The Question Formulation Technique (QFT), created by the Right Question Institute, will be explored in a hands-on, multidisciplinary, teacher-to-teacher training session exploring “How can we work together on creating more opportunities for all students to ask their own questions?”

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will give educators a proven and novel instructional strategy, and teachers who participate in the session will understand the mechanics of the QFT strategy, have experience practicing the QFT strategy, and obtain concrete examples of how to use the QFT strategy in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Katy Connolly, Maureen McGrail

Have you ever been to an escape room? Want to turn your classroom into the same experience and not just have kids open envelopes? This session will show you an escape room designed for the Physics classroom and tools to help build your own on a concept of your choosing in any Science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will help you see the actual thought behind the puzzle making for a meaningful escape room and how it transforms the learning and engagement of students when you bring the room to life. This style of assessment has proved to have the best engagement of any strategy we have used.

SPEAKERS:
Gregory Brown

This workshop will focus on describing methods that physics teachers can use to develop instructional units leveraging students' cultural resources as a way to engage with physics ideas. We will go through the process of developing these units and designing assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
The takeaway from this workshop is that physics teachers will gain a reference and a clear outline of steps for developing instructional units. These units will be especially useful for students from backgrounds where physics is not typically emphasized.

SPEAKERS:
Clausell Mathis

Bound lab notebooks are excellent records of student growth and their journey in learning the scientific method. But they tend to be difficult to implement in the lab itself, and horrible to grade. We will share our story of how we use (and effectively grade!) lab notebooks in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with proven strategies that reduce the heavy burden of a robust lab program. Participants will gain access to resources to a large collection of physics labs (and rubrics!) that are easy to set up, engaging to students, and easy to grade.

SPEAKERS:
Oather Strawderman, John Pinizzotto

Experience how discussion diamonds can help support students’ argumentation skills and Claim Evidence Reasoning writing through peer discourse. This workshop will introduce the discussion diamond protocol and allow participants to engage in the activity from the students’ perspective.

TAKEAWAYS:
The discussion diamond protocol is a versatile tool that can be adapted for students of varying skill levels and across any subject. It provides a supportive environment for students to engage in discourse and develop their argumentation skills.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Ciccarello

This session will focus on using multiple types of representations to foster a deeper understanding of physics concepts. More than just math, using graphs, charts, pictures, and more gives students many opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and dive deeper into content.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with engaging classroom strategies that can be used to deepen students' understanding of physics content. In addition to teacher-made classroom resources, teachers will gain the tools to develop their own materials that they can adapt to their own unique needs.

SPEAKERS:
Oather Strawderman, John Pinizzotto

Produce a public release image of a supernova remnant using NASA X-ray data both by hand and with Js9 web-based imaging software with this STEAM activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Scientists learn about astronomical objects from the light they produce. Colors in images are based on data from this light and are used to highlight different features.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Perry

Learn how one educator used project based learning to create a year long NGSS aligned engaging physics curriculum organized around four projects. Learn about the basics of PBL and how to implement PBL in the physics classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with ready to use PBL Physics units as well as have time to modify those units to make them their own.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Plowman

Using phenomena to teach Wave Particle Duality (WPD) helps students understand this crazy property of light that is critical for understanding how technology works. By sequencing several activities appropriately, students can understand that light is both a particle and a wave. Mystery solved.

TAKEAWAYS:
Clarification of how light has dual properties; sequencing of phenomena, and activities help guide students to a deeper understanding. Teachers will have instructional resources to teach WPD.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Matsler

The various metals and alloys used in the minting of the US penny over the years will provide for rich explorations. We will share activities that combine some very basic lab activities conducted by some of our chemistry classes with detailed mathematical modeling done by the students in statistics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will collect and use real data to develop mathematical models and learn how to test our hypothesis by performing an experiment and analyzing the results, combining chemical analysis with statistical sampling for a cross-curricular approach.

SPEAKERS:
Karlheinz Haas

This goal of this session is to give teachers the tools they need to adjust to the addition of Fluids to the AP Physics 1 curriculum. During this session, we will reinforce content understanding, and provide classroom-ready resources such as instructional materials, labs, and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will walk away with alleviated anxiety about the addition of a new unit to AP Physics 1, and perhaps even excitement! Participants will leave with a stronger understanding of fluids concepts, labs, problems, modeling activities, as well as finding a new group of collaborative friends!

SPEAKERS:
Oather Strawderman, John Pinizzotto

How do you teach logical writing? What structures do you use to support students who just “don’t get it” when constructing explanations? We’ll share our philosophy, graphic organizer, sample tasks, student work, manipulatives, connections to CCC’s, and a gradual release model that builds student pro

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave our session with a model of how to support struggling learners with constructing explanations for SEP6. This includes a graphic organizer that can be adapted for any topic area as well as a gradual release model of how we walk our students up to proficiency in constructing explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Andy Fitz, Josh Bozeday, Kristy Wrona

This session will provide demos, activities, and advice on how to teach Physics based on NGSS to students at all levels in a secondary setting. New or perhaps new to the subject teachers will leave the session energized and ready to implement new ideas in their classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be involved in an interactive discussion and conduct various demos and activities aligned with NGSS. They will also learn how to adapt Three Dimensional Learning and phenomena to activities presented.

SPEAKERS:
Misty Heredia

Embrace a competency-based approach to any Advanced Placement science course by focusing on the practices without sacrificing content or pace. The strengths-based, feedback-oriented assessment approach supports student success on the AP exam, transitioning from a traditional grading to the LPM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Create learning progressions based on the SEPs and adjust the target levels to provide enough time for students to grow to AP expectations. Attendees will leave knowing how they can implement this consistent, reliable method immediately in their classrooms even in a traditional grades school.

SPEAKERS:
Elise Naramore

Good problem-solving in physics is more than algebraic manipulation. Students can learn and you can assess problem-solving through multiple avenues, including graphs, representations, and more.

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

Wanna go fast? Really fast? Maglev trains have superior acceleration, lower maintenance, and provide a smooth ride but there are also some challenges. Designing a model allows students to learn about magnetic fields, superconductors which provides a means to connect to the exciting world of quantum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Real world applications for quantum information science and engineering STEM project appropriate for the classroom Content on maglev, magnetic fields, superconductors, levitation

SPEAKERS:
Karen Matsler