Art Technically

A huge thank-you to Art Technically and all the students nationwide who coded hundreds of digital Valentine’s cards for the older adults we serve at Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia. Their creativity helped us deliver 400 cards through our Home-Delivered Meals program and another 150 to seniors supported by Rappahannock Healthy Generations Area Agency on Aging!
Visit their page at Art Technically to learn more!

This year, we unveiled a new coding platform to help students learn to block code Valentine’s Day cards on code.arttechnically.org - Students from 10 different states coded over 650 valentine’s day cards for seniors since January, and we delivered 400 of those cards to Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia’s home-delivered meals program in Coastal VA and 150 of those cards to the Rappahannock Healthy Generations Area Agency on Aging for their senior cafes in Northern Virginia this week.

You can code a Valentine’s Day card on code.arttechnically.org and email it to us ([email protected]), and we’ll deliver it to Meals on Wheels programs or senior cafes next Valentine’s Day! We also would love to continue to get feedback on the site!

We are two months in since the website went live, and here is some feedback we’ve gotten from teachers so far:
“We hope that these cards bring smiles to the faces of those who need it most. Thank you for creating such an easy to use platform for our students to use.”
“My 4th graders really enjoyed the activity and created thoughtful cards that could be printed or sent to seniors in need.”
“We used this last night with our Girls Who Code afterschool group. It was supposed to be a warm-up activity, but the girls were so into it, they worked on it for over half an hour!”

Thank you to the students and teachers at Coldwater Community Schools (Michigan), East Brunswick Public Schools (New Jersey), The Bayview School (Brooklyn), Bryn Mawr School (Baltimore), Hathaway Brown School (Ohio), Nemaha Central Elementary and Middle School (Kansas), Elko County School District (Nevada), Stafford County Public Schools (Virginia), and in Newport News, VA for participating!

Part of this STEM programming was made possible by the Virginia General Assembly for COVA STEM Hub for regional activities and programming.

COVA STEM Exploration Community Event and National STEM Day Teacher PD! ✅✅

Sending ❤️ to Society for Science for our STEM Action Grant in support of our STEM and Arts K-12 education work!

We had so much fun talking to students at the New York Sun Works Youth Conference about careers in CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) on behalf of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Art Technically 🌱! New York Sun Works is on a mission to build state-of-the-art Hydroponic Classrooms, teach the science of sustainability and climate change, and transform learning in K-12 city schools.

Thank you to Fox 5 NY for covering our event!

Queens students speak with NASA astronauts on ISS Students at Richmond Hill High School in Queens got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: speaking directly with NASA astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station. FOX 5's Meredith Gorman has the full story.

We hosted a NASA In-Flight STEM Downlink with Richmond Hill High School yesterday! Students who participated in STEM and STEAM workshops this semester had the opportunity to ask astronauts questions live from the International Space Station. Crew-10 astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers answered student questions about life on the space station, science experiments in space, and what it’s like to view Earth from space! Thank you to NASA’s Dr. Allegra LeGrande and Matt Pearce for coming out to the event and speaking to the students and to the RHHS’ staff that made the event possible.

The downlink was organized by RHHS’ Director of the Software Engineering Pathway and Art Technically’s Chief Education Officer Sangmin Pak and Art Technically’s Director Lily K. Donaldson. Art Technically provides downlink application and planning assistance to Title 1 K-12 schools; if you’re interested in planning a downlink at your school, applications are currently open! Email [email protected] for more info.

Watch the full event here:
https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/space-station-crew-talks-with-richmond-hill-high-school/?is-live

Space Station Crew Talks with Richmond Hill High School - NASA+ ISS Expedition 72 In-Flight Educational Event with the Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, N.Y. and NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers

Richmond Hill High School in Queens, NY is uplinking to the International Space Station! As part of NASA’s In Flight Educational Downlink program, students at RHHS participated in STEM and STEAM workshops (including Art Technically’s Astrobotany workshop shown here) to prepare questions for astronauts. Astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain will answer our students’ questions LIVE from the ISS next Wednesday, March 26th at 11 AM CST / 12 PM EST. Watch the downlink (and check for timing updates) here: https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/in-flight-stem-downlinks-schedule/ or on NASA+!

Lily K. Donaldson and Sangmin Pak presented at the Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) at Space Center Houston this week! They presented a session using our Astrobotany resources (https://arttechnically.org/astrobotany/) and another session based on their previous work with NASA’s Climate Change Research Initiative. Educators from all over the country that attended the sessions learned about space science topics and resources they can take back to their classrooms!