Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Transform your classroom into a forensic lab with this whodunit-themed experiment. Guests at a party are getting sick, and a few have even succumbed to the illness. Using spectroscopy and Beer’s law, your students will uncover the truth in this active, inquiry-based learning experiment.

SPEAKERS:
Nüs Hisim

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Do your students struggle with the meaning of the slope of a graph? We'll demonstrate how to use all the sensors in a Go Direct® Sensor Cart to explore kinematics, force, and mass. These engaging, hands-on experiments will give your students multiple ways to practice working with these principles.

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

There’s a break-in at the lab. Your students become forensic scientists as they walk into a crime scene. Analyze samples for blood and then catch the criminal with DNA fingerprinting. This exciting workshop will include ways to incorporate biotechnology and gel electrophoresis into your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Dayton

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

How can we integrate climate change into different biology units? We'll use data-rich HHMI BioInteractive resources to demonstrate how to incorporate this topic across scales.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Eberhard, Samantha Johnson

This interactive session will highlight a summer professional learning course designed to prioritize social justice in the K-12 STEAM classroom. While most teachers held social justice orientations, Rightful Presence (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2020), provided important connection to teaching practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers in the course used reflection and robust discussion to examine and identify their educational bias, teaching philosophies, and socially just teaching practices in STEAM. This interactive session will share strategies and reflection practices for teachers to bring back to their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Meltem Alemdar, Katie Boice, Ti'Era Worsley, Justina Jackson

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Learn how physical models can be used to introduce your students to the field of cancer immunotherapy and CRISPR-engineered T-cells.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Wondering how to teach your students about enzymes? Leave the liver behind and bring complex concepts to life with hands-on experiments. Vernier biology expert Colleen McDaniel will walk you through an inquiry-based experiment that explores the different variables that affect catalase.

SPEAKERS:
Colleen McDaniel, Angie Harr

Using "Exploring Animal Behavior in Laboratory and Field, 2nd edition," several hands-on activities will be explored: data collection using cricket observations, the prisoner's dilemma, and how to read primary literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session would provide educators with ideas of how to teach general animal behavior/ecology topics that are adaptive to different learning environments and levels of students.

SPEAKERS:
Heather Zimbler-DeLorenzo

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Develop data-literate students! We'll use BioInteractive resources to model instructional strategies that incorporate the science practices and improve scientific thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Orr, Ann Brokaw

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

The gene-editing tool CRISPR is one of the most exciting biotechnology breakthroughs of the past decade. In fact, this technique won the Nobel Prize in 2020! In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore CRISPR biology using fast, easy experiments that model the development of a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Dayton

test SCST 1.1 Engaging 1st- and 2nd-Year College Students with Science and Engineering Near-space experiments (NSEs) using high-altitude ballooning are offered to engage 1st- and 2nd-year college students to foster learning through science and engineering practices. NSEs are student-generated to build off students’ curiosities, perspectives, expressions, and sense of discovery. SCST 1.2 Fostering the Information Literacy of Community College Anatomy & Physiology Students Many students experience difficulty locating, evaluating, using, and communicating reliable information. Strategies to foster information literacy among A&P students will be presented. Students demonstrated an increased ability to evaluate claims and improved self-perception of critical thinking. SCST 1.3 Developing Literacy in the Science Classroom: Strategies that Transcend Grade Levels Literacy strategies that foster speaking, writing, reading, and listening engage students in the content, identify misconceptions, and optimize teachers’ instructional time. College science students identified Carousel and ABC brainstorming as their favorite literacy activities.

SPEAKERS:
Derrick Nero, Renee Clary, Cheston Saunders

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Python is a dominant programming language, and we have created libraries and sample code so that you can use most of our sensors in Python programs. Web VPython even allows you to read our Go Direct® sensors without installing anything, and it works on Chromebooks, PCs, and Mac® computers.

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Join us as we model how to engage students in data analysis using BioInteractive Data Points, a free collection of authentic scientific graphs and figures.

SPEAKERS:
Amit Morris, Brian Mason

test SCST 2.1 Comparing learning outcomes across different course delivery methods: face-to-face, online and video conferencing Do students learn better in a face-to-face, online or video conference course? The COVID-19 pandemic provided opportunity to help answer this question by allowing comparison of student learning outcomes in a human anatomy course taught using each of these modalities over the course of the pandemic. SCST 2.2 Digital Media Assignments in Online Geoscience Classrooms: Engaging Students and Building Community Digital media assignments allow students to share knowledge in nontraditional ways. This presentation showcases online geoscience courses that use media assignments, includes discussion of advantages and challenges and components required for creation of multimedia assignments for online class. SCST 2.3 Quality Matters: Our Experiences in Building Online College Courses to be Quality Matters-certified Quality Matters (QM) is an organization that ensures quality control in online instruction. Two professors will discuss the process for QM certification in their online courses. This presentation will discuss experiences and lessons learned to better assist others in the QM review process.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Clary, Thayne Sweeten, Athena Nagel

Sponsoring Company: Visible Body

Lab time and access to specimens can be limited, expensive, or sometimes completely out of reach. Visible Body's 3D content and Courseware platform provide a digital alternative to wet labs and 2D textbook images and diagrams, allowing students to "cut" as many times as they need.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Buchanan

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Neuroscience is one of science’s fastest growing fields. Students learn about the field by exploring Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s, two neurodegenerative disorders. We will analyze the Huntingtin genes using PCR and electrophoresis and explore the biology behind Alzheimer’s disease with an ELISA.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Dayton

As education professionals seek to engage with Tribal entities to support Youth, they need resources to help ensure that they are stepping respectfully and intentionally. Learn about an Un-guidebook, supported by 100kin10, to help non-Native education professionals engage with Tribal entities.

TAKEAWAYS:
After this session, STEM educators will know more about building relationship with indigenous communities, and how both formal/OST, educators can use the Un-guide to create the first steps of a relationship with Tribal entities in their community and better support Tribal learners, especially youth.

SPEAKERS:
Kathy Hoppe, Melinda Higgins

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Let us shed light on guided-inquiry lessons for your classroom. We’ll walk you through guided-inquiry simple circuit lessons, with attention to both the student experience and the teacher's view. You’ll be able to customize the lessons to feature the sensors and software you already have!

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

The GNOu Mechatronics Apprenticeship program showcases the framework of New Orleans' premier apprenticeship programs that was created through dynamic partnerships between 2-year community colleges and the manufacturing industry.

TAKEAWAYS:
The GNOu Mechatronics Apprenticeship program will showcase the framework used to create an apprenticeship program focused on advanced manufacturing- one of the leading new employment sectors. Attendees will learn how the partnerships were formed between the industry & 2-yr colleges.

SPEAKERS:
Osmar Padilla, Daphine Barnes

In April 2013, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were released just before the NSTA Annual Conference in Austin, Texas. In that time, nearly every state in the country has either adopted the NGSS outright or developed similar standards of their own. This session will reflect on the impact those standards have had in the last decade and consider what the future holds.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain insight into how standards are an essential step in the process of student learning, but how implementation of those standards plays an equally important part in the process.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard, Stephen Pruitt, Brian Reiser, Edel Maeder, Maya Garcia, Cristina Thomas

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Keep your students engaged by giving them opportunities to move and interact in class. Explore limb position and grip strength, balance, and EKG and EMG experiments designed to encourage students to think about the physiology of various human organ systems. Come ready to participate!

SPEAKERS:
Colleen McDaniel, Angie Harr

Calling all ASTE California members! All researchers and educators are invited to share their current research, project, or teaching resources with ASTE members.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will provide networking and sharing space for ASTE California members with all other researchers and educators to share their own practices, research, and gather new ideas for research and teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Gina Childers

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Want to learn more about technologies used in today’s laboratories? If so, join this hands-on workshop! You’ll explore two biotechnology techniques, PCR and electrophoresis.. These experiments will help your students understand how techniques like genetic engineering work in a real-world context.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Dayton

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

How do selective pressures shape elephant populations? We'll explore HHMI BioInteractive activities that have students analyze data and construct explanations about this phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Marisa Alvarado, Dionne Reid

Sponsoring Company: Anatomy in Clay

In this workshop, attendees will build replicas of human anatomy using clay and a specially designed skeletal model in a class-room setting. Educators will learn how to implement a unique curriculum system which helps students create a kinesthetic map of the human anatomy.

SPEAKERS:
Chuck Roney, John-Paul Theriault

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Experience Simulation Curriculum's newest addition - Interactive Anatomy & Physiology - for grades 9-12. See the jaw-dropping interactive anatomy simulator with its 40+ lesson plans, simulations and images along with complete teacher resources.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Goodman

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

While building bottle rockets, students are instructed not to use more than 10 pumps on a bicycle pump. When a bottle bursts and injures students, it's up to you to investigate. Use Avogadro’s law and a Go Direct® Gas Pressure Sensor to solve the mystery in this hands-on experiment.

SPEAKERS:
Nüs Hisim, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Meet Bandit™, the electrophoresis system that brings accessibility to a new level. Build an affordable, durable, and reusable electrophoresis system. Then, make connections between molecular and Mendelian genetics with electrophoresis labs that run in 20 minutes and don’t require staining.

SPEAKERS:
Katy Martin, Sebastian Kraves

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Explore the relationship between genotype and phenotype using Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Some think PTC tastes bitter, while others find it tasteless. The ability to taste PTC is linked to variations in a taste receptor gene. In this workshop, you will use PCR to distinguish between PTC alleles.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Dayton

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Get ready to exercise more than just the muscle between your ears when you use the Vernier Video Analysis app to investigate the physics of a bench press and bicep curls. You'll walk away with experiment best practices, lesson suggestions, and tips on successful video collection.

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

In this session, the presenters will share specific strategies and an intentional design for preparing elementary STEM teachers to create inclusive and equitable STEM classroms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about specific strategies to create inclusive STEM classrooms. Elementary STEM educators will model ways in which they have revised curriculum and integrated specific STEM pedagogy that is inclusive, culturally sustaining, and rooted in social justice.

SPEAKERS:
Bonnie Maur

test SCST 3.1 Political Ideology in Geosciences: Strategies for Teaching n Divisive Times In an age of polarizing political ideologies, teaching geoscience is increasingly difficult. This presentation will demonstrate various strategies to teach about "controversial" topics which could provoke dissention, opposition and conflict in an online Environmental Science course. SCST 3.2 College Science Teaching in the “New Normal”: Students’ Attitudes and Preferences to Optimize Science Learning After 2+ years of the COVID-19 pandemic, college science classrooms—and students’ knowledge base and attitude—evolved to a “new normal.” Content analysis of end-of-semester survey data reveal what continues to work in upper-level college science classrooms, and techniques now rendered ineffective. SCST 3.3 All of the Above: Strategies for writing better multiple-choice questions that assess higher order thinking. We present and discuss several strategies for developing well written multiple-choice questions that can assess higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.

SPEAKERS:
Christa Haney, Renee Clary, Donald French, Tarren Shaw

We are sending them into their own classrooms, but do they know their science? Are emerging science teachers aware of their students’ ideas and misconceptions?

TAKEAWAYS:
Characteristics of pre-service science teachers and their content knowledge and knowledge of students' misconceptions.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Crockett

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Join us as we explore how to use HHMI BioInteractive's rock pocket mouse resources to connect evolution and inheritance, and strengthen students' data literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
James Clark, Jennifer Barnes

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

SPEAKERS:
LaShawn Duckett

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

STEM classrooms should establish a welcoming environment in which all individuals can use their cultural knowledge and practices to make sense of the world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Approaches to identify and honor student lived experiences and cultures in STEM classrooms and communities

SPEAKERS:
Zachary Cue, Richard Huynh, Justin Betzelberger

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Creating colorful bacteria with transformation is a memorable way to teach the central dogma of molecular biology. Take it a step further and have your students create art with the colorful cells! In this workshop, we’ll share tips for transformation success and create bio-art with microbial paint!

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Studying complex physics phenomena can be exciting for your students with photogates! Join us to explore strategies for engaging your students in learning about velocity vs. time graphs, acceleration, and kinematic equations. Demystify these helpful tools and bring hands-on learning to your class!

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Engage your students in learning about the effects of climate change with this hands-on experiment. Using the latest Vernier data-collection technology, we'll define ocean acidification, determine how we can measure it, and discuss why it is bad for our marine ecosystems. Get ready to dive in!

SPEAKERS:
Colleen McDaniel, Angie Harr

University/college instructors at several institutions in the US and Canada are using NSTA resources in lieu of a textbook when teaching preservice teachers. Participants will meet some of these instructors and learn how they integrate NSTA resources in their courses and the benefits of the program. Preservice teachers using NSTA create a library of resources, grow their network of professional colleagues, and enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge of science. Instructors receive a class landing page to manage their course and a private forum for asynchronous discussions. They also gain access to an administrator's dashboard to monitor and assess their students' engagement within the NSTA website. All instructors receive a free NSTA membership. Students can become members of the Association through graduation and add to the website's library all of NSTA’s Interactive E-Books+ Professional, professional learning units, and other fee-based resources to use in class and beyond.

TAKEAWAYS:
University/college instructors are using NSTA resources in lieu of a textbook when teaching preservice teacher courses. Participants will meet some of these instructors and learn how they integrate NSTA resources in their courses and the benefits of the program.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

This session will introduce a mRNA vaccine design activity in which students explore the uridine-to-pseudouridine modification as well as codon optimization.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman, Kris Herman

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Why do some people with the sickle cell genotype not show symptoms? Using HHMI BioInteractive resources, we'll engage with science practices to unpack this phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Koehler

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

"Bal Barot, Chemistry Professor, at Lake Michigan College for the last three decades, had turned into an author. He has published 150 fiction and a few non-fiction books on Amazon Kindle. He will present a poster about how he and other authors have used chemistry in their fiction novels."

TAKEAWAYS:
To understand chemistry in fiction novels including evidence collection and testing; objectively think about evidence presentation and how this evidence could affect the outcome of a trial and have greater awareness of the serious responsibilities that when a chemist serves as a consultant.

SPEAKERS:
Bal Barot

Students in K-12 science classrooms don’t think about diagrams the same way adults do, and can be easily “overloaded.” Research in cognition gives us tools to make science diagrams that more effectively support learning. Surprise: often, students learn more without features like arrows and colors!

TAKEAWAYS:
Effective diagrams direct student attention to the most important information and relationships while minimizing cognitive load. Strategies for doing so include tree structures, explicit cues for implicit information, replacing realistic photos with illustrations, and use of the proximity principle.

SPEAKERS:
Audrey Rabi Whitaker

Joining a research lab as an undergraduate is a boon to many future career directions, making it important to equip students with the tools to find and contact potential laboratories. We will discuss evidence for the need for these tools as well as a tested strategy for their input into classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gaps in knowledge created by socio-economic differences, being a first-generation college student, etc., can make it challenging to find a research laboratory, or decide what skills are required to join. We will demonstrate a modular teaching device to help fill this void.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Ruesch

Science and mathematics faculty collaborate on preparing secondary mathematics and science student teachers to collaborate on a Social Justice Oriented STEM unit to integrate into their content courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away ideas for implementing a social justice STEM project for secondary mathematics and science student teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Kay Kelly

In a 4-day summer workshop, teachers learned to fly a drone, completed STEM-based activities, and wrote an original activity to be presented to high school students. A computer programming efficacy scale, administered at the beginning and end of the workshop, quantified change in efficacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
The computer programming efficacy scale has five subscales. Survey results will be presented. Word clouds will summarize open-ended survey questions regarding comments for content that was learned, how activities can be used in an educational setting, and suggestions for workshop improvement.

SPEAKERS:
Deborah McAllister

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

This poster will introduce attendees to Transformational Learning Theory and how we have used this as a research to practice framework. We will provide best practices for using it to develop science teacher education programs, particularly focused on study abroad or study away opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create transformational learning experiences for their science teacher educators using study abroad and study away opportunities. A template for designing and assessing such experiences will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Lacey Huffling

Rubrics are great assessment tools when grading lab reports and projects. Rubrics help to clarify expectations, inspire students to set goals and give educators a way to improve feedback that stimulates student reflection. Emphasis is on application and analysis not getting the right answers.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Poster will highlight best practices for creating and using rubrics to grade lab reports and projects. The poster will include best practices, main components of a rubric, tips for creating rubrics and well as best practices for feedback and grading using rubrics.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Morton

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

PTC tasting is a classic way to link genotype and phenotype. Use PCR and gel electrophoresis to determine if students have taster or non-taster alleles for bitter perception. Learn about our all-new curriculum and see how easy it can be to bring molecular genetics to your class!

SPEAKERS:
Zeke Alvarez-Saavedra, Alexandra Dainis, Alexandra Dainis, Sebastian Kraves

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Don't let complex concepts slow you down! Join us as we explore kinetic and potential energy in mechanics using Vernier sensors and software. Learn how your students can calculate columns to create graphs of energy vs. position or time to observe the transformation of energy between forms.

SPEAKERS:
Josh Ence, Frances Poodry, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

How does temperature affect coral ecosystems? We’ll use resources and model instructional strategies that incorporate phenomena, questioning, and modeling to make student thinking visible.

SPEAKERS:
Elise Cooksley, Ann Brokaw

When children start team sports not much is expected, they are often not physically developed, and coaches start at the beginning. By high school and college bodies are better equipped, fundamentals have been learned, expectations rise, and the process is performance oriented. The same concepts should guide student research. First-year undergraduates begin with fundamentals, using guided inquiry. Expectations rise as research is conducted in courses (CUREs), and finally as independent projects. Just as with coaches, faculty expectations need to be developmentally defined, and success easily measured. As sports teams need specialty coaches, research teams also need specialists that can teach/encourage by using their expertise for unique projects – a primary advisor (coach) and additional specialists (assistant coaches). As a team sport, all members of the team receive the same rewards (although one member receives the honor of being first author, similar to one player being named MVP).

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see examples of progression from inquiry labs to independent research. Attendees will how this model of undergraduate research increased the output of both presentations and papers. Attendees will discover how teams of faculty with different levels of expertise contribute to student s

SPEAKERS:
Kerry Cheesman, Renee Clary

Are you a preservice teachers’ instructor? Learn how NSTA's digital resources, virtual experiences, and online community can help your students become the BEST teachers they can be. We will discuss what’s available on the NSTA website and how to easily access it with your own Class Landing page.

TAKEAWAYS:
Preservice teachers using NSTA as a Textbook (or as instructional materials supplement) create a library of resources, grow their network of professional colleagues, and enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge of science.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

This is session #4 in the PL Committee CCCs Pathway and is designed to support K-12. The crosscutting concepts provide a consistent language for student communication. When teachers’ assessment prompts are designed with the crosscutting concepts, the focus of student thinking can be directed to different aspects of the phenomenon or, the system being investigated. Patterns may be used as evidence to support explanations or arguments for the causes of a phenomenon. Participants will explore the progression of Crosscutting Concepts throughout a student’s K-12 career. They will consider phenomenon and discuss several appropriate prompts that bring different CCCs to the forefront (patterns, scale, systems). Participants will engage with the process of developing assessment prompts which use the Crosscutting Concepts to initiate student sensemaking responses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participant will leave with resources that guide their development and use of Crosscutting Concepts to focus student sensemaking on assessments. These can be integrated with assessments prompts which are aligned to Science and Engineering Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Leah Litz, Christopher Soldat

Journey with us from passage of state legislation mandating K-12 Computer Science integration and graduation requirement to mobilization of efforts to reach 57,000+ teachers across our state within 18 months. Tools, lessons and resources will be shared to make your journey easier!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with tools, ideas and structure ideas for leveraging a partnership between a state department of education and a non-profit network to message, empower and mobilize K-12 educators in every role across a state towards the goal of integrating CS into all instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Audra Block, Becky Ashe

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Join us as we use HHMI BioInteractive resources, including the VIDA Tool, to scaffold student understanding as they construct robust explanations about natural selection.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie May, Robin Bulleri

Inviting all Preservice Teachers and Faculty Advisors to learn about NSTA’s Preservice Teacher Chapter Program with National and Local Preservice Teacher Chapters options.

TAKEAWAYS:
Preservice Teachers and Faculty Advisors walk-away informed to participate in NSTA’s Preservice Teacher Chapter Program.

SPEAKERS:
Debi Hanuscin, Morgan Glann, Flavio Mendez, Nicole Merner, Makayla Spencer, Annabelle Fortine, Lavender Bertsch, Emma Harma, Hannah Smock, Jim McDonald

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Learn about our suite of CRISPR/Cas activities. From using Cas9 to target DNA in a test tube, to knocking out a gene in bacteria, our labs will put real CRISPR/Cas in your students’ hands. Free educational resources like CRISPR/Cas paper models will also be demonstrated.

SPEAKERS:
Ally Huang, Sebastian Kraves

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Stop counting bubbles! Your students can easily visualize photosynthesis and cellular respiration using the latest Vernier technology. This workshop will cover sample collection, carbon dioxide data analysis, and inquiry ideas to test variables that affect photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

SPEAKERS:
Colleen McDaniel, Angie Harr

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

During this session, we'll model how to employ storyboards to enhance student understanding of evolution by natural selection using HHMI BioInteractive's lizard phylogeny resources.

SPEAKERS:
Tanea Hibler, Christina Moran-Johnson, Amy Elliott

Jumpstart your career search at the NSTA Job Fair! NSTA is excited to host this inaugural event, featuring dozens of school districts, private academies, universities, and informal science institutions looking for qualified, dedicated educators to join their teams. Come explore options, gather information, and interact with representatives about current and future employment opportunities. Free to all who have registered for NSTA Atlanta23.

A Research Experience for Teachers Program at the University of Puerto Rico (BIORETS: BioInteractions) aims to engage eight secondary school teachers in the development of standards-centered curricular materials after they participate in a summer research immersion experience. The focus of the research experiences is on the overarching theme of biological and biomolecular interactions. Teacher participants engage in a broad range of research activities: from molecular biology to ecology. Curricular materials are designed based on their research experience to promote students’ scientific literacy and foster positive attitudes towards STEM. In this session, we will share experiences from the summer research immersion experience as well as examples of the curricular materials that have been developed and tips for their implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away strategies to transfer scientific research experiences into their classroom to promote students’ scientific literacy and positive attitudes towards STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Diana Rodríguez-Pérez, Brenda Lee Estévez Moreno, Diana Galloza Ramirez, Michelle Borrero

Come and engage in hands-on activities, collect resources, and network with Informal Science Educators from a variety of institutions. Discover exciting new ideas and materials that you can use right away.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom teachers and informal science educators network to discover and engage in activities that will expand their knowledge and be usable in many aspects of their work.

What do science, mathematics, social studies and reading/language arts instruction have in common? See how content methods faculty modeled content integration to provide preservice teachers with the tools to teach an integrated, science-focused investigation during their methods field experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away ideas for collaborating with colleagues to model integration across disciplines, preparing preservice teachers to use integration to ensure time for high-quality science instruction in the K-3 classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Kay Kelly

Engage students in a hands-on cellular respiration learning activity using handouts and manipulatives.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn the stages of cellular respiration; 2. Discover how to follow glucose through the oxidation steps and track the carbons that are converted to CO2; and 3. Calculate the energy production (ATP) through substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation.

SPEAKERS:
Deborah Cardenas

Hispanic students are being disproportionally left out of STEM opportunities due to many barriers. One avenue to bridge this disconnect is through community outreach and relationship building with both Hispanic students and families while incorporating STEM activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will receive a template to begin building relationships with Hispanic students and families through community outreach events. This template will also include a scholarship list for undocumented/DACA students, a FAFSA guide, and an ideal student guide. All in Spanish and English.

SPEAKERS:
Elesha Goodfriend, Kelly Moore

A virtual reality chemistry activity was evaluated as a supplement to laboratory instruction for first-year college chemistry classes. Student self-evaluation of confidence in certain lab activities was surveyed prior to and post VR session.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Virtual reality offers an engaging and kinesthetic way to supplement lab-based instruction; 2. The virtual environment can evaluate student lab performance on a level that can't be duplicated in a laboratory setting; and 3. VR offers an effective source of remediation for students lagging in labo

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti

This session will report findings from a study of young peoples' perceptions of school science in the UK. Focus groups revealed a general positive attitude towards the sciences but a desire to have greater variation through creative teaching and learning approaches.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will hear suggestions made by young people in the UK about what they want from school science, how they want to be engaged, and what they suggest needs to be avoided when teaching science.

SPEAKERS:
Gareth Price, Stuart Bevins

Case study research on three pre-service teaching candidates will be shared about their work in recording narrative audio podcasts about their science and science education experiences. Candidates narrated stories and life experiences they draw upon in their current design and implementation of science instruction with elementary and middle grades students. We conducted a focus group interview to learn more about the candidates’ podcasting experiences. Findings will be shared through the lens of Carlone and Johnson’s (2007) Model of Science Identity regarding how the participants perceived their science identities through engaging in science practices, self-efficacy for engaging in and teaching science, and being recognized as ‘scientific’ by others. The candidates published their recordings on a podcast feed and portions of their work will be shared along with the assignment instructions and criteria that were provided to the candidates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn approaches for integrating narrative podcasting assignments as a means of facilitating professional reflection and critical thinking around teaching candidates’ science identities and the ways they impact their design and implementation of science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica VanValkenburgh, Aaron Gierhart

Students in the first semester of the General Chemistry sequence participated in a peer-teaching exercise and were subsequently evaluated for information retention and test anxiety. Students participating in peer-teaching scored on average 20% higher on a final exam question.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students participating in peer-teaching scored on average 20% higher on a final exam question than those who participated in a non-peer-teaching review. This increased retention was shown to carry over into the subsequent semester in students participating in General Chemistry II.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti

Introducing teachers to storylines in an online graduate-level setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to facilitate professional development by introducing storylines in an online setting.

SPEAKERS:
Shane Cullian, John Graves

Research shows that writing enhances learning outcomes. In place of long research papers, low stakes writing was incorporated in an online geoscience course. This presentation will demonstrate various strategies to incorporate low stakes writing in an online course to facilitate learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Low stakes writing assignments (worth a small percent of the final grade) are a great way to increase student engagement with the material, apply topics to a student's local area, increase critical thinking and improve scientific writing skills.

SPEAKERS:
Christa Haney

Arrival and Meet & Greet

Welcome and Opening Remarks by JT Taylor, SESD President

In this presentation, you will learn how to teach computer programming (coding) using the picture-based language Scratch to special education students. You will also learn about the benefits of teaching special education students computational thinking skills that go beyond just learning how to code. Prior teacher computer programming knowledge is not necessary.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Ellen O'Donnell

Creating accessible instructional content and assessments can be challenging for any course, but STEM courses requiring complex mathematical equations, scientific formulas, or special symbols can make the challenges more difficult. Some of these challenges require subject-specific resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session attendees will walk away with access to a myriad of resources that assist instructors in including complex equations, formulas, and symbols in their content and assessments, making them more accessible to all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Jason Rodenbeck, KIMBERLY LOOMIS

The advantages, assignments, course material, and student feedback for an interdisciplinary learning community between a physics course and science fiction literature course will be discussed. This work was published in The Physics Teacher May 2016.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to implement an interconnection between physics and science fiction in such a way that studying works of science fiction can enhance and deepen learning of physics. Learning physics can enrich our understanding and appreciation of science fiction literature.

SPEAKERS:
Maggie Monteverde, Krista McBride

This session uses real life experiences teaching and designing a course on art and infectious diseases to highlight how art can be a powerful interdisciplinary tool to teach and assess students understanding of microbiology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn strategies for using art in microbiology while becoming familiar with contemporary bioartists; attendees will also appreciate how art can provide students with a creative outlet and coping mechanism, as well as providing opportunities to process recent experiences with COVID-19.

SPEAKERS:
Stefanie Iverson Cabral

Creative writing assignments can better reach students with differing learning styles. The incorporation of creative writing exercises into introductory chemistry courses and their effects on student performance will be described.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Creative writing is an effective way to cement understanding of chemistry concepts; 2. Engaging in creative writing leads to better exam performance; and 3. Creative writing exercises increase critical-thinking skills.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti

To effectively engage audience members, we will invite them to dance with us, feel their body movements, recognize the geometrical patterns, computational arts modelling, and discuss the power of body movements in social bonding and expressing emotions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with a brief experience of the aesthetic nature of mathematics embedded in their body movements. They will be able to implement the strategies immediately in their classroom and expand them into science in STEAM education.

SPEAKERS:
Colleen Wahl, Mina Sedaghatjou

The STEM Scholar program was created to aid in the goal of diversifying the STEM workforce, by supporting the best and brightest students from underrepresented populations in their pursuit of STEM. Our program’s goal is to increase the number of diverse students from underrepresented populations graduating with degrees in STEM, through recruitment and retention efforts, and leadership development, while strengthening TCU’s academic community and contributing to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The foundation for these scholar’s success is laid during the required Summer Enrichment Program (SEP). The SEP is a four-week experience, designed to acclimate students to the rigors of STEM and higher education. During the summer program our students complete a 3-credit hour critical thinking course in STEM, live on campus, maintain on campus employment and participate in a variety of professional, metacognitive, and personal development experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants can pull from a real-life case study on how to lay the framework for supporting, assessing, and creating a successful program that promotes retention of underrepresented student populations as they pursue education and careers in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Zoranna Jones, José Luis Cano, Brianna Edwards

Join the UCLA Science Project as we explore structures and formats for science leaders looking to engage teachers around social justice in STEM classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Establish space and culture that sustains conversations around equity issues in STEM

SPEAKERS:
Justin Betzelberger, Richard Huynh, Zachary Cue

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Habitat fragments often function as ecological "islands." We'll use HHMI BioInteractive's island biogeography resources to have students analyze data and propose solutions to ecological challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Koehler, David Hong

Join postsecondary educators as they share asset-based teaching strategies. Hear about educator experiences of teaching STEM through an equity lens, and incorporating analytic discourse into science methods courses. Developing Asset-Based STEM strategies for preservice teachers. Come and learn how to infuse STEM and STEAM into teaching using asset-based strategies. Asset/Strength-focused approaches to instruction utilize equity-based strategies that can be used with all students. Using Analytic Discourse in an Elementary Science Methods Course This presentation will focus on the use of analytic discourse in an undergraduate elementary science methods course to increase scientific understanding and promote the equitable sharing of student ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Laux, Denise Johnson, Gina Childers

Join our roundtable of preservice and novice teachers to discuss experiences interning and as a first year teacher. Hear their stories and ask questions!

TAKEAWAYS:
Preservice teachers can be better prepared to student teach and begin their first jobs by hearing stories from and asking questions of preservice and new teachers who have just experienced interning or their first year.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Governor, Rebekkah O'Beollain, Mutiara Syifa, Lizz Holtz, Tasha Thomas, Konrad Peterson, Kenneth Herrenbruck, SOPHIA JEONG, Erika Reeves, Kimberly Staples

This interactive session will share the results of prior and current research projects investigating the effects of Universally Designed for Learning engineering design challenges on the engineering practices (Habits of Mind) of elementary age students with extensive support needs. Participants will participate in design challenges with embedded research and evidence based practices and tools to support all learners. This presentation will also share research findings on special education teacher knowledge/skills, dispositions, and 'noticing' important to support the engineering practices for ALL students.

SPEAKERS:
Bree Jimenez, Ginevra Courtade

Applying design thinking, students, educators, and community members collaborate to solve issues facing our community.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Encourage your students to engage in community partnerships to promote student learning; 2. Provide strategies to increase scientific literacy through socio-scientific issues; and 3. Facilitate an inclusive culture through student agency.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Joslyn

In this session participants will learn about best practices as they relate to cybersecurity and education. Our team manages one of three districts for a $17 million initiative from the state of Florida to expand the cybersecurity workforce and increase awareness.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session covers how professionals across Florida are preparing the next generation of frontline digital defenders and how teachers can integrate these lessons into their classrooms. Attendees will learn about how cybersecurity is changing the world that we live in.

SPEAKERS:
David Rosengrant

A qualitative phenomenological study investigated high school science teachers who planned and taught lessons that integrated NGSS engineering design practices. Analysis of the data revealed best practices for instruction, assessment, and professional development.

TAKEAWAYS:
The teachers in this study used different ways to teach engineering design, but they all saw engineering as a process of improvement, overcame problems, and grew professionally as they planned and taught engineering lessons with a student-centered pedagogy.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Stasi

SESD Informational and Journal with JT Taylor, SESD President

Discover how an interdisciplinary team helped pre-service STEM teachers develop their confidence and competence in working with data and teaching data literacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain an understanding of our four-session approach to integrating data literacy, real world data, and subject matter experts into a semester-long pre-service course to build confidence and competence in working and teaching with data.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson, Melissa Zrada, Michael Jabot

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Model the molecular mechanism of CRISPR Cas9 with Making the Cut kit. Also explore how Cas9 is engineered as a more powerful genome editing tool.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Why do dogs look so different from one another? We'll use HHMI BioInteractive resources to analyze data about phenotypic changes in dog breeds.

SPEAKERS:
James Clark, Cinthya Fernandez

Misinformation has reached epidemic proportions. Thankfully, science has found a solution, inoculation theory, which applies the logic of vaccines to misinformation. This presentation focuses on active inoculation, in which students learn the techniques used to mislead by creating misinformation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use active inoculation to protect their students from misinformation, such as designing an advertisement for a health pseudoscience product and creating conspiracy theories. Creating misinformation is a fun and effective way to learn the techniques used to mislead.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King

Want your students to code but new yourself? This session introduces ‘swirl’ (OER lessons using the R programming language) to encourage quantitative skill adoption in Biology classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will discuss how to find, use, and create customizable lessons for your classroom that are biology-standards-aligned and encourage coding skills (without you needing to be an expert!)

SPEAKERS:
Emily Weigel

What does the research say about effective science teaching? Learn how to build a strong pedagogical foundation while integrating science across the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
An overview of research-based practices in teaching science for the beginner and resources for research-based instructional practices.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Robertson, Donna Governor, Dominick Fantacone, Kimberly Staples, Lorraine Ramirez Villarin

Students with disabilities often need additional supports to access learning opportunities. We will discuss scaffolds that can be implemented during 3 core instructional activities:

• Read Alouds: We will discuss scaffolds that foster student verbalization opportunities and understanding of key science vocabulary during teacher read alouds of science-based texts.
• Collaborative Investigations: We will discuss scaffolds that foster student verbalization opportunities, including scientific argumentation, and effective use of physical and simulated models during science investigations.
• Communicating Findings: We will discuss scaffolds that support students in using writing to communicate their understanding of science

SPEAKERS:
Maria Longhi, Christian Doabler, Bill Therrien

This session will feature voices of students with disabilities as they work to read science words and language. Strategies supporting literacy development for all students will be highlighted.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Kooman

School campuses and gardens provide inspiring opportunities for supporting science learning. Scientific sensemaking in the students' local school environment includes (1) access to explicit and authentic scientific phenomena, (2) meaningful integration of 3D learning (disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts) and the 5E learning cycle, and (3) multimodal classroom discourse focusing on engaging all students. Students revise and refine their scientific understanding over time in outdoor classrooms, while also enhancing reading, writing, and communication skills. Outdoor classrooms are shared spaces where individuals and communities interact and interact. We will share how preservice elementary teachers were trained to create and implement in-person and virtual elementary science lessons and reflect on how these lessons impacted preservice teachers, as well as school teachers, students, and communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to train preservice teacher candidates to use outdoor learning environments to teach 3D/5E elementary science lessons that integrate standards, as well as in person and virtual learning platforms.

SPEAKERS:
Camryn Lochner, Tess Mitchner Asinjo, Hannah Salaiz, Michelle Fleming

This presentation explores a general-education science class designed to teach critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills. Focusing on science’s process over its findings can empower students to evaluate claims and make wiser decisions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to teach the skills of critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy by providing their students with a structured toolkit to evaluate claims (FLOATER), including pseudoscience in their classroom, and having their students create misinformation.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Join us as we use HHMI BioInteractive resources to help students develop models of the evolutionary relationship between natural selection and human skin color.

SPEAKERS:
Deanna Digitale-Grider, Alexis Black

Wrap-Up & SESD Annual Update

Pre-service teachers! Participate in this session to learn how NSTA Resources can provide the skills and knowledge needed to apply for and be successful in any teaching opportunity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Pre-service teachers will get a thorough overview of all the resources and materials available in our NSTA Library and professional development opportunities to strengthen their resume and build confidence when seeking teaching positions.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez, Angela Webb, Jacob Hayward

This presentation explores how to use the FLOATER toolkit (Falsifiability, Logic, Objectivity, Alternative explanations, Tentative conclusions, Evidence, Replicability) to teach students how to evaluate claims. FLOATER is featured in the Checkology® lesson “Evaluating Science-Based Claims.”

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use the FLOATER toolkit.FLOATER summarizes many of science’s essential characteristics, so it could form a useful foundation for science courses. Using it to evaluate pseudoscience helps students learn the characteristics of good science.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King