Chibitronics Shines at ISTELive2024!
On Monday, 24 June, 2024, members of the Chibitronics team presented a hands-on workshop at ISTELive24 in Denver! The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Edtech conference and expo is the premiere EdTech conference in the United States. It took place this year between June 23-26.
This year’s team featured Barbara Liedahl (Media Arts Instructional Specialist, PGCPS Maryland), Dr. Jie Qi (Artist, Engineer, Co-founder and CEO of Chibitronics), and Paula Te (Principal Designer, UX/UI at Chibitronics). They were supported by Scott Briechle (Director of Sales at Chibitronics) and Angela Batten (Media Arts Production teacher).
During the 90-minute workshop, STEAM-Powered Core: Designing Paper Circuit Projects for Non-STEM Classes, fifteen participants spent an afternoon playing, creating, and learning to make their own paper circuit templates!
Barbara introduced the audience to the learning philosophy behind creating interdisciplinary projects—those that combine science, technology, engineering, art, and math—into non-STEM classes. Jie shared compelling images and projects that convey the importance of cultivating the sense of wonder, both inside and outside of the classroom, through the magic of paper circuits.
Paula introduced them to our new developmental software, Circuit Sketcher, and participants tried designing, simulating, and building paper circuits using their choice of scaffolds.
To help streamline and personalize the learning process, participants were given a varied selection of pre-designed supports—a series of open-ended graphic organizers to help focus their work. Since the theme of the workshop was to show how paper circuits can be applied outside of STEM contexts, the ideas for sample projects included an underwater scene, identity, neighborhood, and world maps, and a cycle chart, for example). To learn more, feel free to peruse the published deck from the workshop.
During the workshop, participants created some really interesting remixes, and the educators seemed to really enjoy being able to play with their circuits on Circuit Sketcher before beginning to build their projects with the physical materials.