I really enjoyed your video and project.  What were the most profound lessons you learned through your work? Do students have previous experience with building actual circuits with wires, batteries, bulbs?

Good morning STEM4all attendees!  Thank you for clicking through to our video.  We are excited to share our work on creating meaningful augmented reality for STEM.    I'm Dr. Amanda Thompson (aka Dr. Pixel when in character on our YouTube STEMPossible series!), educator, entrepreneur, research geek and mom. My team and I developed MindLabs' innovative technology that uses augmented reality to combine digital learning with hands-on learning to deepen students’ understanding of concepts like energy and circuits.  Our vision is to build engaging lesson and create environments across the key science and engineering concepts as possible for the elementary age learner, while being mindful to incorporate writing and math to fit it into teacher's busy day.   We are currently proposing to supplement the open-ended system with a robust engineering notebook tool (and "stealth" assessment)  to help teachers evaluate design thinking, collaboration and SEL skills.  We'd absolutely love to hear from you!

This is a really cool project! I am the design director at Killer Snails, we are using XR technology to help students see themselves as scientist. We are currently working on a new project with the NIH for students in the 3-5th grade. Were there any best practices your team discovered when trying to abstract concepts and systems for this age group? 

So students learn about circuits through virtual manipulations?  Interesting.  The students seem very motivated by this and learn a lot.  What do you find are the biggest take-aways for students?  

Nice video - you mention that all students can have access to your materials. How can schools access them? Teachers do have busy days - how are they making time to incorporate your materials? What PD support do you provide to teachers?

The app is free!  And while we do sell the physical product, we offer a printable trial sheet on our website.  They won't work with the same fidelity as the purchased product but they're a great way to try it out!

Students seem very engaged with these materials!  How are you assessing impacts of the project - are you measuring student learning in terms of content or is it more about attitudes towards STEM?

Bravo to all for this wonderful discussion! Thank you for viewing and adding your questions and expertise. Please share the STEM Showcase with others so they can participate in the discussion too. Let's get more educators involved in viewing these top projects. Voting and discussion ends on May 18th at 8PM EDT. (but viewing is open anytime) https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/

For presenters, what are your next steps going forward?