WeTeach_CS Summit 2025

Step into the cybersphere with Frank Hall—better known as The Cyber Viking—for an exciting dive into the world of cybersecurity competitions. In this session, we’ll explore a variety of cyber competitions that span both defensive and offensive skillsets, from CyberPatriot to collegiate-style red team/blue team challenges. Then we’ll break down how to build your own Capture the Flag (CTF) platform—a versatile tool for classroom learning, competition prep, or as an interactive way to assess students’ mastery of cybersecurity topics like OSINT, cryptography, steganography, and more. Whether you teach cybersecurity or computer science, you’ll leave with practical strategies to sharpen students’ critical thinking skills—and have a little fun while doing it.

Embark on a journey to transform your middle school into a hub of computational thinking. This session will introduce the fundamental principles of computational thinking and demonstrate how to weave them into the fabric of your school's culture, creating a school-wide ecosystem that nurtures logical reasoning, pattern recognition, and algorithmic thinking across grade levels and subjects and addresses many of the new 6-8 Technology Applications TEKS.   Participants will explore practical activities and examples that integrate computational thinking into their classroom, empowering educators to foster critical problem-solving skills in students, preparing them for success in an increasingly digital world.

CS and/or Cybersecurity Content Knowledge Level Required: Everyone. No prior knowledge required.

You may have utilized Hour of Code activities with your students or in your after-school STEM/Coding clubs. Did you know that Code.org has open-ended activities/lessons to support core content Science, Math, Social Studies and ELAR TEKS? Utilizing a stream-lined version of Sprite Lab, these activities will enhance your ability to integrate computer science into core content lessons and provide a robust exposure to basic computer science principles that are part of the new Technology Applications TEKS. No prior teacher knowledge of computer science is required, teachers can easily adapt lessons to meet core content TEKS.

CS and/or Cybersecurity Content Knowledge Level Required: Everyone. No prior knowledge required.