Don’t miss this exciting event showcasing science and STEM-based programs, organizations, mobile labs, and local Minneapolis attractions! Explore a variety of displays, connect with showcase presenters, enjoy tasty bites, and take advantage of ample networking opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about science and STEM-based programs, organizations, mobile labs, and local Minneapolis attractions.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Eaton

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.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Alicia Conerly

Join us for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA MINN25! 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.

Fuel up for a great day of learning and connection! All attendees are welcome to enjoy a complimentary Grab & Go Breakfast on Thursday and Friday mornings, from 6:45 to 8:00 AM (location TBD). Offerings will include gluten-free and vegan-friendly options.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Eaton

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews, Kristen Moorhead

Literacy in science and technical subjects (LST) is increasingly important to develop in our society. Yet, as students learn science they are often just presented with basic vocabulary strategies that do not get to the heart of the literacy standards. By using Common Core, LST 3 and combining with a visual and creative response as listed in LST 4, all students have the opportunity to develop meaningful literacy connections needed to understand text and develop their own writing. In this interactive session, specific strategies for attendees include participating in a concept mapping routine used in a Biology class. Participants will use both student and teacher lenses to review a concept map template, examine student work in a gallery walk and assess using a one-point rubric as they develop an understanding of how and why to implement this framework. The session structure will also provide time to collaborate with other educators to adapt instructional strategies to their own practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this interactive session, educators will use vocabulary, concept mapping, student work, and revision practices to develop their own literacy instruction. Resources will be provided to aid in implementation for students to make deep and equitable connections to science content.

SPEAKERS:
Alexander Dafforn, Kirby Selle

In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore a fun and easy way to teach science using everyday materials, such as straws and cotton swabs. Through playful blow dart activities, students explore how the strength of a push and the time it is applied affect how things move, offering a simple entry point into motion. This lesson is based on the Hypothesis-Experiment Class (HEC), a student-centered approach from Japan. Students make predictions, share ideas, try experiments, and reflect on their findings. Examples from Japanese classrooms show this method helps build curiosity, confidence, and critical thinking in science. A small trial in Kenya also showed positive engagement. The workshop supports NGSS and STEM goals by promoting Science and engineering practices, such as asking questions, making predictions, investigating, and communicating results. Using low-cost, everyday materials makes science more accessible, promoting equity in STEM learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the Hypothesis-Experiment Class (HEC) approach with simple materials to create NGSS-aligned, inquiry-based science lessons that support prediction, experimentation, and communication, making science more accessible and engaging for all students.

SPEAKERS:
Mariko Kobayashi, Haruhiko Funahashi, Tomoko HASEGAWA, Koji Tsukamoto, Momoko Sanada, Kumiko Matsudaira

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for Elementary and discover how the new Carolina Certified Version enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, and safer for classroom use. Participants will walk away with valuable resources to take back to the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Come learn a set of activities that engage students in real-world agricultural problems. Participants will explore challenges like food shortages, climate change and crop sustainability, while using strategies like selective breeding, GMOs, and innovations to develop potential solutions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session emphasizes the importance of understanding modern agriculture, providing educators with resources to engage students in discussions about sustainable practices and genetic technologies. Participants will leave with activities about selective breeding, GMOs, and the development of short corn.

SPEAKERS:
JESSICA JONES, Megan Sprague

Discover practical strategies for integrating data analysis and graphing into science instruction. This interactive workshop guides participants through hands-on activities involving data collection, linear modeling, and prediction using lines of best fit. Learn how to help students interpret graphs as scientific tools, explore the correlation coefficient to evaluate model strength, and use the Desmos Graphing Calculator for dynamic visualization. Leave with classroom-ready resources aligned to NGSS and math standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to help students use data, linear models, and correlation to make scientific predictions, supported by tools like the Desmos Graphing Calculator, and leave with ready-to-use strategies for integrating graphing meaningfully into NGSS-aligned science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Stirling

This hands-on, immersive experience is designed to help teachers deepen their understanding of an effective, 5-step instructional routine for developing student’s proficiency with the Science and Engineering Practice of Developing and Using Models. Educators will experience a OpenSciEd Middle School lesson that includes observing a phenomenon, using models to make sense of the phenomenon they observed, collaborating with a small group using intentional discourse structures and strategies, which showcases how to engage students in equitable discussions. A digital resource collection of all resources used will be provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will gain an understanding of an effective, 5-step instructional, collaborative routine for developing student’s proficiency with the Science and Engineering Practice of Developing and Using models and discover how it supports sensemaking and phenomena-based instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli

Support your students in demonstrating their three dimensional learning! Many high-quality curricula use transfer tasks, phenomenon-based assessments where students demonstrate their three dimensional understanding while exploring novel phenomena. In this session, educators will be introduced to the research that led to this kind of assessment and how these assessments are designed. They will work through an example of a transfer task, analyzing the alignment to the three dimensions of the NGSS. Then, they will work through an activity structure that apprentices students into this new assessment practice, by breaking it down into smaller pieces, discussing in small groups, and participating in peer review. Finally, they will review scoring and feedback guidance to support student learning. Educators will leave knowing how and why to use transfer tasks in their own classrooms.

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

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson

NSTA’s High School Haven is a dedicated learning and connecting space for high school educators. Explore discipline-specific sessions, relax in our community space outfitted with cell phone charging stations and refuel with daily afternoon snacks.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Eaton

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Learn to promote interest and engagement while helping students achieve specific learning objectives with games. Join us as you learn simple and valuable ways to gamify your lessons. We will be sharing a few creative game ideas for building relationships and reviewing and learning content.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

We'll dive into how NGSS assessments can drive sensemaking and 3D performance in the classroom. We’ll explore practical strategies for using these assessments to support students’ growth and engagement in science.

SPEAKERS:
Brendan Finch

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Come learn more about the OSE elementary curriculum! We’ll look at shifting to a classroom where students' natural curiosities about the world are leveraged to motivate their learning in science. Meaningful conversations and ideas about what the flexible scheduling plan might look like with your teaching and learning.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Klaft

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Bring your Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) to life with captivating, interactive simulations! Dive into a dynamic toolkit filled with powerful, curriculum-aligned digital resources. You'll leave fully equipped with (free!) access to a huge collection of engaging simulations that vividly illustrate science concepts and get students engaging meaningfully with the science and engineering practices, making lessons memorable and meaningful.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Forest

For many students, natural interest in science starts to decline in late elementary to early middle school. To maintain interest, they need to see the relevance of science and feel confident. Our methodology capitalizes on their natural interest in science and teaches them how to figure out what is going on in a science activity. We use an inquiry-based format that begins with a unique, two-setup discrepant event. Regardless of differences in their background, the first setup puts students on a level playing field by giving all students the information necessary to form an expectation about the outcome of the second, similar setup that results in an unexpected outcome. What follows is structured exploration requiring students using scientific inquiry to explain the different outcomes – they identify variables, develop hypotheses, design experiments, and conduct the experiments they design. Concepts and everyday applications are discussed. Participants experience a complete activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Exciting activities are just a first step in engaging students’ natural curiosity in science. To maintain their interest, differences in background must be addressed, and they need to practice strategies that help them solve problems while seeing the relevance of the science to their lives.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Jean Lynch, John Zenchak

What does it take to prioritize science instruction in an elementary system? Join the professional learning team from The Lawrence Hall of Science and fellow K-5 science educators to explore how one district made the shift from little-to-no science instruction for elementary students towards a burgeoning commitment to phenomena-based science teaching and learning for all. We will highlight three transformative leadership practices used by that district, and you will consider how to apply these same practices to build the capacity of teacher leaders and create the conditions for equitable opportunities for 3D phenomena-based science in your K-5 classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away ideas and next steps for enacting the three transformative practices related to instructional materials, instructional time, and professional learning, for use in their own classroom, school, or district context.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Rebecca Abbott

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Be one of the first to experience the power of inquiry-based, hands-on learning through our new and innovative LEGO® Education Science solution! We will explore a lesson designed to promote engagement, collaboration, and solution diversity in the classroom and inspire students to see themselves in science. Participants will explore how state standards come to life by developing and using models to explore authentic, real-world phenomena. Engaging in science and engineering through hands-on learning has never been so easy or fun!

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Join us for an innovative and interactive session where engineering meets speed dating! Dive into hands-on engineering challenges and activities inspired by TCI's K-5 science programs. In this dynamic workshop, attendees will participate in a series of "speed dates" with engineering experiences, uncovering valuable lessons and insights.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

A shift to three-dimensional assessments provides opportunities for students to demonstrate their use of science practices, application of crosscutting concepts, and understanding of science content. Participants will learn about the elements of three-dimensional assessments, analyze assessments with student work, and become familiar with the OSE Assessment System and OSE Grading Planning Tool.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Klaft, Michelle Tindall

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Transform your science instruction into an engaging, student-centered experience with the power of hands-on learning! In this interactive workshop, discover how to maximize engagement and deepen understanding in Grades 3–5 science using LEGO® Education Science. Explore how tactile, inquiry-based lessons support three-dimensional learning and help educators bring abstract science concepts to life. Join us to learn how hands-on learning experiences can boost student curiosity, retention, and collaboration—making every science minute meaningful.

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

Join us as we dig into real district case studies showing how performance on summative assessments can predict and support readiness for state science tests. We’ll explore key findings, insights, and practical takeaways to help you align your assessments and boost student success.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Miller

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Every great coach needs a go-to recipe for success – Stile Academy is yours! Taste-test our easy-to-use and evidence-based framework, packed full of strategies and ready to use resources crafted specifically for science coaches that drive real change. You’ll leave this hands-on session with a full plate of ideas to support teacher growth, cook up collaboration, and season your school with lasting instructional impact.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Forest

High school students embrace leadership guiding elementary scientific inquiry sparked by leveled storybooks. Using the Science Process through the Magic of Literacy (SPML) approach, the Centennial Science Club teaches science concepts through exploration while reinforcing reading, writing, and math standards. This program brings science back into the elementary classroom, fostering student leadership and helping teachers confidently integrate science into their daily lessons. Topics covered to date are thermal energy, motion, kinetic energy, energy transfer, biomimicry in engineering, and density. The littles are guided to ask questions from reading a storybook followed by collaborative development of a hypothesis and a procedure followed by data collection and analysis. The group ends with a conversation of errors and extensions. Come see the excitement, ask questions, and discover how literacy can be a powerful launchpad to provide autonomous scientific thinking at your school.

TAKEAWAYS:
High school students guide elementary scientific inquiry sparked by storybooks, reinforcing cross-curricular skills. This encourages student leadership, boosts teacher confidence, and fosters independent scientific thinking, demonstrating how literacy can be a powerful tool for hands-on learning.

SPEAKERS:
CHERYL FARRER

This session will showcase literacy integration examples from ML-PBL Science Classrooms. Handouts will provide links to the FREE OER ML-PBL units of instruction, lesson overviews, and literacy integration affordances. Examples of trade books included in the units will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will peruse plans for integrating science and literacy, and for extending science ideas throughout the school day as shared by ML-PBL Elementary Teachers. Access FREE OER Elementary Science Units.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Codere

The NSTA Urban Science Education Advisory Board's charge is to advise, guide, and provide input on the Association’s efforts to address the distinct challenges faced by urban science educators, and to develop strategies to support NSTA members in urban areas. Stop by our poster session to share resources, build community with other urban science educators, and complete our survey to share your needs as an urban science educator. Your voice can help us better elevate the needs of urban science educators across the country!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be provided with resources supporting urban science educators, as well as an opportunity to take the Urban Science Education Advisory Board's needs assessment survey to help guide our efforts in supporting urban science education.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Seabloom

The research examines the effects of inquiry-based learning (IBL) materials on educational outcomes and teaching strategies in Science 8. Physics concepts are complex which frequently results in student disengagement when educators rely on memorization-based teaching techniques. IBL moves student education from passive listening to active engagement through exploration and problem-solving activities that improve understanding and critical thinking capabilities. Practical application-based physics instruction inspires students to choose science and technology as their future career paths. The educational market does not have validated IBL materials that are adapted to the Science 8 curriculum. The research project focuses on creating IBL resources that match K-12 academic standards to boost both student performance and engagement levels. The instructional framework enables teachers to apply IBL while overcoming preparation and resource.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will examine ways inquiry-based learning materials boost Science 8 teaching through improved student participation and academic success. The session will demonstrate new physics IBL resources while discussing educational challenges and providing a detailed implementation approach.

SPEAKERS:
Princess Margaret Paz

An essential scientific and engineering practice is having students develop and use scientific models, but it can be challenging to facilitate modeling to ensure students’ effective engagement and sensemaking. This workshop will demonstrate how to model with students in different formats and for various purposes. Modeling can be utilized in the classroom to assist students in making their learning visual and communicating scientific information. Engaging in modeling can also enhance student engagement and sense-making. The modeling process can also serve as a formative or summative assessment. During the workshop, teachers will engage in various types of modeling that they can implement in their classrooms. All information presented is based on research. This is listed as a 9-12 Earth and Space Science session since most examples will be from this area. Yet, the activities and information could also be utilized in middle school and other secondary disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will experience a variety of methods of modeling to utilize in their classroom that allow student learning of science concepts to be visualized. Leave this workshop with activities and pedological moves related to modeling that you can implement in your class immediately.

SPEAKERS:
Missie Olson, Haley Kalina

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Join our interactive workshop where literacy meets exploration through the lens of the Science of Reading! Students engage in hands-on investigations, like testing magnets, to build knowledge and apply evidence-based literacy strategies. Leave with practical classroom resources to support reading development.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Calling all elementary school teachers! Join us for an engaging and enlightening workshop that explores the powerful intersection of science education and the Science of Reading initiatives. Discover how teaching science can support and enhance students' reading and writing abilities, creating a comprehensive approach that fosters academic achievement across disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and reflective exercises to gain practical insights into the seamless integration of science education and the Science of Reading initiatives. They will receive valuable resources and lesson ideas that can be applied.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Larson

If you have done inquiry based learning you know that it can be challenging when students don’t seem to have any questions they want to investigate! The good news is that you can build and foster a classroom community that makes curiosity the default rather than something you have to manufacture. Whether they realize it or not, students want to understand the world around them, they just often don't think it's worth the work to actually do so. By creating a culture where questions are normal, expected, and encouraged, I'm able to push students to continue working towards content mastery rather than deciding they "know enough to pass the test". Strategies like question boxes, science hot seat, question stems, and others have been invaluable in bringing back the curiosity in my middle and high school students that is so inherently present in younger grades.

TAKEAWAYS:
Curiosity isn’t something that exists naturally in all groups of students, but fear not and come join me to discover how to build a curious classroom culture!

SPEAKERS:
Anneliese Johnson

The Summer Research Academy is a series of two-week research opportunities for students in grades 7-12, developed as a collaboration between our school and a local college with sessions co-lead by faculty from both institutions. We’ve developed a model for engaging students in the research process by introducing accessible topics and techniques, and facilitating the research process in an developmentally-appropriate manner. This includes developing research questions and experiments that can be answered in our limited time together. As students work through the experimental design and data collection process, they learn that science is not a linear process, continually revisit their hypothesis, and modify their experiment. The week ends with a research symposium where results are shared with their families and the community. SRA sessions have included a range of topics, such as: water quality of the local watershed, biodesign, astrophysics, zebrafish physiology, and microbiology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to scaffold authentic science research experiences across a range of disciplines. We will present a model to help students develop research questions, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and present results - all in a two-week period.

SPEAKERS:
Rachael Lancor

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

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

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Tindall

In this session, we will examine how to leverage time used to practice and reinforce math and reading skills to also include phenomenon-based science. By using math and ELA standards as a starting point, short units building off of a common science phenomenon are created.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience the process of creating a phenomenon-based, science-focused lesson series to help reinforce and practice the standards in math and ELA, thus leading toward equity for students and subject areas.

SPEAKERS:
Miranda Orellana

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Middle school learners benefit from science instruction that is hands-on, visual, and rooted in real-world exploration. In this interactive workshop for grades 6–8 educators, participants will engage in activities that guide students through the modeling cycle: building physical representations of phenomena, creating annotated diagrams to explain systems and interactions, and collecting and visualizing data to refine their models. Educators will leave with practical ideas on how to use LEGO Education Science to make abstract ideas tangible and inquiry-driven learning accessible for all students.

Step into a world where creativity meets chaos—in the best way possible. In this hands-on workshop, educators will explore the power of project-based learning using an unpredictable mix of discarded, unused, and everyday items. With access to a wide array of "junkyard" materials, participants will be guided through the Human-Centered Design process—empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing—to transform forgotten objects into functional, meaningful creations. By the end of the session, each team will present a unique design that showcases both ingenuity and intentionality. This workshop is a celebration of creativity, sustainability, and student-driven learning, equipping teachers with tools and inspiration to bring innovation into their classrooms using what others leave behind.

TAKEAWAYS:
Transform discarded materials into purposeful creations through a ready-to-use, flexible STEM activity that brings hands-on design and innovation into any classroom setting.

SPEAKERS:
Heather Lambert

Sponsoring Company: ECA Science Kit Services

In this session we will select 3-4 popular science programs to evaluate using the 15-Questions developed by ECA Science Kit Services. The objective is to have participants walk away with an easy guide to use as they evaluate different programs to adopt. The takeaway will be an understanding of how to set teachers up for a successful implementation. This process will share information about alignment, usability and budget (yes! we will talk money and share “blindspot” costs to prepare for). It will cover short-term and long-term goals for implementation. There will also be an activity related to the “usability” portion of the presentation! Participants will have a fun experience and leave with a simple navigation guide to support their adoption and implementation process.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Harlan

Science ignites students’ excitement and curiosity about the world! Explore research and discuss how to build your toolbox for engaging others in prioritizing phenomenon-based instruction in the curricular experiences of elementary students; go beyond mere special activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with strategies to make the case for making science as much a part of students’ elementary classroom experience as ELA & Math.

SPEAKERS:
Yanira Vazquez

The Next Generation Science Standards describe a vision of scientific literacy that emphasizes informed and participatory citizenship on issues related to science in society.  Many elementary teachers, however, avoid debatable socioscientific issues such as whether we need zoos, the value of a national space program, or whether certain sports are too dangerous for children, because of concerns about arguments in their classrooms and fear of broaching moral/ethical issues.  During this interactive session, participants will be introduced to the theoretical framework behind the Socioscientific Issues (SSI) approach.  They will then collaboratively engage in an activity from the NSTA Press book, It’s Still Debatable, during which they will model negotiation of a debatable issue while analyzing the lesson’s use of SSI, NGSS three-dimensional science learning, alignment with interdisciplinary standards, and multiple means of assessment for all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
During this interactive workshop, participants will learn an array of strategies for using debatable societal issues related to science to develop their elementary students’ scientific literacy while modeling 3D teaching and learning.

SPEAKERS:
Sami Kahn

Equitable grading isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. In this how-to session, two science educators share lessons from 12 years of working with public, private, and charter schools, navigating the shift from standards alignment to equitable grading. Learn how to address resistance, support uneven adoption, and overcome both real and perceived barriers while bridging the gap between early adopters and hesitant stakeholders. Whether your school uses standards-based grading or traditional gradebooks, this session offers practical strategies to shift mindsets, align assessment practices, and move grading systems forward.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain actionable tools to support teachers in moving from unpacking standards to selecting aligned assessments and implementing equitable, standards-based grading, tailored to meet educators at different stages of change.

SPEAKERS:
Kathleen Kaywood, Melinda Campbell

This workshop will provide K-12 Science/STEM teachers interactive hands-on practice with generative A.I. tools to support 3D learning within a convergence education framework for transdisciplinary real-world learning opportunities in the classroom and beyond. Participants will gain firsthand experience with TeacherServer, a free platform containing over 1,000 A.I. tools to support teachers with high-quality, NGSS and state standards-based, innovative approaches to maximize access for all students investigating Science/STEM applications across fields. This platform is unique in that it was created, funded, and hosted by our university College of Education. The session will balance direct instruction with guided exploration and collaborative activities. Guidance and ongoing discussion will accompany the targeted time to try out the various tools, ensuring that participants leave with actionable insights and skills applicable to their academic roles and classroom goals.

TAKEAWAYS:
K-12 Science/STEM teachers will broaden their understanding of the implications for generative A.I. to support convergence teaching and will gain practical skills to leverage A.I. to enhance their planning for inclusive, inquiry-based, transdisciplinary investigations that engage all students.

SPEAKERS:
Yvonne Franco, Zafer Unal, Stephanie Arthur

Teachers are essential in supporting students as they engage in experimentation, scientific research, and engineering design. The overarching aim is to help students communicate the knowledge they gain with the broader community. This session will highlight best practices for organizing science fairs ranging from small school-based events to larger regional competitions. We will also explore the distinct goals of science fairs compared to symposia and various formats will be presented. Learn how to empower students to confidently present their STEM research or projects through either platform.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with best practices for successfully planning and executing a science fair or symposium in which all students are encouraged to confidently share their STEM experiment or research findings.

SPEAKERS:
Dianna Gobler, Dana Schaefer, Mary Kroll

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

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Banish “I don’t know” from your classroom! In this energetic, hands-on workshop, you’ll learn a set of practical strategies to ensure every student feels confident to contribute. From low-stakes response structures to evidence-based questioning techniques, you’ll discover how to create a culture of accountability, equity, and joy in participation. You’ll leave with a ready-to-use playbook of strategies that drive engagement and keep all learners actively involved.

SPEAKERS:
Erika James

Do your students struggle with data interpretation? We have a student-centered, classroom-proven lesson to help students at any level learn how to read graphs. Come experience how students use metacognitive prompts to make their thinking visible, and then compare their thinking process with both peers and experts. Along the way, students build a personalized, step-by-step tool they can use to make sense of new graphs. No matter the curriculum you use, this lesson helps students more confidently approach a variety of graphs, make their thinking visible and reflect on their sensemaking process. Participants will leave with the resources and activities needed to implement this lesson in their classroom tomorrow. Anchored Science by Mi-STAR is a middle school curriculum project, created by classroom teachers in collaboration with engineers and scientists from Michigan Technological University, and dedicated to quality NGSS-aligned curriculum since 2015.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees experience a classroom-proven, NGSS-aligned lesson plan with activities to help students create their own graph interpretation tool. In the process, teachers facilitate making student thinking visible and improve students’ ability to interpret any graph used in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Tony Matthys

The NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions maps out learning progressions based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The 62 maps in the Atlas organize all of the elements from standards on a particular topic (e.g., modeling, patterns, or definitions of energy) on a single page. The elements from grades K–2 are at the bottom of the page, and those from grades 9–12 are at the top. Arrows connect elements to indicate how ideas in a particular topic build on each other and how elements in different topics connect to one another. Studying the maps in the Atlas and the additional resources in the appendixes can provide educators with new insights about the standards. This session will provide an overview of how to read a map, the other features of the Atlas, and how educators can use this powerful navigational tool to develop and implement curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to read the maps and use other tools in the Atlas to understand and interpret standards and plan instructional sequences as part of their work in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard

Experience how classroom agreements can create productive and safe spaces for elementary students to share their ideas, let those ideas change and grow, and engage with each other as a community of learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Elementary students can co-construct classroom agreements that support an environment where they recognize that science can be done in many ways, feel safe and compelled to share their ideas and questions, listen/look/respond to others' ideas, and let their ideas change and grow.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep, Janna Mahfoud

Integrating science and literacy is essential for supporting elementary teachers in science instruction. This presentation presents an argument for using science investigation to motivate students to read, write, and engage in discourse. Participants receive a set of hands-on science lessons to motivate students to learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants develop insights and understanding of how to effectively integrate science learning with language arts skills development. Participants will be provided with hands-on scientific investigations that include meaningful reading resources aligned to the lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Brett Moulding

Sponsoring Company: Rayn Growing Systems

EdRack is the latest in horticultural ed systems designed to bridge all STEM categories through interactive labs. This hydroponic growing system brings industry standard cultivation methods to the classroom. We built in NGSS alignment to ensure compatibility with your educational requirements.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Ball, Jarred Joffe

We know two things: 1) the purchase of new instructional materials represents a significant district investment and 2) effective classroom use of high-quality instructional materials improves student learning. NextGen TIME can help districts ensure investment in the best possible instructional materials and provide them to teachers prepared to use them effectively. NextGen TIME is a suite of tools and processes to support districts in evaluating, selecting, and implementing instructional materials designed for the NGSS. NextGen TIME is also designed as a professional learning experience for teachers to deepen their understanding of NGSS as they analyze instructional materials. It addresses the needs of states, districts, and schools for a deep understanding of the NGSS to make selection decisions for instructional materials, plan for implementation of those materials, and provide teacher professional learning that enables effective implementation of NGSS‐aligned teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how NextGen TIME supports the evaluation of current instructional materials to strengthen their design for NGSS and how NextGen TIME tools and processes can serve as critical components of curriculum-based professional learning. You’ll walk away with free access to NextGen TIME resources.

SPEAKERS:
Jenine Cotton-Proby

Explore how the dazzling birds-of-paradise can transform your teaching of evolution and natural selection. These extraordinary birds, known for their vibrant plumage and fascinating behaviors, provide an engaging lens through which students can investigate adaptation, sexual selection, behavior, and the science process. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll immerse you in Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “Evolution in Paradise” science lessons that are based on a real-world research project led by evolutionary biologist Ed Scholes and wildlife photographer Tim Laman. The lessons help middle and high school teachers meet NGSS standards and are available as a free download complemented by rich online resources. These unique birds can also serve as a jumping-off point into observing and learning about the birds in their own neighborhoods. We will highlight activities from the lessons, the project website and videos, and discuss application strategies for the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Bring evolution and the science process to life in your classroom with real-world science, incredible videos, rich data resources, and hands-on activities inspired by some of the planet’s most spectacular birds, the birds-of-paradise.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Licher

Writing effective assessments in science can be challenging for any teacher, especially to meet the needs of diverse students in the modern classroom. Come explore the criteria for high-quality 3D science assessment items and learn strategies for writing them. Your session leader is a widely-published writer of science assessments and curriculum, and he has a wealth of experience to share.

TAKEAWAYS:
By applying the proper criteria, you can write assessments that reinforce science learning and develop critical thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Berman

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Learn how educators are using LEGO® Education to deliver science learning while fostering creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in students. This session explores innovative approaches from early adopters who have successfully integrated LEGO® Education solutions into their curricula. Whether you are an educator seeking fresh ideas, a school administrator aiming to improve science achievement scores, or simply passionate about science education, this session will provide valuable insights and inspiration.

In this workshop, teachers will explore comprehensive Next Generation Science Standards aligned formative assessment tasks designed to capture first grade students’ understanding of science in flexible and meaningful ways. These tasks move beyond traditional paper-and-pencil formats, allowing young learners to express their thinking through drawing, discussion, and writing and other developmentally appropriate modes for early elementary. Participants will work in small groups to try out the tasks with each other, review their structure, and provide feedback on clarity, accessibility, and alignment to science learning goals. Together, we will reflect on how these assessments can support all first graders in science. All reviewed tasks will be made available for classroom use, offering teachers ready-to-implement resources that promote creativity and deeper insight into student thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with insights into how to use student-centered formative assessment science tasks that allow young learners to show understanding in ways that suit their developmental stage and communication strengths. Formative assessments will be available to participants.

SPEAKERS:
Marta Mielicki, Kim Benton, Nonye Alozie

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Create and test Play-Doh electrical circuits to explore conductivity, resistance, and circuit design. This fun, hands-on lab provides an engaging way to teach foundational electricity concepts and energy science, making complex ideas accessible for students of all ages.

SPEAKERS:
Lynn Kistler

Young children are naturally curious, eager to investigate: "Why?," "How?," and “What if?...” This interactive session explores the powerful connection between self-directed play and early science sensemaking. Discover the brilliant and intuitive ways that preschoolers and kindergarteners engage in the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) – an essential component of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) often overlooked in early childhood. Through engaging video examples and small group discussions, we’ll explore how our youngest learners ask questions, analyze data, design solutions, and more, all through play! We’ll introduce field-tested SciEPlay tools, developed through a four-year collaboration between Bowdoin College, the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), and Samara Early Learning. Walk away with new insights and practical strategies to enrich children’s play-based science and engineering in your classroom and outdoor spaces.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain two field-tested tools to recognize and enrich play-based Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). Leave this session feeling informed, inspired, and equipped to create purposeful play environments and foster playful science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Hildah Makori, Maranda Chung, Heather Bowen

STARBASE has developed insight into the benefits of a growth mindset in STEM career integration into curriculum planning and has identified strategies and supports to help students see their growth in STEM and related skills. In consultation with STEM corporate partners, specific STEM career skills were identified that would be beneficial for a future workforce: Teamwork, Creativity, STEM, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Using these skills, you can build a classroom culture at any grade level or STEM discipline that celebrates strength and growth while providing real-world examples of STEM professionals who are reflective of diversity and the depth of STEM careers available to students.

TAKEAWAYS:
At this session, attendees will learn strategies for incorporating STEM Career integration into curriculum and lesson planning applicable to all grade levels and science focus areas. Free resources and access to STEM Career website will be provided to all attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Peters, Charity Johnson

Explore a Transdisciplinary STEM+X approach, fostering real-world problem-solving, critical thinking, leveraged learning, differentiation and engagement. Participants will learn STEM+X lesson design principles and experience a STEM+X activity. Emphasizing teacher support and agency for effective implementation to promote student agency, collaboration, and engagement from a two-time NSTA SHELL Science Lab Challenge Grand Prize Winner.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design and implement engaging STEM+X lessons, incorporating real-world problem-solving and critical thinking, with practical strategies and insights from an award-winning educator to empower both teachers and students. Empower your inner STEM confidence.

SPEAKERS:
Arianna Moody

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Discover over 20 powerful strategies guaranteed to transform student collaboration, connection, and comprehension in the science classroom! Participate in lively, hands-on activities designed to immediately boost classroom interaction and deepen learning. Take home your own set of Stile Enhancing Engagement Toolkit cards, complete with QR code links to videos showing each strategy in action in real science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Erika James

Consider and discuss why student-to-student discourse in elementary classrooms is essential for making sense of science. Science is the perfect setting for building students' capacity for deep discussions, and the strategies for making those discussions happen are transferable to other subject areas. Consider ways to help elementary students grapple with evidence from multiple sources, make their thinking clear for others, and productively build upon or challenge the ideas of others.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will consider strategies for supporting deep and meaningful student-to-student discourse in elementary science class.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan King

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

Although wildfires can be caused by natural events and provide many valuable ecological services, changes in the environment related to climate change are fueling the growth of large, destructive megafires. In this workshop, participants will explore how the HHMI Resources The Science of Climate Change film and the activity The Impacts of Wildfires can help students understand these changes. This fast-paced workshop will provide a complete lesson to teach about the science of climate change using a variety of pedagogical strategies and stressing science and engineering practices such as Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, and Designing Solutions. Participants will use three different scientific studies, including data in graphs, that help explain patterns in wildfire data. We will use small group work and a jigsaw strategy to compile all the evidence from the data to develop a Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) to explain patterns in wildfire

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover how to use phenomena to engage students in the science of climate change, explore evidence to support human causes of climate change, and develop a scientific claim supported by evidence and reasoning for why recent wildfires are burning more forest area.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Fassler

Popular science books are written to engage a wide variety of readers who are interested in learning about science topics. These books are especially important in today’s world as they address scientific misconceptions, explain how science is done, and make connections between science and our society. This session will share how I implemented popular science books into science courses with both high school students and undergraduates. Topics explored will include how books were evaluated for connections to NGSS disciplinary core ideas, how student learning of science content was evaluated while reading, how connections were made to literacy standards, and how students demonstrated their learning through the construction of a mini zine. Participants will have a chance to make their own mini-zine, which can be easily reproduced, and brainstorm classroom ideas with peers. Sample zines by students will be shared along with templates and rubrics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with the tools to facilitate the implementation of science books in their own classrooms while also guiding students in the construction of mini-zines to assess learning. Sample zines, templates, and rubrics will be provided.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Sharitt

How can we begin to understand the Next Generation Science Standards, and design instructional and assessment materials aligned to three-dimensional learning? In this workshop we will use the framework of "learning progressions" to simultaneously unpack NGSS standards for the teacher, and create a sequence of learning toward mastery for the student. A learning progression is a standard broken down into steps; it communicates a path from a simple to a more complex understanding of a particular standard. In this workshop, participants will design a learning progression for an NGSS performance expectation of their choice in the form of "I can" statements. Throughout the design process they will consider how mastery of their standard is distinct from simpler levels of understanding. Furthermore, participants will brainstorm ways that learning progressions can facilitate metacognitive thinking, assessment design, differentiation, and targeted support.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use "learning progressions" as a device to assist in their understanding of an NGSS standard, and as road map for supporting their design of lessons and assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Ronnie Almonte

Using Interactive notebooks (INBs) in Science classes is a great way to build inquiry, study skills, and a deeper understanding of the material covered in your class. In science classes of all ages, INBs are a great tool to organize topics, thoughts, and learning progress. This session will focus on middle-level classes, but can be adapted for elementary and high school. We will view different types of Interactive notebooks, including physical and digital. We will be putting together a physical and a digital INB for you to take with you.

TAKEAWAYS:
One main takeaway from this session is the many benefits of Interactive notebooks and samples to use in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Katrina Davidson

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Dobrin

Soil is more than just dirt—it’s a dynamic system that controls how water moves through the environment. This session explores the essential concepts of soil porosity and permeability through engaging, inquiry-based investigations. Examination of different soil samples, measuring porosity and permeability using simple tools, and analyzing how these properties affect water retention, drainage, and environmental sustainability will be highlighted throughout the session. Soil porosity and permeability play a crucial role in water movement, nutrient transport, and environmental health. This interactive session will immerse participants in a field-style investigation where they measure porosity and permeability in different soil types. Educators will engage in hands-on testing, data interpretation, and real-world applications that support the NGSS Crosscutting Concepts of Systems and System Models and Stability and Change. Participants will receive classroom-ready resources and strategies

TAKEAWAYS:
This hands-on workshop guides participants through the investigation of soil porosity and permeability using NGSS-aligned inquiry methods. Attendees will collect data, analyze results, and explore applications in environmental science, agriculture, and water management.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Sadler

One of the first special education teachers I ever worked with said something to me that will stick forever; “ You modify assessments, not children.” Modifying assessments in a way that changes how students communicate rather than what they learn has become an essential part of my classroom. By taking a 3D approach to assessment, it's much easier to be responsive to student needs without diluting the content you expect them to know. I've successfully integrated several 3D assessments into my classrooms and would love to share my process, tips, and initial pitfalls (to help you avoid them).

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, you will learn several techniques and strategies for writing and modifying assessments that adjust how students communicate their knowledge rather than lowering expectations for student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Anneliese Johnson

This session aims to deepen educators' expertise in selecting, modifying, and implementing high-quality assessment materials aligned with NGSS and state-specific standards. The focus will be on integrating the 3-dimensions of science into common formative assessments (CFA), ensuring equitable access for all students and teachers. Through guided practice and collaboration using a developed CFA and state-provided item specifications, educators will explore connections with standards, SEPs, CCCs, stimulus materials, and item types, ensuring seamless incorporation of the 3-dimensions of science. Participants will engage in hands-on activities to synthesize their knowledge, collaborating on exemplar responses and instructional strategies. By applying these skills, educators can develop and refine aligned assessments that foster a deeper understanding of content knowledge and enhance assessment accessibility, providing opportunities for student engagement with aligned materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will gain the skills to create and refine high-quality, aligned assessments that seamlessly incorporate the three dimensions of science, ensuring equitable access and deeper understanding for all students.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Doty, Haley Smith

This session focuses on designing, building, and using three-dimensional performance tasks to assess learning of science. The session will feature ways to find analogous phenomena to assess three-dimensional science learning. The role of crosscutting concepts in focusing performance tasks will be modeled in the sessions. Participants will analyze a set of three-dimensional performance tasks aligned to NGSS Performance Expectations. The session will feature discussions about the effective alignment of assessment tasks to three-dimensional science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will take away summative assessment tasks for each NGSS and the Minnesota Science Standards. They will gain insights into how to develop their own assessment tasks and how to use summative assessment to evaluate teaching and learning appropriately.

SPEAKERS:
Brett Moulding

Explore the storyline of a newly released OpenSciEd unit and see how students leverage connections to ELA and math as they investigate and make sense of a puzzling phenomenon.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary units provide significant opportunities for students to explicitly connect with grade-level mathematics, reading, writing, speaking & listening, and language standards in service of their science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep

Explore a hands-on lesson answering utilization of soil, water, and land use data to make decisions. Put on your student hat and see how they will analyze data to construct a solution for a relevant land use concern. Then, switch over to teacher mode and discuss ways to apply in our classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with experience in a versatile lesson that can be applied as an assessment tool, an engagement tool, or both. These tools are phenomenon based and use science and engineering practices.

SPEAKERS:
JESSICA JONES, Megan Sprague

Engaging All Learners Through Gameplay and Engineering in Science Come explore how we've infused gameplay and hands-on engineering design challenges into 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade science units to engage and support all learners. Discover how we've created or adapted activities to provide real-world learning experiences directly aligned with NGSS grade-level standards. You'll leave with ready-to-use resources and fresh ideas to bring into your own classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on, experiential learning using games and design challenge examples from our classrooms, and will leave with practical resources they can use immediately.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Nathaus, Laura Strejc, Jill Burns

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Are you eager to implement TCI’s hands-on investigations but struggling with tight class schedules? This practical workshop is designed for K-5 science educators seeking strategies to maximize the impact of TCI Investigations, even with limited instructional time. Explore efficient planning methods, time-saving tips, and adaptable classroom routines. Participants will collaborate to prioritize essential activities, streamline materials management, and integrate formative assessments—all while maintaining student engagement and depth of learning. Walk away with ready-to-use tools to ensure meaningful, inquiry-based science experiences for every student, every day, regardless of time constraints.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Sponsoring Company: JoVE

Join our hands-on workshop to learn how to use AI tools and JoVE videos to create interactive STEM lessons & rubrics for middle and high school. Explore real-world applications, tailor activities for diverse learners, and leave with resources to transform your classroom into an engaging STEM hub! Bring your laptop or tablet.

SPEAKERS:
Shauna Carlson

Educators need supports to create climate learning for their students. Now is the time to explore how to broaden climate learning across your school, district, region, or state. This session will provide pragmatic tools and design advice on how to best engage in this work for your specific context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away from this session with an action plan and the tools they need to begin to collaboratively design systemic climate learning efforts in their own contexts, sensitive to their particular local phenomena, socio-political norms, and educator capacities.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Talarico-Wolff, Deb Morrison

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Turn struggling readers into confident scientists! Discover simple, high-impact literacy strategies that help students tackle tough science texts, master vocabulary, and make meaning of complex ideas. See how a few tweaks can transform reading time into real science learning—and send your students’ confidence soaring.

SPEAKERS:
Erika James

Place-based science teaching positions aspects of place–geographic location, geologic time, identity and community–at the forefront of science practices. This session will focus on the opportunities for place-based learning and teaching to explore our own locations: schoolyards and communities. Examples from the recently released book, Place-Based Science Teaching: Connecting Students to Curriculum, Community, and Caring for our Planet will be highlighted.

TAKEAWAYS:
Place-based learning honors the lived experiences of students and the living beings that form a community. Participants will learn how to implement a NGSS-aligned, place-based science lesson in their own space: schoolyard or community.

SPEAKERS:
Whitney Aragaki

We promote teacher leadership by offering teachers paid opportunities to present our resources. We'll introduce teachers to ScienceSaves and show how our lessons can be used to teach content and skills, such as graphing, data analysis, and correlation vs causation. The session will share our scholarship opportunity for high school seniors ($15,000/yr) and include a cursory look at our science lessons. Examples: Do We Take Our Health for Granted? Students will work on graphing skills using a graph on child mortality data from 1800-2020, and learn the difference between causation and correlation in data. The Savior of Mothers Students will learn about Dr. Semmelweis, the first person to promote the idea of handwashing, and will design an experiment to test his hypothesis. The Scientist Who Saved A Billion Lives Students will interpret 2 graphs of the astounding agricultural advancements of Norman Borlaug. Each lesson includes standards and a modifiable lesson plan document.

TAKEAWAYS:
Recognize that scientists who make contributions to scientific knowledge come from all kinds of backgrounds and possess varied talents, interests, and goals.

SPEAKERS:
Kathlyn Van Hoeck

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

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave equipped with proven methods and practical implementation tips to enhance student engagement and communication skills in the middle school classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Ann Guglielmo, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Virtual Reality Goggles have great potential for providing unique and immersive experiences for students. While this technology is still in its infancy, the implications for teaching and learning are limitless. From experiencing virtual field trips in 360, or working collaboratively to solve problems, VR offers a unique learning experience. This session will introduce attendees to the potential for teaching and learning science virtually through the Metaverse .

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be introduced to the learning potential of Virtual Reality and some student-tested ideas for teaching in a virtual environment.

SPEAKERS:
Chantelle Renaud-Grant, Donna Governor

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Connect purposeful play with the Kindergarten Science and STEM Skills with LEGO® Education Science, a solution built to stimulate a child’s natural curiosity and encourage learning through play. In this dynamic presentation, we'll delve into science lessons designed specifically for young minds, leveraging the versatility of LEGO bricks to foster creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Participants will get hands on with our inquiry-based lessons... Be prepared to have fun as we learn together!

Yale professor Laurie Santos' course "Psychology and the Good Life" became a campus phenomenon in 2018, attracting nearly 25% of Yale undergraduates. Its free Coursera version has since enrolled almost 5 million people worldwide. This workshop offers educators a condensed experience of the science behind happiness and well-being through targeted mini-lessons and interactive activities. Drawing from Santos' research and "How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier," participants will explore why our intuitions about happiness often mislead us and examine the cognitive biases that distort our expectations. The seminar introduces evidence-based strategies from gratitude science and positive psychology for authentic happiness. Teachers will gain practical tools to implement these techniques in their personal lives and classrooms, fostering student well-being and creating school communities that promote genuine flourishing and positive habit formation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn evidence-based strategies to enhance personal well-being and discover practical tools to implement happiness science in their classrooms, helping students develop authentic happiness practices while addressing common misconceptions about what truly drives human flourishing.

SPEAKERS:
Stephen Kos

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Take a deeper dive into understanding the importance of learning progressions in 3-dimensional learning using Smithsonian’s STCMS. Experience the importance of a coherent storyline in student understanding and engage in a learning progression using density. Participants will walk away with valuable resources to take back to the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

This session will explore how high-quality, research-based PBS media can enhance STEM learning through a transdisciplinary approach. Using content from trusted sources like PBS LearningMedia, NOVA, and SciGirls, educators will learn to engage students in solving real-world problems by applying concepts from science, technology, engineering, math, humanities, arts, and computer science. Participants will explore classroom-ready tools that foster creativity, collaboration, and innovation. This session also highlights best practices and strategies for using media in the classroom to promote deeper understanding and active engagement. Attendees will leave with effective methods and access to thousands of free, standards-aligned PBS resources that support rich, cross-disciplinary STEM instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover how to use PBS media and best practices to create engaging, transdisciplinary STEM learning experiences that prepare students to think critically and solve real-world problems.

SPEAKERS:
Caylee Haus Reger

In this workshop, participants will experience a part of the Student Experience Improvement Cycle (SEIC), a teacher-team based approach to using evidence of the quality of student experience formatively to make OpenSciEd classrooms more equitable. The SEIC begins by a teacher team setting a goal for improvement in one of three aspects of student experience: coherence, relevance, and contribution. Then teachers review, adapt, and test research-based strategies for improving the quality of student experience overall and for students from systemically marginalized groups and communities. In this workshop, we’ll practice gathering and interpreting data using the digital Science SEET and explore strategies that other teachers have tested and found to be effective in promoting more equitable participation in OpenSciEd classrooms. Teachers will leave with research briefs they can use in their teacher teams and an understanding of how to lead the SEIC with their colleagues.

TAKEAWAYS:
How do we know which students of our students are figuring things out that they care about? Which students are contributing to knowledge-building in small groups? Join us to learn about a simple approach to using data from exit tickets with research-based strategies to promote more equitable partici

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Campanella

Do you need some fresh ideas for stories? Join us as we share some newer/recent stories that can support your existing science curriculum and provide a means for learning outside. Gain practical ideas on how to integrate the science and engineering practices using literature as a launching point for a science lesson. Learn how having your students experience outdoor lessons can build a sense of community and the local level and beyond. No matter how much outdoor space you have access to, discover ways to use what’s available to engage students in learning and exploring. Outdoor lesson ideas that can be used no matter what month of the year it is will be shared along with practical tips for how to find success.

TAKEAWAYS:
No matter what your outdoor setting is like, you will come away with ideas to implement outdoor lessons in your classroom next week. No matter what grade or curriculum you use, learn ideas that can fit into your existing curriculum and spark engagement and benefit students.

SPEAKERS:
Jill Jensen, Kim Benton

Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and join us for an informal get-together with your peers. Each day of the conference will feature a morning coffee chat with opportunities to share ideas and experiences, expand your network, and connect with colleagues and friends from around the country.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Eaton

This hands-on, immersive experience is designed to help educators deepen their understanding of the effective and practical strategies to facilitate academic discourse that promotes inclusive science classrooms. Educators will engage as learners in a variety of intentionally planned instructional strategies and collaborative group discourse structures, that promote access to scientific discourse and opportunities to collaborate with peers. In addition, we will be discussing how teachers can shift away from traditional talk patterns- like I-R-E (Initiate, Response, Evaluation)- and towards Productive Talk to promote inclusive science classrooms. Resources from the Talk Science Primer and OpenSciEd will be incorporated. A digital resource collection of all resources used will be provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
This hands-on, immersive experience offers practical strategies to help teachers transition from the IRE (Initiate-Response-Evaluate) pattern to productive talk, promoting deeper student engagement and meaningful dialogue.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli

Discover how non-Earth & Space Science licensed educators are effectively teaching Earth & Space Science by leveraging NGSS SEPs. This interactive workshop addresses the educator shortage, shares compelling statistics, and offers firsthand experiences from teachers instructing outside their licensure. Engage in a hands-on, inquiry-based lesson centered on a selected NGSS science and engineering practice, and leave equipped with practical resources to confidently teach Earth & Space Science aligned with NGSS standards.​ This workshop aims to:​ Introduce the NGSS framework with a focus on Earth & Space Science, present data and statistics underscoring the current licensure landscape, facilitate a hands-on, inquiry-based lesson exemplifying a specific NGSS SEP (TBD), share personal narratives from educators teaching outside their licensure, detailing challenges faced and strategies employed, and provide a list of resources to support effective Earth & Space Science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand the implications of NGSS on Earth & Space Science education, recognize the challenges and opportunities for educators teaching outside their licensure, implement NGSS Science and Engineering Practices in Earth & Space Science lessons, and access and utilize resources.

SPEAKERS:
Eva Nelson, Sara Fabel, Ashley Fetch

One of the best ways to support student sensemaking in NGSS is to be very clear as teachers about what we want students to know and be able to do. Unpacking NGSS can be complex as you analyze progressions and evidence statements. Come learn how an elementary science team in California has been refining their previous work on learning targets, assessments, and rubrics by creating proficiency scales with learning gradations. This work has helped our group of over thirty science elementary specialists come to greater consensus on student proficiency, increasing equitable expectations across our district. We will have elementary samples to share, as well as protocols to help walk you and your colleagues through the process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to create proficiency scales for NGSS that will more clearly and accurately identify what we want students to know and be able to do.

SPEAKERS:
Meg Vanek, Kim Cashin

We will share insights from a research project to test middle school formative assessments that reduce language barriers. One of the participating educators will discuss how the design of the tasks and specificity of the rubrics helped improve communication between the teacher and students. Incorporating the materials positively contributed to a classroom culture where assessments are understood to be FOR learning, not OF learning; and students at all levels developed and used a common language for learning based on the three dimensions of NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with 3D formative assessments and rubrics ready for their middle school classrooms, as well as research-based strategies for adapting their existing assessments to meet the needs of learners at all levels.

SPEAKERS:
Katrina Pommerening, Esther Brown, Sara Krauskopf

Get ready to spark curiosity and “generate” excitement! This interactive session empowers K–5 educators with foundational knowledge and practical tools to confidently teach about batteries and electrical energy. During the first 20 minutes, participants will engage in hands-on experiments that build their understanding of how batteries work and how electricity flows. In the next 20 minutes, we’ll explore grade-specific implementation strategies, including pedagogical approaches, classroom management tips for inquiry-based activities, and ways to foster student collaboration. The final 20 minutes will highlight a range of accessible curricular resources, extension activities, and cross-curricular connections in literacy, math, and STEAM. Leave this session energized, equipped, and inspired to bring battery science to life in your elementary classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will build foundational knowledge of energy and batteries through hands-on experiments, explore grade-appropriate strategies for implementation and classroom management, and leave with practical curricular resources to effectively teach battery science in the K–5 classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Abigail Dutcher

Many students struggle with the challenging literacy demands of science, including complex texts and specialized vocabulary. In this interactive session, participants will engage with an array of evidence-based literacy strategies specifically tailored to support science instruction at the secondary level. These strategies were thoughtfully developed and implemented through a partnership between science teachers and their literacy coaches. Attendees will explore practical approaches for integrating literacy practices into science curricula, with the goals of fostering equity, increasing deep student understanding, promoting inquiry-based learning, and enhancing classroom engagement. The session will highlight how embedding literacy within scientific contexts aligns with the NGSS strands of Asking Questions and Defining Problems, and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communication Ideas. Participants will leave with concrete examples to integrate literacy with science in their own schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with concrete, NGSS-aligned literacy strategies they can immediately apply to make science instruction more engaging, equitable, and inquiry-driven.

SPEAKERS:
Jeremy Parker, Jodi Baker

Teachers and students face a substantial amount of learning as outlined in the NGSS and Common Core standards. But content isn't the only focus in these guiding documents. What are SEPs and SMPs? How can we transform these essential practices from feeling like "one more thing" into valuable opportunities for students to build knowledge in math and science? In this session, we'll explore the crossover between these vital practices and how recognizing them can enhance learning. We'll share activities and discuss how to implement these practices in both math and science settings. Come ready to engage in strategies that promote science and mathematical practices, including ways to assess them and make students aware of the vital skills they're using. By the end of the session, we'll demonstrate how promoting these practices aligns with social-emotional competencies, as it IS all connected.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the conclusion of this session, attendees will have gained an understanding of how the NGSS SEPs and Common Core SMPs intersect and complement each other. Along with that knowledge, they will learn how these practices can be applied in math and science settings to support student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Coulter, Kathryn Borton

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Immerse your students in a 3D learning experience where problem-solving and real-world phenomena drive engagement. This session shows how storyline-based instruction deepens understanding of science and engineering practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Discover how phenomena can shift students from asking “What?” to exploring the “Why?” and “How?” while building motivation and mastery. Explore the 5E model, CER, engineering design challenges, and the structure of today’s standards in an interactive, high-impact workshop.

SPEAKERS:
Monica Morton, Mike Larson, Greg Sloan

Unlock student potential in writing and reasoning skills! This session dives deep into Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER), focusing on the crucial link between evidence and reasoning. Explore feedback strategies to empower students to apply their knowledge and construct strong scientific arguments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore resources that expand literacy skills, specifically targeting writing, in the middle school science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Vossel

Sponsoring Company: Rayn Growing Systems

Explore hydroponics with a hands-on, scalable activity linking light, sustainability, and plant biology. Use Foldscopes to view plant cells and take home NGSS-aligned lessons; receive free classroom-kit templates, posters, and product discounts from RAYN Growing Systems and the National STEM Honor Society (NSTEM). Attendees are eligible to win a RAYN EdRack system and an NSTEM Chapter package. Ideal for K–college educators integrating STEM with real-world applications.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Ball, Eric Magers

The session will focus on the shift from traditional instruction to three-dimensional, phenomenon-based teaching. Participants will explore how students learn better with phenomena that stimulate student questions and a storyline where each lesson builds on what students have learned in earlier lessons and sets the stage for learning in later lessons. Participants will review examples of anchor phenomena and review a storyline to see how investigative phenomena can be used to support student collection of evidence to answer their questions about the anchor phenomena. We will emphasize having students construct explanations and develop models of phenomena to gather insights into student thinking. Finally, participants will learn a process of developing a phenomenon-based storyline. Through this process, they can see how a coherent storyline can be developed to address all three dimensions, leading to greater student engagement, and fostering a more equitable learning environment.

TAKEAWAYS:
How having students make sense of phenomena leads to greater engagement and better understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Discover over 20 powerful strategies guaranteed to transform student collaboration, connection, and comprehension in the science classroom! Participate in lively, hands-on activities designed to immediately boost classroom interaction and deepen learning. Take home your own set of Stile Enhancing Engagement Toolkit cards, complete with QR code links to videos showing each strategy in action in real science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Erika James

Have you read great articles in the NSTA journals that changed or added to the ways you and your students do science for the better? You could inspire other educators across the country in the same way by sharing your teaching ideas, activities, or lessons as an NSTA journal author!

TAKEAWAYS:
Instructions and tips on how to prepare and submit your manuscript for publication in NSTA's journals.

SPEAKERS:
Peter Lindeman

Join us to learn how our AP Environmental Science team assesses student proficiency in NGSS science and engineering practices. By identifying key connections between the NGSS skills and those required for success on the AP exam, we’ve been able to create a framework of understanding to effectively evaluate both skill development and content mastery. We'll share how we've designed our course to allow for skill-building while ensuring students are well-prepared for the AP exam content.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, attendees will explore the structure we've developed to assess scientific skills while teaching essential content. Educators will leave with practical strategies and insights to adapt and apply this approach in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jason Carlson, Jill Lisius

Computer science is woven into the 2019 Minnesota Academic Standards in Science through benchmarks that emphasize modeling, data analysis, and computational thinking. Participants in this session will learn practical, flexible strategies to help them bring these concepts to life—regardless of grade level, setting, or access to technology. Participants will explore a real-world classroom example, engage in collaborative planning, and leave with tools to support meaningful integration of computer science into science instruction in ways that align with the Minnesota standards and support student inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Planning tools and ideas to support integrating computer science (including modeling, programming, and data science) into your K-12 science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Carter, Haley Kalina

Help students experience a moment in the life of a pollinator (you) visiting an actual flower. Then have students investigate how flowers attract pollinators and create fruits through a simple flower dissection. Making sense of pollination from a flower's viewpoint, understanding the tricky nature of flowers, and experiencing how busy the lives of bees and other pollinators truly are will give your elementary students something to buzz about. This is a hands-on, minds-on, NGSS-aligned investigation to share with 1st - 5th grades. (NGSS connection: 4-LS1-1). As an added bonus, participants will create/investigate bee hummers as a STEM project in a sound unit (1-PS4-1) The presenter will model how to use a phenomenon to drive instruction and demonstrate how to illicit student ideas through collaborative, sensemaking strategies while participants engage in science and engineering practices to make sense of and explain the how and why of two different phenomena

TAKEAWAYS:
Sensemaking strategies will be practiced and shared while investigating the connections between pollinators and the intricacies of a flower and its sweet treat. Bee hummers are an added bonus to be constructed while learning how to turn them into a STEM activity to be used within a sound unit.

SPEAKERS:
Tina Harris, Carolyn Mohr

Discover the power of NSTA Resource Collections – curated "bundles" designed to organize your digital library with resources from NSTA and beyond. This hands-on workshop guides you through creating your own collection, a vital tool for saving time when searching for topic-specific materials. Learn how to effectively share these collections with your school or district colleagues, or make them public to benefit the wider NSTA community. Leave ready to build and leverage collections to streamline your resource management.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave knowing how to create NSTA Resource Collections, add NSTA and external materials, and manage sharing options. They will grasp the benefits of organizing, including time savings and collaboration, and gain practical skills to build and share curated resource bundles.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez, Jaclyn Murray

Come engage in activities (elementary, middle, and high school) to experience how to embed social-emotional learning alongside the NGSS! We will explore teaching strategies that can be used in any lesson, connect with the 3 dimensions, and embed essential SEL skills along the way.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn strategies to embed SEL instruction into existing NGSS lessons in ways that engage students with both content and social-emotional growth. Combining these practices facilitates a deeper understanding and more effective use of both.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Borton

Nearly a quarter of all jobs in the U.S. are devoted to providing food and fiber products to consumers required of future employees. This means our students must understand the intersection of STEM in producing and providing food and related products and services. Agriculture is a diverse industry that includes fields essential to sustaining life, advancing technology (precision agriculture, biotechnology, AI), and addressing global challenges (climate change, water conservation). In this session, participants will engage in several hands-on activities that can be incorporated into their classroom as well as access a variety of valuable resources that will support student’s connection to real-world careers. Agriculture offers powerful, real-world STEM career pathways that are accessible to all students, whether they live in cities, suburbs or rural communities; many of whom have never explored these fields or seen themselves in them. Let’s help them see what is possible.

TAKEAWAYS:
Help your students connect classroom learning to real-world opportunities, increase engagement, and prepare them for the future. Equip your classroom with hands-on activities and gain access to a variety of valuable resources to support your students' exploration around careers.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Embry Mohr, Jessica Holman

Sponsoring Company: ExploreLearning

Ready to make science class more engaging and meaningful? Join us to explore how easy-to-use technology can help your students think, investigate, and explain like real scientists. We’ll dive into interactive simulations that put students in the driver’s seat, empowering them to collect evidence, analyze data, and build strong explanations for real-world science phenomena. Join this session to discover how digital tools like Gizmos Simulations, Investigations, and STEM Cases can turn your most reluctant learners into curious problem-solvers, using authentic experiences that mirror what scientists do on a daily basis. You’ll leave with practical, classroom-ready strategies to spark student curiosity and deepen scientific thinking, no matter what subject or grade you teach.

SPEAKERS:
Cassie Harrelson

Assessment of NGSS performance expectations requires a multi-faceted assessment tool. Multiple-choice and one-word answer questions will not be sufficient to assess the science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and cross-cutting concepts that have been incorporated into the performance expectations. In this session, we will share how we employed the method of backwards design to develop classroom assessments based on NGSS performance expectations for our middle school students in all branches of science. The sample assessments that will be provided require students to engage in performance tasks, develop, incorporate, and analyze models, gather and analyze data, and use both models and data as evidence to support their statements. Along with the assessments, we will share a format that can be implemented by teachers to develop additional assessments for their own classrooms and explain how our teaching of the content changed once these assessments were written.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will examine sample assessments for 3 dimensional questioning and be given a chance to enhance a question on a topic relevant to their teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole McRee

Bring science to life as students create their own virtual field trips! In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore how to engage students with an immersive, project-based learning medium in which they can demonstrate their understanding of core science concepts and develop their science and engineering practices of obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Leveraging virtual reality doesn’t require any fancy tech, and can bring the world into your classroom, allowing for place-based learning to occur anywhere! The multimodal nature of VR also supports inclusive pedagogy, allowing students to share their own voice and experiences. We’ll share lesson plans and examples of student work related to the carbon cycle (ESS2.D: Weather and Climate), and guide you through getting started with your own class. No tech expertise needed—just bring your curiosity and a laptop. You’ll leave with a virtual field trip of your own creation, practical strategies, and free resources to help stu

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to guide students in creating virtual field trips using easy-to-use tools to demonstrate their science understanding through place-based, project-based learning—making science more engaging, creative, and connected to the real world.

SPEAKERS:
Aman Desai, Kyla Cook

Too often, science is treated as the expendable subject in the school setting, particularly in the elementary grades, where reading and math (and their standardized test scores) reign supreme. For many of our brightest students, however, it is also their favorite subject. This presentation will demonstrate the importance of implementing challenging and engaging science experiences that provide students with opportunities for critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity within the confines of district mandates.By engaging in hands-on experiences themselves, attendees will be provided with the tools they need to facilitate similar opportunities for their students, thereby instilling the ultimate goal for all educators—a love of learning and exploration.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with easily implemented resources, effective strategies, and rigorous lessons that facilitate students' higher-order thinking, creativity, and problem solving in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Joyce Greco-Foster

Explore the storyline of a primary-grade OpenSciEd Elementary Unit and see how students use science ideas they have figured out to design, build, and test solutions to a local problem.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging in engineering to solve a problem that is relevant to them gives young students a meaningful opportunity to use their science ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Gail Housman

The NSTA Sensemaking Tool can help educators be critical consumers of instructional materials and create/revise lessons that reflect the shifts required by new standards (sensemaking). Gain experience using the tool and facilitating criteria-based consensus conversations with your colleagues!

TAKEAWAYS:
Use the NSTA Sensemaking Tool for classroom observations and providing feedback.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews, Patrice Scinta

Don’t reinvent the wheel; no one has time for that! Many traditional “cookbook” labs and teacher demos contain the seeds of deeper learning. In this interactive session, educators will follow a step-by-step method to transform existing labs, demos, or activities into rigorous, student-driven investigations that support sensemaking. We’ll explore how to shift the focus toward phenomena, integrate science practices, and center student thinking, while still maintaining content-alignment goals. Participants will choose a lab or activity to “flip” using a framework that highlights student thinking and grade-appropriate science concepts. A classroom example focused on modeling convection currents will demonstrate how small instructional shifts can deepen understanding and expand meaningful access to learning for all students through inclusive prompts and scaffolds. Walk away with tools and strategies to redesign lessons that help students make sense of science without starting from scratch.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn a step-by-step process for transforming traditional labs into student-driven investigations. They will walk away with tools and strategies to redesign lessons that help students make sense of science without starting from scratch.

SPEAKERS:
Alyssa Weisenstein

This session explores how formative assessment tasks can reveal students' 3D learning as well as students' ability to use language to express their scientific thinking. Come learn how well-designed tasks can be an asset for supporting science learning and literacy growth for all students! Participants will experience formative tasks, examine student responses, and practice identifying students’ language-in-use and 3D learning. Eliciting and recognizing evidence of science learning for elementary students has long presented challenges. All too often, the use of academic vocabulary serves as evidence of science knowledge. Language-in-use reframes how students use language in two ways: (1) as a tool for developing one's own scientific thinking, and (2) as a means of communication that aids with demonstrating one's science learning. This framing helps teachers more adeptly interpret what students know. Participants will leave with strategies for using this framing in their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with new knowledge about how 3D assessment tasks can elicit important information about students' 3D learning as well as students' ability to use language to demonstrate their learning. This knowledge is highly valuable for using assessment to support teaching and learning.

SPEAKERS:
Alison K Billman, Christopher Harris

Asking good questions and making sense of data are key aspects of the scientific method that students struggle with. In this workshop, you will put on your student hat as you demo free lessons that showcase the research of diverse STEM role models as you practice asking higher-level questions. Students will gain confidence deeper understanding of phenomena as they flex and hone their powers of inquiry. Dive into data as you learn about and practice the PPSTT framework for making sense of any graph. (Psst…it’s the secret to data literacy). Don your teacher hat as you discuss ways to incorporate the resources and approaches you learn into your classroom. Supporting videos have been thoughtfully crafted to engage your students, minimize lecture, and include pause points for student activities. The workshop will be led by Matt Wilkins—a scientist, middle school teacher, and founder of Galactic Polymath Education Studio.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will leave this workshop with a treasure trove of high-quality, free and editable resources developed in partnership with scientists and Galactic Polymath Education Studio, along with exciting new ideas for how to help students make sense of phenomena and data.

SPEAKERS:
Matt Wilkins

So much of science is dependent upon making observations, looking for patterns, and creating predictions. In this session, we will explore 3 different puzzles in the classroom that kick start conversations about the nature of science: The Game of Science, Inquiry Cubes, and Periodic Aliens. These lessons combine challenging tasks with thoughtful connections with the nature of science and are perfect for the start of the school year.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will try out and receive materials for three different activities to use in the classroom to introduce and discuss the nature of science with students

SPEAKERS:
Joe Cossette

This workshop explores how gamification and game-based learning can amplify engagement, deepen understanding, and support NGSS-aligned instruction. Participants will experience examples of both approaches, understand the difference between the two, and discover how to use game elements to reinforce the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with an understanding of game-based learning and gamification, along with resources and examples to support classroom implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Erik Wade

Localized climate change learning positively impacts students’ climate change knowledge and their sense of agency. Designing a localized climate curriculum can be challenging. Participants in this workshop will get to know an NGSS-aligned climate change unit storyline and curriculum materials designed for teachers to localize. These materials were developed for teachers to create a local anchoring phenomenon to motivate the unit and a local culminating task at the closure of the unit. Participants will use design tools to start planning their own localized unit for their students and community. These tools make storyline lesson design accessible as participants outline a local anchoring phenomenon and generate ideas for a local culminating task. Participants will break into small groups to do focused design work together. All materials and design tools are freely available to participants for use beyond the workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
Localized climate change learning is impactful for students. Existing curriculum and design tools can help teachers create localized climate change learning experiences to make learning meaningful and consequential to students.

SPEAKERS:
Candice Guy-Gaytán, Lindsey Mohan

Localizing science instruction is a powerful way to boost student engagement, and it’s invigorating for teachers, too. Join the professional learning team from the Lawrence Hall of Science to explore three low-effort, high-impact strategies to localize your core classroom science curriculum while continuing to reach your grade level learning goals. We will dive into an example lesson and engage with a tool for localizing your own instructional materials. Participants will come away with ideas for how to make small changes to nationally-designed materials that have a big impact on students' connections to science in school.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away a framework and examples for three practical ways they can localize their in-class science instruction across K-12 to meet the interests of their students.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Rebecca Abbott

Immerse your students into the engineering and design process as they design a method to allow access across a span of empty space! Participants engage their problem solving acumen and embark on a phenomena based storyline to create the ultimate bridge project. Participants will make relevant connections to science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, cross cutting concepts and identify how storylines and investigation into phenomena can motivate student achievement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Immerse students in the design process through a hands-on bridge-building challenge, gaining strategies to spark curiosity and deepen understanding of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts - while boosting student engagement and achievement.

SPEAKERS:
Greg Sloan

Sponsoring Company: Inquisitive K-5 Science

Empower yourself to make science teaching more manageable and meaningful by integrating phenomena-based lessons into your classroom. From planning to setup to execution, science instruction can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. In this hands-on workshop, participants will engage with real-world phenomena as students, then as teachers they will explore the pedagogy, including the 5e model, behind creating inquiry-driven science lessons that are both manageable for teachers and deeply meaningful for students. You’ll walk away with practical strategies, a curated digital resource library, and a physical toolkit designed to simplify your process. You’ll leave equipped with the tools and confidence to implement engaging, meaningful science lessons—without adding extra stress to your workload.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan Kelly

This workshop guides science leaders in assessing district-specific needs and refining a K-20 science vision. Participants will explore national trends, collaborate on strategies, and design sustainable professional learning frameworks to enhance three-dimensional science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will refine or define their K-20 science vision using National Academies research, identifying strategies to drive improvement in three-dimensional science teaching and learning across their schools.

SPEAKERS:
Callie Dollahon, Joshua Smith, Gregory MacDougall, Matthew Christiansen

Uncertainty motivates sensemaking at all ages – from toddlers learning how to use new toys to scientists deep in their fields. Yet, it is often removed from school science investigations, limiting opportunities for students to engage in science practices like argumentation, investigation, and explanation. Drawing from our recently published book, Productive Uncertainty in Science Education, we will engage participants in a elementary school science investigation designed to strategically incorporate uncertainty. Participants will reflect on their experience and explore tools they can use to elicit, work with, and help students benefit from uncertainty in science investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategically incorporating uncertainty using design strategies and talk tools can help students engage more meaningfully in science practices and make conceptual progress on big science ideas through investigation.

SPEAKERS:
Eve Manz

This outdoor learning session will be great for educators of any grade level and location. Whether you're new to outdoor learning or a seasoned pro and if you teach in a classroom or an informal learning space, this session is for you! Naturalists from Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota will guide educators through different practices and ways of thinking about outdoor learning that will change their outdoor learning mindset. From there, practical ideas will be shared and explored that can be implemented in classes the following week!

TAKEAWAYS:
For outdoor learning to be successful, educators need to be able to say 'Yes! And...' to whatever comes their way. Educators will learn how to use nature as their co-teacher and embrace the spontaneity that comes with outdoor learning.

SPEAKERS:
Charles Pavlisich, Joseph Walewski, Emily Pavlisich

Data is the heart of science practice, but many students are stymied by real-world datasets. In this workshop, learn how to guide students in identifying the structure and limits of the datasets they encounter and in framing investigable questions that unlock the potential of data.

We’ll begin by “getting to know” a dataset- its cases, attributes, and source. Then, with student hats on, participants will engage in activities to determine what questions can—and can’t—be asked of the data. Next, using Tuva’s free data literacy handouts, teachers will learn six types of questions that can be used to unlock data insights (variability, comparisons, relationships, time, proportion, and geographic distribution). They will practice determining whether or not each type is appropriate for a given dataset and drafting questions. Finally, participants will pick a dataset and draft a brief lesson that scaffolds the process of framing investigable questions about data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn strategies for helping students: identify different types of data, clarify what data they have to work with, determine the types of questions that can and cannot be answered with a given dataset, and frame six different types of questions about data.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Discover why now is the most important time to prioritize K–5 science instruction. This session explores how high-quality science education strengthens literacy development, fosters overall student growth, and prepares learners for the future. Unpack how science standards are intentionally built as coherent learning progressions from kindergarten through high school. Leave with a clearer understanding of how excellent science teaching not only drives academic success but also equips students for the real-world challenges and careers of tomorrow.

SPEAKERS:
Monica Morton, Mike Larson

How do you assess young elementary students in science? How do you measure progress in the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices? I have developed rubrics that allow me to chart the growth of my grades 1-4 students, using the SEP as my standards. I will share students' work samples from a variety of units and show how I use the rubrics to record and share their progress. My rubrics can be used with students to set goals, clarify expectations, and teach explicitly. They can also be used to share progress with parents, and they can support a standards based report card system. This session will allow participants to review the rubrics and discuss the pros and cons of using them in their own teaching practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will review grades 1-4 rubrics based upon the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices and be able to take them to use and adapt to their own teaching practice.

SPEAKERS:
Shelley Petzold

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Bring your Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) to life with captivating, interactive simulations! Dive into a dynamic toolkit filled with powerful, curriculum-aligned digital resources. You'll leave fully equipped with (free!) access to a huge collection of engaging simulations that vividly illustrate science concepts and get students engaging meaningfully with the science and engineering practices, making lessons memorable and meaningful.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Forest

How can teachers advocate science safety in a way that sticks? Superheroes like Spider-Man, the Flash, and Ms. Marvel provide meaningful and memorable case studies for promoting safe practices in the classroom, school, and community. From the Avengers to the Fantastic Four and Ant-Man to Black Panther, we’ll explore examples to teach and train lab safety.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this interactive session, participants will explore multiple superhero case studies as tools for enhanced science safety training and advocacy, applying materials and policies from NSTA and other sources. Attendees will also examine copyright “fair use” with multimedia resources in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Bergman

Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory is an important consideration in every activity, assessment, and assignment we create as teachers. We will learn about the theory, the different types of cognitive load, and methods to enhance our time with students. Leave this session with hands on, logical ways to reduce unwanted cognitive load, while increasing efficiency of learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Do not waste precious teaching time by trying to increase content delivery. Use our knowledge of the different types of cognitive load to reduce where needed, and increase brain efficiency to avoid wasted ineffective teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Landry

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

Science education is a powerful tool for fostering curiosity and critical thinking in young learners. However, students with disabilities and learning differences often face barriers that can hinder their full participation and success in science activities. UDL is a framework for teachers to create an accessible and engaging instructional plan for all learners (Israel et al., 2020). Grounded in three core principles—multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression—UDL helps educators design accessible learning goals, methods, materials, and assessments (CAST, n.d.). During this session, elementary and special education faculty will use a co-teaching model to share the three main principles of UDL and how these apply specifically to support science 3D teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
This presentation will equip educators with practical strategies and insights to create an inclusive science learning environment for all students. Through the activities, participants will leave this session with actionable strategies and tools to ensure all students have equitable access.

SPEAKERS:
GaKyung Jeong, Jennifer Watson, Keisha Pearson

Localizing instructional materials provides the potential for students to be able to identify with science and engineering ideas they are learning and helps students connect with their communities. It can also help students see where science and human systems intersect, particularly when students are made aware of issues and different points of view. In this workshop, participants will discuss how to elicit students’ own interests in local phenomena and community priorities and explore how to examine and use survey data from students. In addition, they will encounter and learn about five different strategies for adapting OpenSciEd instructional materials to be more local: (1) adding or swapping an anchoring phenomenon; (2) adding or swapping an investigative phenomenon; (3) writing a local transfer task; (4) making use of the related phenomenon board throughout a unit; and (5) using exit tickets to help students connect the lesson to something important to them.

TAKEAWAYS:
It is powerful to connect science instruction to local phenomena and community priorities—but it is challenging work! Join us to explore benefits and cautions of adapting OpenSciEd instructional materials to local contexts and to learn multiple strategies for localization of resources. In this works

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson

This session focuses on the trilogy of NSTA Press books on the Three Dimensions and is led by NSTA’s former in-house expert on science standards who recruited the lead authors of all three books. Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices provides a play-by-play understanding of the practices. Disciplinary Core Ideas: Reshaping Teaching and Learning provides an in depth perspective on the disciplinary core ideas. Crosscutting Concepts: Strengthening Science and Engineering Learning is designed to help educators grasp the foundational issues that undergird crosscutting concepts. These books are written in clear, nontechnical language. Many of the authors contributed to the development of the Framework and NGSS. The authors also share a wealth of real-world examples drawn from their own classroom experiences to show what’s different about three-dimensional teaching and learning at all grade levels.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn techniques to use these three books to help educators have a deep understanding of practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts to foster better student learning in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard

Participants in this session will learn more about the Minnesota Science Standards that include the contributions of Minnesota Anishinaabe and Dakota Tribes and Communities, and resources developed and released through the Indigenous Education for All Students Initiative. During the session, participants will also collaborate with other educators in the same content area to brainstorm ways to use resources developed by Tribes in their area to support standards in their grade level and content area.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will focus on the Minnesota Science Standards that integrate the Contributions of Minnesota Anishinaabe and Dakota Tribes and Communities, and resources released through the Indigenous Education for All Students Initiative that are aligned to these standards.

SPEAKERS:
Angie Kolonich, Miranda Graceffa, Haley Kalina

This hands-on, immersive experience is designed to help educators deepen their understanding of an effective and practical strategy to support students with the Science and Engineering Practice of Asking Questions called the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), a method that teaches students to generate and refine their own questions, fostering critical thinking and enhancing phenomena-based learning. Participants will observe a phenomenon from a OpenSciEd High School Lesson, collaborate in a small group utilizing intentional discourse structures, to revise and develop testable questions for the causes of the phenomenon. Resources include an OpenSciEd Lesson, a structured, collaborative questioning form for engaging students with the QFT, guidance and question stems for helping students revise questions, student discourse table structures, and sentence stems for support with developing a whole class Driving Question Board (DQB).

TAKEAWAYS:
In this hands-on experience, educators will discover how to utilize an effective instructional strategy, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), to customize OpenSciEd lessons and support students with developing questions for a Driving Question Board (DQB) about the causes of a phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

All students learn by doing—yes, even high schoolers! Join Savvas and Flinn Scientific to explore 3D science learning that engages, challenges, and includes every student in your 9–12 classroom. Dive into best practices for capturing student interest, building retention, and reinforcing core skills through hands-on, differentiated activities. Collaborate with peers and walk away with ready-to-use resources, strategies, and a renewed passion for making high school science exciting and meaningful for all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Greg Sloan, Obie Martin

Take away strategies and ideas to help reach all students in your classroom. The strategies shared are used in a middle school classroom using a storyline approach with little to no special education support. We will discuss and share how to use manipulatives, video, voice to text, audio, websites, and more to enhance and support all students in your classroom. Walk away with many ideas you could use next week!

TAKEAWAYS:
One main takeaway will be the accommodations and supports that can be created with a little effort that will help most students in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Tish Rezac, Kirsten Smith

Sponsoring Company: ECA Science Kit Services

In this session we will select 3-4 popular science programs to evaluate using the 15-Questions developed by ECA Science Kit Services. The objective is to have participants walk away with an easy guide to use as they evaluate different programs to adopt. The takeaway will be an understanding of how to set teachers up for a successful implementation. This process will share information about alignment, usability and budget (yes! we will talk money and share “blindspot” costs to prepare for). It will cover short-term and long-term goals for implementation. There will also be an activity related to the “usability” portion of the presentation! Participants will have a fun experience and leave with a simple navigation guide to support their adoption and implementation process.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Harlan

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

Leaders will explore key benchmarks for selecting, adopting, and refining high-quality science curricula, building systems that meet diverse student needs and support teachers for long-term instructional success.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn to evaluate high-quality science curricula that align with three-dimensional learning, ensuring they meet diverse student needs and are supported by effective assessments and professional development.

SPEAKERS:
Callie Dollahon, Joshua Smith, Gregory MacDougall, Matthew Christiansen

Wondering how to fit meaningful science into your busy day? Finding time for science in the busy, often fragmented schedules of primary classrooms can be a challenge—but it’s not impossible! Discover time-saving strategies and flexible routines to help you integrate science into the school day without sacrificing literacy, math, or play-based learning. This session will explore NGSS-aligned activities and assessments that work in short blocks of time, across subject areas, and within real classroom constraints. Practical examples will show how to turn everyday moments into science opportunities, how to use quick routines to build scientific thinking, and how to adapt lessons to fit your district schedule. Whether you have 10 minutes a day or 30 minutes once a week, you’ll leave with ideas that fit your classroom and support your students’ diverse learning needs. Perfect for new and experienced teachers looking to keep the joy and wonder of science alive when only given minimal time.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with flexible routines and NGSS-aligned activities that integrate easily into busy PK–2 schedules. They will be able to adapt time-saving strategies to weave science into literacy, math, and daily routines—making science a natural, joyful part of every school day.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Forsythe

Preparing new teachers to integrate socioscientific issues (SSI) in the elementary classroom increases the comfort level and confidence to teach ‘controversial’ real-world, age-appropriate science topics that are meaningful and engaging to students within their unique community contexts. This approach provides increased perspectives as well as critical thinking within ongoing scientific inquiry, thereby promoting interest and application of science content for classroom students. Additionally, an SSI framework promotes deeper exploration for facets of empathy and moral reasoning as connected to real-world science-based scenarios that students investigate. Specific instructional practices implemented within a university science methods course led to significant shifts in preservice teachers’ comfort levels and confidence for integrating SSI into their elementary science classrooms. Furthermore, preservice teachers’ use of SSI informed the in-service community as well.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about research-based strategies / methods to support student-centered, contextual, real-world, and content-rich Socioscientific Issues lessons that can shift teachers’ comfort / confidence, and thus increase intention to infuse SSI into their own elementary classroom lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Ly Do, Stephanie Arthur

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Banish “I don’t know” from your classroom! In this energetic, hands-on workshop, you’ll learn a set of practical strategies to ensure every student feels confident to contribute. From low-stakes response structures to evidence-based questioning techniques, you’ll discover how to create a culture of accountability, equity, and joy in participation. You’ll leave with a ready-to-use playbook of strategies that drive engagement and keep all learners actively involved.

SPEAKERS:
Erika James

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Elevate your students’ science thinking with CER Writing! This interactive workshop will equip educators with practical strategies for guiding students in constructing Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning. Learn how to scaffold the CER process, integrate it seamlessly into science lessons, and support students at all ability levels in developing strong scientific explanations. Participants will analyze student work, share best practices, and take away ready-to-use resources that foster critical thinking and effective science communication in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

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 network, and enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge as they complete their assignments. Instructors get a class landing page to manage the 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 members for a year or through graduation, depending on the price selected by the instructor. In this session, instructors talk about how they integrate NSTA in their courses. Come and listen to their stories and ask them questions. Find out the benefits that this opportunity provides you and your teacher candidates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will meet and ask questions of instructors who are using NSTA resources, webinars, and online community in courses for preservice teachers of science. Participants will learn how others integrate NSTA in their courses and about the benefits of the program for easy implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez

Attempting to support 20+ teachers transitioning to the NGSS for all our science students, we used a state STEM Integration grant to gain tools for teaching using sensemaking/storylines/NGSS. Large PLC’s and singleton teachers of various science content areas (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, ICP, Environmental) participated in the PD throughout the school year. We found some successes and setbacks. We hope to be able to help other schools as they plan and work toward more sensemaking and NGSS-based science classrooms. Attendees will learn what strategies have worked well to take back with them and also be made aware of challenges to expect. [NOTE: COULD BE A 30 minute Presentation/Panel, however, to unlock the TEACHING for SENSEMAKING STRAND, we had to click the 60-min session]

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn some of what worked well and could have been better in attempting a large, school-wide, science PD initiative in their district.

SPEAKERS:
Zackary Lopez, Fabian Lopez, John Gensic

Engaging students in real world science is an important first step in three-dimensional science instruction, but what do you do with phenomena once students are hooked? In this session, we look at the next steps of learning through phenomena, getting students to ask questions, collect evidence, and make meaning using claim, evidence, and reasoning. Attendees will dive into what makes a good phenomenon, eliciting questions from students, and how to structure instruction to guide students through the CER process. They will leave with strategies for creating a true 3D environment and graphic organizers to help them on their way.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to build true NGSS learning off of strong phenomena, taking the "next steps" in thinking like real scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Obie Martin

How much do NGSS-aligned strategies for teaching science have in common with recommended instruction of English Language Learners (ELL)? Learn about research and resources that overlap effective methods for supporting students as they strengthen both science content understanding and literacy skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will review and compare strategies for NGSS instruction and language development for ELL students across four domains (writing/reading/speaking/listening), taking away a list of practical elements to include in lesson planning and teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Bergman

Elementary students are not ready to jump directly to organizing data in tabular format. In this session, learn about a strategy for organizing data onto case cards that helps make the data collection and organization process manageable for younger students and builds skills that will be needed in the secondary level. I'll introduce two modes for doing this, one analog and the other digital, using a free tool called Tuva Jr.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with a concrete strategy for helping younger students collect and organize data onto "case cards", which will scaffold the eventual creation of tabular data.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran

his session explores how educators can harness AI tools to create high-quality, three-dimensional science lessons in half the time. Participants will learn how AI can support the integration of science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas, making instruction more engaging and NGSS-aligned. From generating inquiry-based activities to visualizing complex phenomena, AI offers practical, time-saving solutions that elevate lesson design and student understanding. Join us to discover strategies, tools, and examples that bring science learning to life through the power of AI.

TAKEAWAYS:
AI helps teachers quickly create engaging, three-dimensional science lessons. Participants will walk away with a practical framework for using AI to design, structure, and build NGSS-aligned lessons with greater ease and creativity.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Morton

This poster presentation will focus on how to deliver captivating science via zoom and maintain student engagement. We will share our lessons, our experiences and our successes as we navigate this novel form of science instruction with very young students. Lessons are delivered via Zoom for 30 minutes, once per week. Our sample lessons will show an age-appropriate mix of visual and audio media as well as substantial time spent in hands-on activities. Assessment is informal with students reporting what they learned to the on-site school director and other adults, and formal with the presentation by a panel of “expert” students whose knowledge is documented via video and shared within the School Community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Visitors to our presentation will take away the steps we followed to create this successful science curriculum for 4K students.

SPEAKERS:
Cindy Trinker-Peot, Susan (Cee Cee) Cohen

Teachers will: 1. learn how to use articles to make their content more applicable to the lives of the students; 2. receive strategies on how to get students to read more scientific articles; and 3. receive resources on selecting grade-appropriate scientific articles.

TAKEAWAYS:
Reading should not be limited to English courses. Leave with strategies on how to motivate students to explore science through scientific novels. Review three years of qualitative data on how novels increased literacy, scientific fluency, scientific connectivity, and college preparation.

SPEAKERS:
Jonte' Lee

Graphs are central to scientific thinking, yet many students lack the skills to interpret them accurately. This poster equips grades 6-12 science educators with a visually engaging, classroom-ready resource that teaches students how to read, analyze, and make sense of scientific graphs. Featuring common graph types, annotated examples, and student-friendly question prompts, it helps build data literacy through clear strategies tied to NGSS and Common Core Math Standards. Educators will gain practical tools to help students identify variables, interpret trends, evaluate claims, and avoid common pitfalls. By integrating graph analysis into daily instruction, teachers can support students in thinking critically with data and making evidence-based conclusions across all science disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with a standards-aligned, visually engaging tool to help students confidently interpret scientific graphs, strengthening data literacy and critical thinking across all areas of science.

SPEAKERS:
Wendy Towery-Stove

This poster presents a framework of seven guideposts for effectively integrating agricultural concepts across K-12 science education. Agriculture provides an ideal context for teaching core scientific concepts through tangible, relevant experiences that connect directly to standards. The seven guideposts—agriculture's evolution, modern agricultural systems, seeds, soil health, food access, ecological connections, and technological innovations—offer science teachers practical entry points for incorporating agricultural literacy without adding separate courses. Each guidepost maps to multiple science standards while cultivating knowledge crucial for addressing sustainability challenges. Garden-based learning approaches further enhance this framework, providing hands-on experiences that deepen understanding of scientific processes from DNA to ecosystems. Research shows students engaged in agricultural contexts demonstrate improved science performance and environmental stewardship attitude

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn a practical seven-guidepost framework for integrating agriculture into science teaching, providing tangible contexts that enhance student understanding while building agricultural literacy for addressing sustainability challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Rillero, Peter Rillero

Naturalists from Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota will be sharing their go-to resources and activities to either get educators started in outdoor learning or to help those that have already been incorporating outdoor learning some new skills. Wolf Ridge naturalists with expertise in pedagogy, botany, lichens, and the Lake Superior watershed will be ready to answer questions and help provide resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
To get started with outdoor learning in your classroom, you have to start somewhere. Wolf Ridge naturalists can help provide a starting point for new educators and new ideas for those already on their way.

SPEAKERS:
Charles Pavlisich, Joseph Walewski, Emily Pavlisich