The 2024 Future Ready Partnerships Conference (FRPC) is designed to bring together educators, employers, and partners to showcase impactful school-business partnerships from across the region and inspire new collaborations. This event will feature speakers, breakout sessions, lunch, and opportunities to network and meet others interested in building partnerships.
The FRPC is a partnership between the Consortium for Public Education and IU1.
Join us for a hands-on experience to learn how you can level up your STEAM projects and program with laser cutting and engraving! In this workshop, which will take place at Fluxspace Experience Center, we will review the basics of laser cutting/engraving, provide an overview of design thinking and the importance of rough prototyping, and share examples of projects you can do with your students. Participants should bring their laptop to get the full experience of designing, engraving, and cutting with various materials, leaving with their own custom-made projects using our FLUX Inc. laser cutter.
New to FLUX laser cutters? No worries! Topics covered in this workshop apply to most other models of laser cutters. Don’t have a laser engraver at your school (yet)? This is the perfect opportunity to learn how it can enhance your STEAM, makerspace, or other content programming.
Lunch will be provided.
Bacground | The mission of Fluxspace is to help educators, schools, and organizations experience the future of learning environments and understand the innovative programs, products, experiences, and mindsets that should take place in them.
Who Should Attend? | STEAM teachers, Ed Tech teachers, (Upper Elementary, Middle School, High School)
Cost | Free
*Location | This workshop will take place at Fluxspace Experience Center (401 Greentree Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15220).
Join us for a session on career education, where we’ll unlock pathways to success, build capacity to empower your students, and revolutionize the future workforce together! Representatives from different organizations, including nonprofits, businesses, and community groups, present their resources, programs, and initiatives that can benefit schools. This program will create a supportive ecosystem where schools will benefit from a range of educational opportunities and resources.
Lunch will be provided.
Who Should Attend? | Counselors, Administrators, Teachers
Cost | Free
This intermediate-level workshop will continue with units 4 through 7 of the CS1 curriculum. Conditionals, Methods, Variables, and Loops will be emphasized.
Lunch will be provided.
Background | The need for computer science in K-12 continues to grow as does the need for educator professional development to broaden their understanding of computer programming.
Who Should Attend? | Secondary educators who have previously completed the CS Academy workshop which covered units 1-3 of the CS1 curriculum (Ability to teach units 1-3 is a prerequisite for this session, which addresses units 4-7.)
Cost | Free
Photo: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Andrea Starr via Flickr
Learn how to get your student-led business off the ground from those who have done it! Gain inspiration from other educators and learn about easily accessible resources, including Real World Scholars and the Intuit for Education Entrepreneurial Finance for Students curriculum.
Lunch will be provided.
Who Should Attend? | Educators of any grade-level interested in helping students begin a business
Cost | Free
Looking for new ways to document, share, and celebrate the voices of your students? Spend a day at the SLB Radio Youth Media Center and explore how to include podcasting and other audio projects in your curriculum. Audio projects can help students document their learning journey, demonstrate subject mastery, practice skills such as self-expression and collaboration, and can serve as a powerful tool for advocacy.
During this interactive workshop, educators will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on recording sessions in the SLB studios as they learn about recording equipment and technologies, explore classroom project possibilities, and network.
Lunch will be provided.
Background | Learn more about SLB Radio Productions here.
Who Should Attend? | This workshop is recommended for educators working in middle and high school settings.
Cost | Free
**Location | This workshop will take place at SLB Radio Youth Media Center, which is co-located in the Children’s Museum on Pittsbrugh’s North Side (10 Children’s Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212).
Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash
Would your elementary students love to engage with innovative educational gadgets, but you’re not sure how they fit into the elementary grade-level classroom? Would you like to feel more comfortable using tangible technology tools? Join us for this beginners’ workshop to learn how gadgets, such as Osmo, Dash Robots, and Strawbees, can be a natural fit with the content you already teach. Gain the hands-on experience you need to build your skills and confidence. You will leave this workshop with plans to implement technology in meaningful ways in your classroom. And if you don’t already have these types of tools at your school, don’t worry–you will discover resources to help you access them at any budget.
Lunch will be provided.
What to Bring | Bring a lesson that you’d like to make more hands-on.
Background | The mission of Fluxspace is to help educators, schools, and organizations experience the future of learning environments and understand the innovative programs, products, experiences, and mindsets that should take place in them.
Who Should Attend? | Elementary grade-level teachers who are interested in incorporating gadgets into the content they already teach
Cost | Free
Photo: Marie Coleman via Flickr
Are you looking for ways to better support the English Language Learners (ELLs) in your classes? Why not take advantage of available technology?
With the help of some practical strategies and user-friendly resources, you will be on your way to revamping your routines.
Join us to learn practical strategies and user-friendly resources that you can incorporate into your routines.
Who Should Attend? | Educators teach ELLs alongside students who speak English as a first language (K-12)
Cost | Free
Photo Source: Creative Commons
Do you hear about AI everywhere, but you’re not quite sure what it actually is? You will leave this workshop understanding the basic idea of what AI is. You’ll also get opportunities to interact with AI in a judgment-free environment, as well as explore its implications on teaching and learning.
Lunch will be provided.
Who Should Attend? | Teachers and Administrators who are brand-new to AI.
Cost | Free
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Arduino is an open-source, programmable circuit board that can be integrated into a wide variety of makerspace projects. During this beginners’ workshop, participants will explore the Arduino circuit board and will learn the basics of how to program the Arduino circuit to create fun, interactive projects to share with students in the computer science/STEM classroom.
Lunch will be provided.
Background | From Arduino.cc: Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs – light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message – and turn it into an output – activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board.
Who Should Attend? | CS/STEM educators who are brand-new to Arduino
Cost | Free
Photo by Daniel Andrade on Unsplash
