Constructing Modern Knowledge is excited to offer 3 free hands-on workshops on June 27, 2023 across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Bring your laptop, appetite, and thirst for hands-on learning and join us for some mini learning adventures. Join Dr. Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez, co-authors of Invent to Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom at Maggiano’s Little Italy for one or more of the day’s events.

Space is limited, so you must pre-register for the workshops. To ensure that educators honor their reservation, we are asking that a $5 donation be made to Jazz House Kids, a fantastic NY/NJ-based educational non-profit organization committed to offering high quality musical experiences for young people. 100% of the proceeds from the reservation system will be donated to Jazz House Kids. You will be able to make the donation quickly and easily when making your reservation online.

Be sure to register with an email address you will be able access in late June. Your reservation will be confirmed when you register below and a reminder will be sent via email on June 26th.

Workshop Menu

All levels welcome!

9:00 – 10:15 AM Secrets of the micro:bit (with continental breakfast)
The $15 BBC micro:bit is a technological marvel allowing learners of all ages to build interactive systems with code, craft supplies, and recycled materials. This workshop will help jumpstart your micro:bit learning adventures and expand your sense of the possibilities. A variety of programming environments, project ideas, and extension boards will be available for exploration. Leave with practical ideas for physical computing and computation in your classroom with the micro:bit and Microsoft MakeCode.


10:30 – 11:45 AM Messing About with the Hummingbird Bit Robotics Kit (with snacks)
The Hummingbird Bit Robotics Kit is our favorite set of materials for learning-by-making. Its inventor, Dr. Tom Lauwers – CEO of BirdBrain Technologies, joins Gary and Sylvia for this no-nonsense introduction to this exciting construction kit. Combine craft materials, recycled junk, motors, lights, sensors, and computer science to create a rich physical computing context for learning.


1:45 – 3:15 PM Coding in the Age of AI (with snacks)
Gary Stager will lead participants through a series of playful programming challenges that allow them to “mess about” with language, interrogate data, develop computational fluency, and gain a deeper understanding of the promises of artificial intelligence by having personal agency over an increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated world.


Select and reserve your space in the individual workshops (use the black buttons above)

The $5 reservation fee will be donated to the educational charity, Jazz House Kids.