Jefferson Elementary presents at annual international tech conference

Five students from Jefferson Elementary School -- one of 40 groups selected worldwide -- presented original ideas for new technology Wednesday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

With more than 20,000 educators in attendance, Jefferson Elementary STREAM specialist Kelley Branch said the students chatted with nearly 5,000 people during the annual International Society for Technology in Education.

"We met people from Taiwan and Mexico, along with people from all over the United States," Branch said following the presentation.

"We were in 'presentation mode' for two hours. We set up a demonstration, and people come to us."

The opportunity stemmed from the school's recent inception of Emerging Engineers, a time reserved during each school day where students get to create and design.

And since the students participated in Emerging Engineers "every day last year," she said, they revealed a variety of projects that until this week were "tucked away in their minds."

Students selected for the conference were Ele Newson, first grade; Aiden Bragg, second grade; Zaiden Joyce, second grade; Cooper Seabaugh, third grade; and Gemma Dombrowski, third grade.

Branch said Aiden was responsible for creating ideas regarding Earth's pollution reduction, so he presented original in-depth ideas about solving those issues and how he came up with those ideas.

"I was talking to people and talking about stuff to save the Earth," Aiden said.

Cooper was responsible for informing passersby about the importance of Emerging Engineers, "so they can know and maybe we can do it at their school," he said.

Zaiden was excited about the opportunity to tell people what the school has accomplished and to "let them know so they can do it with us."

"I think Emerging Engineers is important because if you want to be an engineer, you can basically become one," he said. "It actually helps your brain grow to help you build and make new stuff."

Every single day, Zaiden said, your brain gets smarter and smarter, just from doing that one little fun thing.

The children split their time between building and talking to people, to demonstrate what Emerging Engineers looked like during class time, Branch explained.

So aside from talking with people, Gemma was busy building ear buds made from recycled circuits during the group's presentation time, she said.

"This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience for our students being able to come and do this ... and also to be supported by our community and just the opportunity to spend some time traveling," Branch said.

ISTE is the largest technology conference in the world, according to Branch. Its acceptance rate for proposals is less than 30%.

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