Engaging students in phenomenon-based 3D science learning is challenging; when students are absent, it can feel impossible. In this session, participants will take away strategies for supporting absent students in staying engaged in learning when they miss classroom instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away strategies for supporting absent students in staying engaged in learning when they miss classroom instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney

You have a coherent phenomenon-based learning plan for your students, and midway through, you get sick or jury duty - now what?!? This session will highlight approaches to substitute plans that are flexible, easy to implement, and support student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
When students are tasked with sensemaking and figuring out day in and day out, it is easier to have that happen without the teacher present. Utilizing a quality curriculum that supports student coherence and phenomenon-based learning is the best tool to make that a reality.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney

Grading that supports student sensemaking doesn't have to keep you at school all night. Learn approaches to grading that prioritize 3D sensemaking and utilize technology, collaboration, and existing resources so you have can your evenings back.

TAKEAWAYS:
The process of giving feedback and assigning grades is easier when there are strong materials and assessments to build from and technology can help make it faster without decreasing effectiveness for students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney

Thinking about shifting to phenomenon-based science teaching—but not sure where to start or how to sustain it? This session is for you. We’ll explore what makes this approach so powerful for student sensemaking, while also naming the real challenges teachers face in making the shift—like facilitating discussions, sparking curiosity, supporting modeling, and rethinking assessment. You'll get a look at a free, growing library of short, on-demand video resources designed to support these transitions. Whether you're exploring new practices or looking for concrete tools and planning strategies, you’ll leave with practical ideas and access to high-quality, open instructional materials that can support your journey.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon-based instruction is powerful—but challenging. Explore free, on-demand resources and curriculum tools designed to help you take the next step with confidence.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Affolter

Teaching OpenSciEd brings exciting shifts—and some real challenges. This session introduces a growing library of short, on-demand resources designed to support teachers as they make those shifts. Whether you're just getting started or deep into implementation, these videos and tools offer actionable guidance on everything from launching a Driving Question Board to navigating student-led discussions. You'll hear how they’re being used in PLCs, coaching cycles, and planning time, explore examples tied to real teacher questions, and help shape what gets built next by sharing your own ideas and needs. Come explore, reflect, and contribute to building a resource that’s truly teacher-powered.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover bite-sized, teacher-driven videos designed to support real OpenSciEd challenges—ready to use when and how you need them.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Affolter

Interest and identity are key for supporting meaningful science learning for students (NRC, 2012), yet traditional secondary science assessments do not invite students to bring their sensemaking repertoires and interests to assessment tasks. Participants will examine features of meaningful, phenomenon-driven assessments. Teachers will adapt a community survey tool designed by the 5D Assessment Project, a collaboration between BSCS Science Learning and Inquiry Hub, to elicit information about their students’ interests and identities. Teachers will learn about an approach to customizing (or designing from scratch) assessments to better engage their students interests and science-linked identities as knowers, doers, and users of science. Teachers will explore adaptations developed by Minnesota teachers to meet the needs of their students. This session is open to all science teachers, but may be most appropriate for secondary teachers

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will adapt tools to elicit and use information about their students to customize meaningful, phenomenon-driven assessment opportunities to better engage their students’ interests and science linked identities.

SPEAKERS:
Abraham Lo

In this interactive session, OpenSciEd is proud to introduce eleven new assessment tasks (OATs)—designed to bring the science of agriculture and nutrition into high school classrooms. Rooted in real-world phenomena, these tasks were developed with the National Dairy Council and expert teachers. Each OAT is a "transfer task" that helps students apply what they’ve learned in an OpenSciEd unit to agricultural contexts, supporting deeper sensemaking and understanding of how science and engineering shape food systems. Aligned with OpenSciEd’s commitment to Framework-based standards like the NGSS, the tasks provide high-quality examples of how teachers can customize units to reinforce the curriculum’s student-centered approach.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, teachers will explore how the new OpenSciEd Agriculture Tasks (OATs) support 3D sensemaking and how the development process, which includes identifying unit gaps, student interests, and community connections, can guide thoughtful curriculum customization.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Van Horne, Calvin Atkins

In this session, teachers will learn about a research-driven approach to assessment customization that supports teachers in using information about their students and 3D standards to brainstorm alternative phenomena contexts to elicit students’ use of disciplinary core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts to make sense of phenomena and problems that matter to them. This approach was designed and tested by the 5D Assessment Project, a collaboration between BSCS Science Learning and Inquiry Hub. Teachers will work in content area groups to analyze an existing high-quality assessment and consider ways to customize it to better engage their students’ interests and identities as knowers, doers, and users of science. Lessons learned from this work can be applied to elementary, middle, and high school teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with strategies for identifying alternative phenomena contexts to frame phenomena-driven assessment opportunities that engage their students interests and science-linked identities.

SPEAKERS:
Abraham Lo