Participate in an upcoming webinar or learn at your own pace by viewing our previously recorded webinars. We focus on Design Challenge Learning methodology, which engages participants in an actual design challenge and provides facilitation methods for virtual learning with your students. New to Design Challenge Learning or need a refresher? We have an online course for that too! You can also view our facilitative videos on Design Challenge Learning HERE.
Professional Development
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Professional Learning
Upcoming Webinars
Caution! Wildlife Crossing: Partner webinar with Community Resources for Science
Animals cross busy roads to find food, have babies and find new safe places to live. If animals can’t cross roads and other human structures, they can get isolated and die out. As engineers, we can design safer options for wildlife crossings. In this workshop, you'll engage in the activity as learners so that you can effectively guide your students through it in the classroom.
Thursday, Nov. 18, 4-5 p.m. Pacific
Starting Design Challenges With Your K-2 Learners
Little hands can also be engaged in engineering! During this one-hour webinar, we will discuss how to introduce K-2 learners to design challenges that are accessible, whimsical AND educational.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 3:30-5 p.m. Pacific
Registration coming soon
Planning Your Summer Programming
If you work at or are in charge of after-school programming, this is the session for you! Find out why our design challenge curriculum, Exploring Engineering, is the ideal learning tool for your summer campers to experience fun hands-on STEM learning.
Tuesday, April 5, 10-11:30 a.m. Pacific
Registration coming soon
Recorded Webinars
Starting off the Year with Engagement
Length: 1 hour
Start the year off strong with engaging, hands-on activities to build perseverance and collaboration into your classroom culture. Learn strategies for using design challenges to re-engage and energize your learners in an in-person setting.
Watch our webinar Slides
Introducing and Exploring Evolutionary Trees
Length: 1 hour
How do scientists organize species, based on information they can observe? In this webinar, see how scientists use traits and other observations to determine a species evolutionary history, and how to introduce this to your learners, both in-person and virtually.
Watch our webinar Slides
Bio-Making: Algae String
Length: 13 minutes
What if you could lead a hands-on lesson that showed your students how to replace synthetics like plastic with planet-friendly organic materials? Find out how in this free, hour-long webinar, led by The Tech’s own in-house bio expert. She’ll demonstrate how you can use a simple chemical process to create colorful string creations from a natural polymer, alginate. The first eight to register will receive a classroom set of materials after the webinar to distribute to your students.
Watch our webinar Slides Lesson Plan
Adapting Design Challenges for K-8
Length: 1 hour
Become familiar with the Innovation Design Process, which encourages problem-solving and collaboration, resulting in bold, curious and empathetic learners. In this webinar we create a face mask for a user who has specific needs, then show you how to scale the design based on the grade levels and types of learners you work with.
Leave with ideas on how to build empathy through user-centered engineering
Engineering for Community Building
Length: 1 hour
How does engineering help to build growth mindset culture? In this free one hour webinar we discuss strategies for helping build learner perseverance and collaboration during distance learning and reflect on how to apply these strategies with your learners.
You’ll leave with a ton of ideas that you can implement the next day to start building a more collaborative community of learners.
Designing a Design Challenge
Length: 1 hour
Join The Tech’s expert design challenge developers for this free one-hour webinar. Examine the essential elements of creating a design challenge, then share challenge ideas and gain inspiration from others.
Design Challenges for Grades 6-8
Length: 1 hour
This free one-hour webinar will feature our Solve the Fall design challenge (our twist on the classic egg drop -- minus the egg!) This activity engages students in the design process with a focus on quick iteration, prototyping and collaboration. Join us and explore some best practices for using this challenge in grades 6-8.
During the session you will:
- Do the challenge and share your creation.
- Get facilitation tips for in-person and virtual implementation.
- Discuss techniques for developing themes that align with standards and student interest.
Design Challenges for Grades 3-5
Length: 1 hour
Featuring our Solve the Fall design challenge (our twist on the classic egg drop -- minus the egg!), this activity engages students in the design process with a focus on quick iteration, prototyping and collaboration. Join us and explore some best practices for using this challenge in grades 3-5.
Hands-on Design Challenges
Length: 1 hour
- Learn what design challenges are and why they work so well for distance learning.
- Walk through one of our favorite design challenges so you’ll feel confident assigning it to your learners.
- Hear strategies and best practices, from defining the problem through sharing solutions, so that you have the tools to succeed with this new style of teaching.
Design Challenges in a Virtual Setting
Length: 1 hour
Looking for a realistic solution for virtual hands-on learning? Join us for this webinar about the benefits of Design Challenge Learning in a virtual setting, and how to make it doable for you, your students and families. You’ll engage in a design challenge, reflect on the Innovation Design Process, and get useful resources and tools. Come prepared with one sheet of paper, scissors, tape -- and a willingness to jump into this new world of distance learning!
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Customized Professional Learning
The Bowers Institute has years of experience training K-12 educators in Design Challenge Learning, which transforms learners into problem-solvers capable of tackling real-world challenges without the fear of failure. Every staff has needs when it comes to professional learning and our team is here to deliver an engaging, hands-on training session, with special attention to:
- Implementing Design Challenges
- Accelerating learning recovery
- Facilitation strategies for virtual settings
- Adapting activities for various grade levels and settings
- Empowering learner confidence in engineering
For more information or to request a consultation, fill out the form below and we will contact you within three business days.