Welcome to the Strawbees Teacher Training

Get acquainted with Strawbees Classroom and get ready to use the Strawbees STEAM Classroom product in your classroom. 

This training also exists as an online 2-hour live webinar with one of our certified trainers. The following article is meant to work together with the live training, and as a stand-alone resource for teachers to study independently.

The goal of this training:

• Get the basic knowledge and confidence to run your first activity with your students.
• Learn how to build with Strawbees connectors and straws. With or without step-by-step building guides.
• Navigate the Strawbees Classroom to find relevant student-facing resources and professional learning materials.
• Gain insight into how other teachers are using Strawbees and where to find more inspirational activities for your students and yourself.
• Know how to get started with integrating Strawbees with your curriculum standards.

Overview

Total Duration about 2 hours

1. What is Strawbees - 10 min
2. Building Tips and Tricks - 10 min
3. Hands-on: Free building exercise - 20 min
4. Intro to Strawbees Classroom - 20 min
5. Hands-on: Build a project - 30 min
6. Prepare your first lesson - 15 min
7. Next Steps - 15 min

Time to experiment! Take 15-20 minutes to build freely and get acquainted with the material. You never know what you’ll end up making.

If you have trouble getting started, here are some approaches to make your process easier:

• Start small: try building simple structures and then link them together to make a larger thing.
• Start simple and iterate: build a tetrahedron, then start replacing and adding straws one by one until it turns into something else.
• Explore mechanical properties: what makes a structure rigid or flexible?
• Try to delay what your end result will be. Let chance and impulse guide what you connect.

Let’s try out a project in Strawbees Classroom. The purpose of this exercise is to become more familiar with the step-by-step building guides of the pre-designed models. These models are great for learning mechanical principles in a hands-on way. We don't see these models as a single solution and we encourage altering them, both to try to improve them or break them.

You can choose any project you like from Strawbees Classroom, but here are some suggestions:

We recommend that you try out a Strawbees activity with your students as soon as possible after completing this training. This will give you an idea of how Strawbees can work for your students, before you integrate into your unit planning. It's usually a fun experience for everyone involved.

Checklist:

1. Choose a simple and fun activity.
2. Try out the build, or part of the build, beforehand.
3. Choose a good time, and give yourselves some extra buffer time.
4. Set up the room in a way that suits the activity.
5. Prepare the materials and how to present the activity.
6. Present the activity and set the right expectations.
7. Do the activity together!
8. Reflect with your students. 

Remember, this is a learning experience for both you and your students. You can also present it this way, and it’s the communal responsibility of everyone to make this a successful experiment. This gives your students agency to know that they are part of evaluating a new tool for their own future benefit.

Choose any activity, with some recommendations:

Strawbees Classroom lessons are aligned with:

• Next-Generation Science Standards - The Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K-12 science standards setting the expectations for what students should know, able to do, and improve learning science education.
• Common Core - The Common Core standards covers both English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) and Mathematics curriculum, focusing on kindergarten through 8th grade.
• Sustainable Development Goals - Developed by the United Nations, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) blueprint is based on global needs to create a more sustainable world by 2030.
• Computer Science Teachers Association - The CSTA K–12 Computer Science Standards are for teaching computer science by grade level for K-12 schools. The CSTA standards aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of computer science concepts and skills, including programming, data analysis, and problem-solving.
• ISTE Student Standards - ISTE Student Standards are guidelines that outline the skills, knowledge, and attitudes for students navigating a digital world.
• The National Curriculum - The national curriculum sets out the programmes of study and attainment targets for all subjects at all 4 key stages.
• Curriculum for Excellence - Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – helps our children and young people gain the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life in the 21st century. It is divided into two phases: the broad general education and the senior phase.

Our lesson development is ongoing to cover a larger part of these curriculums, right now, we are focusing on the parts of the curriculum where we think Strawbees is strongest. We have several resources to get you started aligning Strawbees lessons with your curriculum. If you want an overview of what parts of the curriculum our current and upcoming lessons cover, the Alignment plan is a great resource.