Navigate your first National NSTA Conference with ease! Join our session for an orientation to the conference, tips on selecting sessions, and an opportunity to meet other first-time attendees. We will share a few insider tips from experienced conference attendees and give an overview of the conference app. This session will help you discover why you belong at NSTA and how to make the most of your experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to get the most out of your conference experience in addition to becoming an engaged learner.

Join us for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA ANA26! We’ll keep it casual—enjoy beverages and small bites while networking with old and new friends. The event is complimentary and open to all registered conference attendees.

Navigate your first National NSTA Conference with ease! Join our session for an orientation to the conference, tips on selecting sessions, and an opportunity to meet other first-time attendees. We will share a few insider tips from experienced conference attendees and give an overview of the conference app. This session will help you discover why you belong at NSTA and how to make the most of your experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to get the most out of your conference experience in addition to becoming an engaged learner.

The proliferation of special education frameworks and expectations for general education science and math teachers, whether in the form of inclusion, documentation, behavioral and classroom management expectations, curriculum design, accommodations, etc., has resulted in a whole new world of challenges for teachers without special education training, often accompanied by vague and potentially misleading ‘guidance’ from education professionals who are not themselves SPED and/or science and math teachers. *SPEDagogy provides an approach to support science and math teachers by using the foundations and practices in special education to provide ways to differentiate instruction and assessment as well as assist social emotional learning in gen. ed. classrooms. This session will highlight the interplay of supporting learners and teachers by presenting an overview of adaptations and accommodations to highlight special education’s “how” with science content and applied activities’ “what”.

TAKEAWAYS:
We'll provide you with tools and tips for planning, teaching, and assessment, as well as classroom management in the age of inclusion, while maintaining intellectual rigor and behavioral expectations.

SPEAKERS:
Deborah Bruns, Travis Clayton

This poster showcases a two-lab sequence (a candy DNA model followed by a card-based protein synthesis activity) connected by an explicit bridge activity that transforms two standalone labs into a coherent learning arc. Students build a physical DNA model, use it to generate an mRNA transcript, and decode that transcript into a protein, carrying the same sequence through all three steps. A Teacher Lens reflection asks pre-service teachers to explain the DNA-to-protein process to a 4th grader, building pedagogical content knowledge alongside science content. Materials cost under $3 per group. Attendees will be given access to the full lab sequence, bridge activity, lab report, and a framework for designing conceptual bridges between two related activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
A low-cost, two-lab DNA-to-protein sequence with a built-in conceptual bridge activity that eliminates the "why did we build the candy thing?" problem and a Teacher Lens reflection that builds pre-service teachers' capacity to explain molecular biology to children.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Hasenmyer

Throughout the program curriculum, Environmental Studies majors are involved in an experiential learning community at the Manchester University Campus Learning Garden. The goal of integrating project-based learning into courses across the curriculum is to provide students with the capability to apply their knowledge and skills to serving the Manchester University community and improve student competencies in both hard and soft skills through research-based practical applications. In Fall 2025, introductory-level students collaborated to generate hypotheses, develop and conduct basic experiments, and interpret results. In Spring 2026, students in Invertebrate Zoology worked together to build a butterfly garden from project development through completion. Plans for future academic years include developing additional project-based experiences into program courses so that students are involved with experiential learning at the Campus Garden throughout their academic careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrating project-based learning at the Campus Garden into courses across the Environmental Studies curriculum encourages students to apply their knowledge and skills to serving the Manchester University community and improve their academic competencies through research-based applications.

SPEAKERS:
Sabrina Brown

This session demonstrates how science methods instructors can leverage an "AI Portfolio" to bridge the gap between AI as a convenience and AI as a cognitive catalyst for pre-service teachers (PSTs). By guiding PSTs through a structured cycle of "Quick Writes" and "AI Interaction Evidence," instructors can challenge students to evaluate the quality of AI-generated outputs against established content and pedagogical knowledge. This process pushes PSTs to go beyond passive consumption, requiring them to generate new knowledge by synthesizing AI suggestions with their own emerging expertise and creativity. Attendees will see how this framework builds essential skills in critical decision-making, as students must explicitly justify why they keep or reject specific AI outputs. Ultimately, this session provides a roadmap for methods instructors to help PSTs refine their professional judgment and develop the durable skills needed to use AI as a sophisticated thought partner in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
A digital checklist and set of reflection guiding questions that can be immediately integrated into university science methods courses to facilitate responsible AI use.

SPEAKERS:
William Thornburgh

This research was intended to evaluate the effectiveness of a designing and facilitating hands-on activities for K-12 students in engaging undergraduate  students to develop a deeper understanding of course learning objectives. Students in various undergraduate biology courses (BIOL-104, 202, 204, 422) participated in a once-a-semester community outreach day at the North Manchester Public Library. Prior to this event, MU students designed a 5-10-minute hands-on activity, translating their didactic material from the classroom into a level that was accessible to the general public. At the event, the MU students facilitated their activities for upwards of 45 local K-12 home school students. Following completion of their outreach project, students in this study were be given a follow-up survey to evaluate their perspectives on whether the task of conveying their didactic material to the public enhanced their understanding of course learning objectives.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will evaluate the effectiveness of a designing and facilitating hands-on activities for K-12 students in engaging undergraduate students to develop a deeper understanding of course learning objectives.

SPEAKERS:
Cassandra Gohn

What if one prompt, added to the end of every lecture, lab, and assignment, could deepen student sensemaking, surface misconceptions before the exam, and build professional identity, all without additional prep or grading? The Teacher Lens does exactly that. Embedded throughout a college biology course for pre-service elementary educators, the prompt asks students to explain each concept to a child in their future classroom. The consistency is the mechanism: students begin to anticipate it and do the cognitive work during instruction rather than only at the end. This session shares three concrete examples showing how the same prompt surfaces different depths of understanding across biology topics, plus one formative use that requires no collecting or grading.

TAKEAWAYS:
A single reusable prompt: "How would you explain this to a student in your future classroom?" that deepens sensemaking, reveals misconceptions, and builds pedagogical thinking across any science course or grade band. Zero new prep required.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Hasenmyer

What if you could build a fully interactive, standards-aligned science skill practice page in under five minutes, no coding required? In this speed session, participants will watch a working web tool built live using Claude's Design and Code feature, starting from a plain-language prompt and ending with a browser-ready page that students can use the same day. The prompt structure demonstrated supports educators in designing a single web page that engages students in developing skills from NGSS Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts into any science scenario. Attendees leave with a reusable prompt template card, three grade-band-specific example prompts, and a QR-linked resource page to share with their department. Let's create a simple skill-building scenario, ready before the next bell.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical, repeatable methods for turning science skills into an interactive, single-page web experience using AI, enabling faster creation of meaningful, skill-based learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Huber

University instructors using NSTA resources, designed for 3-dimensional teaching and learning, in lieu of a textbook (or as a supplement to a textbook) have students who create a library of resources, grow their professional network, and enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge. Instructors get a class landing page to manage their course, a private forum for asynchronous discussions, and an instructor's dashboard to monitor their students' work on the NSTA website. All instructors receive a free NSTA membership, and their students become NSTA members for a year or through graduation. In this session, various instructors share how they integrate NSTA resources in their courses. Come and listen to their stories and ask questions. Find out the benefits of this program so you too begin using NSTA resources with your preservice teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants meet & ask questions of instructors who are using NSTA resources, webinars, & tools in courses for preservice teachers. Participants will learn how to integrate NSTA resources in their courses. They will also learn about the benefits of the program and how it can be easily implemented.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews, Flavio Mendez

Generative AI makes it easier for students to produce polished science responses without necessarily showing deep understanding. This session presents a research-informed approach for using conceptual modeling to make student thinking visible by revealing how learners represent components, relationships, processes, and change. Drawing on empirical work with undergraduate engineering students and broader research on systems thinking and modeling, the session shows how conceptual representations can expose gaps that fluent written answers may hide. Rather than using AI mainly to generate content, the session explores how AI-informed prompts can support questioning, reflection, revision, and formative assessment. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for prompts, feedback, and assessment that can be adapted for science settings in secondary, postsecondary, and teacher education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how conceptual modeling and AI-informed prompts can help reveal and support real student understanding, not just polished AI-assisted answers.

SPEAKERS:
Roee Peretz

This project focused on work with the Ozobot Evo robot, which is programmable through block-coding and color-coding. During the summer of 2025, teachers participated in three, 6-hour sessions to learn how to integrate Evo into their classroom activities. Training activities included work with learning programming structures and how to use Evo in the block-coding and color-coding (with markers and magnetic tiles) formats. Each teacher self-evaluated knowledge and skills, before and after the 3-day workshop. Nine teachers provided paired survey data for a self-efficacy scale and responded to open-ended questions. The goal was to provide high-quality, teacher professional development to increase knowledge and instructional skills for integrating robotics into the elementary, middle, and secondary grades classroom. Results showed a significant improvement in programming self-efficacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this initial project, results showed a significant increase in computer programming self-efficacy and significant increases in all five sub-scale scores. In a follow-up session, teachers provided qualitative data regarding use and modifications for the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Lynberg, Deborah McAllister

The tech tool is designed to help preservice science teachers (PSTs) practice STP 1.1: Selecting or sequencing age-appropriate, grade-level instructional goals or big ideas for a topic that explicitly involve developing, using, and revising models for MS‑PS2‑5 PSTs play the role of a new teacher planning a 3–4 lesson sequence. They first interpret MS‑PS2‑5 and choose among alternative big‑idea framings, revealing whether they see the PE as primarily about “doing a lab” or about using evidence to support and refine a model of fields. Next, they select from competing lesson goals: some low‑level (recall, definitions, confirmatory labs) and some 3D (students develop, use, and revise field models to design, interpret, and critique investigations). Each choice triggers feedback and classroom vignettes that make the consequences of their selections visible. Finally, PSTs sequence their chosen goals and see outcomes that highlight coherent vs. fragmented modeling progressions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Preservice science teachers (PSTs) practice STP 1.1 for MS‑PS2‑5 by choosing and sequencing lesson goals that move beyond recall toward 3D learning, in which students develop, use, and revise models of fields to design, interpret, and critique investigations of non‑contact forces.

SPEAKERS:
Jaclyn Murray

This poster describes a field-based biochemistry laboratory designed to integrate scientific inquiry with Ignatian pedagogy and the mission of Jesuit higher education. Implemented in an undergraduate biochemistry course, the multiweek experience engaged students in environmental sampling, water quality assessment, biodiversity observations, community cleanup, and proteomics-based laboratory analysis. Guided by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and the Universal Apostolic Preferences, students connected biochemical concepts to ecological stewardship, environmental justice, and ethical discernment. Assessment through student reflections, surveys, discussions, and instructor observations suggests increased engagement, systems thinking, and awareness of the relationship between scientific knowledge and care for our common home. The project provides a replicable model for integrating experiential learning, service, and student formation within STEM education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Field-based biochemistry laboratories can integrate scientific rigor, Ignatian pedagogy, and ecological stewardship, helping students connect molecular science to environmental responsibility, ethical discernment, and care for our common home.

SPEAKERS:
Corey Damon

Distinguishing observation from inference is a persistent conceptual barrier for preservice elementary teachers, hindering their capacity to teach science as inquiry. This poster explores a study that engaged preservice teachers in creating initial models of novel phenomena (e.g., a marshmallow in a vacuum, a chemical reaction, and a moving toy train). Using a two-part modeling tool, 23 participants documented observations and represented inferences through writing and drawing. The poster will visually display findings revealing a distinct rhetorical shift. Observations rely on definitive language and sequential visual narratives, while inferences employ tentative language and symbolic visual arguments to explain unseen mechanisms. Attendees will view qualitative examples from student artifacts to see these differences firsthand.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a practical modeling tool to help preservice teachers distinguish observation from inference. The poster provides a framework to analyze how drawn and written models reveal the shift from describing the visible to explaining unseen mechanisms.

SPEAKERS:
Jaclyn Murray, Alex St. Louis, Kelly Feille

This poster shares the design of an Introduction to Engineering course for preservice elementary teachers that helps future educators connect engineering design with science teaching. The course combines hands-on investigations, science and mathematics connections, computational thinking, lesson planning, and field-based teaching with elementary students. Examples include wind tubes, circuits, electromagnets, Makey Makey projects, micro:bit investigations, and machine learning recycling tasks. The poster highlights how preservice teachers move from doing activities to planning lessons that include problem scoping, criteria and constraints, testing, data collection, iteration, reflection, and student explanation. Attendees will see a course structure, sample projects, and practical ideas for preparing future teachers to teach science through engineering design with confidence.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how a preservice teacher education course uses field-based components, school partnerships, lesson planning, and hands-on engineering investigations to prepare future elementary teachers to teach science through engineering design.

SPEAKERS:
John Somers

Do you teach preservice teachers? Learn how NSTA's resources, webinars, and online community can help students become the BEST teachers they can be. Instructors using NSTA in lieu of a textbook (or as a supplement to a textbook) have students who create a library of resources, grow their professional network, and enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge. Instructors get a class landing page to manage their course, a private forum for asynchronous discussions, and an instructor's dashboard to monitor students' work. All instructors receive a free digital professional membership, and their students become NSTA members for a year or through graduation, depending on the price point selected by the instructor. Resources include all NSTA-member resources, like lesson plans (sensemaking tasks) and journal articles, and “add-on” resources, such as Interactive E-Books+ Professional and Professional Learning Units (teaching strategies that enrich students’ learning). Bring your computer.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants walk away ready to implement a program through which they “adopt” NSTA as their textbook for a course, allowing their preservice teachers to access a variety of high-quality professional learning resources, including some resources that are not part of NSTA’s regular student membership.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews, Flavio Mendez

How can higher education faculty prepare preservice teachers for a data-rich, AI-driven future? This hands-on, future-focused session shares practical strategies for integrating interactive notebooks, artificial intelligence, and data science into elementary science methods courses. Participants will explore sample K–6 notebook activities that engage students in collecting, organizing, and interpreting data, while modeling effective instructional practices. Faculty will also experiment with AI tools to support instructional planning and reduce workload. Through guided discussion, attendees will consider how to adapt these approaches within their own courses to better prepare preservice educators for today’s classrooms. Leave with ready-to-use ideas that connect pedagogy, technology, and real-world application.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies to integrate interactive notebooks, AI tools, and data science into preservice science courses to better prepare future teachers for engaging, data-informed K–6 instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Sumreen Asim

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) programs provide educators opportunities to participate in science research and connect it to their classroom practice. While positioned as a valuable form of professional learning, participation and experiences within these programs may be influenced by a range of personal, professional, and sociocultural factors. This collaborative discussion will be centered on how teachers experience RET programs and what factors shape access and participation such as motivation, identity and belonging in science learning contexts, and institutional support and structures that may unintentionally support or limit participation. This session is intended for K-12 educators, teacher educators, and RET facilitators interested in equitable and inclusive professional learning opportunities. Participants will leave with discussion-based insights for expanding participation and supporting diverse teacher experiences within RET programs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain shared insights from educators, researchers, and program facilitators about the opportunities and challenges associated with RET participation and will leave with actionable ideas for creating more inclusive and supportive RET experiences for teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Morrison

I prepare future secondary science teachers in a state that did not adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, but I have teacher candidates who come from states that have adopted NGSS and may plan to return to teach in states where NGSS is used. In this session, I plan to address how I mix both NGSS and state learning standards to develop fluency in the three dimensions of NGSS while preparing teacher candidates to teach in a state that has different learning standards. Discussion following my presentation will center around strategies and tips to prepare future science teachers to navigate a variety of learning standards in order to teach secondary-level students effectively.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees of this session will walk away with ideas on how to prepare future science teachers who can be flexible in their teaching and can provide a quality education along the three dimensions of NGSS even when NGSS is not directly adopted.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Bindis

Discover how preservice teachers at Indiana University Indianapolis are transforming elementary science education through culturally responsive, inquiry-based lesson design that integrates 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and community data. This session highlights a capstone project where future educators co-create lessons with students, connect science standards to lived experiences, and use technology tools to build hands-on investigations and models. Participants will explore practical strategies for leveraging AI and 3D printing to personalize learning, foster equity, and deepen conceptual understanding. The session also shares plans to integrate ePortfolios and career competencies, empowering teachers to curate evidence of growth, communicate impact, and prepare for dynamic STEM careers. Join us for actionable ideas, innovative practices, and inspiration to advance career-connected science teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for integrating AI, 3D printing, and culturally responsive pedagogy to design equitable, inquiry-based science lessons and learn how ePortfolios and career competencies can prepare students for future-ready STEM careers.

SPEAKERS:
Brittany Garvin

This roundtable discussion will use a collaborative approach to develop tips for facilitating teamwork in college classrooms. I have taught using a team-based approach in and out of the classroom, including asynchronous courses, with enrollments ranging from 15 to 180 students. Despite years of experience, I continue to learn more tips whenever I have conversations with my colleagues. Therefore, I am facilitating a round table discussion to promote these conversations with guided questions, such as “What are your ideas and/or experience in assigning roles to students who work in teams?” This conversation will be open to any attendees who teach or are interested in teaching in a college classroom, regardless of their experience implementing teamwork.

TAKEAWAYS:
Collaborate in small groups to discuss and develop tips on facilitating student teamwork in the college classroom, regardless of enrollment size or the level of experience, if any, implementing teamwork.

SPEAKERS:
Andrea Bierema