McCullough, Breanna Mills, Beth Music and Nikki Ulug.

Sumter, S.C. -- Mae Bonifacio, Adam Che and Reynand Dumala-on.

Wheatland -- Cindy Amundson.

Wiley, Colo. -- Maria Fatima Solijon.

UW student teaching assistants, listed by hometown, were:

Casper -- Josiah Adwalpalker and Kalel Brubaker.

Cheyenne -- Aidan Cabrera, Sully Fagan and Josh Vann.

Chugwater -- Rebecca Geary.

Cody -- Chase Livingston.

Gillette -- Jaden Mahoney and Shantel Smith.

Gorkha, Nepal -- Sonu Dhakal.

Izmir, Turkey -- Umur Atan.

Lander -- Tessa Livingston.

Laramie -- Teddy Hart.

Johnstown, Colo. -- Mikkhi Sedey.

Mahaboudha, Kathmandu -- Pratik Shrestha.

Mysore, India -- Varun Bharadwaj.

Salt Lake City, Utah -- Drew Crouch.