A vision to support collaboration of district teachers, administrators, scientists and educators working to integrate Earth and environmental science phenomena into high school biology, chemistry, and physics courses in Baltimore City Schools. The 5+1 framework guides the integration of earth science by incorporating the following components: 1) 3-Dimensional instruction, 2) phenomenon driven units, 3) student-centered learning (specific to ML with language and content objectives) , 4) responsive instruction with “in the moment” resources, tools, and strategies;, and 5) Earth science content for all students (+1). The framework ensures the curriculum developed is aligned to NGSS, infuses Earth science content, and is accessible to all students. Participants will use the 5+1 model to examine specific unit/lesson examples, in biology, to develop instruction that is responsive, phenomena driven with considerations to use language objectives to build instruction for ML students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using the 5+1 model for Earth science integrated instruction, participants will analyze units and lessons in biology for the presence of key components designed to differentiate instruction for all students with a focus on diverse learners with a specific focus on multi-language learners (ML).

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Garner, Andrew Collins, Edmund Mitzel, Jr., Ph.D.

Discover how to engage students in sensemaking of natural phenomena with Stellarium, a free online planetarium tool. With Stellarium, students can make observations, collect and interpret data, and investigate how the sky changes throughout the year. They can track the motion of the Sun, Moon, and stars, deepening their understanding of Earth’s place in the universe. In this session, participants will learn how to access and use Stellarium to guide students in recognizing patterns and systems. All activities are adaptable across grade levels, align with NGSS science and engineering practices, and include interdisciplinary connections to math, social studies, and ELA.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore ready-to-use Stellarium lessons that ignite student curiosity, deepen inquiry into Earth and Space Science standards, and build meaningful interdisciplinary connections.

SPEAKERS:
Shefali Mehta

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Come experience what Carolina + OpenSciEd Elementary is all about through a hands-on model lesson in which students explore water in natural systems, determine if it is healthy or unhealthy, and discuss what can be done. Discover how the new Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd’s high-quality instructional materials are more accessible, more user-friendly, and enhanced for classroom safety. Participants will walk away with valuable resources for their classroom.    

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Current teaching and practice in preschool classrooms often includes limited exposure to informational science texts; which are essential to building all children’s sensemaking of disciplinary core ideas. In this 60-minute presentation, participants will learn strategies for embedding language-rich discussions into read-alouds of informational science texts focused on life, Earth and Space, and physical science topics. Participants will also learn about conducting hands-on science activities based on informational science texts and real-life phenomena. High-quality nonfiction science texts and hands-on activities will be presented. Videos and pictures captured in authentic preschool classrooms will be used to help participants gain firsthand accounts of evidence-based discussion strategies for building children’s language around science using information science texts and hands-on activities in preschool classrooms. Feedback from teacher implementation will also be included.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away practical, evidence-based discussion strategies and hands-on activities that foster understanding of disciplinary core science ideas for all children in preschool classrooms. Participants will also come away with a list of texts and materials for classroom use.

SPEAKERS:
Robin McGinnis

Sponsoring Company: Biozone, Inc.

Science teachers are master problem solvers, yet you’re stuck solving the wrong problems: endless prep, assessment creation, and juggling resources that don’t quite fit together. What if your science resources actually made your job easier? Join us to explore how BIOZONE’s innovative worktext format reimagines teaching with a cohesive suite of print and digital resources that reduce workload while boosting student engagement. Our resources support active, concept-driven learning, and the Teacher Toolkit provides fully built pacing guides, teacher notes, assessments, and slides that cut hours from your week. Paired with BIOZONE WORLD and the Resource Hub, you’ll see how BIOZONE’s system can transform instruction, empower diverse learners, and take the stress out of science instruction, making every student’s experience meaningful. Attendees receive a FREE print copy & 30-day digital access to a title of their choice.

SPEAKERS:
Debi Wilson

Broaden young students’ environmental literacy while developing skills in scientific inquiry, modeling and data analysis. In this hands-on session, engage in creative games and collaborative problem solving on natural resource use, ecosystem health and pathways to sustainability. Create 3-D representations of global land use, model natural resource extraction, and simulate carrying capacity in nature and habitat fragmentation. Discuss the power of cumulative action for environmental stewardship with an elementary art project. The NGSS-aligned activities nurture students’ sensemaking, critical thinking and communication skills. Participants will receive lesson plans and background materials in an electronic format.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn ways to introduce elementary students to human ecology concepts, including natural resource use and interdependence in ecosystems with NGSS-aligned hands-on activities (3D simulations, collaborative problem solving and games).

SPEAKERS:
Helen De la Maza

Engaging place-based Pacific-Coast-centered storylines are presented that allow students to develop sensemaking skills for investigating up-to-date, research-driven climate science and how it relates to their home communities. For example, the Pacific Ocean El Niño / La Niña cycles greatly influence the climates of the U.S. West Coast, including regional temperature and precipitation variations and therefore the timing and locations of floods, droughts, and wildfires. Increased global warming due to increased greenhouse gases is amplifying some of these impact. A recent example is the Southern California wildfires of 2025, where global warming has now extended the lengths of La Niña droughts into January, so they are now overlapping with the start of the winter Santa Ana winds. Another example is how increased Pacific Ocean surface temperatures increase the likelihood of future atmospheric rivers that can cause severe flooding along parts of the West Coast.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students effectively develop sensemaking of NGSS performance expectations concerning weather and climate using place-based storylines anchored by Pacific Coast regional phenomena. Instructors will leave with multiple ideas for incorporating the latest climate science into their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession

ShakeAlert, the U.S. Earthquake Early Warning system, offers a powerful way to connect wave science, engineering, and public safety in the classroom. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how ShakeAlert uses P- and S-waves, seismic networks, and GPS to provide alerts, and how these concepts align with NGSS standards (HS-PS4-5, HS-ETS1-3) and the crosscutting concept of systems. Teachers will engage with tools such as USGS Earthquake Hazards, IRIS Seismic Monitor, and jAmaSeis to analyze real earthquake data just as seismologists do. Participants will also experience in-class demonstrations, simulations, and models that make wave behavior tangible. Attendees will draft place-based lesson plans that integrate local seismic data and emphasize equity by considering how early warning technologies reach diverse communities. They will leave with templates, curated resources, and strategies for connecting science to personal protective action and public safety.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use ShakeAlert and real-time seismic data to create place-based, NGSS-aligned lessons on waves, engineering solutions, personal protective action, and public safety—leaving with classroom-ready templates, resources, and equity-focused strategies.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Pyle, Ariel Raymond

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Unlock the cosmos for your classroom with our interesting and engaging Astronomy workshop! Discover standards-aligned lessons with teacher resources and delve into the latest astronomical discoveries. Gain confidence and receive tools to ignite students' curiosity about the wonders of the universe. For Grades 6-8, 9-12 & AP.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Goodman

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Join our interactive workshop where literacy meets exploration! Experience through hands-on modeling, playing a card game, and reading stories about how students can build explanations of confusing weather phenomena. Learn strategies to build your students’ literacy skills. Leave with classroom resources. Smithsonian Science for the Classroom earned an All-Green rating from EdReports. 

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera, Rachel Patton, Dr. Sarah Glassman

Join us to explore how rural New Mexico elementary teachers teamed up with the NM Museum of Natural History & Science to create fossil kit lessons that bring local geology and paleontology into the classroom. You’ll discover how place-based partnerships can transform “fun” community activities into inclusive NGSS-aligned, standards-driven learning. Our teacher-tested 3rd and 4th grade fossil lessons feature storytelling connections to ELA, hands-on investigations, and easy-to-use assessments that work for all learners, including multilingual, neurodiverse, and culturally diverse students. Walk away with strategies for: (1) co-creating engaging lessons that reflect your students’ place and culture, (2) building stronger community partnerships, and (3) ideas for aligning participatory, real-world science with classroom standards. Come get inspired to design lessons that spark curiosity, honor equity, and are ready to be adapted to your community!

TAKEAWAYS:
Elementary teachers will leave equipped with strategies for: (1) co-creating engaging lessons that reflect your students’ place and culture, (2) building stronger community partnerships, and (3) ideas for aligning participatory, real-world science with classroom standards.

SPEAKERS:
Amy DeGroat, Deena Gould, Liz Gilroy

This vocabulary strategy engages students in authentic research and visual learning. Using Google and Google Images, students investigate science terms to build accurate definitions and context. They then transform their research into labeled diagrams, comparisons, and sketches, reinforcing meaning through both inquiry and visualization. By moving beyond rote memorization, this method helps students actively “piece together” vocabulary, fostering deeper understanding, stronger retention, and connections between words and concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with a ready-to-use vocabulary strategy that combines digital research with visual synthesis, making abstract terms more concrete and memorable for students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Davis

This poster highlights The Great Indoors, a free, NGSS-aligned climate and health unit for grades 6–8 that connects cutting-edge research with practical classroom strategies. Built around case studies and data-rich activities, the unit helps students explore how climate-driven events—such as wildfires, flooding, and pesticide use—affect indoor environments and human health. Students engage in experiments, analyze data, and use design thinking to propose solutions that build community resilience. Aligned with NGSS and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the unit integrates frameworks such as Causal Learning in the Classroom (CliC) and the 5E instructional model. Lessons are modular, adaptable to various schedules, and accessible to diverse learners. Teachers will walk away with free, classroom-ready resources that support sensemaking, foster student problem-solving, and make climate science engaging and relevant to middle school learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will discover a ready-to-use, research-backed climate and health unit. They’ll learn strategies to engage students with case studies, experiments, and design challenges that make climate science relevant, inclusive, and action-oriented.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

The National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) empowers educators to advance their instructional practice through professional learning, high-quality resources, and a supportive community aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This session highlights how NESTA—through strategic partnerships—helps teachers integrate Earth and space science phenomena that inspire student-centered inquiry and authentic sensemaking. By fostering educator resilience, collaboration, and leadership, NESTA promotes excellence in Earth and space science education. Participants will explore NESTA’s wide range of offerings, including timely classroom resources, professional development opportunities, access to best practices through our peer-reviewed journal The Earth Scientist, and strategies for building interdisciplinary connections across the sciences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about a community that elevates Earth and space science teaching! NESTA helps educators connect, grow, and lead—transforming curiosity into discovery through shared resources, collaboration, and real-world phenomena that inspire student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kellyn Hardin, Natalie Macke

The work of geoscientists is essential for protecting the environment, responding to natural hazards, and using resources responsibly – making geoscience careers vital and rewarding. To help students make these connections, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has developed free online resources that link student interests with global challenges and career pathways. A new Sustainability Interactive introduces real-world scenarios tied to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and encourages students to reflect on what matters most to them. When paired with AGI’s Career Explorer, which highlights geoscience-related careers, this resource provides teachers with engaging ways to help students explore how their interests align with sustainability issues and discover how geoscience can contribute to solutions. Educator resources, including lesson plans designed to help teachers integrate these applications into the classroom, will also be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about and can explore AGI’s free online applications that connect student interests with global sustainability challenges and geoscience careers.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Brase, Lindsay Mossa

In collaboration with the USGS, and as a spin-off of ShakeAlert Ready Schools, the Hero in You Foundation is developing “Rocket’s Rules” materials for Grades K-2 children to build understanding of earthquakes, protective action, and how to Be ShakeAlert Safe with Rocket (BSSWR). Principles underlying design of the new materials include making things active for children, prioritizing key information (e.g., Drop! Cover! Hold On!) and encouraging children to share materials with their family and friends. The new BSSWR materials feature a range of resources suitable for the classroom and other venues, such as safety fairs, children’s museums, park settings, and beyond. Resources include a video, a poster and pop-up banner, giveaways (pin, sticker, postcard, certificate), worksheets, a comic, and gifs suitable for use on social media or in presentations. A Facilitator Guide/Tool-Kit, Quick Reference, and FAQ are also included to help facilitators (e.g., teachers, emergency managers, park personnel) quickly assemble relevant resources, activities, and scripts tailored to the timeframe of their specific interactive setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
The new Hero in You Foundation materials promote children and families’ knowledge of earthquakes, earthquake early warning, and how to Be ShakeAlert Safe with Rocket.

SPEAKERS:
Katrina Arras, Dare Baldwin

Hands-on science activities can present engagement challenges for some students, and teachers often lack training or resources to meet all learners' unique needs. The GLOBE Weather Pathways project developed and tested an approach to help middle school educators adapt a weather unit to support all students and explore STEM career pathways. The project included: 1) building a learning community of STEM educators, content and special education specialists, and professionals working in STEM; 2) professional learning on the NGSS-aligned, phenomena-driven GLOBE Weather curriculum; and 3) workshop time to adapt lessons for accessibility. This presentation will share project outcomes, including strategies educators used to adapt lessons, best practices for implementing universal design for learning (UDL) principles, and insights for building a professional learning community that supports inclusive science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how middle school educators adapted a weather curriculum to support all learners using universal design for learning (UDL) principles, and hear about strategies and best practices for building professional learning communities to support diverse student needs.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Johnson Nesbitt, Melissa Rummel

This poster presents a lesson that has students explore how single phrases can allow you to pick up on a source’s tone towards climate change. Students begin by highlighting and coding an article using a key provided with the goal of identifying biases in the news source. Then, students create a blackout poem using the key phrases they identified to focus attention on the source’s bias towards climate science. This lesson combines critical reading & creative writing with climate science communications and is adaptable for students ranging from middle school to graduate school.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students will learn how to identify hidden biases in news sources discussing climate change.

SPEAKERS:
Zachary Krauss

Join us for our Earthquake Tower Share-a-Thon, where student engineering teams present their earthquake-resistant structures and share what they’ve learned about seismic waves, plate boundaries, and earthquake-proof design. This event highlights the creativity, problem-solving, and scientific thinking of our student engineers as they rise to the challenge of building and testing their towers on the Shake Rattle and Roll Earthquake Board.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will gain a ready-to-use, hands-on engineering project that integrates seamlessly with earth science concepts. This activity equips students with authentic opportunities to apply vocabulary, practice critical thinking, and develop design skills while making meaningful, real-world connection

SPEAKERS:
Diane Ripollone

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Fuel your curiosity—and your teaching toolkit—with this dynamic exploration of how our world powers itself. Participants will dive into two of Switch Classroom’s most popular energy activities. Start with Energy Resource Stations, comparing coal, wind, solar, natural gas, and more through short videos, hands-on evidence sorting, and lively discussion of benefits, limitations, and trade-offs. Then shift into Energy Transformations, tracing how energy changes from chemical to thermal, mechanical, and electromagnetic as you build explanations, use models, and make real-world connections. Leave with free Switch Classroom lessons and classroom-ready strategies for grades 4–12.

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Swets

Discover data-driven activities that challenge environmental science students to investigate global population trends, resource use, and climate change connections. In this hands-on session, participants will engage with interactive simulations and data analysis that foster systems thinking, modeling, and defending arguments from evidence. Lessons connect directly to NGSS standards (HS-LS2, HS-ESS3) and APES topics including population ecology, land and water use, and global change. In collaborative groups, participants will analyze and discuss data sets from universities and international agencies to identify trends and patterns and make predictions. They will learn strategies to help students analyze complex sustainability challenges, evaluate solutions, and apply scientific reasoning to real-world environmental issues. Attendees will leave with adaptable classroom tools that promote critical thinking, environmental literacy, and informed decision-making.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn NGSS-aligned, hands-on activities that build students’ environmental awareness, data skills, and problem-solving abilities while inspiring them to take informed action on real-world sustainability challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Barbara Huth

Sponsoring Company: BFW Publishers

Capture high school chemistry students’ curiosity by inviting them into a truly phenomenon-based curriculum. Explore a hands-on periodic table card sort and investigate whether it’s really possible to turn a copper penny into gold. Along the way, ground in NGSS - experience how Living by Chemistry’s guided-inquiry and three-dimensional learning approach helps students build deep conceptual understanding. Presented by Living by Chemistry author Dr. Angelica Stacy.

SPEAKERS:
Angelica Stacy

Sponsoring Company: FLINN

Join this interactive session packed with hands-on activities spanning life, physical, and earth science that are designed capture interest and enhance comprehension. Watch engaging demonstrations, explore classroom-ready investigations, and discover practical strategies that make science active, accessible, and exciting for all learners. Whether you’re looking to refresh your curriculum or energize your classroom, this session delivers ideas you can use right away. Handouts included.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Knabe

A hallmark of three-dimensional assessment is making student thinking about a DCI, a CC, and an SEP visible at the same time. In this interactive session, you’ll step into the role of a student to experience two example 3D assessments and see how they bring sense-making to life. Together we will unpack what makes an assessment useful, identify key features of strong 3D tasks, and practice a “thinking analysis” of student responses to reveal patterns in learning. The agenda includes discussion, hands-on assessment experiences, analysis of student work, and time for questions. You’ll leave with strategies for designing meaningful assessments that surface student thinking and inform next steps in instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three-dimensional assessment mirrors three-dimensional instruction and can be used to make students thinking about, and with, DCI, CCs, and SEPs visible.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson

Explore the possibilities of combining Science, Poetry, and Art as each is an act of discovery; all require keen observational skills, new perspectives, and thrive on productive communication. Understanding more about the Earth we share is a lifelong learning experience, a chance to broaden students’ horizons. Join award-winning Author/Poet Joan Bransfield Graham, a former teacher, traveler, and avid photographer, whose newest book is AWESOME EARTH:  Concrete Poems Celebrate Caves, Canyons, and Other Fascinating Landforms, for a world tour of landforms, poetry writing tips, ideas for student activities, and projects. What better way to examine the amazing landforms on our Earth than with shape itself--concrete poetry. Brevity, shape, and rhyme provide helpful clues for students acquiring English. Learn how to make shape poems, “mask” poems, and employ other “voices,” and writing techniques you can use next week, and every day, with your students! Handout will be available. K-5.

TAKEAWAYS:
Combine Science, Poetry, and Art to learn about some of our awesome landforms. Using Joan’s Five Favorite Poetry Tips, a variety of “voices,” and shape itself, you’ll learn how to help your students write their own poems to better understand our Earth’s “unfolding story” and their own stories.

SPEAKERS:
Joan Graham

Why do some burned hillsides suddenly flood or slide after a storm? This session uses phenomena-based instruction to explore how soil chemistry and structure regulate water movement, nutrient transport, and pollutant filtration. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that model how soils can absorb or repel water, store and release nutrients, and contribute to hazards such as flooding, landslides, and fire-altered soils that become water-repellent. Investigating soil data and maps, educators will uncover how soil processes connect to essential Earth and environmental science concepts. Participants will leave with freely available resources, professional development opportunities, and strategies for guiding students to explain natural hazards and ecosystem functions through the lens of soil science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Why do burned slopes flood or slide? Engage your students in hands-on soil investigations to uncover how structure and chemistry regulate water flow, stability, and susceptibility to hazards and take home free resources to spark phenomena-based learning in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Brase, Lindsay Mossa, Natalie Macke

Our Earth’s surface is continually impacted by the physical forces of nature: weathering and erosion. What is the impact of plants and soil amendments in preventing water runoff and soil erosion? Students will use soil tray models set at specific angles to measure water outwash and soil erosion. If soil is level, students will explain why and how water seeps into the soil and, if soil is on a slope, how water runs downhill. Students will be able to explain how slope, wind and precipitation affect the movement of water across soil surfaces and how soil is carried by water on a slope using terms from their geography vocabulary lists (sediments, weathering, etc.). The terms detachment, transport, and deposit (DTD) will be introduced. Students will discuss how rainfall and slope affect water outwash and soil erosion. Students will quantitate the percentage outwash and erosion, graph results, and compare various amendments preventing such occurrences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Water is the major force in shaping our planet. Students use simple models to measure water outwash and soil erosion. Simple models show students how plants and plant residue play major roles in preventing water outwash and soil erosion.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Cunningham

Join the Ocean Exploration Trust & the National Center for Education and the Economy to learn about a new collaboration bringing Project Based Learning to classrooms, connecting the excitement of discovery with the largest living system on Earth - the ocean! Dive into how you and your classroom can get involved in paid, field-testing opportunities of these new Depths of Discovery materials. Learn more about programs that link the Exploration Vessel Nautilus with classrooms through interactive programs, scientific data sharing, and live streaming from never-before-seen corners of the planet.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn about opportunities to bring the salty 70% of the planet to their learners through deep-ocean exploration and STEM role models through live interactive programs and project based learning in the Depths of Discovery curricular project.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Cook

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) website has a wealth of ocean resources but was previously difficult to search and use. We cataloged the content based on alignment with NGSS and Ocean Literacy Principles as well as topic and type of media and created a searchable database. This “Ocean Learning Hub” is now a searchable database that provides easy and fast access to the content as well as a bookmarking system so you can collate your resources for future reference. We will walk you through this updated website as well as provide an overview and demonstration of one of our available lesson plans developed with a WHOI researcher that explores ocean currents and specifically “underwater waterfalls”, i.e., overflows in the North Atlantic. I will share editable slides that include a quiz, instructions for a hands-on experiment, and two videos. The slides are annotated with teacher notes to help with narration, background information, and conduction of the experiment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to navigate the new standards based, educator-friendly WHOI Ocean Learning Hub website, gain ocean resources to use in their classroom and for outreach use, and all ages will understand the ocean’s role in our planet’s future.

SPEAKERS:
Grace Simpkins

This presentation will introduce educators to classroom ready resources that connect STEM concepts to real world ocean mapping technology and visualization tools to highlight the process of mapping the ocean and the extent that the seafloor has been mapped.

TAKEAWAYS:
Visualization tools that they can load in their classrooms to investigate the worlds seafloor.

SPEAKERS:
Tara Hicks Johnson

I will share hands-on lessons and activities that use models of light in the sea, formation of hydrothermal vents, biodiversity on seamounts, and chemosynthesis. Learn how to incorporate incredibly engaging and new phenomena from the ocean that students love. Lessons allow students to make sense of photosynthesis, light energy in the ocean, precipitates of salts, biodiversity and habitat complexity, and chemosynthesis. Some of these concepts can also make incredible transfer tasks for students!

TAKEAWAYS:
Deep sea phenomena and using models.

SPEAKERS:
Tami Lunsford

In Weather Adds Up to Climate, participants will learn how they can engage their learners in an authentic NASA weather observation activity that can be implemented by entering weather data online, using a paper data collection sheet, or by creating a weather bar graph using Lego blocks. In the My NASA Data Interactive Weather Observation activity learners describe and report daily changes in weather as they learn how weather patterns over a long period of time are used to describe the climate of a location. As part of their monthly weather observations, learners will be able to see patterns of weather associated with the different seasons of the year.

TAKEAWAYS:
During the Weather Adds Up to Climate activity, participants will learn how their learners can track weather over time and create a bar chart to track their monthly data. Using this monthly data, learners can develop an understanding of how weather patterns over time can be used to describe climate.

SPEAKERS:
Tina Harte - Ballinger

Join the NSTA PL committee for one or all of these sessions in our Interdisciplinary Connections strand to explore the what, why and how of interdisciplinary science teaching and learning. Each session will engage participants in interactive experiences to solve problems or investigate phenomena using science while focusing on a particular pairing of interdisciplinary opportunities. In this session, you will explore the connection between math and science. Attendees will engage in activities to demonstrate how math can be vertically aligned and supported throughout a student’s education, K-12. Participants will use the phenomenon of why some storms cause more damage as an example of how math and science learning are inextricably linked. Using real-world data to analyze and model storm effects and develop risk assessments using probability and statistics, attendees will learn how every age can collect and use real-world data to explore a phenomenon and increase their learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore how teaching math is inextricable from teaching science and be given examples of how that looks when vertically aligned in K-12. Participants will use real-life data to model a phenomenon mathematically, boosting both math and science understanding in a meaningful way.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Dong, Jesse Wilcox

This workshop equips both middle and high school teachers to use My NASA Data’s Earth System Data Explorer to investigate the Urban Heat Island Effect as a phenomenon for teaching heat transfer and thermodynamics. Participants will work with authentic NASA satellite datasets—land surface temperature, albedo, and vegetation indices—to explore how urban and rural environments differ in absorbing and releasing energy. Case studies from California and North Carolina provide contrasting examples of geography, land cover, and climate, helping participants connect conduction, convection, and radiation to real-world contexts. Educators will leave with NGSS-aligned, classroom-ready lessons and strategies for guiding students in analyzing satellite data, constructing explanations, and applying science concepts to local and global challenges of urbanization and climate resilience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Middle and high school science teachers will gain classroom-ready, phenomena-based lessons using NASA satellite data to investigate Earth’s energy budget, making heat transfer and thermodynamics meaningful through the Urban Heat Island Effect.

SPEAKERS:
Kellyn Hardin, Natalie Macke

Learn about a sustainable school district model that supports teachers and students in weaving geosciences into every science discipline—from CTE to AP courses. Through professional learning (intensive summer institute and ongoing coaching) and collaborations with community science partners, teachers gain tools to co-design data-rich locally relevant mini-units. Students engage in field trips and work with real, contextualized data to build data skills and see the relevance of geosciences in their own lives. Evaluation shows teachers grow in confidence using authentic data and linking science to local contexts, while students strengthen their science identity, value geosciences more, and build confidence with data literacy. This session will feature program leaders, student reflections, and teachers sharing co-designed units, classroom outcomes, and strategies for effective partnerships.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about a model that helps teachers integrate geosciences across disciplines using authentic data, community science partners, and co-designed curriculum. Teachers gain confidence supporting data skills, while students build science identity and connect geosciences to local and global issues.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Pedemonte

Down to Earth is a free program with six design challenge missions using International Space Station (ISS) research to inspire middle schoolers to address real-world environmental challenges. Each mission includes hands-on investigations, engineering design challenges, background information, worksheets, and implementation materials. This session showcases two new missions focused on food science in space. Cosmic Crops explores how NASA's hydroponic systems grow fresh food in microgravity and how these technologies combat food insecurity on Earth. Orbital Eats explores how scientists develop safe, nutritious meals for extreme environments, with applications for food access challenges on Earth. Attendees experience sample activities and design challenges while learning implementation strategies for diverse settings. Activities align with NGSS standards, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Career and Technical Education pathways. Walk away with ready-to-use resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will gain hands-on experience with activities that use ISS food science to engage students in solving local food security challenges, plus free lesson plans, assessment tools, and implementation strategies for connecting space agriculture technology to community-based action.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Roberts

Indigenous practices of sustainability provide powerful entry points for teaching K–12 students about climate change. These traditions emphasize long-term relationships with the land, cycles of renewal, and reciprocity between people and ecosystems. By examining practices such as seasonal harvesting, controlled burns, rotational planting, and respect for biodiversity, students see concrete examples of how communities have lived in balance with their environments for generations. These practices highlight the importance of observing natural patterns, valuing interdependence, and considering the impact of decisions on future generations. In the classroom, Indigenous perspectives can help students move beyond seeing climate change as abstract science toward understanding it as a lived reality that requires responsibility and care. This approach not only deepens ecological literacy but also encourages students to think critically about sustainability solutions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how Indigenous sustainability practices can enrich climate change teaching, gaining practical strategies supported by handouts and classroom case studies to integrate cultural and scientific perspectives into K–12 learning.

SPEAKERS:
Alexandra Chester, Jordan Kobielus, Jim McDonald

Harness the power of the Infinity Stones to teach the rock cycle! Each stone represents a rock type (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic), and students journey through Earth processes in Marvel-themed stations and comic-style CER writing. This geology unit blends superheroes, hands-on modeling, and NGSS-based Earth science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Walk away with an NGSS-aligned, Marvel-themed rock cycle unit that makes geology unforgettable and fun.

SPEAKERS:
Ricardo Padilla

Data sensemaking is the process by which students explore, analyze and interpret data as they seek to make sense of science phenomena (Griffith et al. 2026, in press). It is central to students’ ability to think critically, draw evidence-based conclusions, and engage in authentic science practices. In this workshop, participants will unpack what data sensemaking practices (e.g., interpret patterns in context) are and how they were designed to enhance students’ SEP 2, 4, 5, and 6 skills. We will explore various strategies (e.g., Hypothesis Array), in the context of real-word climate data and freely available lesson plans and resources, to broaden participants' toolkits for integrating data into their own curricula. Through hands-on learning with data, small-group collaboration, and whole-group reflection, participants will gain strategies for increasing students’ data skills and leave equipped with free, research-based resources to bring authentic data sensemaking into their classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn research-based data sensemaking practices and strategies, experience them with real-world climate data, and explore Data Puzzles lessons and Puzzle Piece resources they can adapt to strengthen NGSS-aligned data use in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Bridget Walsh, Kristin Hunter-Thomson, Annette Brickley

Helping students make sense of the natural world is at the heart of science teaching. This session explores how thinking strategies make student reasoning visible and serve as powerful assessment tools. Participants will see examples from 7th- and 8th-grade classrooms where students use prompts and data to explain Earth and chemical processes, including a local water quality study that connects chemistry, geography, and human impact on ecosystems. These strategies help students explain ideas clearly, test them with evidence, and revise their understanding as they connect scientific concepts to real-world systems. They also support diverse learners, including multilingual, neurodivergent, and differently engaged students, by offering multiple ways to represent and share their thinking. Teachers can use this evidence to assess both understanding and process as all students engage in authentic scientific sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to use thinking strategies as assessment tools to make student reasoning visible, support diverse learners, and deepen understanding through authentic, evidence-based scientific sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Lara Kossiakoff

Join us for hands-on, critical thinking activities that explore electricity, magnetism, and how we can generate power from ocean energy and offshore wind. Engage your students with visualizations that make emerging technologies easier to understand while showing the power of water and wind in action.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will experience hands-on lessons—just as their students would—that demonstrate how ocean and wind energy can do work, while deepening understanding of the emerging technologies used to harness this power.

SPEAKERS:
Don Pruett, Jr.

Reach that hard-to-address uneven distribution of mineral resources standard head on with an innovative Catan-style game! Students will learn as they trade and build. Add some mineral play and songs for all-around fun!

TAKEAWAYS:
Minerals are everywhere around us and their use impacts us in a personal way as well as socially and economically.

SPEAKERS:
Jen Taylor

In this session, we will integrate science with language arts to share hands-on activities about observable patterns in space, including the sun, moon, and stars. The activities address NGSS progressions for elementary space standards. Several children’s books and language arts strategies will be shared. Integrating science and language arts provides students an opportunity “to develop reading and writing skills and to apply comprehension strategies while simultaneously learning about science concepts and processes” (Clark & Lott, 2017, p. 702). Attendees will leave with strategies that integrate science with the six language arts: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing. Please join us for an out of this world experience!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with strategies that integrate science with the six language arts: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Lampley, Frances Hamilton

This interactive workshop supports teachers of grades 3–5 in designing interdisciplinary science experiences related to earthquakes for a variety of learners. Participants explore NGSS 4-PS4-1 by modeling P- and S-seismic waves with a long spring, then analyze seismograms from a recent earthquake to see how waves travel at different speeds and affect matter differently. Building on this, students investigate the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System as one way to reduce the impacts of earthquakes. Then, to address 4-ESS3-2, they investigate their own preparedness ideas so they can compare multiple solutions to keep themselves and their communities safer. The workshop also provides strategies for integrating reading, storytelling, health, and other science standards like 5-ESS2-1 by modeling tsunamis to illustrate interactions among Earth’s spheres. Educators will leave equipped to bring authentic, place-based interdisciplinary, place-based science learning to their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn to guide students in participatory science by modeling seismic waves, analyzing real earthquake data, exploring ShakeAlert and other preparedness solutions, and connecting science with reading, health, and Earth systems standards through interdisciplinary, place-based learning.

SPEAKERS:
Katrina Arras

A Framework for K-12 Science Education identifies critiquing, arguing, and analyzing as evaluative processes that are foundational to science learning. However, misinformation and the influence of social media make it challenging for students to think critically and scientifically about controversial topics. This session introduces a scaffold that can be used as a formative assessment tool to help students purposefully evaluate connections between lines of evidence and alternative explanations of phenomena for sensemaking. In doing so, middle grades and high school students not only construct a deeper understanding of science topics, but exercise negotiation, evaluation of claims and argumentation among peers which are skills that intertwine with English Language Arts. These resources are available through funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a collaborative effort for the Lateral Reading & Model-Evidence-Link (LR/MEL) project.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Model-Evidence-Link instructional scaffolds are assessments designed to assist learners as they evaluate the plausibility of evidence connected to models and to exercise negotiation and argument-building skills from evidence. Participants receive access to all instructional materials.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Holzer, Derek Piper, Lorraine Ramirez Villarin

Build meaningful connections to hard-to-reach ocean ecosystems through real-world science! Learn about colorful corals, fascinating creatures, human impacts, seafloor mapping, underwater robots, and more through work happening right now to restore deep-sea coral communities injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Ready-to-use, NGSS-aligned activities include mock coral collections with remotely-operated vehicles, species ID video games, deep-sea mission board games, scavenger hunts, coloring pages, animated shorts, live connections with scientists at sea, and engaging videos. These resources serve diverse audiences including classroom teachers, informal educators, families, communities, and adults looking for careers in marine science. After hands-on demonstrations of interactive educational materials and a viewing of highlights from livestream broadcasts, participants will leave the session with a full understanding of how to use these free activities and resources for all ages.

TAKEAWAYS:
Connect all ages with deep-sea habitats, human impacts, tech, and careers using real-world science, play-based activities, and storytelling. Bring out-of-reach ecosystems to a range of learners through livestreams with scientists at sea, real footage of unseen places, skill-building games, and more.

SPEAKERS:
Sasha Francis

This interactive workshop helps educators bridge classroom science concepts with real-world environmental action. While national in scope, the session highlights examples and opportunities specific to West Coast educators—illustrating how local environmental issues, from coastal monitoring to drought resilience, can anchor student inquiry and action. Participants will explore place-based and participatory science practices that engage students in locally relevant, data-driven investigations inspiring stewardship and problem-solving. Through a model lesson, teachers will learn to guide students in discussing community needs through the lens of sustainability goals, helping them connect science learning with purposeful action. By the end of the workshop, participants will have access to free resources, databases, and networks that support stewardship-oriented instruction and leave ready to design their own classroom-to-community project.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience how classroom science can lead to real-world impact! Leave with free resources, data tools, and networks that support stewardship-based teaching—and the inspiration to design your own classroom-to-community project. Find out how to get $5000 toward your project.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Martinez, Peggy Steffen

Rubin Observatory is a major public US observatory funded by the NSF and the DOE. Educational materials are freely available to all under a Creative Commons license. “Exploding Stars” is an interactive, classroom-ready, online lesson that uses real data. Designed to support the NGSS, it includes an investigative phenomenon, teacher guide, presentation slides, videos, and a variety of three-dimensional assessments and scoring guides. The investigation encourages student sensemaking as they progress from their initial ideas by integrating science practices and ideas such as analyzing data and using models and mathematical relationships to discover how supernovae can be used to measure distances in space. During the workshop we will explore the phenomenon and investigation, role-playing both teacher and student perspectives. Active learning strategies for formative and summative assessment will include think-pair-share, using a Driving Question Board, and whiteboarding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to implement the Exploding Stars investigation and phenomenon designed to support sensemaking and 3D learning, and explore formative and summative assessment strategies that support inclusive techniques for building student data literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold

Come discover how free, NSF-funded simulations and curricula from The Concord Consortium can add all three dimensions of the NGSS to your earth and environmental science teaching, with a special emphasis on earthquakes, wildfires, and natural hazards. Take away free tips and resources and get access to free curriculum materials you can use immediately to bring NGSS to life in your classroom! This session will demonstrate a wide variety of materials using free simulations and resources developed by The Concord Consortium over decades of NSF funding. Participants will explore free, open source interactive earth and environmental models and learn how they can be used to enhance use of three-dimensional learning in the classroom, with a particular emphasis on use of the Science Practices. Examples and hands-on interaction will engage participants in using models and simulations for powerful NGSS-aligned teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will demonstrate a wide variety of materials using free software developed by The Concord Consortium over a decade of NSF funding. Participants will explore authentic Earth science models and simulations including wildfires, earthquakes, and natural hazards and receive free curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Chad Dorsey

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Engaging students in Earth science learning often starts with curiosity, relevance, and meaningful questions. This session explores how short, real-world science stories can be used as low-prep lesson openers, discussion starters, or unit entry events that invite students to wonder, talk, and make sense of Earth science ideas. Participants will examine practical classroom strategies for using brief science media to connect content to real-world contexts, with examples drawn from EarthDate.

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Swets

Tracking hurricanes and typhoons offers a powerful way to engage students with the three dimensions of NGSS while exploring real-world climate science. In this session, participants will learn how to use the WUnderground website to monitor global storm development and movement. As they analyze real-time data, students will begin to formulate questions and engage in meaningful discussions about atmospheric processes, climate, and human-environment interactions. This approach promotes scientific practices such as data interpretation, modeling, and evidence-based reasoning. At the same time, it connects disciplinary core ideas in the ESS standards to crosscutting concepts like patterns and cause-and-effect. Teachers will gain strategies for integrating these tools into inquiry-based lessons that make complex phenomena accessible, relevant, and engaging for all learners. Ready-to-use lessons will include options for various grades and classroom situations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore inquiry-based lessons focused on the phenomenon of global storms as a method to explore Earth’s systems.

SPEAKERS:
Shefali Mehta

Participants will use live data & R programming (free, open access, non-commercial software for graphing & calculations) to predict eruption frequencies of Old Faithful geyser (NGSS Standards HS-ESS2-3 & HS-ESS2-6; Developing & Using Models & HS-ESS2-2; Analyzing & Interpreting Data). R is easy to learn & aids in visualizing data collected in the science classroom, as well as the integration of science-across-math efforts. This lesson supports a wide range of learners (demonstrated by 10 years teaching science in both brick/mortar Title 1 & on-line schools, raising science test scores above the state average) including multilingual, neurodiverse, students with disabilities & students who face barriers to access or engagement in science learning (e.g. multilingual students of migrant workers who attend school on-line) & is grounded in Science/STEM for all. Participants are advised to bring a laptop with R pre-installed (https://www.r-project.org/ has versions for all operating systems).

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover what a useful tool R programming can be for visualizing & managing live data in the classroom, from graphing to performing calculations, enhancing the integration of science-across-math. Participants will be able to teach their students to use R for data visualization & analysis.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Washburn, Brian Dennis

Following the California 3-Course Integrated Model AND the NGSS Modified Science Domains High School Curricular Model, this storyline for the formation and history of the La Brea tar pits provides an excellent opportunity for place-based sensemaking of a local phenomenon that integrates Earth Science with Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The storylines involves the development of Los Angeles as a sedimentary basin starting 28 million years ago, when the birth of the San Andreas fault tore off and rotated the Transverse Mountains; the development of petroleum in the rock beneath LA; the percolation of petroleum to the surface starting at least 55,000 years ago after the 6th-street fault cut across the sub-LA Puente rock formation; and the evolution and extinction of large mammals like the ground sloths, mastodons, and smilodons with changing climates and the arrival of humans in Southern California. Students can visit the site and see the ongoing excavations as a capstone experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
The La Brea tar pits provides teachers with a way to engage students with a local place-based storyline that helps in their sensemaking for integrating LA’s history in geophysics (earthquakes), geochemistry (petroleum production), geobiology (large mammal evolution), and climate change.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession

Crickets, Climate, and Claims. Ready for a science lesson your students will actually dig into (maybe even literally)? In this hands-on session, you’ll experience a full, classroom-ready Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) cycle that helps students make evidence-based arguments in science. Step into your students’ shoes as you explore a real-world 3D task connecting protein, planet, and persuasion. Using OER data on land and water use by different protein sources and a short reading on insect protein (yes, eating bugs!), you’ll learn how students can build and defend a claim with strong evidence and clear reasoning. Practice quick scoring with a simple three-row rubric that separates Practice, Crosscutting Concept, and Core Idea, and explore multilingual supports that maintain rigor and access for all learners. Leave with a ready-to-use task, anchor samples, and next steps to elevate climate literacy, student voice, and curiosity—all aligned with California AB 285.

TAKEAWAYS:
Reflect on the value and challenges of implementing CER in science classrooms and explore how scaffolded CER supports critical thinking around complex climate-related topics. Walk away with a ready-to-use 3D task, rubric, and strategies that spark inquiry and meet NGSS and CA AB 285.

SPEAKERS:
Lucretia Anton, Lauren Reh

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Dive into Earth's wonders! Our Earth Science workshop offers hands-on activities, expert insights and teaching strategies to inspire curiosity and deepen understanding. Join us in exploring the dynamic systems of our planet! Geology, Meteorology, Atmosphere & Climate! Grades 5-8, 9-12 & AP.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Goodman

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) website has a wealth of ocean resources but was previously difficult to search and use. We cataloged the content based on alignment with NGSS and Ocean Literacy Principles as well as topic and type of media and created a searchable database. This “Ocean Learning Hub” is now a searchable database that provides easy and fast access to the content as well as a bookmarking system so you can collate your resources for future reference. We will walk you through this updated website as well as provide an overview and demonstration of one of our available lesson plans developed with a WHOI researcher that explores ocean currents and specifically “underwater waterfalls”, i.e., overflows in the North Atlantic. I will share editable slides that include a quiz, instructions for a hands-on experiment, and two videos. The slides are annotated with teacher notes to help with narration, background information, and conduction of the experiment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to navigate the new standards based, educator-friendly WHOI Ocean Learning Hub website, gain ocean resources to use in their classroom and for outreach use, and all ages will understand the ocean’s role in our planet’s future.

SPEAKERS:
Grace Simpkins

Our best science learning labs are within easy walking distance and are free and equally accessible to every teacher and student! We start with the sky to illustrate how simple daily observations of changing weather patterns can be combined with easily-accessible images and data from the National Weather Service to demonstrate basic scientific concepts in motion. We will find countless examples of how weather and climate are impacting our water resources, plants and animals, and shaping our landscapes and lives. We will use California’s outdoor laboratories as premier examples of how nature reminds us to use the scientific method to understand the complex natural systems and cycles that are shaping our world and providing us with essential resources for survival. Join earth science professor, author, and naturalist William Selby as he shares discoveries from his California Sky Watcher book and four decades of teaching field classes. Our website: www.rediscoveringthegoldenstate.com .

TAKEAWAYS:
How to more effectively learn from the free outdoor laboratories that are easily accessible to all. Starting with our sky shows, we will share specific scientific concepts and natural science lessons on display every day right outside our windows and doors for grades 6-postsecondary levels.

SPEAKERS:
William Selby

“Stellar Safari” is a free classroom-ready lesson. Designed to support the NGSS, it includes a phenomenon, teacher guide, and three-dimensional formative and summative assessments. The workshop begins with a data-based phenomenon activity, in which participants will engage in sensemaking as they wonder what causes differences in stars, such as brightness and temperature. During the investigation, students compare data of main sequence stars like the Sun to discover how stellar properties are related and are the result of a star’s mass and fusion rate. Finally, they experiment with stellar models used by astronomers to determine star distances and age. During the workshop we role-play both teacher and student perspectives. Active learning strategies for formative and summative assessment will include think-pair-share, using a Driving Question Board, and whiteboarding. Rubin Observatory is a major public US observatory. All educational materials and services are freely available to all.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to implement the Stellar Safari online investigation and phenomenon designed to support sensemaking and 3D learning, and explore formative and summative assessment strategies that support inclusive techniques for building student data literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold

Help students connect science learning to the world around them through engaging, hands-on activities that explore ecological connections between people’s land and resource use, climate change, wildlife habitat, and sustainable communities. In this interactive session, participants work collaboratively on systems modeling, simulations and problem-solving challenges that build environmental literacy and inspire students to take informed action. The presented activities emphasize human–environment interactions through crosscutting concepts like cause and effect and stability and change. Attendees will leave with classroom-ready materials that foster curiosity, critical thinking, and environmental literacy, empowering middle school learners to see themselves as problem solvers in a changing world. The presenter will also introduce a tool kit for students to extend their learning to civic engagement and multi-media projects outside of the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn NGSS-aligned, hands-on activities that build students’ environmental awareness, data skills, and problem-solving abilities while inspiring them to take informed action on real-world sustainability challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Short, Barbara Huth

From Tatooine’s twin suns to Endor’s forest moon, this Star Wars-themed lesson guides students through Earth-Moon-Sun relationships using familiar planets from a galaxy far, far away. Students compare fantasy and real planetary systems, model eclipses and tides, and build literacy through science-fiction CERs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will receive a creative unit comparing real space science with Star Wars worlds to build understanding of Earth-Moon-Sun interactions.

SPEAKERS:
Ricardo Padilla

In this interactive workshop, a series of middle school Earth Science lessons will be shared to help educators bring local phenomena into their classrooms and engage their learners in sensemaking. Lessons topics include debris flow, wildfire, river velocity, weathering, plate tectonics, and mining of natural resources. These student-centered lessons were developed, peer reviewed, and tested in middle school classrooms as part of multiple National Science Foundation grants. All lessons are aligned with the NGSS and leverage local phenomena to elicit student ideas about the natural world. Participants will have electronic access to all lessons and will experience aspects of the lessons as students in this workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with multiple NGGS aligned Earth Science lessons to use in their classrooms. Lessons will be shared electronically, teachers will experience aspects of the lessons as students, and time will be spent brainstorming how teachers can use local phenomena to ground the lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Trista McLaughlin, Megan Beckam

Learn about all the fun ways to engage young children in STEM through map making, tracking and compass use. Children and adults of all ages can have a blast, when mapping is on the table!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a range of age-appropriate activities around reading and making maps, animal tracking and compass work. They will leave with ideas that they can use in their classrooms, no matter the resources or space.

SPEAKERS:
Rina Zampieron

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health. Research shows that high school is a key time in career awareness and preparation. These materials provide students with an opportunity to expand their understanding of health professions and to consider the roles of community members in promoting public health. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for connecting students to public health roles in their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical strategies and resources to help students explore public health careers and understand the impact of community roles in promoting health.

SPEAKERS:
Malalai Sayedi, Lena Cosentino

Phenomena are the starting point for NGSS and Louisiana’s science standards, yet many educators wonder how to guide students from curiosity to deep sensemaking. The MOSAIC Framework: Modeling, Observation, Scaffolding, Assessment, Inquiry, and Collaboration offers a practical, equitable framework for designing lessons that engage all learners. In this 60-minute interactive workshop, participants will experience MOSAIC as learners by investigating a Louisiana swamp fire phenomenon, where fires smolder in wetlands and release harmful smoke for weeks. Teachers will model combustion, analyze data on methane and oxygen, and collaborate to explain how fire persists in a wet environment. Each step will be paired with ready-to-use scaffolds such as diagrams, talk stems, and formative checks.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end, participants will see how MOSAIC supports 3D learning and equitable sensemaking in chemistry and environmental science, leaving with practical strategies and a planning template for teaching local, real-world phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Neotha Williams

The Global Ocean Biogeochemical Array (https://www.go-bgc.org/) provides researchers and educators access to over 400 floats that are profiling the water column from 2000 meters to the surface collecting biogeochemical data (pH, oxygen, temperature, nitrate, CO2, fluorescence, Chl, and salinity). Educators also have the option to adopt a float (https://www.go-bgc.org/outreach/adopt-a-float) providing a sense of ownership and pride in the float and the data being gathered. Tutorials and lesson plans are available on the website but this presentation will demonstrate and enable educators to see how easy it is to access the data. Lesson plans are linked with both the Ocean Literacy Principles and the Next Generation Science Standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to utilize real data being gathered by scientific instruments around the world. Hands-on investigation will empower educators with the ability to locate and analyze biogeochemical data and correlate it to biological and physical oceanography.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Magnusson, George Matsumoto

Sustaining districtwide shifts in science instruction requires strong teacher leaders. In this session, participants will explore how one urban district scaled the EarthX District Teacher Team (DTT) from 5 to 26 high schools to lead phenomena-based, three-dimensional (NGSS-aligned) science instruction in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The DTT model positions teachers as instructional leaders who bridge district goals with classroom practice while fostering collaboration, shared artifacts, and professional learning. Presenters will share lessons learned on recruitment, coaching, equity of access, and sustaining efforts beyond grant funding. Attendees will engage in leadership design protocols to analyze challenges, apply an equity lens to systemic change, and generate strategies for scaling STEM initiatives. Participants will leave with tools, protocols, and an action plan to strengthen science leadership in their contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to leverage teacher leadership to sustain equitable, NGSS-aligned science instruction across schools and leave with practical tools, protocols, and strategies for building and scaling effective STEM leadership teams in their own districts.

SPEAKERS:
Nina Groseclose, Angela Hood, Edmund Mitzel, Jr., Ph.D., Alan Berkowitz, Jenn Brown-Whale, Kevin Garner

This interactive workshop highlights The Great Indoors, a free, NGSS-aligned unit for grades 3–5 that blends storytelling, inquiry, and design challenges to turn science learning into real-world action. Students follow Mira, a curious learner investigating the air in her new home, and conduct hands-on experiments to test factors such as ventilation, humidity, and particulates. As they observe, ask questions, and design solutions, they build the competence to apply science in meaningful ways. Students share findings and make plans with their families and extend ideas into their communities. This unit integrates the three dimensions of NGSS, fosters sensemaking through authentic phenomena, and builds student agency. Lessons are modular, adaptable to different schedules, and accessible to all learners. Teachers will participate in sample activities, discuss implementation strategies, and leave with turn-key resources that make science engaging, empowering, and action-oriented.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will discover strategies from a ready-to-use unit that engages students in investigating indoor air quality and empowers them to take meaningful actions - first at home and in class, then in their wider communities.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

Sponsoring Company: Esri

Geographic maps (GIS) are powerful tools for visualizing and analyzing scientific data from the schoolyard to the planet. Learn how to use no-cost, no login tools from Esri to explore and understand data using our new tools, including the National Geographic MapMaker. Learn to use 3D data and sketching to improve the map.

SPEAKERS:
Thomas Baker

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Palmer, Jentry Yard, Crystal McDowell

Through hands-on investigations and activities developed by NOAA Ocean Exploration, participants will experience how students can think and work like ocean scientists. Educators will engage in lessons that use mapping technology, water column investigations, and underwater robotics to gather and analyze data, revealing the patterns scientists use to locate hydrothermal vents. These classroom-ready experiences show how students, no matter where they live, can explore the ocean and contribute to understanding new habitats and species. The session will also highlight a recent real-world example from researchers and educators at the University of Delaware and collaborators aboard the R/V Atlantis, who captured the first-ever observations of an underwater volcanic eruption in progress.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how modern technology helps students explore the ocean from wherever they live. Hands-on investigations model the work ocean scientists and explorers use every day to gather new data and find new habitats and species.

SPEAKERS:
David Christopher, Tami Lunsford

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Fuel your curiosity—and your teaching toolkit—with this dynamic exploration of how our world powers itself. Participants will dive into two of Switch Classroom’s most popular energy activities. Start with Energy Resource Stations, comparing coal, wind, solar, natural gas, and more through short videos, hands-on evidence sorting, and lively discussion of benefits, limitations, and trade-offs. Then shift into Energy Transformations, tracing how energy changes from chemical to thermal, mechanical, and electromagnetic as you build explanations, use models, and make real-world connections. Leave with free Switch Classroom lessons and classroom-ready strategies for grades 4–12.

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Swets

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Come experience what Carolina + OpenSciEd Elementary is all about through a hands-on model lesson in which students explore water in natural systems, determine if it is healthy or unhealthy, and discuss what can be done. Discover how the new Carolina Certified Version of OpenSciEd’s high-quality instructional materials are more accessible, more user-friendly, and enhanced for classroom safety. Participants will walk away with valuable resources for their classroom.    

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

How do we get students to focus more on the learning and less on the grade? The traditional points system makes this challenging. In this session, learn how to use Learning Progressions to assess student learning without points, including how to help students self-assess their own learning throughout a unit. This session will provide concrete examples, templates, and organizational systems currently being used in high school Biology & Astronomy classes (though this can be applied to other subject areas as well). Come get ideas for moving away from a points-based, grade-focused system and refocus students on the content and skills they are learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use Learning Progressions to assess student learning without points or percentages.

SPEAKERS:
J. Palmer

Bring the Sun into your classroom with this interactive session featuring NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) resources. Participants will explore NGSS-aligned, hands on labs covering measurement and estimation, mechanics, light and optics, magnetism, and eclipses. These activities make complex solar science and heliophysics concepts accessible for middle school learners while providing pathways to scale up for high school and college classrooms. The session highlights how students can build critical STEM skills through data collection, modeling, and problem solving, while connecting heliophysics to real world applications such as space weather, energy, and technology. Educators will leave with classroom ready lessons, instructional strategies, and access to free NASA resources that inspire curiosity, foster sensemaking, and prepare students for future STEM opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use NASA HEAT heliophysics resources and hands on labs on mechanics, light, magnetism, and eclipses that can be scaled from middle school to college, building STEM skills and connecting science to real world applications.

SPEAKERS:
Rodrigo Castillo Vasquez, Linh Ho

The Big Bang Theory of universe expansion and the evidence that supports it are among the most abstract concepts that we ask our students to learn, but actively modelling these ideas can make them accessible. In this workshop, we will take you through a basic learning sequence (focused on HS-ESS 1-2 and SEP 2) that explains universe expansion using modelling. The final model will demonstrate the process of universe expansion as well as show supporting evidence for the Big Bang Theory (redshift, CMBR, and H/He ratio), but it will not look anything like the real universe!. The steps involved in making our model are just as important as the end model itself and anyone can use the ideas presented in this workshop to design uniquely active models of abstract ideas in any subject. This learning sequence is written for a freshman stand-alone Earth & Space Science class, but can also be delivered as written to any class of high school students studying the origins of the physical universe.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to bring abstract ideas (such as the Big Bang Theory) down to Earth through modelling. The act of creating our model mimics the basic steps of the Big Bang Theory and our final product demonstrates the Big Bang evidence written in HS-ESS 1-2.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Libke

This session is about learning to analyze and interpret weather and climate data using a custom designed graphing tool that simplifies visualizing and analyzing data. It includes time scales of hours, days and weeks (for weather) to decades and centuries (for climate). A large range of parameters or measurements are available for visual display using the tool, including humidity, wind, temperature, and precipitation. Participants will investigate relationships between variables such as barometric pressure and precipitation, using data from a wide range of geographical stations in the United States. Selected stations represent sites with contrasting latitudes, altitudes, proximity to water bodies, and other elements, in order to best study the effect of these variables on weather and climate. The session will analyze data to look for patterns of change over time and to investigate regional patterns and region-specific effects of climate change.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore weather and climate data through an online graphing tool that simplifies data visualization so students can focus on analysis and interpretation. Local and National data at http://uanyc.science/pwc

SPEAKERS:
Jasmina Nikolov, Rachelle Travis

Explore how multilingual learners' (MLLs) linguistic and cultural assets can strengthen data literacy instruction. Through hands-on data investigations and pedagogical reflection, participants will learn to design equitable data analysis experiences that leverage MLLs' full multimodal repertoires for scientific sensemaking. Participants will first engage as learners in data-rich activities featuring explicit scaffolds that support MLLs in analyzing, visualizing, and interpreting scientific data. These activities model how translanguaging, visual representations, and collaborative discourse structures can make complex data accessible while honoring students' linguistic diversity. After experiencing these supports firsthand, participants will examine the pedagogical principles behind effective data literacy instruction for MLLs and work collaboratively in small groups to modify existing data analysis tasks to incorporate in their own classrooms with their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn research-based strategies for supporting MLLs in data analysis and interpretation by leveraging translanguaging, multimodal representations, and collaborative structures that position linguistic diversity as an asset for deeper scientific data literacy and collective sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Nico Janik, Karen Lionberger

I will share my experience using the Completely Hackable Amateur Radio Telescope (CHART) in my high school classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
I will explain why and how we should teach radio astronomy in high school.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Palmer

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Lewis

Discover a wealth of free, high-quality instructional resources from Windows to the Universe to enhance Earth and space science teaching and learning. This poster/share-a-thon presentation will introduce attendees to a variety of materials, including engaging activities, multimedia, and interactive simulations, designed to captivate their students and foster a deeper understanding of our planet and the universe. They will learn how to seamlessly integrate these resources into their curriculum to address a wide range of NGSS-identified Earth and space science topics. From plate tectonics to solar system exploration, they will find everything they need to create dynamic and effective lessons. By utilizing these resources, they can inspire their students to become lifelong learners and develop a passion for scientific inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Enhance your Earth and Space Science teaching and student learning with free instructional resources from Windows to the Universe! Bundle high-quality materials for effective lessons related to any Earth and space science topic.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Holzer

K–12 students explore climate science and real-world climate solutions. Developed by the UCAR Center for Science Education, these interactive resources engage learners in systems thinking, modeling, and decision-making. We share learning games for a range of ages and learning targets, including simulations that explore carbon emissions and energy choices, paper-based role-playing games about greenhouse gases and the nitrogen cycle, and playful games from our SkySci for Kids website for early elementary learners. All resources are designed to build understanding, spark curiosity, and empower students to see themselves as agents of change. Participants will hear tips from one of our seasoned educators about integrating these resources across grade levels to foster climate literacy and action.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover free, classroom-ready climate games and simulations that engage K–12 students in systems thinking and real-world problem solving. Learn how to integrate these tools to build climate literacy and inspire student action.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rummel

Discover Rubin Observatory’s free, classroom-ready astronomy investigations, built to support NGSS and spark curiosity with authentic data. Each begins with a phenomenon and guides students through interactive tools, scaffolded questions, and active learning strategies that strengthen sensemaking. Formative and summative assessments with scoring guides support classroom use. Additional resources—such as Rubin Voices Trading Cards that highlight diverse STEM careers, animated videos, interactive tours, and activities ranging from galaxy counting to Rubin Bingo—bring astronomy to life. Teachers can also access free professional development, classroom support, and an education mailing list for ongoing updates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore Rubin Observatory’s free classroom-ready astronomy investigations and STEM activities, all designed to support the NGSS. Discover how to access professional development, teacher support, and additional resources like videos, games, data-based image tours, and trading cards.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Madison Staton

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health. Research shows that high school is a key time in career awareness and preparation. These materials provide students with an opportunity to expand their understanding of health professions and to consider the roles of community members in promoting public health. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for connecting students to public health roles in their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical strategies and resources to help students explore public health careers and understand the impact of community roles in promoting health.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Di Silvio

This poster highlights The Great Indoors, an NGSS-aligned unit for grades 3–5 that blends storytelling, inquiry, and design challenges to help students explore indoor air quality and practice problem-solving. Students follow Mira, a curious learner investigating the air in her new home, and conduct hands-on experiments with variables such as ventilation, humidity, and particulates. They make observations, ask questions, and apply engineering design to create simple solutions that improve the spaces where they live, learn, and play. Developed with university partners, the unit integrates the three dimensions of NGSS, builds action competence, and supports sensemaking through authentic, place-based phenomena. Each lesson is modular, adaptable to different schedules, and accessible to all learners. Teachers will be introduced to lesson designs, experiments, and free resources that make science engaging, inclusive, and relevant to the air we breathe indoors.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will explore a ready-to-use, NGSS-aligned unit where grades 3–5 students investigate indoor air quality through storytelling, inquiry, and hands-on experiments, building sensemaking, action competence, and problem-solving through design thinking and engineering.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Rebekah Hall

The My NASA Data website provides educators and students with curated NASA Earth science datasets to support phenomena-based instruction and data-driven inquiry. Organized by Earth system spheres and related phenomena, it connects real-world events such as hurricanes, heat waves, and vegetation change to authentic NASA observations. Aligned with NGSS, the site offers student mini lessons, interactive story maps, and teacher lesson plans that integrate science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. The Earth System Data Explorer enables visualization of mapped data, time-series plots, and dataset downloads for analysis. Tools like the Data Literacy Cubes help students interpret maps, graphs, and tables to construct evidence-based explanations. My NASA Data empowers teachers to design data-rich, phenomena-driven learning experiences that strengthen students’ skills in scientific reasoning, data interpretation, and systems thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how My NASA Data supports phenomena-based instruction through authentic NASA datasets, interactive tools, and data literacy resources that guide student-driven inquiry.

SPEAKERS:
Natalie Macke

El Niño is the most energetic year-to-year climate variation on Earth. El Nino impacts food, water resources, health safety around the world. Climate change will likely increase El Nino’s impacts.. But practically all definitions of this important Earth Systems phenomenon are convoluted: “a condition, a cycle, characterized by, climate pattern, a weather pattern, etc.” The Decade of the Ocean gives us an opportunity to collectively build a basic conceptual model based on the scaffolding from elementary school: a water wave and the water cycle. The Ocean Literacy Essential Principle #3 (MS) provides a ‘bingo card’ structure for applying the seven crosscutting concepts that will yield a memorable visual and textual model.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will go away with an easy-to-remember and easy-to-share conceptual understanding of El Niño: how the ocean and atmosphere are dance partners of our Earth System of Systems.

SPEAKERS:
Joe Witte

Congratulations, Planet Finder! You’ve just found a new planet in our Solar System! When you have an engaging problem to solve, even Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion can become exciting. This poster will summarize a standards-based unit on Planets and Orbits that will include student work and examples of a final project (HS-ESS 1-4 and HS-ESS 1-6 and SEPs 2, 4, 5, and 6). As a summative task, individual students are given the average radius of their newly discovered planet’s orbit only. Using just this information they describe their planet’s characteristics and produce a NEW and IMPROVED version of the Solar System in small groups. All instructional materials will be available and have been Google translated into Spanish. This unit is designed for a freshmen Earth & Space Systems course but can be used in any Earth-focused physical science course.

TAKEAWAYS:
A creative summative task can help elicit student interest, especially when the topic is not very much fun. Learn how to engage students in using Kepler’s Laws and planet traits to create an “updated” group model of the solar system. (HS-ESS 1-4 and HS-ESS 1-6 and SEPs 2, 4, 5, and 6)

SPEAKERS:
Taylor Salazar, Amanda Libke

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Shanna Bohrer

Discover the Health DataWell instructional materials, co-developed by HESI and NSTA, to address the lack of materials focused on public health and data literacy. The materials provide opportunities for students to build data literacy by analyzing complex public health data, using statistics and computational models, and comparing sources to develop evidence-based explanations and solutions. In this session, you will hear from teachers who implemented the materials (Health Data Well Ambassadors) and gain practical strategies for utilizing complex public health data analysis tools with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials, focusing on using real-world data and data analysis tools to identify disparities in health outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Davis

When we broaden our idea of assessment beyond traditional paper and pencil tests, we give our students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in both creative ways and real world applications of Earth Science concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Assessment can take a number of different forms that are more relevant than traditional paper and pencil tests. These assessments are particularly valuable for Earth Science Students who struggle with traditional assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Vanessa Ueltzen

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Join us for an interactive, hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for Middle School and explore how the Carolina Certified Version elevates these high-quality instructional materials—making them more accessible, more user-friendly, and safer for everyday classroom use. Experience the Anchoring Phenomenon Routine in action as you dive into the fascinating world of plate tectonics. Walk away with practical strategies and valuable resources that you can implement immediately to spark curiosity and deepen learning in your classroom. 

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort

Join NSF NOIRLab and explore the universe from radio waves through gamma rays with high-quality, all-sky images and educational activities using NOIRLab’s Multiwavelength Universe project. The workshop will provide data from a variety of sources to encourage student exploration of astronomical objects and the processes that produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum. In this interactive workshop, participants will journey through the Universe as we model the nature of light and build an understanding of wave properties. Data from the Multiwavelength Universe project will be used to demonstrate how each part of the spectrum helps astronomers uncover the structure, composition, and hidden phenomena of the cosmos. We will share inclusive strategies, such as multiple modes of data representation (sonification for example), to ensure all learners can access and engage with space science concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to access images of astronomical objects from across the electromagnetic spectrum and explore how astronomers learn about the physical properties of different types of astronomical objects using the various types of electromagnetic radiation they emit.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Sparks

How can science learning experiences help students develop ecological caring approaches to the living world? Come explore educational approaches to multispecies justice with us! Expanding how students connect to and care for the living world around them is vital at this time of climate crisis. We will draw on resources from STEM Teaching Tools (stemteachingtools.org) and Learning in Places (learninginplaces.org) to support these experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
People’s relationships to nature are culturally and historically rooted and are embedded in approaches to science teaching and learning. Science can be used to guide ecological caring responses and support the thriving of people and ecosystems.

SPEAKERS:
Kelsie Fowler, Philip Bell

Animate your students, literally. Scientific processes come alive when students use their bodies to play the role of molecules, rocks, Earthquake waves, air masses, or even the entire planet as it takes laps around the Sun. This is MORE than a hands-on lesson -- you'll engage your whole body! We'll look at the science behind why kinsethetic activities work, how they fit into the modeling practice of the NGSS, explore half a dozen examples that require zero materials, and then have you work in small groups to create a new kinesthetic activity to teach a topic you care about.

TAKEAWAYS:
Kinesthetic activities (where students model science processes with their whole bodies) are an excellent tool for teachers and students to engage in the science practice of modeling. They turn abstract, multi-step phenomena into intuitive, memorable experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Virginia (Gini) Oberholzer Vandergon

This Speed Sharing session highlights two free, ready-to-use NGSS-aligned units that bring climate and health science into grades 3–8 classrooms through storytelling, experiments, and case studies. In the elementary unit, students follow Mira as she investigates indoor air quality and proposes simple solutions. In the middle school unit, students analyze data and explore how climate-driven events like wildfires, flooding, and pesticide use affect indoor environments and human health. Both units end with a community-focused design challenge. Developed with university partners, the lessons integrate the three dimensions of NGSS, foster sensemaking, and build student action competence. They are modular, adaptable, and accessible to diverse learners. Teachers will leave with ready-to-use resources and strategies that make climate and health science engaging and relevant.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will discover free, ready-to-use, NGSS-aligned units for grades 3–8 that use storytelling, experiments, and case studies to connect climate science, indoor environments, and human health. These units empower students to ask questions, solve problems, and take action.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

Dive into the ocean and discover awe inspiring phenomena that will inspire your students. In our hour session we’ll explore shark teeth and shark buoyancy, whaleometry, plankton design, island ecology, wave science, and physical oceanography. The ocean connects your science subject matter to real-life contexts and provides learning experiences to engage student interest and supports their motivation. The ocean is not merely water - it is a cradle and a crucible where life dreams, where storms rage, and where horizons tease us with the ability to bring our science instruction to life.

TAKEAWAYS:
Good phenomena can make or break science instruction. Attendees will learn how to use ocean based phenomena to enhance Next Generation Science units. In addition, activities and labs will be presented on marine life and physical oceanography that are engaging to students and easy for teachers.

SPEAKERS:
William Brooks

Why do some burned hillsides suddenly flood or slide after a storm? This session uses phenomena-based instruction to explore how soil chemistry and structure regulate water movement, nutrient transport, and pollutant filtration. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that model how soils can absorb or repel water, store and release nutrients, and contribute to hazards such as flooding, landslides, and fire-altered soils that become water-repellent. Investigating soil data and maps, educators will uncover how soil processes connect to essential Earth and environmental science concepts. Participants will leave with freely available resources, professional development opportunities, and strategies for guiding students to explain natural hazards and ecosystem functions through the lens of soil science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Why do burned slopes flood or slide? Engage your students in hands-on soil investigations to uncover how structure and chemistry regulate water flow, stability, and susceptibility to hazards and take home free resources to spark phenomena-based learning in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Natalie Macke

Over the long history of our planet sea levels have always been changing. After the last ice age, sea level rose about 120 meters or about 4 feet per century. We have real time data records about sea level rising the past 150 years ago and the impacts of sea level rise are being felt along the coastlines of the United States and its territories. Attendees will learn about where to find information about the causes of sea level rise and local information about the amount of rise for a coastal locality. Attendees will then experience a role-playing simulation from NOAA, Beat the Uncertainty, that asks students to choose strategies that can help coastal communities to be more resilient with one of the most dangerous climate impacts of our time, sea level rise. The simulation is appropriate for upper elementary through adult ages. The results of the simulation provide opportunities for discussion on how coastal communities can be prepared in the face of sea level rise and severe weather.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to set up and run the simulation in their own classroom and how to find resources that relate to sea level rise and community resilience strategies.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Holzer, Peggy Steffen

TThe Paleobiology Database (PBD) is a public research database of paleontological data that is freely available to anyone. Students can use the PBD to gather data about fossils including locations and organismal ecology. The PBD Navigator can also be used to visualize fossil locations, create fossil maps and analyze patterns in the fossil record. These activities can be aligned with and support the science and engineering practices (SEP) including Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Constructing Explanation and Engaging in Argument from Evidence. Students can view the data through the lens of Cross Cutting Concepts (CCC’s) such as Patterns or Scale, Proportion and Quantity. An example in which the PBD was used as part of an Earth Sciences PBL (project based learning) will be presented and resources will be highlighted and shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the Paleobiology Database (PBD) and how they can incorporate it into their science curriculum to support three-dimensional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Renee JiJi

The UCAR Center for Science Education provides free educational resources for your K-12 students to learn about Earth systems science- hands-on activities, curriculum, videos, images, online games, STEM at home activities, and more! Learn about our free virtual programs and sign up for our free or low cost teacher professional development workshops.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about different free educational resources we offer, including games, activities, and virtual programs that work great in informal learning environments.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rummel

Population Education staff will share activities that address some of the fundamentals of human ecology – understanding how people have changed the landscape and ecosystems as our population has grown. They will share best practices in facilitating environmental education activities that are interactive, inquiry-based, inclusive, and collaborative. They will also provide information on how the activities address NGSS. Visitors will receive electronic versions of activities and background materials to use environmental education centers, science museums, zoos and other informal education sites.

TAKEAWAYS:
Share-a-thon visitors will discover ways to incorporate hands-on activities into their programming that explore relationships between people and the environment.

SPEAKERS:
Barbara Huth

Discover the Health DataWell public health instructional materials, co-developed by NSTA and HESI Global. The materials provide opportunities for students to investigate public health phenomena using real-world data. In doing so, students gain an understanding of the complex factors that influence public health, and the roles that community members and public health experts play in promoting community health. The session will focus on a lesson in which students use disciplinary core ideas about structure and function and variation of traits to answer questions about the relationship between air pollution exposure and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Participants will experience the phenomenon and hear from the 2025-2026 Health DataWell Ambassadors about their experiences implementing the materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for implementing the Health DataWell instructional materials in their classrooms, enabling them to effectively engage students in investigating public health phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta

Sponsoring Company: U.S. Geological Survey

In this workshop, attendees will have the opportunity to explore free educational resources from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As the science arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the USGS brings an array of earth, water, biological, and mapping data and expertise to support decision-making on environmental, resource, and public safety issues. This workshop will consist of an overview of USGS earth and environmental science educational resources and provide information on how and where educators can access them. Attendees will then have the opportunity to explore selected USGS educational resources in a choose-your-own-adventure style by completing 2-3 mini adventures that highlight USGS science (energy and minerals, water resources, ecosystem science, natural hazards, mapping, etc.) through lessons, real-world data exploration, or hands-on activities.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Williams

In this session, we will demonstrate how to incorporate outdoor data collection into your curriculum to both enhance student engagement and understanding of the phenomena. Using the local ecosystem as a guide, we will demonstrate how to design a placed based unit that engages students in asking questions that can be answered by investigating in your own back yard. Assessment can be integrated through portfolios showcasing their work, peer evaluations, and reflective journals. For example, teaching students how scientist gather information using quadrats, transects, and other simple measuring techniques can teach data recording and analysis skills while meeting science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Place based learning activities can be more than just a fun outdoor activity. Facilitating opportunities where students will investigate the ecosystem right outside their back door. A clear template for engaging students organizing and analyzing their own data to make sense of local phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Marshall

As data science becomes increasingly important in the twenty-first century, educators continue to develop instructional strategies to incorporate data into their classrooms effectively. The Data Ecosystem Project is a research initiative focused on two main aspects of K-12 science education: data-rich pedagogy (DRP) and the connection between data-driven strategies that support science content learning and the development of data skills in learners. Throughout the school year, five middle school science educators received both group and individual professional learning support for DRP. End-of-the-year interviews revealed that educators acknowledged the significance of DRP in fostering critical thinking and real-world problem-solving. However, they faced challenges in implementing DRP due to curriculum limitations. Educators evaluated their DRP and positioned themselves on a continuum at the project's beginning and end. All educators enhanced their use and understanding of DRP.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will incorporate examples of data-rich pedagogy for middle school science educators through group professional learning sessions and one-on-one support.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Ostrom

This session introduces educators to the process of identifying agricultural phenomena and connecting them to NGSS science concepts. Participants will engage in hands-on activities including a “Phenomenon Sort” and “Phenomena Match Game” to evaluate and align agricultural examples with science standards. Teachers will brainstorm local phenomena and leave with tools like the Phenomena Farming Checklist and a ready-to-use list of ag phenomena across disciplines. The session emphasizes how to make science instruction more relevant by integrating agriculture as a lens for exploration and inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers leave with tools to identify and use agricultural phenomena that are observable, puzzling, and connected to NGSS three dimensions.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta

Participants will be introduced to educational approaches to using geoheritage sites in instruction, which promotes the interdisciplinary study of a locations’ scientific, educational, cultural, economic, and aesthetic values. Using NGSS-based resources from the American Geosciences Institute, which were made in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service, participants will explore classroom activities, geologic maps, images, and other media that can help tell the story of the geologic and human history of sites around the U.S. in a way that relates to current science standards, as well as standards from other subject areas. Specific geoheritage sites—Cumberland Gap, Kilauea, Mather Gorge, Mount St. Helens, and White Sands—will be used to showcase how the geologic diversity of the U.S. has affected human populations. Educators can then apply what they learn about using a geoheritage-based educational approach to other geologic sites around the world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to access a collection of free resources on geoheritage sites in the U.S. and its territories and will also learn practical strategies designed to introduce geoheritage to middle school students.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Brase, Lindsay Mossa

Phenomena—ranging from wireless charging and melting ice to earthquakes and plant growth—occur whenever energy is transferred. Yet many students view energy as discipline-specific, assuming that “energy in physics” is different from “energy in biology.” This makes it difficult for them to recognize energy as a crosscutting concept when exploring systems. Our research shows that students explain phenomena more effectively and better understand energy conservation when they track energy transfers within and between systems. In this workshop, you will learn how the energy transfer approach (ETA) and energy transfer diagrams (ETDs) can support students’ understanding of NGSS-aligned learning goals. You will construct ETDs and explore how they help learners visualize the energy flows driving phenomena. Although the workshop activities align with physical science NGSS Performance Expectations, the ETD approach can be readily adapted for biology, and Earth and space science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers learn the energy transfer approach (ETA) and how to construct energy transfer diagrams (ETDs) to help students track energy flow within and between systems. ETDs offer a clear, consistent method for representing the energy flows that drive real-world phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Weiwei He, Erin Lewis

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Join us for an interactive exploration of how wind, water, and ice shape Earth’s surface through erosion. Using modeling and integrated literacy activities, participants will examine the difference between slow processes, such as mountain weathering, and rapid events, such as landslides. By engaging in hands-on modeling, participants will illustrate landform characteristics and visualize the impact of erosion over time. Leave with valuable classroom resources. 

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Using finger LEDs and color filters, we will explore basic properties of visible light in the electromagnetic spectrum to sort colored M&M candies in the absence of white light. It’s a great exploratory activity to investigate the basic properties of visible light including reflection, absorption, and transmission. Using one color at a time to sort the colored candies helps to see which color wavelengths are reflected and absorbed in the colored candies, and when all 3 primary light colors are combined, it offers a different perspective. Additionally, by collecting data for enrichment opportunities and cross curricular connections, we can compare percentages of our population samples to determine the most likely percentage of green M&Ms in the bag (a very popular color).

TAKEAWAYS:
It's an exploration to introduce the EM spectrum using RGB LEDs and filters to investigate the basic properties of visible light by seeing how it interacts with colored candy through reflection, absorption, and transmission. These interactions connect to color perception and light-based tech.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Anderson, Brittany Chase

Discover how NASA data can meaningfully connect global data with locally relevant phenomenon investigations (e.g, wildfires, drought, sea-level rise). This hands-on workshop demonstrates how educators can leverage place-based learning principles to design lessons with NASA data and supporting resources to help catalyze students’ data literacy. Participants will experience data-driven investigations that connect their local environment to global Earth systems using NASA's resources. Through place-based inquiry, we'll explore how to guide students in analyzing multiple data types (categorical, numeric, geospatial, temporal) and representations (graphs, maps, tables) to investigate locally relevant phenomena in their own communities. Participants will work in small groups to critically examine and plan for implementation of pedagogical strategies for place-based data investigations that honor students' lived experiences while building data literacy skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design place-based investigations that increase data literacy skills for students as they use NASA data alongside local observations to more deeply investigate locally relevant phenomena impacting their communities (e.g., wildfires, drought, sea-level rise).

SPEAKERS:
Sara Salisbury, Karen Lionberger

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Engaging students in Earth science learning often starts with curiosity, relevance, and meaningful questions. This session explores how short, real-world science stories can be used as low-prep lesson openers, discussion starters, or unit entry events that invite students to wonder, talk, and make sense of Earth science ideas. Participants will examine practical classroom strategies for using brief science media to connect content to real-world contexts, with examples drawn from EarthDate.

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Swets

Experience the "a-ha" moments firsthand. In this immersive session where we'll explore scientist circles, a classroom approach that puts students in the driver's seat of their own learning and discovery. We will analyze video case studies of my 6th-grade classroom, where we will witness students actively grappling with complex phenomena, negotiating ideas, and collaboratively building consensus as they reach a learning target! Attendees will see the tangible benefits of a phenomena-based, student-driven approach to science and will also learn the teaching strategies that make it all happen. We'll cover best practices for facilitating sensemaking, fostering critical thinking, and ensuring every student's voice is heard. Attendees will leave with a toolbox of tips and tricks to bring the magic of scientist circles back to your own classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave the session feeling empowered, inspired, and prepared to bring scientist circles to their classrooms!

SPEAKERS:
Jed Graboys

Sponsoring Company: ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology

Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology is a donor-funded program that aims to help teachers provide real-world applications to students in STEM. The program provides FREE professional development with all travel expenses paid, FREE equipment for teachers to use with their students, as well as scholarships for students and teachers

Hands-on science activities can present challenges for some students, and many teachers have limited training to support a range of learning needs. Through the GLOBE Weather Pathways project, we created a professional learning community for middle school educators to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and explore ways to support all learners. Educators collaborated with science and special education experts to adapt lessons, heard from STEM professionals with disabilities, and used simulators to experience classroom activities from different perspectives—all within a middle school weather curriculum. This session will share lesson adaptations, key takeaways, and strategies for helping all students see themselves in STEM career pathways. Participants will take part in hands-on science activities using simulators to better understand challenges students may face and hear from a project teacher who will share practical tips and strategies through a UDL lens.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to adapt science activities using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to better engage all students. The session features teacher-tested strategies and a hands-on simulator experience to explore barriers to student engagement in science.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Johnson Nesbitt, Rachana Bhonsle, Melissa Rummel

Join us for an interactive workshop where you’ll experience dynamic, student-centered teaching aligned with the latest science and ELA standards. Learn how to integrate literacy practices, such as reading, writing, and speaking, into your science instruction to create a rich, 3D learning experience. Participate in a hands-on science investigation about an Elk reintroduction project in Virginia, engaging with complex scientific ideas while strengthening literacy skills. Through small-group activities, discover strategies to support students' sense-making and deepen their thinking. Walk away with practical tools to: • Integrate literacy into science lessons for cross-disciplinary learning • Foster collaboration through reading, writing, and speaking activities • Use real-world phenomena to deepen student engagement • Provide timely support to challenge all learners Transform your science instruction and inspire your students with engaging, hands-on experiences!

TAKEAWAYS:
Student sense-making and development of important literacy skills are enhanced when a learning experience requires students to read, write, talk, and listen with the goal of obtaining and communicating new information and evaluating what they figured out.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson

"Teek and Tom Explore Planet Earth", investigates the relationship between the ocean, weather and climate on global to local scales. This workshop introduces ten hands-on activities for upper ES and MS students to reinforce Earth science concepts related to oceanography, meteorology and climate. The short videos provide a spark of interest and briefly introduce the main focus of further investigation. They are intended to be used with classroom activities that provide learning strategies to translate complex earth science interactions into a format that is understandable to upper elementary and middle school students. The educator guides focus on up-to-date graphs, visualizations, hands-on labs and data that will help students understand the concepts and to engage in sense-making through-out the lessons. The main focus of each lesson was developed by a teacher team who provided guidance and advice on the best ways to help student understanding of Earth, atmosphere, and ocean systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will sample the range of activities that incorporate graphing, data analysis, visualizations and sense-making to introduce Earth/atmosphere/climate connections on local and global scales.

SPEAKERS:
Peggy Steffen

Connecting sustainability to classroom instruction helps students see how science relates to real-world challenges and opportunities in their communities. This workshop will share classroom resources that use the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to give context and relevance to Earth Science concepts, while aligning with NGSS. Resources will include case studies from the UNESCO and American Geophysical Union Geoscience in Action report, related hands-on activities and online data, and a facilitator guide. During the session educators will also engage with American Geosciences Institute’s Sustainability Interactive, conduct some of the hands-on activities, and see examples of teacher-created projects that integrate sustainability themes across disciplines. Participants will leave with strategies, free resources, and inspiration to bring sustainability into their teaching in ways that strengthen instruction and deepen student engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to integrate sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into NGSS-aligned instruction through interactive activities, case studies, and free resources that make science concepts relevant and engaging for students.

SPEAKERS:
Lindsay Mossa, Lauren Brase

Many students are quite concerned about climate change, but surveys show that most do not know what actions they can take. Come explore ways to engage students in community centered collaborative climate action now and on into the future. This workshop will engage participants in frank conversations about avoiding indoctrination, designing for varied forms of action, and building community collaborations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain skills in how to weave different forms of climate action into their current learning resources as well as design new lessons that center locally contextualized and appropriate collective action efforts; such work can be framed for the goals of any educational environment.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison, Sarah Sterling

We will introduce our upcoming NSTA book containing a collection of units and resources to help teachers engage students in three-dimensional learning through model-based inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about four earth and space science model-based inquiry units for rigorous and equitable instruction. Developed with secondary science teachers, the session guides three-dimensional learning, anchoring phenomena, modeling, and scientific explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Audrey Baird, Ron Gray

Join teachers from across the United States as we share our first-year journey with Growing Beyond Earth® (GBE), a nationwide citizen science program started by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in partnership with NASA. This year, GBE engages 510 schools across 48 states and 10 countries, connecting students directly to authentic NASA research on growing plants in space. Using specialized growth chambers, students test crops, collect real data, and contribute findings that help refine experimental protocols for spaceflight. In this interactive session, you’ll hear our stories of launching GBE in the classroom, explore lessons learned, and gain practical tips for implementation. You’ll also try hands-on experimental protocols, brainstorm adaptations for non-participating schools, and discover cross-curricular connections to math, ELA, and social studies. Walk away with strategies to inspire your students through authentic science and space exploration.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how to bring Growing Beyond Earth® into your classroom. In this hands-on session, you’ll practice experimental protocols, learn implementation strategies, and explore ways to connect life and space science across disciplines.

SPEAKERS:
Marci Yoseph, Amy Padolf, Rachelle Travis

How can we empower students to take meaningful action on environmental challenges in their own communities? This session explores a flexible framework that uses student-driven design sprints to inspire innovative thinking, research, and problem-solving. In a design sprint, student teams identify an environmental issue, investigate its root causes through research and collaboration, and develop creative solutions through ideation and rapid prototyping—all within a condensed time frame. The process fosters deep engagement by emphasizing student choice, local relevance, and connections to community and environmental contexts. This model aligns naturally with interdisciplinary teaching and incorporates multiple content standards. Attendees will begin developing concept for a design sprint they can use with their students, building a foundation for fostering ownership, creativity, and real-world impact through environmental education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how the design sprint model engages students in solving local or state environmental challenges through research, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. They will develop an initial plan for implementing a design sprint in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Martinez

Climate change will affect every part of our lives, from health care to food systems and business. Understanding climate change and how we can respond is critical knowledge for the next generation of experts, leaders, and citizens. Today’s students are the best advocates for climate mitigation we have, and are eager to act. Students deserve the chance to interrogate information—free of fear and bias—to learn how to reduce impacts, build resilience, and contribute to a zero-carbon future. Integrating knowledge of causes, impacts, and solutions into the science classroom will prepare them to face these challenges and envision their role in shaping the future. OER Project: Climate offers free, accessible resources that can be integrated across disciplines. Science standards create a natural opportunity to bring climate into discussions of energy, carbon cycles, the environment, and more. Discover essential information, strategies, and support to bring climate literacy to your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
OER Project: Climate helps students explore climate change critically, without fear or bias, building the skills and motivation needed to shape a better future. Explore ways to teach it in your science classroom and leave with a clear plan, grounded knowledge, and free, ready-to-use materials.

SPEAKERS:
Erik Christensen

From Pre-med to inspired teacher: my journey began with a two-year teaching program and a surprising discovery—OpenSciEd. Initially, I saw teaching as temporary, but OpenSciEd’s high-quality instructional materials transformed my classroom and my career. This curriculum provided a framework that improved my instruction and fostered a belief that I could make a difference. Now in my third year, I've seen firsthand how a high-quality curriculum can drive teacher retention and reduce teacher burn-out. In this session, I’ll share how OpenSciEd's philosophy and content empowered me, a new teacher, and why providing high-quality resources to early-career educators is key to building a resilient and inspired teaching force. I’ll provide insight to experience, and evidence from my classroom. This session can help new teachers get a peak into a strong OpenSciEd classroom, and will advocate for school leaders to provide HQIM for their new teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
New teachers will leave excited and inspired to adopt and develop high quality instructional materials in their classrooms. Leaders will leave encouraged to provide their teachers with HQIM to improve instruction, and teacher retention.

SPEAKERS:
Jed Graboys

How are storms changing in our warming world? And how can we make sense of the flood of information we encounter, especially on social media? A joint project between the UCAR Center for Science Education and Michigan State University developed two teacher-reviewed classroom activities that help students build scientific understanding and media literacy through the lens of storms. The first lesson explores storm formation, how weather patterns are changing, and community impacts using a mix of engaging activities. In the second activity students evaluate social media posts to build media literacy through a fun, interactive game. Together, these lessons provide opportunities for students to make sense of the world around them using relevant evidence, while strengthening critical thinking skills. For instructional designers, the project offers a model for creating learning resources that empower both high school students and non-science undergraduates to engage with scientific topics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore two engaging activities to help your students build scientific understanding and media literacy by exploring storm science and real social media posts—preparing them to think critically about real-world information.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rummel

Explore how a multi-year teacher leadership initiative evolved into the development of a formalized program to prepare facilitators for curriculum-based professional learning and learn how these PL providers are supporting scaled curriculum adoption efforts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain insight into the key components of a long-term teacher leadership initiative, including how it informs professional learning for PD providers, through an immersive experience that highlights our curriculum-based facilitator preparation model.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Chatham, Dora Kastel

Environmental challenges require immediate and locally driven solutions. Educators play a critical role in cultivating the next generation of scientifically literate citizens who can respond to these issues with informed action. This session introduces Planet Stewards, a program that equips formal and informal educators with the tools, resources, and support needed to guide students in designing and implementing hands-on, action-based environmental stewardship projects. Attendees will learn how to access curriculum materials, connect with a national network of educators, and receive guidance for facilitating student-led conservation and restoration work. In collaboration with the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA), new funding opportunities are now available for educators working with K–16 students. Projects may focus on habitat conservation and restoration, marine debris and waste reduction, carbon footprint reduction, or climate resilience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with a clear understanding of the application process for funding, successful project examples, and strategies for engaging youth in meaningful, community-based environmental action.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Martinez

Modern innovations in data visualization and infrastructure have made large datasets accessible to the public. Students must learn how to interpret these visualizations to excel in standardized testing and make informed decisions in today's data-driven world. NOAA Science On a Sphere's "Data Lens: Exploring Earth's Visual Stories" equips teachers with tools to help their students engage with and understand complex scientific data by using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). Learn how VTS, an observation technique that was created in art museums decades ago, can help science teachers slow down the pace in the classroom and focus, openly on art and data visualizations in order to gain critical, critial thinking skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Data Lens offers Earth data in your classroom for building visual and data literacy skills with art, NOAA data, VTS, and [optionally] SOS Explorer®.

SPEAKERS:
Hilary Peddicord

NSTA’s curriculum material, Solar Science, and KIDS book, When the Sun Goes Dark, provide what is needed to meet the middle school NGSS standards regarding the daily and annual motion of the sun, plus what causes lunar phases and eclipses: • Solar Motion: Students describe the patterns of the apparent motion of the sun, moon. This includes the sun appearing to rise in the east, move across the sky, and set in the west. • Lunar Phases: Students develop a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to predict the phases of the moon based on the relative positions of these bodies. • Eclipses: Using their model, students predict when a solar eclipse (Moon between Earth and Sun) or a lunar eclipse (Earth's shadow on the Moon) will occur. Come experience the various learning experiences for students that will give them the grounding they need to understand these concepts

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants have ready-to-use curriculum materials to address key middle school science standards.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Schatz

Experience authentic place-based learning through a collaborative effort involving SUNY Fredonia, Erie-2 BOCES, and the Buffalo History Museum. This session immerses participants in instructional materials that emphasize student sensemaking of a local phenomenon: the Erie Canal. Come celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal and explore lessons and activities that leverage science and engineering practices to investigate how a place is shaped over time and space. The multi-disciplinary approach explicitly connects NGSS, ELA, and Social Studies learning standards. While the primary focus is on elementary-level standards, concrete strategies and connections for integrating these sensemaking approaches at the middle and high school levels will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain high-leverage strategies and lesson ideas focused on student sensemaking of local phenomena using Science and Engineering Practices. They will receive adaptable elementary-level lessons demonstrating the disciplinary integration of Science, ELA, and Social Studies standards.

SPEAKERS:
Megan DeJoe, Paula Ferneza

This session highlights a collaboration between the UCAR Center for Science Education, scientists, and computer science undergraduate students to digitize a popular nitrogen cycle learning game. As part of a yearlong university capstone course, students worked with UCAR mentors to transform the physical game into an interactive, online resource for learners. The project introduced future developers to the challenges of science communication and educational game design, while expanding access to a broader audience of K–12 learners. The students brought fresh perspectives to game mechanics, visual design, and user experience—making the final product especially engaging for middle and high school audiences. This session will showcase the game, outline the development process, and share strategies for educators to collaborate with university students on STEM education resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how collaborating with undergraduate students led to an engaging online version of a popular nitrogen cycle game for K–12 learners. This session shares a successful partnership model and offers practical strategies for creating interactive STEM resources.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rummel

Mapping helps students make sense of the world by connecting observations, data, and explanations to explore how and why systems change. Through creating and analyzing maps, students interpret evidence, identify patterns, and build conceptual models that reveal understanding. These experiences enable teachers to evaluate how students utilize evidence to construct explanations and apply concepts. Participants will examine artifacts from a middle school Earth science class that show how mapping makes learning visible and explore digital mapping platforms that promote inquiry, analysis, and communication. While valuable in Earth and environmental science, these tools can be applied across subjects to help students explore relationships, analyze data, and draw conclusions. Mapping aligns with NGSS practices, providing educators with adaptable strategies and tools to help all learners make sense of complex, data-rich phenomena in authentic and meaningful ways.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover how mapping brings science to life by turning data into stories students can see, question, and explain. They’ll leave with hands-on strategies, classroom examples, and ways to use maps as engaging tools for inquiry, exploration, and assessment across disciplines.

SPEAKERS:
Lara Kossiakoff

Sponsoring Company: Esri

Ready to set up a new outdoor data collection project for your students? This workshop will show you how to use three GIS tools in the ArcGIS school bundle to collect, map, analyze, and report on data collected. The workshop will feature StoryMaps and Survey123 to help support your project-based learning (PBL) and  field studies instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Kylie Donia

Data science skills are critical for success in STEM careers and a science-informed citizenry as noted in the NRC framework. Students transitioning between high school and college are often new to working with complex large datasets and need structured guidance on skills dealing with outliers, gaps, or messy trends. Instructors also face challenges accessing these datasets and lack time to create activities. One source of easily accessible large datasets is the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI Data Lab Manual is an open educational resource that provides scaffolded activities related to topics covered in many science courses. It allows students to engage with scientific data visualizations to develop skills and apply concepts which increase student confidence and data literacy. I will demonstrate teaching strategies, available activities and new labs that focus on emerging topics in climate change such as ocean acidification and the impacts of forest fires on the ocean.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will introduce attendees to the OOI Ocean Data Labs, an open educational resource that can be used to increase students’ data skills. I will highlight the use of lab activities in the classroom and show how they relate to NGSS earth science concepts and NRC science practices.

SPEAKERS:
Jean Anastasia

Are you interested in teaching about climate change, sustainability or the environment? Come explore open educational resources and design practices from a variety of organizations with expertise in these areas! These include professional learning, curriculum, and pedagogical resources!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to interact with experts in climate change and sustainability instruction and walk away with free resources and design advice to support their own teaching practice.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison, Kelsie Fowler, Philip Bell

This session highlights a partnership between oceanography researchers and STEM educators at the University of Southern California’s Joint Educational Project (JEP) to co-create lesson plans that translate Antarctic iron cycle research into engaging classroom resources. By combining scientific expertise with pedagogical strategies, the team designed hands-on activities—using 3D-printed models, LEGO ships, origami, and sediment core kits—that make complex ocean science accessible for diverse elementary learners, including Special Day Classes. The collaboration offers a model for connecting cutting-edge research to K–12 education while fostering curiosity about global environmental challenges. Educators and researchers will learn strategies for building similar partnerships and receive adaptable, open-source materials to bring ocean and climate science into their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover how authentic partnerships between scientists and educators can turn advanced research into practical classroom resources, and they will leave with adaptable lesson plans, 3D printing files, and activity templates to bring ocean and climate science into their own teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Dieuwertje Kast

In Tennessee, more school districts are teaching environmental science early in high school, offering a clear opportunity to deepen student engagement in science by connecting curriculum to the local community. However, teacher professional learning often does not illustrate how to make these local connections. To strengthen environmental science courses, the Cumberland River Compact partners with school districts to provide curriculum-based professional learning that focuses on how to use local phenomena in the classroom. The Compact is a leader in environmental education in Tennessee and has trained 979 teachers in over half of Tennessee’s counties. In this presentation, you will learn about how our unique partnership model deepens student engagement, leads to student achievement, and broadens teacher professional learning. Presenters will share a preliminary evaluation, teacher work samples, and student work from the program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to leverage community partnerships to localize high-quality instructional materials, deepening the relevance of environmental science curricula and increasing student engagement. Attendees will also learn practical tips to generate their own local phenomena for the classroom

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Price

Helping students make sense of the natural world is at the heart of science teaching. This session explores how thinking strategies make student reasoning visible and serve as powerful assessment tools. Participants will see examples from 7th and 8th-grade classrooms where students use prompts and data to explain Earth and chemical processes, including a local water quality study that connects chemistry, geography, and human impact on ecosystems. These strategies help students explain ideas clearly, test them with evidence, and revise their understanding as they connect scientific concepts to real-world systems. Teachers will see how notebooks, models, and discussion reveal growth in reasoning and provide authentic assessment data. They also support all learners by offering multiple ways to represent and share thinking. Teachers can use this evidence to assess both understanding and process as students engage in scientific sensemaking and deeper conceptual understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to use thinking strategies as assessment tools to make student reasoning visible, support all types of learners, and deepen understanding through authentic, evidence-based scientific sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Lara Kossiakoff

Many middle school students exhibit one or more of the characteristics of dependent learners, which include reliance on the teacher and scaffolds, hesitance towards new tasks and difficulty making “real world” connections. Students may exhibit characteristics of dependent learners because they have not built the cognitive processes that enable them to do complex thinking and independent learning. Project based learning (PBL) can promote acquisition of knowledge and skills, cognitive growth and active participation in the learning process, which may facilitate students' cognitive growth and transition to independent learner. Results of a study on the impact of an Earth Sciences PBL entitled “LA Through Time” on cognitive growth and transition from dependent to independent learner in eighth-grade middle school science students will be presented.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how project based learning can be used to strengthen cognitive processes and transition of middle school students to independent learners.

SPEAKERS:
Renee JiJi

Daily lessons become illustrated storybooks with a good slide deck! Slides that include a clear visual narrative and built in scaffolds will command student attention and support diverse learners. Simple animations and intentional use of color and images provide focus, demonstrate concepts, and model processes for all students, but especially for those students who are learning English or who struggle with paying attention. When consistent use of slide decks becomes a part of the classroom routine students know what to expect when they walk through the door and where to find missing work when they are absent. Students become part of the story when they use a good slide deck to organize their thoughts in a notebook that utilizes graphic note-taking methodologies. This presentation will demonstrate the steps involved in creating illustrated, storybook-like slide decks and will include freshmen student work samples from a wide array of abilities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to turn your daily lessons into storybook-like slide decks to engage students of all abilities and capture their interest. Tips on how to create illustrated slide decks will be shared along with real examples of freshman student work.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Libke

This session focuses on building authentic assessments tied to agricultural phenomena. Teachers will role-play a condensed transfer task centering around a relevant agricultural phenomenon, analyze its components, and discuss the potential design of their own using a provided template. The session emphasizes how transfer tasks connect classroom learning to real-world challenges, encouraging students to apply science concepts meaningfully. Participants will leave with a blank and sample template to use in their own instructional setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
Agricultural transfer tasks give students authentic assessment opportunities where they can apply their science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta, Brian Beierle

Explore the world on a Global Safari, as you discover new ways to bring imagination into your classroom. This session is geared towards kindergarten-second grade. It will have you moving and using your imagination as you travel the world on a safari, discovering ways to teach your students about animals that reside on this beautiful planet. You will leave the session with the confidence to turn your students into global citizens and receive resources you can immediately start integrating into your teaching. It is never too early to start teaching children about the world and the creatures in it. After all, the sooner children start learning about them, the longer they can care for them.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use imaginative “travel” experiences to engage students in scientific inquiry, helping kids explore global ecosystems, develop curiosity about animals, and make meaningful connections to science concepts in a fun, memorable way.

SPEAKERS:
Trisha DePasquale

How does computer science integration deepen student’s use of engineering design to solve water problems for the local community? Discover what is different in a free, upcoming OpenSciEd 7th grade middle school science + computer science unit on Earth’s Resources & Human Impact. Students investigate case studies of several communities throughout the United States facing water problems such as increased flooding or drought. Hear how students engage with micro:bit devices and sensors to collect and analyze data around water, climate, and atmospheric changes, which supports the development of related Earth and Space Science disciplinary core ideas. The program behind the micro:bit and sensors, MakeCode, is explored and edited as students design devices that can be used as solutions to address water problems and carbon imbalances

TAKEAWAYS:
Students' investigations into changing Earth systems (e.g., temperature, water, atmosphere) are enhanced through the use of computing devices which also allow for the development of computer science and engineering ideas embedded throughout the unit.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Novak, Nicole Vick, Dan Voss

In this interactive workshop, teachers will engage in a hands-on, standards-aligned 5E lesson, on plant biology and soil science. Participants will conduct investigations to explore key concepts such as diffusion, active transport, and the vascular system of plants while investigating the processes that allow plants to absorb nutrients and water from the soil. Participants do close examination of seedling roots through hand lenses, model diffusion using food dye to simulate how roots absorb water and nutrients, explore soil horizons and the processes behind soil formation. To conclude, participants will investigate the historical impact of the Great Dust Bowl, learning how the disruption of topsoil layers led to changes in agricultural practices. This workshop provides teachers with the tools to foster a deeper understanding of plant and soil science, equipping them to enhance their students' learning through inquiry-based investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will participate in a hands-on lesson to explore the roles of diffusion and active transport in moving nutrients from the soil to the plant.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Hofeld

In this interactive session, participants will explore how the Building Thinking Classrooms framework can be adapted to strengthen science instruction. Together, we will experience practical strategies that bring students into active learning right from the start—using the approach both as an engaging discovery challenge and as a powerful tool for teaching scientific Crosscutting Concepts. Participants will leave with ready-to-use ideas for creating dynamic, student-centered learning environments that promote deeper thinking, collaboration, and meaningful connections in science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will get hands-on with how Building Thinking Classrooms strategies can be adapted for science through engaging explorations and Crosscutting Concept activities, leaving with ready-to-use approaches that enrich instruction and deepen student thinking, collaboration, and connections.

SPEAKERS:
Aimee Farnum, Marina Pinkhasik

Understanding how to constructively respond to the diverse emotions youth express and experience as they engage in climate learning is essential work for educators. We will explore approaches for responding to youths’ eco-emotions, and how these can help students make better sense of the world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Climate anxiety is a sign of the times. This session gives attendees conceptual ideas as well as practical instructional activities to engage and channel student’s emotions. We will model teaching strategies and how to use students’ eco-emotions for furthering their scientific thinking and action.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison, Kelsie Fowler