The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

SPEAKERS:
Ali Main

The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

Stop in and take a peek at our mobile manufacturing lab! Learning Undefeated staff will show you around, answer questions, and share how you can bring this unique experience to your classroom.

Join this dynamic workshop to explore three hands-on classroom activities that highlight the math and science skills needed in the manufacturing industry. Explore how geometry, measurement, and critical thinking skills all come together to create new products.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn 3 hands on activities that demonstrate how science and math skills translate to real world jobs in manufacturing.

SPEAKERS:
Ali Main

The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

We will introduce our NSTA book containing a collection of units and resources to help teachers engage students in three-dimensional learning through model-based inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about four chemistry model-based inquiry units for rigorous and equitable instruction. Developed with secondary science teachers, the session guides three-dimensional learning, anchoring phenomena, modeling, and scientific explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Audrey Baird, Ron Gray

Launch your STEM program into orbit with @DoDSTEM resources! Discover hands-on learning, paid internships, and scholarships for future innovators. Join us to create your "All Systems Are Go" plan leveraging DoD STEM resources and opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover the wealth of STEM resources and opportunities offered by the Department of Defense. From hands-on learning activities to paid internships and college scholarships, learn how DoD STEM can help you power the next generation of innovators.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Stanley, Jennifer Preston

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

If you can only attend one session, make it this one. Transform your classroom with exciting, easy-to-perform (& crowd-pleasing) chemistry & physical science demos! Perfect for teachers, admins, and new educators, this session showcases unique demonstrations and classroom classics to engage students.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Marvel, Ph.D., Jonnathan Medina Ramos, Ph.D.

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Link physical science concepts like circuits and charged particles to the essential biotech method gel electrophoresis. Build a reusable gel electrophoresis system with the Bandit STEM Electrophoresis Kit, and use it to separate colorful dyes. Also, add the A to STEAM with creative pipetting art!

SPEAKERS:
Rose Chaffee-Cohen

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Engage students in a real-world engineering challenge! Learn how students can design and test crash barriers with live collision data to explore the link between momentum and impact forces. Analyze the resulting data to improve upon further design iterations.

SPEAKERS:
Shelly Riley

Science is a social endeavor! Gain strategies to transform your classroom into a community of learners in which students and teachers actively try to make sense of the natural and built worlds.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with strategies for developing classroom norms in collaboration with your students.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano

Learn how to support your students in connecting phenomena based on genetics and epigenetics to their own lives and communities through engineering practices using a free, EQuIP-reviewed unit designed for HS NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use engineering practices to teach genetics and epigenetics while facilitating a classroom environment that privileges connecting phenomena to their own lives and communities through engaging in a design-based challenge to recommend modifications to their school.

SPEAKERS:
Devin Foschi, Elizabeth Chatham, Dora Kastel

By 2025, it’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created daily; that’s like 212,765,957 DVDs/day! How can our students know if the information they receive is credible? Generation Skeptics teaches the necessary skills with lessons and guest speakers. (www.generationskeptics.org)

TAKEAWAYS:
Generation Skeptics arms educators with free resources to instill skepticism in students. Recognizing the proliferation of misinformation, GenSkeps seeks to equip the next generation with the enduring principles of the scientific method and the importance of substantiating claims with evidence.

SPEAKERS:
Bertha Vazquez

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Engage students in hands-on, student-led learning with the Go Direct Motion Detector! We’ll share 3 hands-on experiments to help students explore position, velocity & acceleration. From kinematics in fall to dynamics & conservation laws in spring, this versatile sensor supports 3D learning all year.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for High School and discover how the new Carolina Certified Version enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, and safer for classroom use.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort

Empower students to create videos about environmental challenges addressed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Discover tools and activities to build skills in inquiry, research, project organization, communication and using video technology. View samples of students’ inspiring work.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees with learn how to facilitate a problem-based learning project that employs a variety of STEAM and literacy skills to deepen their understanding of a global environmental challenge.

SPEAKERS:
Barbara Huth

How can we leverage digital tools to support biology learning that’s authentic and engages with science practices and cross-cutting concepts? We’ll explore “sit spot” strategies that connect students to their local context and communities through digital tools and a place-based teaching framework.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how implementing a “sit spot” assignment series can connect existing biology curricula to NGSS-aligned, place-based science explorations, as well as support student personal development and motivation, while overcoming the limitations of a traditional classroom experience.

SPEAKERS:
Kirstin Milks, Whitney Aragaki

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

How do forensic scientists find evidence in invisible ink? Students must think like both detectives AND scientists to find out! By capturing spectra of ink samples, students investigate electromagnetic radiation, explore light-matter interactions, and use mathematical models to calculate energy.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Explore the world of forensic science with these fun and exciting escape room activities! Try forensic blood detection and agarose gel electrophoresis experiments, decipher clues, and solve puzzles. Learn to design your own escape room to have students unravel the evidence and free the innocent.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ell, Maria Dayton

Move beyond passively visiting a museum to connect with curators & have your students take on the role of a teacher at a community event sponsored by the museum. Learn how to connect with local institutions, see samples of student work and leave with access to the full PBL project plan and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to organize, integrate and evaluate a long term PBL assessment into your curriculum. Leave with rubrics, a project plan and research template.

SPEAKERS:
Ilana Saxe

Geoheritage is a new construct in the US, but one well-established abroad. Integrating geoscience, history, economics, and aesthetic value of a place embeds students’ experiences in the landscape that surrounds them. This presentation will demonstrate how local geohertage narratives are generated.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science is embedded in the social and historical context in which it is generated and implemented. Geoheritage as a unifying construct enriches the relevance of a local site by illustrating how humans affect and are affected by that local landscape over time, promoting cross-curricular instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Pyle

Many high-quality curricula use transfer tasks, phenomenon-based assessments where students demonstrate their three dimensional understanding while exploring a novel scenario. In this session, educators will work through an example of a transfer task and an activity structure that helps students learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with an understanding of what transfer tasks are and an activity structure to use with students learning how to engage in this assessment practice.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson, William Penuel, Melissa Campanella

Join us to discover how to enhance AP Biology with phenomena-based storylines that make curriculum topics relevant and fun! Gain skills to integrate student questions with science practices while implementing inquiry-driven lessons to increase student engagement and deepen understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
After an introduction to Lab Hamster’s AP Biology Unit 1 storyline, participants will leave with the knowledge and skills needed to implement student inquiry activities, apply science practices, and use pedagogical strategies that boost student engagement and reduce teacher workload.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Tatum, Joshua Anoff, Noel Pauller

In a learner stance, participants will explore productive talk based on observations and development of a model to explain a phenomenon. Switching to a teacher lens, participants will identify types of talk they used, how it shaped deep learning, and apply these ideas to existing tasks/lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away ideas for increasing productive talk when students engage in collaborative science tasks. Considerations include different types of talk students use to share ideas and move toward deep content understanding. Time will include strategizing how to inform existing lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Takumi Sato, PhD

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Take a tour through the mammalian heart and trace the path of a blood cell on its journey to oxygenation. Participants take blood pressure readings. Then dissect a preserved sheep heart to model blood flow and connect BP to heart anatomy. Don’t skip a beat - it’s going to be hands-on fun!

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

BIOZONE's innovative worktexts deliver student-centred resources: AP, NGSS & electives. Identical print and digital titles integrate to provide a rich teaching program. Use our teacher resources to plan, deliver, & assess. Attendees receive a FREE print title & 30 day preview of our digital platform

SPEAKERS:
Mark Temons

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Inspire curiosity by examining pond water! Observe freshwater organisms feeding patterns and reproduction firsthand while exploring microbial diversity. These activities will build an understanding of ecosystems and provide phenomena that connects with biology and nature.

SPEAKERS:
Julie Stubbs

Join award-winning science educator Griff Jones and members of the IIHS Vehicle Research Center to explore a sample of engaging demos and video-supported, inquiry-based activities from the IIHS’s free, online “Crash Science in the Classroom” program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will see a selection of discrepant events and learn how to access other classroom-tested lessons plans, teacher/student tips videos, lab sheets, and answer keys to teach crash-related science and engineering concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Pini Kalnite, Joe Young, Griff Jones

Use a lab and demo to talk about resources and the environment, using copper as an example. The labs can be used for many fields - geology, environmental science, chemistry; focus on the impact of resource acquisition; and provide resources to highlight the depth and complexity of these issues.

TAKEAWAYS:
Copper recovery from ore with two methods - these labs can be used for many fields: geology, environmental science, chemistry; they focus on the impact of resource acquisition; and they provide resources to highlight the depth and complexity of these issues.

SPEAKERS:
Briana Richardson

This workshop will incorporate the phenomena of underwater sound into science activities and investigations. Resources such as an audio gallery of underwater sounds produced by animals and people and activities challenging students to produce spectrograms and explore the science of sound.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using the topic of underwater sound can be an engaging vehicle for students to explore physical science concepts and connect these fundamental principles with the undersea environment and science of sound.

SPEAKERS:
Liesl Hotaling

Join us for an immersive EarthX experience, where you will don your student hat to explore the interconnectedness of Earth and the traditional sciences. We don’t experience the world as discrete biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth science interactions, so why do we teach these subjects in silos?

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session having experienced first hand a student-centered, 3-dimensional lesson showcasing NGSS Earth Science DCIs integrated into traditional high school curricula, taught by one of the Baltimore City science teachers who helped develop the materials.

SPEAKERS:
Edmund Mitzel, Jr., Ph.D., Kevin Garner, Alan Berkowitz, Cassidy Johnson, Angela Hood, Kyle Gregory, Nina Groseclose

Racism is prevalent in our society. Participants will examine resources for engaging students in respectful and productive activity that contrast the social construct of race with scientific understandings of genetics. Examples of how science education can be a form of social justice will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anti-racism work in science education is difficult. Resources to support teachers in engaging in controversial topics will be examined and used by participants to rehearse effective pedagogical moves in engaging in classroom discussions of racism and science. Curricular resources will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison, Kelsie Fowler

Data collection probes and sensors provide the phenomenon and data to drive 3D student learning. This session will focus on how to utilize this technology to drive instruction. Teachers will experience a lesson using sensors to model photosynthesis, with a focus on sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will experience parts of a model lesson. Additionally, teachers will explore other examples of using probes to drive instruction. Lastly, teachers will have time to work collaboratively with other teachers to modify one of their lesson plans to effectively utilize probes in sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Justin Ingram

Transdisciplinary learning that positions students in the context of real-life scenarios to problem solve authentic issues can increase conceptual understanding of content area knowledge, inspire community connections, and increase student engagement, while also building transformative SEL skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover how transdisciplinary education and transformative social and emotional learning can be facilitated in their classrooms and educational communities.

SPEAKERS:
Stefanie Holloway

We all want students to become critical thinkers, retain & transfer learning, and have a deep understanding of science ideas. Transform your instruction so students construct their own explanations of scientific phenomena that mirrors the process scientists use to make sense of the natural world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to define, identify, and apply characteristics of sensemaking into instruction. They will also become familiar with lesson models and resources that support sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Oakley, Tina Hovance

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Why are sea levels rising? Why is it so dangerous - no matter where in the US you live? How can we address it? Using hands-on role-playing activities from NOAA, engage your students on one of the most dangerous climate impacts of our time.

SPEAKERS:
Alexandria Gillen, Peggy Steffen

A showcase of dynamic spreadsheet chemistry lessons that provide instantaneous, differentiated feedback to students as they learn or practice new content independently or in small groups. This method amplifies confidence for students of all abilities and frees teachers to assist those most in need.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn the power of digital spreadsheet chemistry lessons and learn how to create or edit their own lessons. If they wish, they can sign up to receive already created chemistry lessons for free to trial with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Sean Regan

Why can mammals survive the first few weeks or months of life by only ingesting milk? But, what happens when someone is lactose intolerant? Why can lactose-intolerant people tolerate some dairy products? Explore the answers to these questions in a new unit storyline on MILK.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this new storyline on milk students construct an explanation based on evidence for why dairy is an important source of food energy. Human babies double their weight during the first 6 months of life, yet some lose the ability to digest lactose. Fermentation is one way to solve this problem.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Embry Mohr

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

Are you looking for new ways to excite your classes? This session will showcase labs, demos, and inquiry-based activities to keep your classroom buzzing with excitement. Walk away with tools to engage students and ensure concept understanding. Handouts and door prizes provided!

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Saddler, Mike Marvel, Ph.D.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Experience the best way to teach basic circuits! Learn how to build circuits with modular components that look identical to schematic drawings. We'll show you how to skip the tangled wires that confuse students so you can focus on the physics.

SPEAKERS:
Shelly Riley

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Explore CRISPR-Cas gene editing in our hands-on electrophoresis workshop! The Nobel-winning biotechnology breakthrough is making dramatic changes to human health TODAY. Dive into CRISPR biology with quick experiments modeling cures for genetic diseases like Sickle Cell Anemia and Cystic Fibrosis.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ell, Maria Dayton

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

New to BioInteractive? Come investigate HHMI BioInteractive’s many free resources to support life science educators. We'll review how to navigate a website with hundreds of high-quality resources as well as how to connect with your fellow life science educators through our online community.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Moran-Johnson, Karen Lucci

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

From friction to collisions, engage students in real-world motion phenomena! Investigate questions like “How do brakes stop a bicycle?” or “Why are seat belts crucial to car safety?” We’ll explore sensor carts in action, analyze velocity and acceleration data, and share hands-on investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Classroom communities make sense of what’s being investigated through discussions; it’s key to ensuring all students’ ideas are shared and valued. This session focuses on discussion types used to help draw out student ideas, negotiate and refine them, and support communicating in scientific ways.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Tindall

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

This authentic case study analyzes microbial DNA from the International Space Station. Available as a hands-on gel electrophoresis experiment or a free virtual lab. This session will also feature Genes in Space, a free experimental design competition that sends student experiments to space!

SPEAKERS:
Katy Martin

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Dive into Earth's wonders! Our Earth Science workshop offers hands-on activities, expert insights and teaching strategies to inspire curiosity and deepen understanding. Join us in exploring the dynamic systems of our planet! Geology, Meteorology, Climate & Physical Geography! Grades 5-8, 9-12.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Goodman

Sponsoring Company: PhET Interactive Simulations

Be empowered with PhET Studio, PhET’s first customization tool for teachers! Learn how to create unique sim experiences that fit your lessons and inspire students like never before. Join us to see Studio in action and gain free Open House access. Don’t miss this exclusive opportunity!

SPEAKERS:
Linda Stegemann

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Explore easy, engaging, and safe chemistry activities that guarantee a reaction in your students. These lab activities support 3-dimensional learning and work every time, not just periodically.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Nixon

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Participants will make and use alginate beads containing algae and alginate beads containing yeast. They will learn how the beads can be used to model the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

SPEAKERS:
Crystal Risko

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Why are some coral and fish species disappearing? In this 3D lesson, biology and environmental science students use real-time data to explore how excess CO2 in water affects the pH. Using their findings, students can model how these changes impact interdependent relationships in ocean ecosystems.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: UL Research Institutes

This workshop focuses on sense-making about lithium-ion batteries and the phenomenon of thermal runaway. Participants will develop models to understand the phenomenon, applying cross-cutting concept of matter and energy. Participants will then ideate solutions for safer battery enclosures.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Gilbert, Jessica Sparacino

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Agriculture, biology, and business knowledge are essential on the modern farm. In this hands-on workshop, use gel electrophoresis to visualize genotypes for a gene necessary for high quality cheese, and help a dairy farmer select which breeding pairs give her the best chance to have a Ca$h Cow!

SPEAKERS:
Glenda Goh Denison

Engage students in authentic science learning about lead contamination through interactive activities that integrate cognitive and technical perspectives.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will discover the significance of reframing lessons and traditional lab experiments through the lenses of cognitive and technical authentic science learning, empowering students to engage meaningfully with real-world scientific issues like lead contamination.

SPEAKERS:
Eual Phillips

Interested in bringing river ecology to your classroom? This presentation will introduce strategies to engage learners in place-based ecology on a budget. In this unit, students will research local riparian plant species, design a tank to house them, and monitor the ecosystem health over time.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students are more engaged when the learning they are doing resembles their surroundings. Viewers of this lesson can expect to encounter strategies to bring local riparian ecology into the classroom and how to adapt their lessons to reflect their local ecosystems.

SPEAKERS:
Tobias Kochenderfer

Explore how our instructional modules address the Plant Awareness Disparity by empowering high school students to connect with their botanical heritage. Our hands-on approach fosters equitable access to STEM learning through place-based exploration of personal, cultural, and community assets.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover how our modules promote equity in science education by engaging students in hands-on botanical exploration, fostering deep connections with nature, and aligning with contemporary research and educational standards.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Moore

This session provides strategies to enhance students' critical thinking skills in science. Participants will learn ways to support students to navigate the information landscape, by discerning credible sources and building strong scientific knowledge.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave the session equipped with strategies to encourage students to extend their thinking and knowledge beyond the classroom, enabling them to become informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens in an information-rich world.

SPEAKERS:
Rosiane Lesperance- Goss

Explore how to design an immersive research trip that aligns with NGSS life science standards. I will share my experience leading a trip for 40 ninth-graders to the Bahamas, where students engaged in authentic science by conducting hands-on fieldwork, and what the students learned in the end.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn what NGSS life science standards are aligned in the overseas trip that incorporates authentic field research methodologies like GIS, environmental data collection, and graphing to create meaningful, real-world science experiences for students.

SPEAKERS:
Akira Wong

A Research Experience for Teachers (RET program) could be an inspiration for science and engineering lessons for the classroom. Our research rekindled our passion for STEM education and we believe it is contagious! Learn about the RET program and check out lesson materials for physics and math.

TAKEAWAYS:
How can you convert a university research experience into a high school classroom lesson?

SPEAKERS:
Tanima Mukherjee, Faith Palombi

Teach Engineering and the AspireIT Toolkit offer educators free resources to enhance K-12 STEM education through inclusivity, hands-on learning, sensemaking, and student-centered instruction. These tools empower educators to create engaging and accessible STEM learning experiences for all.

TAKEAWAYS:
This poster session introduces the Teach Engineering K-12 STEM digital library and the NCWIT AspireIT Toolkit. These tools are designed to enhance K-12 education with a strong emphasis on inclusivity and hands-on learning, addressing the need for equitable access to high-quality STEM education.

SPEAKERS:
Dua Chaker, Jennifer Kracha, Ellen Sukovich

Ethics, biology, algebra, reading, what do all of these things have in common? Much more than you would think! Stop by to learn how we have been using ethics as a throughline to help students develop their literacy and numeracy skills in their science class.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with cross-disciplinary tools. Attendees will see examples of ethics in science and how that fosters discussion and develops class culture while creating connections between core disciplines.

SPEAKERS:
Leila Haghi

The University of Nebraska offers a geology field course to science teachers where participants will travel through Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota over a 2 week experience. The only cost for participants is tuition.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants in the course will not only learn about the geology of the area, but they will also learn new strategies to reinforce 3 dimensional learning in their own classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kyle Thompson

Explore innovative strategies from the book, "Hacking School: Five Strategies to Link Learning to Life". Join author Annalies Corbin, PhD as we reimagine the classroom, overcome change barriers, and collaborate on implementing successful school innovations that prepare students for the future.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with a customizable "Hacking School Toolkit" containing five actionable strategies, and implementation guides to immediately begin transforming their classrooms by connecting curriculum to real-world challenges and opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Schneider

Challenges exist in implementing the NGSS and structuring equitable collaboration opportunities in the classroom. Join us to learn from a research study on a NGSS-aligned curriculum development and professional learning project that integrated the use of discipline-specific instructional routines.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will learn key take-aways from a research study on how the use of instructional routines supported NGSS implementation and student sense-making in a high-school level Biology course.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Chatham

Attendees will receive materials for a unit on nutrient cycling and the transfer of matter. Student examples show collection and sensemaking of their own data using iNaturalist. Students then apply data to monitor and make changes to the ecosystem model, serving as a local and current data set.

TAKEAWAYS:
Scaled ecosystem models provide opportunities for students to generate their own data. Further generations of students can collect long-term data on the model. Data can be used to propose changes to the model and make sense of larger phenomena. Students develop personal connections to the ecosystem.

SPEAKERS:
Anna Verdiguel Gillet

How does your doctor determine your potential diagnosis? Using the patient clinical format creates an interactive and engaging format for Anatomy & Physiology students to develop critical thinking and communication skills in a team-based setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
Beyond the realistic application of curriculum, students develop the skills and confidence to increase personal advocacy with their doctors and medical professionals when they understand the clinical problem solving process.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Howe, Becky Mortland

Student leaders of International Student-led Arctic Monitoring and Research, a 20-year old after school science program. They will showcase 7 research groups' data and summer trip experiences including highs and lows on their science teaching and learning journey.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain a model for a science club doing authentic, novel research including concepts and lessons learned through 20 years of ISAMR. Adults will be on hand for questions, contacts and information sharing. Microbiome and permafrost depth feature heavily with some engineering and coding.

SPEAKERS:
Carla Guarraia

How do you leverage the powerful computer in students' pockets to teach E&M? The modern smartphone's magnetometer can be used to do things as basic as detecting currents and permanent magnets and as complex as collecting data to linearize and discover distance dependencies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Every student "doing the lab" is better than one student "doing the lab" and 3+ students watching a demonstration of the lab. Turn your students into scientists with the tools to answer questions right in their pockets.

SPEAKERS:
Helene McLaughlin, David Rakestraw, Michael Tobler

During this session we will introduce a series of lesson plans that can help students recognize the value of science to their personal decision-making, so that they fully engage in science lessons throughout the year.

TAKEAWAYS:
Our students are constantly bombarded with crazy claims on a daily basis. Science presents a process for elevating specific ideas that can then be deemed ‘factual’. Making scientific claims based on evidence is a process students should be aware of, especially when making decisions for themselves.

SPEAKERS:
Makenzie Kuhns, Samantha Bechtel, Nancy Yoak, Linda Fuselier, Keegan Woodlee

How can we make chemistry more interesting, relevant, and exciting to students while maintaining rigor? Hear from different high school chemistry teachers about how they used food-based phenomena aligned to NGSS to teach chemistry concepts like bonding, IMFs, chemical reactions, and properties.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how teachers have used different series of lessons centered around different food-based phenomena and labs and how this has helped student engagement, disposition, their idea about what science is, and the understanding of science concepts.

SPEAKERS:
April Thompson, Jocelyn Puett, Alyssa Wachsman, Kate Strangfeld, Makala Woods

Give students opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and dive deeper into physics content through multiple representations. Learn strategies that can be used to deepen students' understanding and improve performance on FRQ #2, Translation Between Representations, on the AP Physics exams.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn engaging classroom strategies that allow students to communicate their knowledge of physics through multiple avenues and make connections between multiple representations and physical scenarios.

SPEAKERS:
Dee Dee Messer

An annual high school competition organized as a team-based student project to design a creative solution for a fire safety problem. Student teams work in their high school, are provided with educational material, a small-scale house model, mentoring, and compete on Burn Day to test their solution.

TAKEAWAYS:
An example of how high school science teachers can introduce exciting and instructive educational material on STEM and Safety Science into their classroom. Attendees will learn about the unique field of Fire Protection Engineering (FPE) and learn how to include FPE material into their curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Hollywood, Arnaud Trouve

This workshop will have participants engaging in an abbreviated version of a highly interactive and creative project that emphasizes key concepts about biodiversity and ecology while allowing for creative flexibility. Teachers involved in the life sciences are encouraged to join!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about an engaging, fun, and creative multi-day in-class project centered around key concepts related to biodiversity and ecology. Attendees will also leave with materials to seamlessly integrate this project into their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Paul Marban

It is quite a task to keep teenagers engaged in concepts being taught in the classroom, especially if it is a subject that they are uninterested in. This lesson focuses on one of the ten broad concepts of physics, Light, and provides an opportunity for the students to have hands on learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning doesn't involve just lecturing for sixty minutes. There are many different learning types, and in a classroom, you may experience different backgrounds, knowledge level, and comfortability. This lesson should remind the attendees how important it is to keep learning interesting.

SPEAKERS:
Ellianna Trilling

We show how instructional materials can be adapted for local contexts—and how to elevate issues of climate justice and ethical responses to the climate crisis. Participants will learn about how a high school physics unit from OpenSciEd was adapted to attend to Indigenous land rights and sovereignty.

TAKEAWAYS:
In relation to science and engineering projects in society (e.g., associated with the energy transition, ecological restoration, urban development), teachers will learn how to engage students in exploring moral and ethical dimensions of trade-offs in project approaches.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell, Kelsie Fowler

We will introduce our NSTA book containing a collection of units and resources to help teachers engage students in three-dimensional learning through model-based inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about four biology model-based inquiry units for rigorous and equitable instruction. Developed with secondary science teachers, the session guides three-dimensional learning, anchoring phenomena, modeling, and scientific explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Audrey Baird, Ron Gray

Learn how to leverage the power of social media to break down student misconceptions, rather than build them. Teachers will engage in an activity finding fake news on social media, then discussing how to adapt the activity for their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will experience an engaging activity designed to help students directly confront misinformation they encounter on social media. By having students confront their own misconceptions about hot topics, we empower them to be more responsible consumers of information in the future.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Dobrin

Participants will engage with different stations that focus on 3D models and activities that are modified to help students who are blind experience inquiry in an appropriate and parallel way as sighted peers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this 60 min workshop with strategies for modifying their own labs and hands-on class activities to better ensure that every child can “see” biology.

SPEAKERS:
Steffanie Shoop, Hellanna Koflowitch

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Unlock the cosmos for your classroom with our tailored workshop! Discover engaging teacher resources and delve into the latest astronomical discoveries. Gain confidence and tools to ignite students' curiosity about the wonders of the universe, fostering a passion for science. Grades K4, 5-8 and 9-12

SPEAKERS:
Michael Goodman

Give your students the chance to take on the role of a genetic counselor and apply their understanding of genetics to real world scenarios, including creating a pedigree, using NCBI and interpreting primary literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
Work through the genetic counselor project from a patient background, solving a pedigree, learning how to use NCBI, and interpreting primary literature. You will take home the student directions, exemplar projects, list of relevant primary literature articles, and teacher key.

SPEAKERS:
Ilana Saxe

Gain practical knowledge to provide accessible STEM experiences for all students. Participants will analyze scenarios and brainstorm ways to create a more authentic experience for students. Participants will have the opportunity to apply these new strategies using provided STEM lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with ideas and actionable strategies to engage all students in learning STEM at appropriately challenging levels.

SPEAKERS:
Beverly Berekian, Jessica Minton

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Come and participate with the author of the book, Arthur Eisenkraft, for a close-up look at a new Physical Science book. Experience a fun, take-home lab and learn more about this super curriculum from Activate Learning.

SPEAKERS:
Gary Curts, Arthur Eisenkraft

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Teach macromolecules without the crazy prep! In this micro-scaled lab activity, students test for starch, glucose, protein, lipids and DNA, without the need for large volumes of reagents, cleaning test tubes, or boiling reagents. Then students apply their knowledge and test various unknown samples.

SPEAKERS:
Priya Mangano, Lindsay Hamilton

Integrate healthy habits of conversation into your students' learning with the civil discourse framework. Empower yourself with strategies and resources to engage students in respectful discourse when conveying their understanding of a topic related to environmental science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Equip yourself with tools and lessons to leverage in bringing civil discourse to your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Lane, Elyse Alter

Looking to design well-scaffolded, standards-based, clustered assessments but not sure where to begin? Learn about available tools and resources to help kickstart your 2D and 3D assessment design. Develop a system for constructing performance assessments that are relative and meaningful for all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will evaluate existing 2D & 3D assessments, gain access to assessment design checklists, learn how to develop questions, distinguish between scenario and data-based prompts and begin to construct their own scaffolded performance-based assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Burns, Jessica Mintz

Join us for an exciting mini workshop designed to familiarize students with innovative technology, entrepreneurship, and career pathways leading to a career in STEM. This hands-on session is perfect for teachers to explore trending STEM careers with easily scaled classroom programs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers and faculty will walk away with examples of STEM innovation and entrepreneurship programs developed by the Manufacturing USA network. These programs can layer over existing classes and familiarize students with career pathways and new technologies.

SPEAKERS:
Brad Conrad, Amy Keesler, Christy Johnson, John Zappa

Join us for an engaging session with the Chief Science Officer (CSO) state coordinator, a high school mentor, and students as they lead a panel on this transformative initiative. Discover how this hands-on program builds workplace skills, amplifies student voices, and shapes future advocates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to foster student empowerment through the CSO program, support advocacy, and explore its statewide impact. Discover how the program prepares future STEM leaders and change advocates while strengthening your science community, and learn how to bring it to your district!

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Schwab, Dylan Fedell

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Rockets zoom and race cars zip through hands-on activities that engage your middle and high school students. Apply creative problem-solving skills and engineering practices to chemistry and physical science challenges. Experience how Carolina makes it easy to incorporate STEM into your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau, Alexandra Felts

Teachers can increase equitable instruction by understanding student status and identity. Attendees will reflect on their status and identity as science learners to inform classroom practices by graphing their status, discussing the role of identity and naming strategies to elevate all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain strategies to positively influence student status and support identity development for an equitable classroom culture. Collaboratively, attendees will raise questions about developing equitable classroom communities and generate strategies to support all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Rosiane Lesperance- Goss

Learn what representations and data your students can use to bridge phenomena and mathematics, and how to use data tasks to assess 3D kinematics understanding, as opposed to rote algebra skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to assess student problem-solving ability and conceptual understanding through students' use of multiple representations and approaches in physics classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Moore

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Dive into a sea of classroom-ready resources! With standards-aligned teaching materials, tutorials, hands-on activities, PD, and funding opportunities, NOS Education supports ocean, coastal, and climate learning at ALL levels and engages students and communities in hands-on stewardship.

SPEAKERS:
Alexandria Gillen

Unlock the secret to engaging middle school minds! Dive into dynamic discussion tools and powerful questioning techniques that will ignite classroom conversations. Elevate your teaching game with enhanced pedagogical insights, ensuring science becomes irresistible to your students. Don't miss out –

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical discussion and questioning tools, rooted in the crosscutting concepts, to transform quiet classrooms into spaces of students actively engaged in sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Brianna Reilly Oliveira, Kate Soriano, Ann Guglielmo

How can we teach concepts like ions, ionic compounds, & chemical rxns in a fun, meaningful, & rigorous way? Through the phenomenon of popping boba! We will walk through a series of investigations and hands-on labs to explore its properties and how it is made.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a phenomenon-based lesson rooted in core chemistry concepts. They will engage in easy, investigative, and fun hands-on labs and see how we unpack how a gel-encapsulated liquid (popping boba) forms by exploring ions, charges, ionic bonding, and electrostatic attractions.

SPEAKERS:
April Thompson, Jocelyn Puett, Alyssa Wachsman, Megan McCall, Kate Strangfeld, Makala Woods, Hannah Holt

Navigate utilizing hydroponics in the classroom to inform plant science concepts to generate a product used by your school lunch program. Teach students about the dynamics from seed to harvest and the scientific practices to manage systems to help feed a growing population in their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will gain strategies to incorporate standards into a variety of course offerings using hydroponic systems as a view into the world of agriculture and their life science standards to support their learning. Teachers will walk away with lessons ready to implement in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Sprague, JESSICA JONES

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

From coffee to cola, many of your students’ favorite beverages contain acid! Help them investigate the acid concentrations in different drinks using pH sensors and a simple acid/base titration. Walk away with a go-to experiment and tips to connect key chemistry concepts to real-world food science.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Join experienced inclusion teachers as they share practical strategies for supporting ALL students in chemistry classsroom. It will include a short, NGSS-aligned, phenomenon-based lesson, demonstrating how to adapt instruction for diverse student needs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with concrete strategies for supporting neurodivergent students,

SPEAKERS:
Cathy Zavacki, Anjana Iyer

Why is data science important? How can I integrate it in my classroom? The High School 2 Health Care project will share engaging data science content for teacher professional development. Join our interactive session to gain confidence to teach real-world data science and inspire your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
The High School 2 Health Care project aligns with the NSTA’s Position on Data Science that all students should have knowledge of data science and ethical use of data. Data science modules will be provided and results showing our modules increased teachers’ data science knowledge and self-efficacy.

SPEAKERS:
Simpfronia Taylor, Rebecca Reynolds

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Bring molecular techniques to Ecology and Evolution units with an activity based on the work of the Duke Lemur Center. Has an extinct lemur species been found again in the wild? Test DNA with gel electrophoresis, build phylogenetic trees, and analyze authentic field data.

SPEAKERS:
Rose Chaffee-Cohen

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Wildlife conservators often return captive-bred animals to their native habitats to rewild the area. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore the use of RFLP analysis and phylogenetics in conservation biology to analyze the DNA samples of two lions. Can we return them to their ancestral home?

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ell, Maria Dayton

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

This session covers essential safety practices, including hazard analysis, proper PPE, GHS labels, risk management, and communication with administrators. Ideal for all science teachers, science supervisors, administrators and lab supervisors. Leave with actionable tips to prioritize safety! Visit https://www.flinnsci.com/safety/ for more information.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Marvel, Ph.D.

This session will dive into how projects like a leaf pack ecology lab can turn students into citizen scientists and increase engagement in a high school biology classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a better understanding of ways they can help develop their students into citizen scientists through a leaf pack lab or other methods - the opportunities are endless!

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Aguiar

Join us to learn how to use a place-based approach with data from NASA’s Earth System Data Explorer tool. Participants will take part in hands-on activities and pedagogical discussions to think about implementing place-based, data-rich activities using NASA resources in their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to access and use both primary and secondary data from NASA’s Earth System Data Explorer and other NASA resources (e.g., My NASA Data Literacy Cubes) to explore global phenomena at local scales, and reflect on instructional trade-offs for using different tools.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Salisbury, Karen Lionberger

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Explore hands-on training in biotechnology! Teachers in this workshop will conduct two activities with BioBuilder’s proven classroom and laboratory curriculum designed for students gain industry microcredentials and to be college and career ready. Search "BioTechBuilder" online to learn more!

SPEAKERS:
Natalie Kuldell

In this session, teachers will unpack the OpenSciEd Chemistry curriculum from a teachers point of view. Then they will work together to share tips and best practices around utilizing OpenSciEd in chemistry for their specific school context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have a better understanding about OpenSciEd in Chemistry through sharing with other teachers - no matter where they are in using this curriculum - and identify a future working group to navigate the curriculum together.

SPEAKERS:
Anthony Stetzenmeyer

How can you customize an OpenSciEd unit to dive into the issues that really matter to your students? This workshop aims to help teachers find and leverage community resources from outside the classroom to adapt an OpenSciEd unit (MS or HS) to include local phenomena around environmental justice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will walk away with tips and tools to help them choose local phenomena, find community partners, and integrate them into an OpenSciEd unit, all while maintaining coherence from a student’s perspective and honoring the lived experiences and resources of environmental justice communities.

SPEAKERS:
Erin McCool, Michelle Bolliger-Fyler

Learn how to engage your students with the rich phenomena that stars and exoplanets can provide through the use of a free EQuIP-reviewed high quality ESS unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will deepen their understanding of how prioritizing phenomena-driven learning supports key HQIM features through exploring a free NGSS-badged ESS unit that engages student interest and relevance while integrating the three dimensions of argumentation, stability & change, and various DCIs.

SPEAKERS:
Devin Foschi, Dora Kastel

Join this dynamic workshop to explore three hands-on classroom activities that highlight the math and science skills needed in the manufacturing industry. Explore how geometry, measurement, and critical thinking skills all come together to create new products.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn 3 hands on activities that demonstrate how science and math skills translate to real world jobs in manufacturing.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Diamantides

Sponsoring Company: The Wonder of Science

Explore 3-dimensional science instruction through modeling, argument-driven inquiry, and phenomenon-based teaching. Learn to apply the NGSS SEPs and CCCs using best practices and resources from The Wonder of Science. Led by Paul Andersen, this hands-on workshop is inquiry-driven.

SPEAKERS:
Paul Andersen

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to facilitate deeper student understanding of mole ratios, stoichiometry, and limiting reactants. This hands-on activity uses common household chemicals to simplify setup and a Wireless Pressure Sensor to support live data collection and immediate data analysis.

SPEAKERS:
Shelly Riley

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Delve into the power of science as storytelling using storylines! Explore how the BioInteractive Sickle Cell Storyline sparks student questions to help them create connections between biological concepts and build deeper understandings.

SPEAKERS:
Lee Ferguson, Chris Monsour

Explore modern livestock farming practices and their environmental impacts. Classroom activities will be shared to help students understand why plant-source and animal-source foods differ in their environmental impact as they think critically about the trade-offs involved in various food systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Animal-source foods have a larger environmental footprint than plant-source foods (per unit of food produced). Evaluating the sustainability of food production systems requires critical thinking and an evaluation of socioscience to understand factors outside of science that impact our food choices.

SPEAKERS:
Andrea Gardner

The EarthX team has developed a 5+1 model to integrate earth science in biology, chemistry, and physics curricula. Attention to three-dimensional teaching, phenomena driven units, student-centered learning, and responsive teaching for all students are paramount to this model.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using the 5+1 model for Earth science integrated instruction, participants will analyze units and lessons in biology, chemistry, and physics for the presence of key components designed to differentiate instruction for all students with a focus on diverse learners.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Hood, Kevin Garner, Alan Berkowitz, Cassidy Johnson, Edmund Mitzel, Jr., Ph.D., Kyle Gregory, Nina Groseclose

Urban tree populations have a unique ecology that you can bring into your classroom! Join the Wade Institute for Science Education and the Forest Service’s Springfield and Philadelphia Urban Field Stations to explore storyline teaching, inquiry investigations and local phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be introduced to strategies central to storyline teaching, including phenomena-based instruction, and learn how to collect data using tools and methods to evaluate urban forest and tree health, and share that data through participatory science.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Ryack-Bell, Kathryn Atkins

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

Ignite your students’ curiosity with hands-on STEM activities that integrate engineering, physical, life, and earth sciences. Designed for middle and high school teachers, these real-world connections energize students and enhance learning. Handouts provided! Visit www.flinnsci.com.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Cambron, M.S., Jillian Saddler

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Finally, an easy-to-implement genetic engineering lab. This robust lab allows students to visualize the transformation of bacteria from white to bright blue with a protocol that fits in a 45-minute class. Simple teacher prep with no starter cultures, and reliable student results!

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hennessy-McDonald, PhD

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Learn about our 3 most popular biology sensors that support hands-on, phenomenon-based learning with real-time data. You'll learn how to investigate cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and enzyme action with easy-to-use probeware and data-analysis apps that work together to promote 3D learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

BIOZONE’s platform combines digital replicas of our highly acclaimed print titles together with Presentation Slides, 3D models, and curated videos, providing powerful options for delivering high school science programs. Attendees receive a FREE print title & 30 day preview of our digital platform.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Temons

Discover how to design and use rubrics that help create assessments that build and practice science skills. Learn how cognitive demand theory can elevate assessments and engage students in deeper learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using universal backwards design and rubrics can help to create assessments that not only assess content knowledge but also promote critical thinking, skill mastery, and deeper learning by integrating cognitive demand principles into science skill building.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Stindt

The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

Join LabXchange as we explore our latest initiative, Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Science Education (RDEISE). We will discuss how these unique, interactive student resources can be integrated into classrooms to make science more diverse, inclusive, and equitable.

TAKEAWAYS:
RDEISE learning resources can be integrated into a variety of topics including biology and environmental science, and can serve as a helpful starting point for developing course curriculum or program materials.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Sjoblom

What approach can science educators use to create assessment tasks that support instructional practice and students’ three-dimensional learning? Participants will experience designing 3-dimensional tasks for classroom use that will help their students build toward the NGSS performance expectations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to construct 3-dimensional assessment tasks that they can use in their classroom to promote student learning of the NGSS performance expectations.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Harris, Joseph Krajcik

Build capacity in providing opportunities for students to have voice and choice in exploring topics and fostering STEM skills through engaging space-themed curriculum. The charge is on educators to provide opportunities for all students to envision themselves in a STEM career field.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with ideas and simple yet impactful strategies to leverage knowledge of students to help ensure all students feel valued in STEM learning and can envision themselves in STEM careers.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Minton, Beverly Berekian

Design standards driven, highly engaging inquiry to action units that empower students to become changemakers in their local communities? Explore using the Solutionary Framework to support student implementation of real-world solutions to issues of clean water access and quality in their communities

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how using the Solutionary Framework can improve student engagement and support teachers in designing and implementing student-led projects to address water quality and watershed health in their communities. Free materials and lesson plans.

SPEAKERS:
Kathy Bertini, Angela Whittaker

Explore how to design authentic assessments that align with NGSS and utilize standards-based grading. Learn practical strategies for unpacking rubrics to guide student learning and provide clear, actionable feedback that drives improvement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create NGSS-aligned assessments and develop rubrics that students can easily understand and use for self-assessment, promoting deeper learning and growth.

SPEAKERS:
Parwaneh Rezai Sepasi

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Get the first look at the newly revised EarthComm book, 4th edition earth science book. Experience a great take home lab and learn how to infuse United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) into instruction, plus see all the changes that were made to this classroom resource!

SPEAKERS:
Gary Curts, Lindsay Mossa, Ed Robeck, Sequoyah McGee, Lauren Brase, Maliya Malik

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Join this hands-on workshop to explore three engaging experiments about how light, gravity & nutrients impact plant growth. Each participant receives Fast Plants seeds flown in space with Emily Calandrelli on a Blue Origin rocket, plus fun lesson plans for all experiments.

SPEAKERS:
Hedi Lauffer, Alexandra Felts

Youth need opportunities to learn about green colonialism and how Native Science and Indigenous sovereignty are fundamental to addressing the climate emergency. Workshop participants will engage in talk activities designed to support non-Indigenous youth in learning and processing these topics.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will support educators in understanding that climate experts across the globe are calling for the broad recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and climate expertise as fundamental to mitigating climate change and building a just future.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell, Kelsie Fowler, Deb Morrison

How might a single microbe curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and invasive species? Join us to discuss the implementation of student-driven research programs and contribution of meaningful data to the scientific community. Together, let’s unravel the biodiversity of this fascinating microbe!

TAKEAWAYS:
Course-based research experiences (CREs) develop workforce-ready skills, build confidence and expertise to pursue postsecondary STEM education, and, most importantly, allow students to envision themselves as scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Danielle Rosensteel, Meghan Kanski, Sarah Bordenstein

Discover how to engage students in hands-on 3D learning through sourdough fermentation! This workshop shows how "bread pets" can bring microbial life and biological concepts to life while fostering critical thinking, inquiry, and collaboration in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to engage their students using sourdough fermentation as a hook to explore core biological concepts and foster critical thinking and collaboration skills in a hands-on, real-world context.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Barlow, Alexis Custer

Collaboration is essential in science. This session covers groupwork challenges, introduces "groupworthy" tasks, and shares strategies for fostering effective collaboration. Come gain the tools to improve collaboration and inspire curiosity-driven learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will identifying common challenges in designing and implementing groupwork and learn strategies to improve collaborative learning experiences for students while engaging in science group tasks.

SPEAKERS:
Anna Monteiro

Do you want your high school students figuring out how the world around them works?  Do you want them to build the skills needed to enter careers of their choice, including (but not limited to) STEM careers? Take a deep dive into the science and engineering practices and learn how you can support your students' engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will analyze the elements of the science and engineering practices and discuss what a classroom will look, sound, and feel like when students are engaged in them. They will then see how the SEPs are integrated into and assessed in an OpenSciEd phenomena-based unit.

SPEAKERS:
Caitlin Matyas, Erin McCool

Explore how students can change a metal’s properties through alloying, heat-treating, and/or cold-working. Classroom activities that will enhance chemistry understanding of atomic structure and real world engineering relevance. Deepen understanding of binary phase diagrams.

TAKEAWAYS:
How do architects and manufacturers manipulate common metal properties to get the metals to behave in the desired way for a specific use? Participants will make a simple low-melt tin-based alloy and explore a binary phase diagram. Heat-treating of steel and cold-working of copper is also explored.

SPEAKERS:
Scott Spohler

This session will equip educators with practical strategies to lead project-based learning (PBL) activities that align with state standards, engage students in real-world problem-solving, and foster a collaborative school culture, ultimately preparing students for future success.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to effectively implement and lead project-based learning (PBL) activities that align with educational goals, enhance student engagement, and foster essential skills like critical thinking and collaboration, ultimately transforming school culture and improving student outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Oktay Ince

Join us to explore how to leverage students' communication tools in the high school science classroom. This session will focus on strategies and approaches integrated into the OpenSciEd Chemical Reactions unit which challenges students to investigate chemical processes impacting oyster populations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to guide students in articulating their ideas, collaborating effectively, and constructing evidence-based explanations while encouraging the use of their own language and perspectives to make sense of complex scientific concepts and connect them to pressing environmental issues.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker, Holly Hereau

We will be discussing the use of modeling in the chemistry classroom. Using modeling students are able to develop questioning and reasoning skills to explain complex, real world lab data analysis, chemistry articles and readings, and various phenomena on a molecular "Zoomed In" level.

TAKEAWAYS:
By utilizing modeling students are able to organize thoughts, justify conclusions, and rationalize arguments. Modeling can easily be used to explain concepts from Coulomb's law to intermolecular forces and how certain concepts explain complex chemical interactions.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick Reidy, Kevin Wessler

Looking for a new way to bring Newton’s 2nd Law to life? Come experience a unique investigation from OpenSciEd HS Physics Unit 3: Collisions and Momentum, that you can use with your students to help them uncover Newton's 2nd Law.

TAKEAWAYS:
The method of uncovering Newton's 2nd Law in OpenSciEd Physics Unit 3: Collisions and Momentum is motivated by student ideas. Students are wondering how much time it takes to stop a car. Using a unique piece of equipment, the "force cart", students design the experiment themselves and use the data

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Kremer, Dr. Patty McGinnis

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Get to know our most popular physics sensors! From exploring Ohm’s law in simple circuits to studying Newton’s third law with force sensors and a rubber band, Vernier data-analysis technology makes it easy to integrate hands-on, 3D learning into your physics and physical science curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

You’ve planned the experiment and collected data, now let’s discuss the best way to analyze it. In this workshop, we’ll use PCR, ELISA, and AI to bring quantitative data analysis and statistics to the lab. Mastery of these skills is crucial to prepare students for careers in biotechnology and STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ell, Maria Dayton

This session will provide strategies and resources to support Pennsylvania science teachers, administrators, and curriculum supervisors transitioning to the PA STEELS standards. Many of the resources provided are also applicable to NGSS standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with knowledge of a website with a variety of resources for implementing 3-dimensional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Wack

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

What if you could easily tailor your science curriculum to reflect the world your students live in? In this interactive workshop, educators will discover how to use Stile’s Prepare Mode to seamlessly integrate local phenomena into their science lessons. We’ll explore how making local connections boosts engagement and learning outcomes, and you’ll collaborate with fellow teachers to build a custom lesson featuring New York- and New Jersey-specific science phenomena in real time. Whether it’s a case study on Hurricane Sandy, an analysis of water levels in the Manasquan Reservoir, or an exploration of genetically diverse cockroaches in Manhattan, you’ll leave with a personalized lesson ready to spark dynamic, student-led discussions in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Julianna Jimenez

Empower your teaching with Scientist Circles! Discover research-backed strategies to foster collaborative learning, critical thinking skills and ignite curiosity in the classroom. Engage in hands-on-activities, share best practices and leave empowered to implement Scientist Circles effectively.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain effective strategies and actionable tips to boost student engagement and foster meaningful whole-class discussions.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau, Kate Soriano, Ann Guglielmo

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Sickle cell is an autosomal recessive disorder, and genetic testing is available to determine carrier, affected and normal genotypes. Run and visualize an electrophoresis gel to determine the genotypes of a family with history of sickle cell, and hear about progress with treating this disease.

SPEAKERS:
Ariel Cohen, Holly Khong

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

How can two people with the same genotype have different symptoms? Join us as we explore free BioInteractive resources that use the phenomenon of sickle cell disease to engage students in a variety of evidence-based strategies for facilitating sense-making about gene expression and evolution.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Short, Brenda Royal

Discover how GIS tools empower students to investigate their school environment, collect data, identify patterns, assess human impact on ecosystems, and suggest improvements. Topics include Urban Heat Island, ecological benefits of trees, and analysis of cellular and Wi-Fi signal strength.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of this session, you'll be equipped to integrate GIS tools into your environmental science, biology, chemistry, and physical science classes. You'll also discover the adaptations we've made to support students with special needs.

SPEAKERS:
JODIE HURLEY, John Costanza, Kate Popejoy, PhD

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Assume the role of a crime scene investigator to solve a realistic crime scenario. Students use fingerprint, hair analysis, tire track impressions, blood typing, forensic entomology, and a police log review to identify a primary suspect from a pool of 6 alleged perpetrators.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Nixon

Commonwealth Charter Academy is leading the way for workforce development through our innovative Works Programs. Our career readiness programs align with the PA STEELS standards. K-12 educators/administrators are welcome to learn how we are changing the landscape in TechWorks, AgWorks and MedWorks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about CCA's innovative workforce development programs

SPEAKERS:
Debbie Reynolds

Cognitive science has identified flexible and often counterintuitive cognitive strategies that boost learning across diverse groups of students . Teachers will learn how to implement these techniques within their classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to apply multiple practical, flexible, and research-based cognitive strategies, including retrieving information from memory, distributing practice across time, scaffolding, and mixing together different examples, within their own classrooms to improve student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Tullis

Participants will analyze “example data” of different schools and physics classes, and discuss students' pathways to physics and implicit structural barriers. Come to learn about identifying hidden obstacles to students' success and upcoming professional learning opportunities with STEP UP program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Many factors influence which students take which classes in your school. Reflecting on those influences, examining the make-up of your physics classes, and considering how they may change to better reflect your school at large are the first steps towards improving access to physics for all.

SPEAKERS:
Pooneh Sabouri

How do beginning STEM teachers develop as teacher leaders? We share how teachers have engaged in practitioner inquiry and written personal “stories of teacher leadership” over the past 10 years. We explore what we all can learn from the stories about what it’s like to become a teacher leader.

TAKEAWAYS:
Recognize key themes about teacher leadership from the stories, compare to your own experiences with teacher leadership, and identify teacher leadership actions you can bring to your school based on ideas from the stories.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Rozelle, Roseanne Rostock

The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

There is no shortage of jaw-dropping discoveries made from meteorites. Known as the “poor man’s space probe” most meteorites come from the asteroid belt, but now that we have actual material from a known asteroid, we better sharpen up about meteorite science because we’re going to need it.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will how to teach about the exciting history and evolution of meteorites science through falls and discoveries. From 500 years ago to recent meteoritic events, the science just keeps advancing as we are showered by these enigmatic rocks from space.

SPEAKERS:
Martin Horejsi

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Tired of textbook diagrams showing DNA to RNA to protein? Bring the central dogma to life with a hands-on experiment to visualize transcription and translation using fluorescence. Explore gene expression in real-time using low-cost tools made for the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Katy Martin

In this session, participants will learn how to use data-collection technology to investigate the albedo of different surfaces. Teachers will walk away empowered to make their albedo effect lessons more relevant and engaging by using hands-on, real-world data-collection methods that connect climate

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with the confidence to integrate data-collection technology and analysis software into their classrooms. They will learn how to help students collect, analyze, and interpret real-time environmental data using graphical tools that make science more interactive and meaningful.

SPEAKERS:
Cecelia Gillam

This session will share strategies for scaffolding work products and instructional materials in a sheltered Biology classroom using storylines with students with limited English proficiency. We will also discuss effective collaboration using the co-teaching model to maximize student success.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will equip participants with strategies to attend to the diverse needs of learners using high-quality instructional materials. All students have the opportunity to access these materials and engage in sensemaking using a relevant phenomenon to better understand key science ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Chatoria Franklin

In this interactive session, teachers will share how they designed and implemented BioSTEM: a curriculum that immerses all students in real-world science practices and connects them to jobs of the future. Hands-on demos and program data will show how the curriculum benefits teachers and students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with insights from and access to a free, teacher-developed biotechnology curriculum. With these tools, they will be equipped to incorporate more project-based learning and community involvement in their classes, including scaffolding content for struggling learners.

SPEAKERS:
Amber Comer-Jensen, Ben Gold

The Breakout Box: Manufacturing Challenge takes participants on a 20-minute immersive adventure where they apply critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and manufacturing skills to successfully run an eyewear manufacturing facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to understand the manufacturing process, the importance of teamwork and its relevance in the real world.

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Learn about our 3 most popular chemistry sensors that support hands-on, phenomenon-based learning with real-time data. You'll learn how to investigate acid-base reactions, gas laws, and reaction rates with easy-to-use probeware and data-analysis apps that work together to promote 3D learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Martin

In this presentation, Dr. Whitecraft will draw upon the works of Hammond, Gorski and Hebb to demonstrate how experiences that are intense, prolonged or repeated will physically change the anatomy and the chemistry of the brain.

TAKEAWAYS:
Per Parker Palmer: academics ignore all the research-based knowledge we have on the role of emotions in learning largely because embracing the implications of that knowledge would take them out of their emotional comfort zones! It is enough to make one’s head spin.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Whitecraft

Engage in cancer focused classroom-ready interactive lessons, discuss the myths of cancer and explore the technology advances in cancer research to share with students. View more free lessons www.decodingcancer.org

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will gain an understanding of cancer innovations and STEM careers within cancer health advocacy to share with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Casandra Gabriele

Complete a distracted driving hands-on activity and discover award-winning videos and more inquiry-based activities from IIHS’s Crash Science in the Classroom program that illustrate the vital connections between biology, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and teen driver safety.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will measure their reaction time and complete a distracted driving simulation using a series of 4 activities simulating the 4 major types of driving distractions. Participants will also learn how to access detailed lesson plans, teacher tips videos, student lab sheets and answer keys.

SPEAKERS:
Pini Kalnite, Joe Young, Griff Jones

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Hair, fingerprints, and DNA evidence are left behind at the scene of a murder. Can you use them to find Dr. Ward's killer? Your students will love being the crime scene investigators while learning how to use electrophoresis to perform DNA analysis in a single classroom period. Come learn how!

SPEAKERS:
Priya Mangano, Lindsay Hamilton

How do we help youth navigate the complexities of climate change and its impacts in their own communities? Engage in hands-on activities from Smithsonian Science for Global Goals guides on climate action and resilience to facilitate discovery, understanding, and action for a sustainable future.

TAKEAWAYS:
Smithsonian Science for Global Goals guides are essential resources that combine climate science comprehension with a deep understanding of the ways communities relate to the changing climate and the collective and individual actions students can take to create a positive climate future.

SPEAKERS:
Khadijah Thibodeaux, Heidi Gibson

Explore community science with eels! This workshop engages teachers in hands-on mapping activities, eel life cycles, and migration research. Learn about fisheries conservation, data literacy, fieldwork, and access online interdisciplinary K-12 unit plans. Free estuary resources provided!

TAKEAWAYS:
Studying eels allows teachers to address science standards using data collected by students and community scientists. Educators gain practical resources to enhance classroom and field experiences with this oddly engaging animal. Eel conservation makes learning science fun and impactful!

SPEAKERS:
Roy Arezzo

Organic Chemistry is a highly relevant topic which can be made accessible for students at all levels. In this workshop, participants will learn how to create a dynamic elective course that will help students experience relevant content, and also try out some of the experiments used in the course.

TAKEAWAYS:
Organic Chemistry courses can offer highly relevant science content, and with the right approach can be made into an engaging, memorable, and accessible experience for students with diverse backgrounds.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Alvarez, Derrick Wood

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

How can CRISPR re-shape the future for people with genetic diseases? Using virtual and hands-on models, we'll explore how CRISPR allows for a variety of genetic medicine.Teachers will use Biointeractive resources to help students manipulate and analyze CRISPR impact on genetic disorders.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Short, Brenda Royal

More teachers are taking on leadership in professional development, sharing their expertise. In this session, we’ll explore facilitation principles that equip teachers to recognize and elevate all learners' ideas, fostering professional communities where every educator feels valued and can thrive.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to apply facilitation principles, mindsets, and behaviors to create PD experiences that are more meaningful, equitable, and relevant to colleagues while keeping student learning at the center of the work.

SPEAKERS:
Anthony Stetzenmeyer, Laura Shafer, PhD

Hands-on activities aimed to help secondary and CTE students become acquainted with careers that exist in the energy industry and beyond, as well as to understand personality traits and soft skills that are essential to being a good worker and team player.

TAKEAWAYS:
Activities to conduct with secondary students to showcase career opportunities in energy-related fields and help students to identify skills and traits for career readiness, not just with a four-year degree but also certification and trade school career paths.

SPEAKERS:
Paula Miller

This workshop will discuss the value of a HFE course to K-12 education and how to adapt HFE to technology education and vocational high school curriculum environments. Workshop activities will reinforce hands-on analysis, decision making and redesign methods, with a Q&A discussion to follow.

TAKEAWAYS:
Consider Human Factors Engineering as a means of adding valuable practical hands-on, project-based, user-centered design, and transferable skill experiences with authentic real-world application.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Tenenbaum

Sponsoring Company: Texas A&M University / NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium

Astronaut and Professor Greg Chamitoff will share some of his personal journey in Space while explaining a new STEM program called Space Teams Academy that immerses student teams in virtual collaboration, design, and execution of their own space mission.

SPEAKERS:
Gregory Chamitoff

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

Revolutionize your teaching with this hands-on introduction to POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning)! Designed for science teachers, curriculum developers, and administrators, this session will explore team roles, the POGIL Learning Cycle, and strategies to develop problem-solving critical skills.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Mancini