Read how Houston ISD's Technology and STEM teams worked in partnership to use Book Creator to boost engagement in the STEM Camp and beyond.

Houston ISD: Partner Spotlight

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Using Book Creator was a crucial part of our STEM Summer Camp. It helped cultivate an interdisciplinary approach to our STEM Camp, and even helped tie in Social-Emotional Learning. After each challenge, students used their Book Creator to reflect on their challenges.

Brittany Wellborn STEM Instructional Technologist

"I noticed that our emerging bilingual students really love like the 'drag and drop' items and the 'Number' pages because it was just easy for them to participate more and fully be able to access the content."&#160;

"The REMIXABLE template option in Book Creator was perfect to provide campuses a full wealth of activities, while they could pick and choose from this remixable template to fit their style of learners. "

"Having journals and having students write out their reflections is one thing, but when it comes to Book Creator they are more than thrilled to write a reflection"

- Brittany Wellborn STEM Instructional Technologist

The HISD STEM team have been using Book Creator to bring an interdisciplinary approach to their STEM Camp and other projects. As well as boosting engagement with learning, they saw how using Book Creator increased options for personalization, equity, creativity, literacy, SEL, and more across their STEM projects.

In 2022, Houston ISD ran a STEM summer camp in collaboration with Lego. Using Book Creator meant that students could engage with their learning, teamwork and feelings during these STEM activities. Students spent time using Book Creator before, alongside and after making their Lego creations. Book Creator therefore provided an accessible space for students to log their journey, reflect on their project, explain their reasoning and plan their improvements.

In Shoshana's reflection book, we can see her reflect on the project and how her team approached their STEM challenge. This is an invaluable element of the process, helping learners to engage with their learning, improve future performance and develop critical thinking skills.

Shoshana's Journey to Mars

Makerspace Bundle Options

For National STEM Day, HISD had previously never done a celebration. Equity was a key factor - with one small (but mighty!) STEM team and almost 200,000 students, the STEM department faced a challenge in how to provide something that could be used by all teachers, grades, and all types of learners.

HISD National STEM Day Activities 

https://api.bookcreator.com/users/v2/aWAhdfUWXPQR1UPW7fJOHnfObsb2/books/gYtDV0ZcSW-f2H5zwNDHGA/assets/kN4oa0W-TLOTB_XbBP1tiA.png?width=1080&height=1080

Thank you Houston ISD for sharing your special story with us!

Read the full story of Houston ISD on our blog:

Partner Spotlight - Houston ISD - Book Creator app

The Houston Independent School District is the largest school district in Texas and the eighth-largest in the United States. It serves over 194,000 students at 276 campuses and about 27,000 team members. Houston ISD's Vision is that "Every child shall have equitable opportunities and equal access to an effective and personalized education.." Based on these goals, and their goals for Instructional Technology, Book Creator was a perfect fit. Houston ISD implemented Book Creator across the district in 2021. They now use Book Creator across the curriculum, but let's focus on one area: STEM.

The HISD STEM team also used BookCreator to create STEM Product Menus. Book Creator has helped with defining the package items, as well as giving a visual overview as to what is inside. This helped librarians/media specialists choose the best package for their campus. This led to creating guidebooks for PD over certain topics, including 3-D Printing. Other Instructional/Technology Coaches have now also begun to create books and libraries to share with their teachers on how to use the variety of tools provided for Digital Learning.

"I've used it myself to give PD information to my teachers and to have a 'one stop shop' for them. That way they can go back and review any of the information that we talked about in our professional development sessions or even school sessions that we might have had." 

- Brittany Zamora, Instructional Technologist, HISD