Jason McKenna | Vice President of Global Educational Strategy
VEX Robotics

Day 1 @ 12:50

How robots see the world: Introducing young learners to AI

How do you teach AI to students who haven’t yet learned to code? Start by tapping into what they already know—their senses. In this session, we’ll explore how to introduce artificial intelligence to elementary and middle school students using the “Big Ideas” framework from AI4K12. You’ll see how students can learn to distinguish between human perception and machine perception through VEX STEM Labs. These low-threshold, high-ceiling activities are co-designed with classroom teachers and aligned with UDL principles. Learn how students build critical thinking and computational thinking skills as they investigate how a robot “sees” color, classifies objects, and navigates a world it doesn’t understand. You’ll leave with free, classroom-tested resources and a clear sense of how to make AI literacy developmentally appropriate, deeply engaging, and cross-curricular for even your youngest learners.

 

Day 1 @ 15:20

Fostering creativity through coding with VEX GO

Our 60-minute Tech User Workshop

In this hands-on workshop, participants will dive into the engineering design process using VEX GO to solve a unique coding challenge. Attendees will act as float designers and programmers for a VEX GO Parade, crafting a moving float for parade marshall Colonel Jo. 

Through this creative exercise, educators will experience how VEX GO and the engineering design process foster students’ creative problem-solving abilities. The workshop will emphasise iterative thinking, balancing original ideas with real-world constraints,and collaborative learning. Attendees will leave with insightsinto integrating coding and creativity into their curriculum in impactful ways."

Day 2 @ 12:00

From data to decisions: Unlocking AI with VEX AIM

What if your students could use a robot to experience how AI makes decisions—without writing a single line of ML training code? In this session, we’ll explore how students can use the VEX AIM robot to interact with a pretrained classification model that mimics real-world AI applications. You’ll see how students engage in authentic STEM challenges while interpreting sensor data, configuring color codes, and making decisions based on AI-driven outputs. This isn't theoretical AI; it’s applied, observable, and safe—no student data is collected, and all processing is local. Whether you're teaching Python or integrating AI into a CTE pathway, this session will show you how to unlock AI for your students. Walk away with strategies, classroom examples, and a practical framework for introducing advanced AI concepts through robotics.