Welcome to the second post on the STEMCON blog! If you are as passionate about STEM education as we are, we hope you have or will register for STEMCON in April 2018! The big day is steadily approaching and you can check out our expert presenters and keynote speaker on our website.

If you’re planning on attending STEMCON, then we’ve got some suggestions for you to extend your stay in Chicago for some STEM-related activities!

The Field Museum of Natural History – This museum is over 120 years old and it’s been dedicated to exploring and acquiring scientific knowledge since its origins! You can meet SUE, the famous T. rex or travel beneath the surface of the Earth to discover the hidden secrets that are waiting for you.

Navy Pier Centennial Wheel – Experience the physics of the Ferris Wheel first-hand as well as see the best 360 degree views of Chicago and Lake Michigan on the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier.

Museum of Science and Industry – See the amazing LEGO structures at this museum in the Brick by Brick exhibit or walk through a simulated tornado in the Science Storms exhibit. The Museum of Science and Industry is basically a STEM educator’s playground!

Millennium Park – Believe it or not, the Cloud Gate sculpture or, as Chicago natives call it, “The Bean,” in Millennium Park was designed with computer modeling and had to be shipped in carefully measured and curved pieces to be put together in the city. Go see The Bean for yourself and see what other STEM wonders you can gather from its structure!

The Willis Tower – Skydeck – There’s nothing like admiring the achievement of constructing a building from 1,353 feet in the air! Learn about the construction of the tallest building in Chicago that used to be one of the tallest in the world.

iFly Indoor Skydiving – Stop by the iFly vendor table at STEMCON to learn more about the physics of flight and how you can experience it first-hand! iFly even offers STEM field trips across the U.S.

Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum – The Adler Planetarium has something for every space-lover and wanna-be astronaut! There is even a Community Design Lab (CDL) where you can experiment and be creative with all your STEM ideas.

Shedd Aquarium – Does petting a stingray appeal to you? What about a 4-D experience with sharks? Whether you’re a freshwater or saltwater type of person, you can find an exhibit or experience to enjoy at the Shedd Aquarium.

Welcome to the new and exciting STEMCON blog! Like everything we do, our hope for this blog is that it will be made for and driven by STEM educators just like you! If this is your first year joining the STEMCON community, we thought you might like a brief introduction to who we are.

STEMCON, established in 2014, is a professional development conference aimed at K-12 Educators. The first four years of the conference were held in Cleveland, Ohio, with hundreds of STEM educators and professionals from 30+ states attending over the first four years. As STEMCON continues to grow, we are excited to move the event to Chicago for its 5th year where we hope to have 600+ attendees.

The mission of STEMCON is for the conference to serve as a platform for STEM educators and administrators from all around the nation to share their best practices. The day-long professional development opportunity gives educators the space to keep up with new trends, practices, and standards and encourages innovation in a fast-changing and evolving field.

Our goal of every annual STEMCON is to send attendees back to their schools with practical skills and strategies that can be implemented in the classroom right away. By equipping STEM educators and professionals with the tools necessary to be better teachers, we are able to better equip our students for a life beyond the classroom.

STEM education reaches far beyond the building blocks of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It teaches students to ask questions, solve problems, and approach the world with a sense of inquiry and resilience. This is why STEMCON matters and why we have been organizing this conference for the last four years. We hope this blog will grow to reflect the great work that has already been done by the educators who have made STEMCON what it is today, and that means we need your feedback:

Comment Question: What would you like to see on this blog? Give us your suggestions and ideas in the comment section below!