Explore an innovative, skills-based approach to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) career discovery with CareerXplorer, a free tool from LabXchange. In this session, participants will experience how integrative tools can connect learners to a wide range of real-world STEMM opportunities through skill development. With interactive activities, participants will explore STEMM careers and discover how to empower students to connect their classroom learning with real-world career skills and chart their own futures in STEMM. Leave the workshop with practical strategies and lesson plan ideas for integrating these free digital career-connected resources into your own learning spaces and educational standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical tools and strategies to empower students to explore diverse STEMM careers through skills-based learning with CareerXplorer by LabXchange.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Sjoblom

A key part of learning science is developing language to talk about your ideas. Traditional methods of introducing a science lesson or unit with a vocabulary list and definitions don’t help students develop understanding of science ideas or hold onto the language. In this session, participants will explore instructional strategies for introducing and earning science vocabulary that support understanding for all learners, and especially multilingual learners. Attendees will analyze classroom video to identify teacher moves that embed vocabulary instruction within investigations and discussions. Participants will leave with practical strategies for helping students actively develop and use new science terminology in their sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to embed science vocabulary development within investigations and discussions to strengthen student sensemaking and support all learners, especially multilingual students.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Pawlowski, Ji Sun Ham, Zoe Evans

Don’t have time to build a project-based learning (PBL) science unit from the ground up? Learn how to adapt high-quality open educational resources (OER) for your students and community. This session is designed for science educators interested in working with PBL science OERs to increase student engagement and deepen learning. Learn three principles that guide adaptation. 1) Make It Authentic: revise projects to connect with local issues and phenomena that matter to students. 2) Center Students’ Identities and Interests: adapt PBL experiences to affirm students’ backgrounds and increase relevance. 3) Localize to the Community: embed projects in local histories, resources, and cultures so learning feels meaningful and connected. We’ll share how teachers in Guam adapted K-8 PBL science OER units to center students’ cultures and geographies in a unique Pacific island context. Participants will apply lessons learned from Guam and explore strategies for adapting for their own students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Informed by the experiences of educators on Guam, attendees will learn to apply tools and strategies for adapting free project-based learning science curriculum to increase authenticity, center students’ identities, and localize to their communities.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Nachtigal, Alexandra Goodell

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Your students can tell you what happened. Can they tell you why? This hands-on session tackles the part of CER most students (and teachers) find hardest: building the bridge between evidence and reasoning. Using BrainPOP Science, you'll practice feedback moves and instructional strategies that help students construct stronger scientific arguments — not just restate conclusions. Walk away with approaches you can try this week

SPEAKERS:
Bobbi Bear

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

AI tools can now generate NGSS-style assessment items in seconds — but how do we know these questions are truly three-dimensional, instructionally sound, and valid? This session examines new research on the promises and limitations of AI-generated assessments and contrasts them with human-designed, field-tested items grounded in real student data. Participants will leave with a clear, classroom-ready checklist for reviewing assessment quality—giving you the confidence to evaluate both AI-generated items and traditional assessments with the same high standards.

SPEAKERS:
Brendan Finch, Emily Miller

Imagine a classroom where every child, regardless of background or ability, is engaged in collaborative science experiences that lead to meaningful learning outcomes. By harnessing the power of Learning Through Play and applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning, teachers can unlock meaningful science learning for every student. LEGO® Education teams up with industry experts to equip teachers with strategies and best practices to transform their science classrooms today. In this session, participants will get hands-on with a standards-aligned science lesson and explore how Learning Through Play and inclusive practices can create meaningful impact. This session empowers participants to think critically about their classroom needs and how to integrate best practices in order to enable every student to believe “science is for me”. Participants will walk away with concrete strategies to bring inclusive playful learning to their classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
By harnessing the power of Learning Through Play and applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning, teachers can unlock meaningful science learning for every student. Participants will receive tips and tricks to bring inclusive playful learning to their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Debi Hanuscin, Stacia Jackson

A core tenet of modern science standards is providing students with phenomena-based questions that assess their skills and knowledge across the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards. As assessments become more three-dimensional, a new problem has arisen: how do we help students make sense of these high-demand questions? The key is providing students with a strategy to help them identify and parse essential information in the question. Using a two-column note strategy, students can effectively identify what the question is asking of them, sort essential information from non-essential information, connect prior knowledge, and use their notes to answer the question correctly. During this workshop, attendees will be introduced to the two-column note strategy for assessments and given an opportunity to practice it themselves. Participants will see several examples of student work from a diverse group of students and receive a digital poster to use with students in class.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop introduces a two-column note strategy to help students analyze complex phenomena-based assessments, improving test scores by identifying key information and connecting prior knowledge.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Boyer

How can science departments expand offerings in ways that both engage students and strengthen enrollment? This session shares the step-by-step process of designing, launching, and refining a high school food science elective. Participants will learn how the course was structured to balance rigor with accessibility and connect chemistry, biology, and sustainability to real-world issues. The session will highlight strategies for curriculum design, lab experiences, assessments, and partnerships that made the course successful. Data on enrollment growth and student engagement will be shared, along with practical tools attendees can adapt to their own schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with a roadmap and practical tools for developing a food science elective that engages students, boosts enrollment, and connects science learning to careers, sustainability, and everyday life.

SPEAKERS:
Yana Zubarev, Christopher Taylor

Ready to transform your science teaching? Discover Cultural Bridges - an equity strategy connecting students' lived experiences with NGSS phenomena through culturally responsive questioning. This hands-on workshop guides PreK-8 educators through adapting existing lessons using the Framework's emphasis on connecting to students' interests and experiences. Participants will experience student perspectives while transforming their chosen lesson using Cultural Bridge questions, witnessing increased engagement for multilingual learners and students who may face barriers to access or engagement. Leave with your revised lesson, implementation rubric, and practical tools. Bring any PreK-8 science lesson you teach. Address equity while maintaining three-dimensional learning rigor.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will adapt an existing science lesson using Cultural Bridge questions, experiencing how this simple addition transforms student engagement and deepens NGSS learning for multilingual learners and students who may face barriers to access or engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Almitra Berry

Sponsoring Company: Kiddom

What does it take to make sense-making of phenomena through investigating the center of science instruction, not just in theory, but in daily practice? Join Dr. Mike Flanagan and explore how intentional curriculum design, when paired with powerful learning intelligence technology (LIT), can transform instruction and empower all learners. Featuring actionable strategies, this session will leave you inspired and equipped to design learning experiences that are coherent and genuinely engaging.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how thoughtful curriculum design and digital tools work together to support sense-making in science instruction, with practical strategies they can apply immediately to create more coherent, equitable, and engaging learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Flanagan

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Splash into the molecular world of water and membranes through hands-on learning. Experience simple, powerful models that bring water’s abstract properties to life and reveal how they drive membrane structure and behavior. Step into your students’ shoes as you tinker with models to wonder, investigate, and revise your own ideas about biological membranes. We’ll spotlight strategies that center student discovery and thinking, support NGSS practices, and connect microscopic interactions to big biological ideas. Join us to explore ways to make membrane chemistry tangible, visual, and fun.

SPEAKERS:
Keri Shingleton

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering science classrooms, yet many educators are unsure how to begin using it in purposeful and responsible ways. In this introductory session, participants will explore what AI is, what it is not, and how it can support NGSS sensemaking without replacing student thinking. Through live demonstrations and simple classroom examples, educators will learn how AI can help students ask better questions, strengthen reasoning, and engage more deeply with phenomena. The session highlights ethical use of AI as a partner in science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will understand how to use AI as a tool for sensemaking that strengthens student questioning and reasoning while supporting phenomenon-based science learning routines.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Lazzaro, Velma Itamura

Sponsoring Company: FLINN

Stop the daydreaming and start the questioning! This high-energy session focuses on the power of the "visual hook" to drive engagement through the undeniable evidence of chemistry in action. Witness a series of demonstrations—from vibrant color changes and dramatic shifts in state to unexpected phenomena like boiling water in a bell jar or reactive metals in oil. These techniques grab attention and trigger immediate curiosity for students at all levels. Designed for any stage of a career, new and veteran teachers alike will leave with a practical toolkit of safe, high-impact demos ready for use on Monday morning!

SPEAKERS:
Mike Marvel, Ph.D.

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Classroom communities make sense of scientific phenomena through discussion. Purposeful talk is essential for drawing out student ideas, negotiating and refining those ideas, and supporting communication in scientific ways. This session focuses on the discussion types used in OpenSciEd high school classrooms to support 3-dimensional sensemaking. In this session, come see what makes us different! Participants will explore how discussion helps connect science and engineering practices with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts, making student thinking visible and actionable.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Marmolejo, Faith Blaine

Join us to explore how science teaching and learning in elementary classrooms can be leveraged to improve student learning across subjects. Participants will start by sharing their experiences and perspectives around barriers to making time for science in elementary classrooms, and then start to look for solutions. We will engage in three dimensional, integrated literacy and science learning activities and reflect on the instructional strategies and how phenomena-based learning promotes growth in both disciplines. The session will culminate with an overview of current research in the field highlighting how increased time spent on science instruction is beneficial to growth across content areas. This session is designed to support K-5 educators and education leaders in advocating for increased science time in their schools or regions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away both the research and the instructional strategies learned in the session to advocate for increased science instructional time in K-5 classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Vanessa Lujan

Step into the shoes of your students and experience the power of puzzles firsthand! In this interactive session, participants will begin with a mini escape room challenge—working together to unlock a mystery box using science clues and critical thinking. Then, we’ll break down how to design and implement your own classroom escape experiences to deepen engagement, collaboration, and content mastery. From low-prep paper puzzles to more immersive breakouts, you’ll leave with practical strategies, templates, and inspiration to make any middle or high school science lesson feel like an adventure.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn strategies for using escape rooms and puzzles to transform science learning—boosting engagement, collaboration, and critical thinking while making your classroom an unforgettable experience.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Yi, Kim Bathker

Grab your coffee and pull up a seat. This is your chance to connect live with the Class CrunchLabs team and other educators who are building the future of science class. Ask questions, share wins, swap stories, and get real-time tips from the people designing the units and using them with students. Whether you are just getting started or deep into your first mission, this is a space for honest conversation, curiosity, and community. No slides. No pressure. Just real talk with your Class CrunchLabs crew.

TAKEAWAYS:
Bring your questions, feedback, and curiosity. This is your space to connect live with the Class CrunchLabs team, swap ideas with other educators, and get support from real humans.

SPEAKERS:
DeAnna Lee Rivers, Arash Jamshidi, Tommy Clayton, Rebecca Garelli, Jesse Semeyn, Megan Kuehl, Spencer Martin, Tara Graham

Sponsoring Company: TCI

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

SPEAKERS:
Katherine Hall

Discover innovative ways to bring bioethics into your classroom through the thought-provoking Playing God? podcast from The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Using real-world stories of medical advancement, this session highlights how storytelling can spark curiosity, invite critical dialogue, and engage all learners in exploring the intersection of science, ethics, and society.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies to use real-life bioethical dilemmas from Playing God? to foster interdisciplinary, inclusive, and participatory science learning that develops students’ critical thinking and global awareness.

SPEAKERS:
Kenji Nomura

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard

[10 min] Participants will be provided with and introduced to our phenomena-based planning tool for content instruction that is both meaningful to students and shows how science disciplines work together. [40 min] Participants will use our tool to develop unit plans that they can take back to the classroom. First, they will: 1) identify phenomena and interdisciplinary connections for an upcoming lesson/unit; and 2) identify anchoring questions. Second, they will outline a plan for a unit. Participants will work in groups by their needs based on content and teaching context. Facilitators will circulate to each group and use timed check-ins during the workshop as a way to monitor progress, address whole group questions and offer feedback and support. [10 min] In groups, participants will share their outline for an phenomena based, interdisciplinary lesson, exchange feedback and respond to questions. To conclude, participants will map out their next steps to prepare for implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with a phenomena-based planning tool and a draft of an interdisciplinary unit plan that promotes engaging, experience-driven learning aligned with NGSS, OpenSciEd and other curricula.

SPEAKERS:
Anthony Stetzenmeyer, Takumi Sato, PhD

Sponsoring Company: FLINN

Get energized with Flinn’s newly designed and refreshed AP Environmental Science labs, fully aligned with the 2024 College Board Course and Exam Description. Explore classroom-ready investigations that have been reimagined to strengthen exam readiness, featuring updated AP-style multiple-choice and free-response questions that mirror the AP Exam experience. This interactive session includes hands-on demonstrations of inquiry-based learning, engaging outdoor activities, and practical teaching resources designed to captivate students, deepen understanding, and inspire real-world environmental thinking. Handouts included.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Knabe

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Discover how STCMS brings NGSS to life through purposeful design and hands-on learning. See authentic student work, brief classroom clips, and clear evidence of 3D sensemaking. Participants will perform sample tasks and learn how STCMS supports diverse learners and strengthens NGSS instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Baldwin, Heather Toothaker

STEM teachers are under constant pressure to balance innovation in the classroom with heavy workloads. This session bridges AI in Education and Teacher Well-Being in STEM by highlighting practical, time-saving uses of artificial intelligence that directly support teaching and learning. Participants will explore freely available AI tools and clever strategies for applying them to everyday tasks such as generating lab rubrics, scaffolding assignments, and personalizing feedback. By streamlining routine work, these approaches free time for meaningful instruction and student engagement, with the added benefit of reducing stress and restoring balance for educators. The session emphasizes responsible and equitable use, ensuring AI integration supports all learners without adding complexity to the teacher’s role. Attendees will leave with a set of vetted tools, ready-to-use examples, and a personal action plan to strengthen STEM teaching while making professional life more manageable.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how freely available AI tools can lighten the STEM teacher workload while boosting student equity and engagement. Participants will leave with strategies that enhance student learning while helping STEM teachers focus on high-impact instruction and reclaim energy for what matters most.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

Sponsoring Company: Discovery Education

Grab your goggles and dive into the Discovery Education Phenomena Science Playground. Explore hands-on experiments and walk away with classroom-ready resources, fresh ideas, and practical tools to bring science to life. Step into the Discovery Education Phenomena Science Playground—a hands-on experience designed to spark curiosity and connect classrooms to real-world science. Participants rotate through interactive stations featuring engaging activities and classroom-ready resources. Through a phenomena-driven approach, educators explore tools and content co-created with industry partners that support inquiry-based learning and student engagement. Whether the goal is to enhance hands-on instruction, integrate STEM, or bring more relevance into the classroom, this session offers both inspiration and practical takeaways.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Hampton, Justin Karkow

Discover how food can bring science to life in the classroom! In this interactive 60-minute workshop, we will model Pilot Light’s integrated food education approach, connecting science concepts to real-world experiences. Participants will engage in a sample live lesson, experiencing firsthand from the student perspective how food-based learning deepens understanding of NGSS-aligned practices. Through reflection, discussion, and hands-on activities, attendees will learn strategies to overcome barriers such as time, access, or uncertainty in linking food to standards. The session provides practical tools, frameworks, and digital resources to design authentic, student-centered lessons that connect science, nutrition, and sustainability, foster curiosity, and strengthen classroom and community connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain hands-on strategies to connect food-based experiences to science learning, and leave with practical tools, resources, and ideas to design engaging, NGSS-aligned, student-centered lessons that make science tangible and relevant.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Gottlieb

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the education landscape, with new tools and features transforming what’s possible for science teachers. This session will explore both the how and the when of using AI intentionally in everyday teaching practice. Participants will learn strategies for writing effective prompts, selecting the right tools for different tasks, and creating classroom-ready materials during the session. They will also consider how to decide when AI can serve as a powerful support for teachers and when more traditional methods remain the most effective. Throughout the session educators will consider AI as a teacher-directed tool that enhances instruction through teacher-expertise. Participants should bring a laptop or device capable of connecting to AI platforms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to select appropriate AI tools for both instructional and non-instructional tasks, practice writing effective prompts, and create a classroom-ready resource. They will also develop a personal framework for deciding when and how AI can support teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Ariela Ikezawa

Discover incredible opportunities in STEM education with a range of NSTA-administered K-12 opportunities that engage through innovative programming and recognize achievement with amazing awards. We’ll explore programs and awards that are sure to ignite a passion for discovery and innovation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Empower your teaching with dynamic STEM programs and awards administered by NSTA as you learn about innovative opportunities to boost engagement and enthusiasm for K-12 students and teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Lasky, Sue Whitsett, Brian Kutsch

Undergraduates in teacher preparation programs often take a capstone class before student teaching. While these courses vary by institution, capstones provide students with a culminating experience. These classes are important as they help students deepen their content knowledge, connect science content to teaching practices & standards, and develop their identity as educators. Yet, these classes also run the risk of being repetitive and not meeting the current demands of the teaching profession. As we plan future capstone classes for 7-12 grade pre-service science teachers, we seek input from both new and experienced teachers as well as other college faculty. This roundtable discussion will explore a) beneficial experiences from capstone classes and b) topics that educators believe that pre-service teachers need in capstone classes. Data will be collected from participants, and a summary of results will be shared. Future course syllabi will also be made available.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will assess various capstone frameworks, discuss the knowledge and skills needed to be successful science educators, and contribute feedback to ensure future capstone courses support 7-12 grade pre-service science teacher development. Roundtable results will be aggregated and shared.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Sharitt

Curious about what it takes to become a Shell Science Teaching Award or Shell Urban Award winner? Join this dynamic panel of past and current recipients of the Shell Science Teaching Award and the Shell Urban Science Educators Development Award, along with award panelists, as they share their journeys, classroom innovations, and tips for crafting a strong application. Learn how these prestigious awards recognize and support outstanding science educators—especially those making an impact in under-resourced schools and urban communities. Attendees will hear candid stories, ask questions directly to winners and reviewers, and walk away with resources, encouragement, and inspiration. Bonus: Attend for a chance to win exciting door prizes that support your classroom and professional journey!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain insider knowledge and confidence to apply for the Shell Awards and grow as leaders in science education.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton

Developing a future-focus for science education with emphasis of music and arts. Bridging out for cross-curriculum among various disciplines, however, focus upon STEM education. Utilizing the ODE State Science Standards, along with state standards from various content, as well as the connections to the Next Generation Science Standards. My proposal is for the audience of 6-12 general science educators. Educators from outside of the 6-12 parameter are always welcome to attend the proposed session. The information provided for the proposed session presentation is to help all STEM educators with the integration of music and arts into the STEM education and curriculum (STEAM). Empower and equip educators thinking outside of the bun to utilize music with the STEM curricula. Teachers will learn how to improve their critical thinking to achieve the talented and gifted students who may not be advanced in science, but advanced in arts and music.

TAKEAWAYS:
Empower and equip educators thinking outside of the bun to utilize music with the STEM curricula. There are digital programs the educators can utilize without costs to improve the connections of arts and music with STEM. Teachers will learn how to improve their critical thinking to STEAM TAG kids.

SPEAKERS:
John Davis III

Every lab comes with risk, and when there is a significant injury, the average settlement in the US exceeds $ 4 million. However, with the right tools, teachers can make every activity safer, smarter, and more engaging. In this interactive session, explore how VERA AI, a teacher-centered safety system, supports lesson planning, lab prep, and classroom management through real-time risk analysis and safer material substitutions. Using real K–12 scenarios, participants will experience how AI “safety wrappers” transform everyday lab routines into proactive safety checks that build student awareness and confidence. Learn how to integrate these AI tools to save time, strengthen compliance, and foster a shared culture of safety in science and makerspace learning. Walk away with free access to VERA AI and ready-to-use strategies for your next lab day.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to utilize free VERA AI tools to proactively identify lab risks, make safer substitutions, and save planning time—enabling them to focus more on meaningful, hands-on learning and feel confident teaching students in a safe learning environment.

SPEAKERS:
Edward Cohen

Student agency involves students taking ownership of their learning, and it can have many positive benefits, including motivation and self-efficacy. However, cultivating agency requires opportunities to do so. What kinds of agency opportunities do educators provide? How receptive are educators to providing them? Do science teachers differ from teachers in other subjects in these regards? In this session, I’ll share what we know about student agency, what it can look like in science, the findings of recent research, and what else we have yet to learn about it. Session participants will engage in conversation about the unique affordances and challenges of providing students with agency opportunities and leave with ideas, strategies, and a report on recent research findings.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about ways to define agency, what research tells us the benefits of agency are, what agency can look like in science, and the latest research on student agency, both generally and in science.

SPEAKERS:
Nicholas Balisciano

How can teachers bring real-world multidisciplinary science into their classrooms? This roundtable features teacher fellows from the Xplorlabs Educator Fellowship, a yearlong program by UL Research Institutes. Fellows learn from scientists and peers to co-develop free, standards-aligned lessons on pressing challenges such as fire safety, batteries, and sustainability. Starting from the same set of science ideas and phenomena, fellows adapt these resources in very different ways to reflect their students’ cultures, prior ideas, and learning goals. Together, their stories highlight the creativity of teachers and the power of diverse perspectives in sensemaking. In this moderated discussion, fellows will share how the experience influenced their practice, engaged students in authentic science, and expanded their professional networks. Attendees will also learn more about the fellowship itself and how to access free classroom-ready resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hear directly from Xplorlabs Educator Fellows about collaborating with researchers, co-developing free STEM lessons, and engaging students with authentic science. Learn more about the fellowship and explore free resources for bringing safety science into classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Megan O'Keeffe, Samantha Eddis, Danielle Shaw-Jones, Dominique Thomas, Daniel Sternberg

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: BrainPOP

What if the background knowledge you build in science helped students write better arguments in every class? This session explores how BrainPOP and BrainPOP Science work together to support Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) across subjects. Whether students are explaining why ecosystems change or analyzing a primary source document, the same thinking framework applies. You'll see how giving students the shared understanding they need to construct evidence-based arguments—from ecosystems to the Electoral College —and leave with strategies that transfer across your curriculum

SPEAKERS:
Bobbi Bear

Sponsoring Company: JoVE

What Secondary Science Leaders Can Do When Every Teacher Fills the Gaps Differently. Middle and high school science leaders know that curriculum supplementation is common, with most teachers adding videos, labs, or activities to fill gaps. The challenge is guiding supplementation in ways that support instructional quality and coherence across classrooms. This interactive workshop is designed for middle and high school science leaders, instructional coaches, and department chairs responsible for instructional consistency and teacher support. Through live polling, leadership case scenarios, and small group discussion, participants will examine where supplementation occurs, what drives teacher decision-making, and how variation impacts instruction. Attendees will discuss practical strategies to guide supplementation while preserving teacher autonomy, including shared instructional anchors and trusted instructional resources.

SPEAKERS:
Shauna Carlson

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Science

Join us for an interactive, hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for High School to discover how the Carolina Certified Version takes these high-quality instructional materials to the next level— more accessible, more user-friendly, and enhanced for classroom safety. Dive into the Biology 1 unit and experience how the Serengeti board game transforms complex concepts into engaging learning. Participants will leave with practical strategies and valuable resources to energize their classrooms. 

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Leander ISD, TX, made a deliberate shift from traditional science instruction to fully embracing 3-D teaching and learning as envisioned by NGSS and their state standards, placing student sensemaking and classroom discussion at the center of instruction. Learn how they implemented OpenSciEd through a thoughtful, step-by-step process that built teacher capacity, aligned curriculum, and sustained momentum over time. The session highlights how purposeful discussion became the engine for connecting science and engineering practices with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts. Gain insight into the professional learning structures, leadership supports, and instructional strategies that helped educators navigate challenges and bring phenomenon-driven, student-centered science to life. Leave with practical ideas, lessons learned, and inspiration to spark your own district’s transformation, putting student ideas in motion through talk, sensemaking, and shared understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Anna Wydeven, Jennifer Lopez, Lauren Carter

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

How can you get middle school students to collaborate, communicate, and think critically and creatively about science? Join Compton USD and LEGO Education to learn how hands-on, collaborative science lessons equip students with 21st century skills while deepening their understanding and interest in science. Experience an interactive, inquiry-based lesson, and walk away with hands-on materials, sample lessons, and practical strategies to build transferable skills and ignite student’s curiosity and success in science.

SPEAKERS:
Amelia Crespo, Amber Holloway

Sponsoring Company: TCI

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

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ladd

Sponsoring Company: Discovery Education

Literacy instruction does not have to compete with science for instructional time. When thoughtfully designed, science lessons can serve as a powerful context for building reading, writing, and academic language skills—particularly in elementary classrooms. In this session, participants will explore how phenomena-driven science instruction advances literacy by using purposeful reading, evidence-based writing, and structured discussion to support student sense-making through the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). The session focuses on practical approaches to lesson design that support diverse learners and promote sense-making across disciplines. Participants will review classroom examples from Discovery Education’s Science Techbook, illustrating how three-dimensional, phenomena-driven lessons can be structured to deepen engagement and reinforce core literacy skills within science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Hampton, Justin Karkow

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Get ready for a session that’s bright, squishy, and full of “aha!” moments! Using colorful Play-Doh, LEDs, and batteries, participants will explore Switch Classroom’s Intro to Electricity lesson and bring foundational circuit concepts to life. You’ll investigate conductivity, resistance, open and closed circuits, and series versus parallel designs through playful, hands-on exploration. Designed for elementary through high school classrooms, this adaptable lab makes abstract electrical concepts tangible while supporting NGSS science and engineering practices. Optional extensions allow the challenge to be simplified for younger learners or expanded for grades 9–12. Leave with free Switch Classroom resources, classroom-ready strategies, and the confidence to spark curiosity—and light up learning—in any classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jillian Swets

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

I have found students’ fear of science, scientific concepts, and deeper understanding lingers, even in preservice undergrads. Many found science as unrelatable and something to get through. Students tended to not understand the “big picture” and concept connection to personal interests/ activities. I use alternative writing assignments to elevate HOTS levels while supporting cross-curricular understanding. I created a rubric that was general in the sense of product development but precise in the understanding conveyed. The rubric guides students to widen their understanding and incorporate individualism. Although full rubric completion takes students to an average, C letter grade, it provides multiple avenues for personal interests with the ability to exemplify superior work for them, physically linking sensemaking between science ideas and student ideas. The culminating products have been more unimaginably diverse and deeply engaging for their peers, the instructor, and themselves.

TAKEAWAYS:
My AWA (alternative writing assignment) rubric will be explained and shared, showing how concepts can be created, taught, and presented by students.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Bechtel

In an era of eroding trust in science and rampant misinformation, educators need evidence-based resources to help students distinguish fact from fiction. Science Friday, a nonprofit media organization known for excellence in science journalism, offers free NGSS aligned resources to build science literacy. Our approach bridges the gap between scientific experts and the public through conversational science communication and storytelling. Our resources transform podcast content into engaging educational experiences that help students identify reliable sources, understand how science works, and evaluate claims confidently. The poster features ready-to-use materials across grade bands designed with equity in mind, including curated topic lists, hands-on STEM activities, and book club resources. Attendees will discover strategies for using trusted science media to foster conversations, develop critical thinking, and empower students as informed consumers of scientific information.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain NGSS-aligned strategies and free classroom resources to help students identify science misinformation, evaluate source credibility, and develop critical thinking skills for navigating today's information landscape across all grade levels.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Roberts

This poster showcases how you can transform your Canvas courses into inclusive, dynamic, and enriching learning experiences for all students. Swing by to tap into essential strategies, tools, and best practices to foster inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility through your school's Canvas site!

TAKEAWAYS:
Visitors will learn how to implement tools like Canvas Groups for collaborative learning, media opportunities with Canvas Studio, and using Canvas to showcase student understanding while harnessing student strengths!

SPEAKERS:
Tanya MacMartin, Ed.D.

See the 5E instructional model, Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate, come to life in a complete phenomena-based science lesson. This simple five-step framework makes teaching NGSS, inquiry-driven science easy, structured, and fun for any classroom. In this poster session, you will explore each phase through visuals, lesson examples, and student work samples. Discover how the 5E model sparks curiosity, strengthens sensemaking, and turns real-world phenomena into meaningful learning experiences without adding extra work. You will leave with ready-to-use lesson ideas, practical strategies, and a digital toolkit that makes implementing the 5E model approachable, playful, and completely doable. This session demonstrates how even teachers new to phenomena-based science can confidently design lessons that engage students and support lasting understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
The 5E model gives teachers a simple, five-step framework to design phenomena-based science lessons that spark curiosity, support sensemaking, and engage students, all with low prep and tools ready to use immediately.

SPEAKERS:
Paddy Rich

Step into the spotlight with this interactive poster session featuring the current Grand Prize Winners of the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge! Connect one-on-one with these outstanding science educators as they share their journey—from transforming under-resourced labs into hubs of innovation, to winning one of science education’s most prestigious awards. Learn firsthand how they’ve elevated student learning, built strong safety practices, and used the Challenge as a platform for professional growth and leadership. Whether you’re curious about applying or simply looking for inspiration to energize your own classroom or lab space, this is your chance to ask questions, gather tips, and walk away empowered by educators who’ve done it.

TAKEAWAYS:
Personal conversations with Grand Prize Winners will inspire attendees with practical ideas and confidence to transform their own science classrooms and consider applying for the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton

How can we make chemistry more interesting, relevant, and exciting to students while still keeping rigor? Hear from teachers across the U.S. who have used lessons centered around food-based phenomena that teach chemistry concepts like atomic structure, bonding, thermal energy, intermolecular forces, and chemical reactions, and are aligned to NGSS. Learn how this has helped student engagement, disposition, and understanding of science concepts, and their ideas about what science is. Teachers can answer questions about what this can look like logistically and how to support common classroom challenges like supporting students of different levels and backgrounds, lab equipment, and providing 3D assessments that align to NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
See how other teachers have used different series of lessons centered around different food-based phenomena and labs and how this has helped student engagement, disposition, and understanding of science concepts, and their ideas about what science is.

SPEAKERS:
April Thompson, Jacob Rice, David Meyer, Kate Strangfeld

The Inquiry-Based STEM Game Development via Generative AI tool functions as an expert pedagogical system to address the complexity of rigorous, cross-disciplinary STEM curriculum design. Teachers input learning objectives, STEM knowledge units, and select an inquiry model (e.g., 6E, PBL). The GenAI analyzes the underlying STEM literacies, automatically generates dynamic, authentic problem scenarios for the game's plot, and integrates multimedia. The tool ensures high pedagogical fidelity, guiding students to perceive STEM concepts, attempt problem resolution, and understand the socio-cultural impact of science. Crucially, the system uses dynamic generation to alter gameplay upon each launch, maintaining student engagement and curiosity. A robust backend logs detailed learning outcomes, providing teachers with granular data for both formative and summative assessment, thereby elevating the quality and reach of inquiry-based STEM education.

TAKEAWAYS:
GenAI-driven game development enhances inquiry-based STEM by generating dynamic, cross-disciplinary scenarios. Teachers gain a tool for high pedagogical fidelity and granular assessment data, significantly boosting student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Chi-Ruei Tsai

Within in food education, Pilot Light has set the table, where they have created a national footprint by impacting students, teachers, and families in Chicago, NYC, and nationwide. They are now part of school culture with in 26 states, over 530 educators have received professional development, and over 24,640 have engaged in the program. Pilot Light has created a vision for a future where Food Education becomes an integral part of schools nationwide, through the leases of curiosity, community, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity. The standards: 1. Food connects us to each other. 2. Foods have sources and origins. 3. Food and the environment are interconnected. 4. Food behaviors are influenced by external and internal factors. 5. Food impacts health. 6. We can make informed food choices. Each of these standards can and have been integrated within the NGSS, Common Core, and SEL.

TAKEAWAYS:
Planting the seeds of change, Pilot Light has created a cultural shift in food education where they cultivated food standards, within the lenses of NGSS, Common Core, and SEL. One apple at a time....food education is here to stay!

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Ernst, Antoinette Schlobohm, NBCT, NCST

Elizabeth Zodda has five years of experience teaching an interdisciplinary course that includes both science and social studies. This course examines the relationship between the public, governing bodies, and scientific experts, and aims to develop a deep understanding in students of how science establishes itself as a cultural authority on truth. The course also explores contemporary issues that involve science but cannot be reduced to science alone and clarifies our values in relation to them. The course uses analytical approaches from history, sociology, and philosophy of science, and aims to help students improve their ability to make informed decisions about science-related issues in a democratic manner. In this session, we will explore the connections between this course and the NGSS statement on the Nature of Science and see how the approach can be used for a range of contemporary issues that some students may find controversial.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students are introduced to a novel approach to examining the contributions that science and non-science subjects can make to contemporary issues. They learn about the nature of science in an interdisciplinary course where they can compare the aims and values of science with those of other subjects.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Zodda

St. Jude partners with 24 MSCS elementary schools annually, split into fall and spring cohorts of 12 schools each. Clubs run for 10 weeks, meeting once a week for one hour, Monday–Thursday, led by St. Jude College Interns. The curriculum includes two 5-week modules: first, a case study of Stacey, a 12-year-old girl diagnosed with osteosarcoma, exploring her symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Students learn key concepts in medicine and biology while developing empathy. The second module is an engineering challenge where students design and build a prosthetic hand capable of picking up a ping pong ball and placing it in a cup. This hands-on activity fosters creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving, connecting science to real-world innovation.

TAKEAWAYS:
The St. Jude Afterschool STEMM Club empowers elementary students with hands-on learning in medicine and engineering, combining empathy-driven case studies and creative design challenges to inspire future innovators.

SPEAKERS:
Krisderlawn Motley, Hailey Wolfe, Anika Britton

Climate change naysayers, anti-vaxxers, COVID myths, wonder diets & greenwashing by industry -- all challenge our students. Here, we present a set of inquiry lessons for developing competences in NGSS SEP#8, “Obtaining, evaluating and communicating information.” Help students navigate the concepts of scienc media literacy: expertise, credibility, the role of consensus and institutions, the nature of trust, cognitive pitfalls, and recognition of deceptive tactics. From the Editor of the "Fact-or-Faux" column in NSTA's The Science Teacher.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore a collection of inquiry lessons about scientific misinformation and media literacy practices. "Fantastic Beasts" | "The Vaccine Skeptics of 1721" | "Fact Checking 101 & 102" | "The New Madrid Earthquake, 1990" | "The Science Liars Game" | "The Noisy Response to Silent Spring, 1963" & more.

SPEAKERS:
DOUGLAS ALLCHIN

This study examined elementary teachers’ perceptions of integrating science, math, and ELA as part of interdisciplinary STEM teaching. Surveys and interviews with K–6 teachers showed that most believe students understand concepts better through integration than when subjects are taught separately. Teachers most often integrated ELA and science and reported the greatest confidence in this pairing, while full three-subject integration was less common and approached with lower confidence. Teachers highlighted benefits such as increased engagement, stronger conceptual connections, and multiple exposures. Key barriers included limited time, curriculum misalignment, resource shortages, and lack of collaboration. Supports identified to support integration included leveled nonfiction texts, hands-on investigations, targeted professional development, and dedicated planning time. A first-grade 5E light and sound unit was developed to model the integration of these subjects and will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain insight into K-6 teachers’ perceptions of integrating ELA, math, and science, including the benefits they see for students, the challenges of interdisciplinary teaching, and supports to assist interdisciplinary teaching, as well as an example interdisciplinary unit.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Kurniawan, Heather Bliss, Kelly Hutchinson-Anderson

Students will create a Pokémon with specialized structures that assist them with their "powers". This will involve drawing the Pokémon, creating a Pokédex entry, and giving a short presentation about their Pokémon and how its anatomy leads to its function.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to make anatomy and physiology more engaging and relevant to students. It will also allow for more creativity to be involved in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Laurelin Geno

Join the NSTA PL committee for one or all of the interactive 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'll explore how engaging in purposeful ELA activities during a phenomenon-based lesson is essential to both figuring out phenomena in science and boosting literacy development! Participants will engage in a science learning sequence in which they read, write, listen, and speak in authentic ways like scientists do and will discover how ELA can be leveraged and integrated into science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience a model lesson and learn how to align ELA standards with authentic science practices like reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Discover how integrating purposeful ELA activities into phenomenon-based science boosts both literacy and science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli, Rebecca Abbott, Kathy Renfrew, Jesse Wilcox

How can we use cheese to explore science concepts like evidence of chemical changes, solubility, and pH? Experience how we can investigate these concepts in a fun, exploratory way that emphasizes building science practices (intended for Grades 6-8 or Grades 9-12). In this session, participants will engage in parts of a lesson that center around the phenomenon of fresh cheese. They will participate in a mini-lab and then “unpack” and make sense of the results through various second-hand data and information. This session strongly highlights how a lab can be framed in an investigative, rather than confirmatory, way. This introductory part of the lesson can be used for grades 6-8 (targeting standards MS-PS1-1, MS-PS1-2, MS-PS1-3) or grades 9-12 (HS-PS1-3, HS-PS1-5). It is a great way to teach about ways to identify if a chemical reaction occurred and introduce precipitates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will do a simple hands-on lab that can be easily scaled up or down and see how students can make sense of curd formation by drawing on what they already know, making meaningful observations, analyzing data, asking questions, and applying an understanding of how chemical reactions work.

SPEAKERS:
April Thompson, Jacob Rice, David Meyer, Shawn Boggs, Ashley Vandgrift, Kate Strangfeld, Miriam McMillian

How do we cultivate students’ ability to read and understand quantitative displays quickly and confidently? At the heart of NGSS is developing students’ skill in detecting and interpreting patterns in the natural world (SEP-Analyzing and Interpreting Data; CC-Patterns). In this hands-on workshop, participants will step “into students’ shoes” for a sequence of short bell-ringer investigations using historical, real-word primary-source graphs pulled from the Library of Congress. Working in small groups, educators will analyze real historical datasets, practice inquiry prompts designed for 5–10-minute bell ringers, and use a versatile formative rubric to assess understanding. We will model scaffolds for multilingual learners, neurodiverse students, and learners with limited math confidence. Participants leave with bell-ringer packs (sample graphs, teacher prompts, exit tickets, and a 3-level formative rubric) that can be used the next day in diverse classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will use short, primary-source graphs/data sets as 5–10-minute bell ringers that prompt both discipline-specific and historic sensemaking while applying a concise 3-level formative rubric to quickly assess students’ quantitative sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Apfeldorf, Michael Lowry

Sponsoring Company: FLINN

In many science departments, lab safety relies heavily on the individual judgment and past experiences of teachers. However, experience can create blind spots where familiarity leads to informal protocols and unrecognized risks. This session challenges the reliance on personal intuition and introduces a systematic, shared framework for risk management. We will explore how to transition from isolated safety habits to a unified culture where educators explicitly uncover, name, and mitigate hazards through a common language. By moving toward a documented, framework-based approach, leadership can reduce liability and ensure a consistent standard of protection across every classroom. Attendees will leave with a 180-day plan for implementing a comprehensive lab safety framework within their own schools or districts. This session is appropriate for administrators and science teachers at all grade levels.

SPEAKERS:
Jonnathan Medina Ramos, Ph.D.

This session showcases a forward-thinking place-based curriculum model aligned with NGSS, integrating the expertise of local water authority professionals. Designed for middle-schools, the curriculum seamlessly connects scientific concepts with real-world applications, linking classroom learning directly to career opportunities in water management. This collaboration not only provides students with a practical understanding of environmental science but also inspires future career paths in the sector. The curriculum model equips students with essential skills, preparing them for success in the evolving job market. Attendees will discover how to adopt this model to advance science education and career readiness, laying the groundwork for further workforce development initiatives in schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn to implement a place-based NGSS-aligned curriculum that connects classroom learning to real-world careers through collaboration with industry professionals, enhancing student engagement and workforce readiness.

SPEAKERS:
Trevor Harder

Sponsoring Company: Discovery Education

Ready to experience the next generation of science instruction? In this interactive session, educators will explore how real-world phenomena drive authentic three-dimensional learning. Using Discovery Education’s Science Techbook as a model, participants will see how coherent, phenomena-based storylines engage students in the Science and Engineering Practices to make sense of Disciplinary Core Ideas through Crosscutting Concepts. Be among the first to experience this innovative approach to learning, featuring classroom-ready slideshow lessons, phenomena-driven investigations, built-in differentiation, and hands-on learning designed to strengthen literacy and math while supporting authentic three-dimensional learning. You will leave with practical tools and a clear framework for moving from activities to deeper understanding—empowering students to think like scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Hampton, Justin Karkow

Transform your classroom and make a lasting impact on education with one philosophical shift that puts learning back into the hands of students. Join one teacher’s journey to revolutionize assessments with renewed focus on critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. Research suggests that a standards-based electronic portfolio promotes a positive learning environment that emphasizes student mastery, develops self-regulated learning, and strengthens the classroom community. This real-world application in Physics confirms it! Explore how the systems approach has promoted equity and accessibility through universal design for learning (UDL) strategies and purposeful implementation of peer reviews, self-assessments, and revisions. See examples of how an “Ask 3” protocol and “Actionable Norms” positive behavior intervention shift student thinking from compliance to continuous growth. Let’s turn theory into practice and leave energized to effect change together.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how implementing a comprehensive learner-centered electronic portfolio system with NGSS (& AP) standards-based grading plus a clear revision process can positively impact student learning to address the 4 Cs while it also transforms teaching into a more sustainable practice.

SPEAKERS:
Albert David Valderrama

Are you interested in helping students make sense of the phenomena in their communities? Are you looking for ways to incorporate more data in your science classroom? When sensemaking is focused on local phenomena, there are more opportunities to center students’ community and incorporate personal interests. This session, co-facilitated by the NSTA Professional Learning Team and Tuva, will highlight the value of using data from local phenomena in science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Data from local phenomena can be leveraged to create engaging learning for students. Participants will learn how to find and select local data that is instructionally productive, based on their goals for student learning and the data available.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Sponsoring Company: Kiddom

What does it take to make sense-making of phenomena through investigating the center of science instruction, not just in theory, but in daily practice? Join Dr. Mike Flanagan and explore how intentional curriculum design, when paired with powerful learning intelligence technology (LIT), can transform instruction and empower all learners. Featuring actionable strategies, this session will leave you inspired and equipped to design learning experiences that are coherent and genuinely engaging.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how thoughtful curriculum design and digital tools work together to support sense-making in science instruction, with practical strategies they can apply immediately to create more coherent, equitable, and engaging learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Flanagan

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Looking for ways to make science accessible for every student? Join Dr. Lisa Wright (Compton USD) and Sr. Learning Designer, Stacia Jackson (LEGO Education) to explore how hands-on, collaborative learning can engage diverse learners and transform outcomes in K–8 science. During this session, experience an interactive science lesson and learn strategies from real classrooms. Walk away with hands-on materials, sample lessons, and practical strategies to support diverse learners and bring inclusive science instruction to life in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Stacia Jackson, Lisa Wright Ed.D

Educators are trying to find the time to engage students in authentic science learning experiences, but they are restricted by schedule and curricular demands. INTEGRATING science and literacy ALLEVIATES challenges such as time constraints, disconnected learning, and low engagement. Utilizing science trade books stimulates knowledge building, which engages, equips, and empowers our students by contextualizing their comprehension. This session includes evidence-based research, practical insights, and hands-on application. Participants will: EXPLORE an integrated lesson using the 5E model and literacy strategies for reading, writing, speaking, and listening that deepen students’ understanding of science content connected to NGSS standards. CREATE an integrated lesson using a template and collection of science trade books. REFLECT on their experience, challenges encountered, and key takeaways. They will leave the session empowered with practical tools to elevate their teaching practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
INTEGRATING science and literacy ALLEVIATES challenges (time constraints, disconnected learning, low engagement). This presentation includes evidence-based research, practical insights, and hands-on application, to empower educators with knowledge and practical tools to contextualize comprehension.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Westhafer

During this session, we will discuss how expanding your leadership capacity in science education begins with understanding where your school or district currently stands—and where it aspires to be. This session engages participants in a reflective process to identify leadership opportunities that strengthen systems of support for science, technology, and engineering teaching and learning. Through structured protocols for analyzing school and district data, participants will learn how to highlight areas of growth, communicate findings effectively with building and district leaders, and leverage this information to drive meaningful change. The session will also provide strategies for facilitating professional learning, fostering collaboration, and building networks that enhance science instruction and strengthen departmental coherence.

TAKEAWAYS:
Identifying how data can provide insight into instructional needs and successes to build collaborative professional learning opportunities that create lasting systems of support to strengthen your science department.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Warren

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering science classrooms, and education leaders play a key role in shaping how it strengthens student sensemaking. This session explores how AI can help students ask stronger questions, reason with evidence, and engage more deeply with phenomena. Leaders will learn how to communicate a clear, purposeful vision for AI use, one that promotes thoughtful integration and supports high-quality science investigations. The session also highlights ways to partner with parents to build understanding and shared confidence in AI’s role in learning. Participants will leave with tools to assess readiness, articulate guiding principles, and position AI as a productive thinking partner in phenomenon-based science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to guide AI use to deepen science sensemaking, promote purposeful rather than restrictive practices, and engage parents as partners in supporting students’ phenomenon-based investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Lazzaro, Velma Itamura

"When developing skills in-game and an understanding of science concepts are one and the same - digital games can make learning dynamic, fun and accessible." Join Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Digital Team as we dive deeper into bringing scientific phenomena to life using game-based learning. In this discussion, we will be covering topics such as how our team uses storytelling and narratives to help contextualize complex scientific concepts, how games make certain scientific phenomena accessible, how games can be designed for all users, and how they can help support students with different learning styles. We are excited to share our skills, free learning resources, and enthusiasm with you all, so please join us in expanding learning through games.

TAKEAWAYS:
Digital Games are suited for and should be designed for play-based learning Storytelling and narratives help contextualize complex science concepts Games and sims can give access to scientific phenomena that can be too far away, too big, too small, or too inaccessible for any other reason

SPEAKERS:
Brian Mandell

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

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Unlock the full potential of multidimensional science learning through engineering! Discover how to engage students with hands-on learning and digital tools that bridge science content and practices. Boost critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity!

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Bonville

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Sami Kahn

In today’s fast-paced world, chronic stress is common, but your mind and body can pay a high price. Learn to recognize overwhelming stress—and what you can do about it. Most importantly, learn how to use the power of your senses to relieve stress on the spot and stay calm, productive, and focused.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with tips on how to manage stress.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips

Multilingual learners bring diverse strengths, experiences, and language resources to the science classroom. Using a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) lens, this session explores how teachers can make intentional instructional choices to support meaningful participation for multilingual learners and benefit all students. Participants will analyze classroom video to identify how teachers proactively make choices that provide multiple ways for students to access ideas, engage in sensemaking, and communicate their thinking. Participants will leave with classroom-ready strategies for supporting multilingual learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use a UDL-informed approach to design science instruction that leverages multilingual learners’ strengths and provides multiple pathways for all students to engage in sensemaking and communicate their thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Pawlowski, Ji Sun Ham, Zoe Evans

Learn how to write assessments to then identify, document, and address student learning deficiencies and implementing RTI in the Science Classroom. Participants will also learn how to add a built in intervention time during the day and how we provide extensions and also include our elective teachers into providing interventions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn concrete ways to identify students who need RTI, creating spreadsheets to track student data, and developing a intervention plan to address student needs.

SPEAKERS:
Kyla Glasser

Elevate your science teaching with “Tools for Teachers: Effective Science Lesson Resource,” an interactive workshop designed to empower educators. In this session, you’ll explore the development and purpose behind the Tools for Teachers Science resources and receive clear, step-by-step guidance on how to access and navigate these valuable materials. Experience a sample modeled lesson that demonstrates practical ways to integrate these resources into your daily instruction, making science lessons more engaging and effective for all students. You’ll gain real-world strategies for implementing standards-aligned activities that foster student understanding and curiosity. By the end of the workshop, you’ll leave equipped with the confidence, insights, and tools needed to enrich your science teaching and maximize the impact of the Tools for Teachers resources in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of the workshop, you’ll leave equipped with the confidence, insights, and tools needed to enrich your science teaching and maximize the impact of the Tools for Teachers resources in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Anthony Quan

Tired of dragging yourself home from school with nothing left? This session includes laughter, honesty, and the magical 2-word argument stopper that works on students, teens, & family. We’ll use bubbles in this session. Bubbles? Yep, bubbles! Learn how to set boundaries, keep your spark alive, and still be awesome at teaching. This will be the best hour of the conference.. You don’t want to miss it!

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to spot burnout before it reaches critical mass, & set boundaries without guilt. You'll leave with strategies to protect your energy, spark curiosity, & still have brainpower left for your own life.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Foote

PBL has been proven to be an effective teaching strategy in the science classroom. This session will provide an overview of Project Based Learning including the difference between project and problem based learning, how to manage a PBL, and how to maintain a legacy PBL.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with strategies to implement PBL in their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Nadene Klein

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Stephen Kos

The first year implementing OpenSciEd is often about keeping pace with the flow of units. In this session, we’ll share what we’ve learned about going deeper within the curriculum by tapping into valuable tools that often get overlooked in the first year. The GEMS-Net project, based at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Education, has been collaborating with teachers in their first few years of OpenSciEd implementation to explore supports, including the Teacher Handbook, Teacher Tools and Resources, and Unit Overview documents. Teachers have found this work to be valuable for planning, instruction, and supporting student sensemaking. Join us to dig into these resources together and leave with concrete strategies for elevating your OpenSciEd implementation beyond the first pass.

TAKEAWAYS:
Join us for a deep dive into often overlooked OpenSciEd resources and leave with strategies for advancing your instruction beyond the first year of implementation. Discover how to leverage valuable resources to deepen planning, instruction, and student sensemaking when teaching with OpenSciEd.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Emery, Catherine Knasas, Sarah Reis, Caroline Stabile

This workshop introduces an innovative online platform coupled with in-class activities to engage students in STEMM. Each module is anchored in a real-world case study woven into a story where students assume the role of scientists or clinicians, making decisions using authentic data from pediatric research. The modules build scientific literacy and problem-solving by utilizing inquiry-based modules, classroom discussion and manipulatives. Students are guided through diagnostic reasoning, data analysis, and treatment exploration leading to a deeper understanding of research. The interactive workshop will demonstrate how narrative-driven learning makes complex biomedical concepts accessible while highlighting emerging areas such as genomics, gene therapy, and data science. Participants explore strategies for integrating the platform into science curricula to inspire curiosity, connect the classroom to current research, and promote career pathways in health and biomedical sciences.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop highlights an online platform that uses narrative-driven learning modules about pediatric cases to teach life science concepts. Teachers will learn practical ways to integrate the modules into their courses to inspire curiosity and health science career interest.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Etherington, Summer Jasper, Kyle Bichsel

Look up at the ceiling when you’re at the grocery store, your school, or offices. What will you often see? Fire sprinklers! What role do fire sprinklers have in engineering and designing fire-safe spaces? In this workshop we evaluate the structure and function of a fire sprinkler to understand how thermodynamics lead to the bulb breaking and how a system of fire sprinklers work to limit the impact of fire. Xplorlabs: The Science of Fire Safety was developed in partnership with UL Research Institutes' Fire Safety Research Institute and the National Fire Sprinkler Association. Participants will preview the no-cost Science of Fire Safety pathway and consider its potential as part of their classroom curriculum. During which they will observe the effectiveness of a home sprinkler system using actual lab footage from ULRI, explore the phenomenon of thermal expansion to activate a sprinkler, and ideate how students can use this to design fire safe spaces.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants leave inspired to consider ways for students to design safer spaces and make informed fire safety decisions based on safety science. Participants also consider the opportunity to integrate any of the no-cost Xplorlabs pathways as part of their classroom curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Sternberg, Jessica Sparacino, Abi NeSmith, Justin Guida

Join the professional learning team from The Lawrence Hall of Science to explore three transformative leadership practices that can help you take tangible steps towards increasing phenomena-based, 3D science learning in elementary classrooms in your school or district. We will dive into a case study of one district and examine strategies leadership used to shift their system from little-to-no elementary science instruction towards a burgeoning commitment to phenomena-based science teaching and learning for all. Using a systems lens, participants will engage in a process to analyze the concrete strategies that the district took to work towards equitable science learning across the district. By considering how these strategies relate to three areas: high-quality instructional materials, increasing instructional time, and engaging in professional learning, participants will start to formulate ideas and next steps for enacting these three transformative practices in their own contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away concrete strategies that can be used to boost science in elementary classrooms and a systems-based framework for analyzing these strategies. They will also take away next steps for increasing time and capacity for science education in their own school or district.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Shannon Wachowski

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Transform your elementary science program with OpenSciEd Elementary, now available through Activate Learning. By leveraging the principles of inquiry-based learning, OpenSciEd Elementary empowers young learners to explore scientific concepts through real-world phenomena, sparking curiosity and fostering a lifelong love for science. As a certified OpenSciEd partner, Activate Learning is here to help your team make the shifts to 3-dimensional teaching and learning. In this session, come see what makes us different! We’ll engage like students and learn deeper as educators. Additional supports and resources will be shared to help anyone return to the classroom with a plethora of resources and support.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Marmolejo, Jen Gutierrez

Participants will learn how using children's literature in science instruction can help students get interested in science topics, gain needed context about phenomenon, and share prior knowledge. We will share how interactive read alouds can generate student collaboration and facilitate discussions.

TAKEAWAYS:
We want participants to take away a list of recent children's literature about science topics and how to use these books in their science teaching and learning. Techniques will be shared and lesson plans tied to NGSS will be handed out.

SPEAKERS:
Alexandra Chester, Jordan Kobielus, Jim McDonald

Join our session to learn about resources developed to support instruction in inclusive classrooms. These resources, designed within the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) Assessment System at the University of Kansas, are based on “learning maps”—cognitive models that specify multiple pathways for student learning, accounting for diverse learning needs. Learning maps show progressions of knowledge and skills in all three science dimensions, allowing for flexible integration of dimensions to help educators meet students where they are and work toward common learning goals for all students. This session will use the SEP Planning and Carrying Out Investigations to illustrate how learning maps can support planning targeted and individualized inquiry-based instruction in middle school. Teachers of science in general education classrooms, special educators who teach science, and science educators interested in supporting all students’ learning are encouraged to attend.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about 3-D science learning maps and how to use related resources from the Dynamic Learning Maps system that are publicly-available, aimed at planning targeted and individualized inquiry-based instruction in inclusive classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Richardson, Dante Cisterna

Discover how to create a more functional and engaging classroom by empowering students through meaningful roles and validated scientific inquiry. This session will explore how a structured system of classroom and lab jobs can foster student responsibility, build a strong sense of community, and develop critical skills. It will also highlight the benefits of centering student ideas in science, which boosts confidence, encourages risk-taking, and deepens learning. Learn how to combine these strategies to cultivate an environment where students feel valued, confident, and motivated to contribute to their learning community. The second half of the session will demonstrate how celebrating student ideas in the science classroom can encourage responsible risk-taking and promote deeper learning. By validating student contributions and framing mistakes as growth opportunities, educators can create a collaborative environment that boosts confidence and fosters student-driven discovery.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with a toolkit of actionable strategies to implement both systems, empowering students to take ownership of their learning and become valued, contributing members of the classroom community.

SPEAKERS:
Caitlin Quinn, Amy Couch

How do we balance innovation, private rights, and civic responsibility? This session connects America’s founding principles to modern challenges in science and engineering. Using primary sources and considering modern challenges, you will explore activities and civil discourse practices that help students analyze whether discoveries should be shared for the public good or protected as private property. Gain strategies to guide students in designing inventions that address civic needs and in proposing how innovations should be shared. With alignment to engineering and civics standards, and integration of literacy and technology, the session offers an engaging way to connect the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, or U.S. history more broadly, to science and engineering classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies to guide students in examining the balance between scientific innovation, private rights, and the public good in U.S. history and today. This integrates engineering, civics, and civil discourse as students design solutions to civic needs.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Lane

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Madden, Brooke Whitworth, Michael Marino, Peter Lindeman

Citizen science provides students with an authentic entry point into real-world scientific inquiry by allowing them to collect, analyze, and contribute meaningful data to ongoing research projects. By engaging with established citizen science platforms, students develop critical observation skills, identify patterns, and generate their own investigative questions. This natural progression—from participating in community-based data collection to designing independent research—empowers students to think like scientists, build confidence, and explore topics that genuinely spark their curiosity. Through hands-on experiences, collaboration with broader scientific networks, and opportunities for reflection, citizen science becomes a powerful launching pad for student-driven research and deeper scientific understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Citizen science turns classrooms into real research spaces, empowering students to use authentic data as a launchpad for meaningful, self-driven scientific investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Bailey

Discover engaging, classroom-ready strategies that connect literacy, language, and science thinking. In this session, participants will explore innovative prompts, such as "Twitter-aided Socratic Circles" and "Science Tweets," that strengthen students' ability to reason, write, and communicate scientific ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how these quick, adaptable routines can spark curiosity, deepen understanding of science phenomena, and support the three dimensions of learning. Walk away with ready-to-use examples, templates, and inspiration for making sensemaking both fun and rigorous in your classroom!

SPEAKERS:
Sara Tolman

From historical photographs, to scientific notebooks, to sketches of early inventions, the Library of Congress has millions of free digitized primary sources online, many of which are related to STEM curriculum and standards. Visit our table to explore some of these sources and chat with us about how you can engage your students through hands-on, inquiry-based primary source analysis. Analyzing primary sources can be particularly useful for building critical thinking skills, while helping students reflect on how scientists and engineers think, practice, and apply scientific principles in the real world; how scientific ideas evolve over time; and how science and engineering are related to society. Primary sources can serve as phenomena to launch units, offer opportunities for exploring real-world data, illuminate the history nature of science, and more. We look forward to learning about your work with students and discussing what resources and strategies might be beneficial to you!

TAKEAWAYS:
Come learn how to access millions of free digitized primary sources – photos, manuscripts, maps, multimedia, and more – to facilitate hands-on activities that build critical thinking, while providing insights into the nature of science, STEM practices, and the relationship between STEM and society.

SPEAKERS:
Lora Taylor, Michael Lowry, Michael Apfeldorf

Jump into a quick, competitive metric system challenge that boosts mass, length, and volume estimation skills in minutes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Walk away with a team-based game that helps students make sense of SI units using everyday objects.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Benham

This engaging project allows students to design and build their own circuit game.

TAKEAWAYS:
This engaging project allows students to design and build their own game. Students will use a folder, brass fasteners, insulated wires, a battery, and a mini light bulb to create a closed circuit gameboard. Teachers will learn how to create the board and to help students research potential topics.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Kurson

This hands-on project has helped to capture students of all abilities and easily allows for differentiation. Students build miniature golf holes on a cardboard base and then play through everyone's projects as a whole class mini golf course. This project enables hands-on building with readily available materials and can be used to assess students' understanding of modeling and scaling, energy transfer, engineering, calculating averages, and more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have the opportunity to view examples of student-created work and will be provided with access to a Google Drive folder containing starter materials to help them adapt this project to their individual students.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Murray

Come hear about the benefits of being a National Middle Level Science Teachers Association (NMLSTA) member. These include the opportunity to apply for classroom teacher awards and the Hurd Award. There are monthly webinars and ideas-of-the-month. Also, great networking and leadership opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
The benefits of being involved in NMLSTA.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Seymour

Pilot Light supports healthy classroom communities. The program integrated Food Education improves academic outcomes.. Standard-based models allow for flexibility to meet schools' individual needs. It is not "another thing on an educators plate. The resources, and fellowships make food education accessible of all. At the present time over 15 years, 24,000 + students, 534 educators and 24 states. With developed standards from FES-1-Food Connects us to each other. FE-2-Foods have sources and organs. FES-3-Food and the environment are interconnected. FES-4-Food behaviors are influenced by external and internal factors. FES-5-Food impacts health. FES-6-We can make informed food choices. FES-7-We can advocate for dood choices and changes that impact ourselves, our communities, and or world. Common Core/SEL

TAKEAWAYS:
It is to support students as they learn and advocate for informed choices by origin the lesson they learn to the food on their lunch trays, at home, and in their communities. As part of this, food impacts us all as individuals and as members of the food systems, but is rarely taught in schools.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Ernst, Antoinette Schlobohm, NBCT, NCST

Air Camp is a hands-on educational adventure in aviation and aeronautics for students in grades 4-12 and K-12 STEM educators. Aiming to connect, inspire, and provide STEM learning opportunities while offering teachers professional development, valuable resources, classroom materials, and much more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Access to teacher resources and professional development opportunities designed to integrate aviation-focused STEM lessons and real-world applications into the middle school classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Steiner, Christina Davis

Explore how food can make science tangible and engaging! This Share-a-thon presentation will showcase Pilot Light’s integrated food education approach, and our newly revised PK-12 Food Education Standards. Participants can see examples of lesson implementation from real middle school classrooms across the country, and access hundreds of free practical tools and resources from our online Food Education Center to bring food-centered science learning into their classrooms. Designed for informal, interactive engagement, attendees are encouraged to ask questions, share ideas, and take away replicable strategies to make science learning relevant, student-centered, and experiential. Leave with sample lessons and resources to take back to your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Practical, hands-on examples connecting food education to NGSS-aligned, student-centered science concepts, along with ideas for cross-curricular connections to overcome barriers like time, access, or resources.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Gottlieb

Over the last few years, I have created worksheets and supporting documents to help my students create successful Science fair/Science Expo projects. A lot of this is based on information I learned attending and later while facilitating Professional Development sessions with Urban Advantage NYC. During this session, I will share my worksheets, which carefully scaffold the elements of a great Science fair project, making a successful project attainable by the average middle schooler. I will talk about my own experience leading students through topic selection all the way to a final product. I will also share some ideas about hosting a successful science fair.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will walk away with editable worksheets, rubrics, and pacing calendars that they can use to help them plan successful long term student led science fair projects.

SPEAKERS:
Jasmina Nikolov, Rachelle Travis

Discover how the humble sticky note can transform your science classroom into a hub of curiosity, collaboration, and creativity! In this session, you’ll learn how printing directly on sticky notes opens up endless possibilities for student engagement and sensemaking. From building dynamic driving question boards that spark and sustain inquiry, to designing interactive word walls that evolve with student understanding, sticky notes offer flexible, hands-on ways to make learning visible. Explore strategies for providing personalized feedback, tracking progress with badge systems, organizing class calendars, and more—all with colorful squares of paper that can move, cluster, and adapt to student needs. Walk away with practical ideas, templates, and inspiration to harness the power of sticky notes to empower learners, foster ownership, and make science thinking stick!

TAKEAWAYS:
Unlock the hidden power of sticky notes! Learn how printing on them can transform your science classroom with driving question boards, word walls, feedback, badges, and calendars. Walk away with ready-to-use ideas to boost curiosity, engagement, and student ownership.

SPEAKERS:
Peter Kelly

In this session, we will model close reading lessons using both a document camera (traditional method) and a computer (technology integration) to demonstrate intentional annotation in science texts and assessments. Participants will engage in simulated classroom experiences, gaining a clear understanding of what effective text analysis with purposeful annotation looks and sounds like, as well as how to facilitate it. Short, manageable science passages will be used to ensure active participation and meaningful discussion. We’ll begin by exploring traditional annotation techniques using the document camera, then transition to digital tools—showing how uploaded texts can be annotated to support 21st-century learners. This hands-on approach will equip participants with practical strategies for blending traditional and modern methods to enhance comprehension and critical thinking in the science disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session empowers teachers to use intentional annotation (AI) to guide students in navigating grade-level science texts. AI, Please! boosts close reading and comprehension by combining purposeful annotation with practical classroom strategies to elevate science literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Yolanda Williams

Strong teacher-student and student-student relationships bring joy to teaching and improve student outcomes. Such relationships support sensemaking in science, since sensemaking is not just about individual knowledge building, but collaborative knowledge building that requires commitments to classroom community-building. But building such relationships takes time, and it requires intentional strategies. In this workshop, we will focus on strategies for building relationships centered on care. We will introduce a definition of care grounded in research on how to cultivate compassionate relationships in schools. We will simulate practices for establishing and revisiting community agreements focused on honoring the dignity of each person, valuing each student's contribution, and tending to strong emotions that arise in classrooms. We will also discuss strategies for repairing relationships when agreements break down, and meeting such moments with compassion for ourselves and students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will develop an understanding of the role of caring relationships in fostering commitment to building classroom communities that engage in science sensemaking together. In addition, they will experience practices intended to build, maintain, and address breakdowns in shared agreements.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Potvin

In addition to the two-yearly national conferences on science education, NSTA provides year-round in-person, online, and blended personalized professional learning experiences for groups of K–12 educators. This is the ideal formula for best professional learning, as it must be high quality and on-going. So, what are your plans for the teachers in your district of school? Join us to learn what NSTA has to offer. The online option, known as the NSTA Partner Program, provides educators with access to digital resources, virtual events, the online community, expert staff, and digital professional membership for all participants. A variety of in-person workshops are available, including OpenSciEd. Presenters will share case studies that are representative of the different professional learning options available.

TAKEAWAYS:
Education leaders will learn about professional learning opportunities that NSTA offers, delivered in-person, online, and blended that give their teachers the power to personalize their learning as well as the ability to learn with their peers. Some programs include membership for all participants.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez, Tricia Shelton

This presentation explores how AI can support student sensemaking by guiding learners through the process of building models from regional, relevant datasets. Participants will see how interdisciplinary connections between science and statistics can be strengthened when students use AI as a scaffold to develop spreadsheet formulas, test predictions, and refine hypotheses. Rather than conducting analysis for them, AI prompts students with guiding questions and formula structures that empower them to explore correlations and relationships independently. This approach emphasizes student agency, encouraging learners to make predictions, brainstorm modeling strategies, and iteratively improve their work. By situating the activity in regional contexts, the project ensures relevance and authenticity, helping students connect data patterns to real-world phenomena. Educators will leave with strategies for integrating AI into classroom projects that deepen inquiry, foster statistical reasoning,

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will go on a data adventure exploring real datasets, uncovering variable relationships, and using AI as a supportive tool. This journey, appropriate for grades 6-12, deepens inquiry, strengthens modeling skills, and inspires more meaningful, data-driven learning.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Stirling, Lora Gibbons, Theresa Goltermann

Sponsoring Company: TCI

K–5 teachers juggle many subjects and limited schedules, but meaningful science learning is still possible. Learn how thoughtfully designed lessons help you drive engagement and get the most from science investigations—even when time is tight.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ladd

The process of science is driven by questions. While it’s easy to ask a general question, crafting an investigable question requires deeper thinking and intentionality. Doing so within the constraints of an existing dataset creates an additional challenge. This session, co-facilitated by the NSTA professional learning team and Tuva, will highlight strategies for helping students clarify what data they have to work with, determine the types of questions that can and cannot be answered with a given dataset, and frame six different types of questions about data.

TAKEAWAYS:
The types of questions you can ask depend on the data you have. Participants will learn how to guide students in identifying the structure and limits of the local datasets they encounter and in framing investigable questions that unlock the potential of data.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Learn how your eyes perceive light and color from your phone’s screen. Join us as we investigate how your eye–brain system sees your phone through fun, content-rich, easy-to-do, NGSS-aligned hands-on activities from the Exploratorium Teacher Institute. All materials are designed to be effective, inexpensive, and easily obtainable. The Exploratorium is a hands-on science museum located in San Francisco, CA. The Teacher Institute has been a home for professional development for teachers since 1984.

TAKEAWAYS:
The technology in your phone is based on how your eye–brain system perceives the world. We’ll explore how various wavelengths of light (PS4.B) interact with specialized cells in your eye (LS1.A) and influence the engineering and technology (ETS1.A) of your phones' display (PS4.C).

SPEAKERS:
Desiré Whitmore, Eric Muller

While HQIM are an important lever that can impact students’ science experiences, access to HQIM is not consistent across schools and impacts marginalized students most. And, claims around NGSS in materials is common. How might educators sift through all this information to identify materials that best meet their students' needs? Participants will learn about the characteristics of high-quality phenomena, problems, and sensemaking and how to identify those characteristics when selecting and using materials. They will utilize sample lesson materials, identifying the presence and use of phenomena/problems and sensemaking and considering how these factors contribute to student experiences. Through guided practice and discussion, participants will learn how to begin to narrow materials selection through a critical lens. Participants will also orient to EdReports' free reviews of instructional materials and other resources for making materials selections for their school or classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain an understanding of the characteristics of phenomena/problems and sensemaking opportunities and how to identify them in materials. With example lessons, they will use tools to evaluate materials for NGSS-aligned instruction in order to effectively identify aspects of quality.

SPEAKERS:
Sam Shaw

This session will highlight activities that we have done K-5 to weave science lessons with math and ELA standards to make sure all subjects get the time they deserve. They also use real world experiences to make the ideas tangible and relatable for students. The presentations will include background information of how we narrowed down the standards taught, and how we developed the lessons. THen participants will get to try out some of the activities and walk away with lesson plans and worksheets .

TAKEAWAYS:
Science lessons easily incorporates ELA and Math standards, so why not write your lessons this way? Making science an interdisciplinary study allows students to use their lessons in a new and meaningful way, and allows teachers to hit all their standards in a reasonable amount of time!

SPEAKERS:
Samantha Levine

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

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

The Framework calls for an assessment system that supports teacher autonomy and multiple ways for students to demonstrate their ability to reason with the three dimensions. In OpenSciEd, assessments are embedded in the unit, options include self- and peer-assessment, and multi-component tasks. This shift to OSE provides students with 3-dimensional opportunities to work through and demonstrate their use of science practices, application of crosscutting concepts, and understanding of science content. In this session, come see what makes us different! Participants will learn about the elements of three-dimensional assessments, analyze assessments with student work, and become familiar with the OSE Assessment System and OSE Grading Planning Tool, which we’ll explore both lesson-level and Unit-level assessment approaches to supporting all students’ sense-making through the learnings.

SPEAKERS:
Jen Gutierrez, Faith Blaine

Ever wish Mark Rober could co-teach your class? This session shows how Class CrunchLabs uses video, voice, and story to spark curiosity and launch rigorous learning. We will break down how to introduce a storyline, use Mark’s videos as authentic investigation starters, and weave hands-on challenges through episodes of science and engineering. You will also get a peek behind the scenes at how the team builds each unit to help students explain ‘the how’ after experiencing ‘the wow.’ Optional bonus: watermelon smashing included.

TAKEAWAYS:
See how NGSS storylines, teacher supports, and Mark Rober’s videos work together to launch engaging science units that get students asking questions and thinking like scientists from day one.

SPEAKERS:
DeAnna Lee Rivers, Spencer Martin

As AI becomes a routine part of science learning, educators across roles are looking for ways to lead its purposeful and productive use. This leadership session provides practical guidance for communicating about AI in ways that inspire curiosity, strengthen science sensemaking, and support phenomenon-based investigations. Participants will explore clear, consistent language and implementation strategies that empower teachers, engage families, and encourage thoughtful experimentation with AI as a reasoning partner. The session highlights supportive structures and approaches that help diverse learners and build educator confidence. Attendees will leave with insights and strategies they can adapt to guide AI-enabled science learning in their own classrooms, departments, schools, or districts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to communicate and implement AI in ways that inspire curiosity, strengthen sensemaking, and reshape classroom culture through purposeful routines, while partnering with parents and the community.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Lazzaro, Velma Itamura

How can assessments support three dimensional sensemaking? Explore how the OpenSciEd Elementary assessment system illuminates the brilliance and strengths of students, teachers, and classroom communities as they figure out science ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary curriculum units have three-dimensional assessment opportunities woven throughout the unit. Five different assessment types work together as a system to support teachers, students, and the classroom community in responding to ideas, reflecting, and checking progress.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Belcastro, Gen Zoufal, Gail Housman

Overwhelmed by OpenSciEd? We were too! Come hear real (sometimes reluctant) teachers share what we’ve learned so far about the transition to a fully OpenSciEd curriculum. We will share practical tips to make Open SciEd easier for newbies, our experiences for a district planning the transition, and how we approached modifications for ELL, Special Ed and substitutes in our classrooms. We will also discuss best practices for scientist circles, notebooks, assessments and progress trackers. Come find that you are not alone in the transition.

TAKEAWAYS:
Practical ideas for implementation of OpenSciEd across middle school grades from real teachers who had to do it.

SPEAKERS:
Jayne Coughlin, Melissa Thomas, Samantha Genier

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard

How can a toy chicken spark wonder, ignite curiosity, and anchor deep scientific sensemaking? In this interactive hands-on workshop, participants will experience how every day objects can be transformed into powerful phenomena that hook students in authentic STEM explorations. Aligned with NGSS and guided by the 5E instructional model, we will facilitate an inquiry sequence beginning with a toy chicken that chirps when a circuit is completed. Next, participants will engage in guided exploration, questioning, and sensemaking to uncover which materials conduct electricity, compare similar phenomena, and build conceptual understanding of circuits. The learning cycle concludes with an integrated STEM challenge that connects the science concepts to the children’s book, Lion Lights by Richard Turere, applies computer science through micro:bits and coding, and explores engineering design to solve real world problems using knowledge of electrical circuits.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore how everyday phenomena can spark curiosity and support sensemaking using the 5E model. Through hands-on science, literacy, computer science, and engineering activities, attendees gain ready-to-use strategies, resources, and assessments for classroom integration.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Ponder, Amanda Cramer

Scientific modeling is central to NGSS, yet teachers often struggle to provide timely feedback on student-created models. This interactive workshop introduces ScienceSketch, a free, AI-powered tool developed by NC State and WestEd that supports real-time feedback on hand-drawn science models. Participants will explore how the tool evaluates student models against NGSS-aligned rubrics, delivers targeted feedback, and promotes revisions that deepen learning. Through hands-on experience, participants will create models, receive AI feedback, and compare their evaluations with student work and the system’s analysis. The session also invites educators to contribute insights on usability, classroom integration, and future enhancements. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for incorporating AI-supported modeling by ScienceSketch into elementary science instruction to boost student engagement and conceptual understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how AI-powered tools like ScienceSketch can provide real-time, individualized feedback on elementary school student-drawn science models—making scientific modeling more practical, engaging, and instructionally powerful in NGSS-aligned classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Wong, Mingyu Feng

In this session, participants will be introduced to practices used in visualizing data. Presenters Sara Moren and Rachel Langley collaboratively teach middle school math and science. This year, they worked together to enhance their students' understanding of why and how data is used in making decisions. Using puzzle cubes to teach students about data collection, data organization, and using proportional reasoning to make predictions, the presenters will share what they did, what worked, and what ideas they have for further development of these lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using puzzle cubes, participants will engage in a hands-on activity that can be used in both middle school math and science classrooms to help students learn how to visualize data.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Langley, Sara Moren

Sponsoring Company: Biozone, Inc.

Science teachers are expected to do it all, prep lessons, keep students motivated in any setting, and design assessments. Imagine if your digital tools finally helped lighten that load. Discover how BIOZONE WORLD transforms instruction with a cohesive platform built to reduce workload and elevate learning. Jump straight into ready-to-use activities, presentation slides, and rich media from the integrated Resource Hub, including videos and 3D models that bring complex concepts to life. Support multilingual learners instantly with in-platform translation, and use the Teacher Toolkit’s pacing guides, notes, and assessments to streamline planning and maintain instructional consistency. Our print and digital resources are identical, so whether you teach in-person, hybrid, or fully online, BIOZONE WORLD empowers you to work smarter, keep students actively engaged, and deliver science lessons that truly resonate. Attendees receive a FREE print title & 30-day digital access.

SPEAKERS:
Debi Wilson

What happens when art becomes a lens for exploring science and intelligence? In this hands-on workshop, participants will investigate how nature, technology, and humanity intertwine to shape our future. Attendees will engage in participatory science by observing natural and technological artifacts, sketching and recording patterns, and comparing their perceptions with an AI’s interpretation of the same objects. These layered perspectives will be transformed into collaborative “intelligence tiles” and assembled into a collective mural. Along the way, facilitators will model how storytelling, place-based exploration, and cross-curricular art-making can deepen student engagement and enhance sensemaking. Participants will leave with a replicable process for classroom use: observe, analyze, translate across mediums, and create. This session highlights how art-infused science learning can connect students to timely conversations about intelligence, technology, and humanity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to blend observation, participatory science, AI, and art-making into a replicable process that helps students explore the interplay of natural, human, and digital intelligence through hands-on, interdisciplinary learning.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Robinson, Katie Musick, Jesse Wren

Sponsoring Company: Discovery Education

Clothing waste is a growing challenge, but it also creates powerful opportunities for learning. In this session, inspired by The Wear Longer Project created in partnership with Levi’s, participants will explore how everyday clothing items are made, used, repaired, and reused—and what those choices mean for sustainability. Using a simple button-sewing activity as a model, the session highlights how hands-on making builds problem-solving skills and design thinking. This approachable skill sparks meaningful conversations about fibers, tension, stress points, and the environmental impact of repairing versus discarding clothing. Participants will also see how this activity can be adapted for classrooms, makerspaces, clubs, and community programs. You’ll leave with practical ideas and ready-to-use strategies to help students build confidence, think creatively, and ask better questions about materials, durability, and sustainability in their everyday lives.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Willis, Caitlin Arakawa

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Obie Martin

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Some science concepts are hard to teach because students can't see them — molecular reactions, energy transfer, plate tectonics. Animation makes invisible processes visible. But it's not just about the visuals; this session explores the learning science behind why BrainPOP's animated movies support understanding. You'll learn before/during/after movie strategies that turn watching into active sensemaking, grounded in research you can reference and results you can see in your classroom

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Bonville

Interested in building a successful science fair for your classroom or school? Want to host a science fair that inspires students, engages families, and strengthens your schools science program with hands on learning and discovery? This session offers a practical roadmap for organizing a science fair at your school- whether you are starting from scratch or revitalizing an existing program. You'll walk away with judging rubics, timelines, templates and communication strategies that have been tested and proven. We'll explore ways to promote equity and access, foster student ownership of projects and align with NGSS and Ohio state standards, and science and engineering practices. Ideal for teachers, STEM coordinators and administrators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn the essential components and timeline of planning a science fair, gain access to ready to use templates, rubrics, parent/student communications, explore strategies to ensure inclusivity and student engagement and understand how to align science fairs with standards.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Pittman, Christina Jandrokovic

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Activate Learning Virtual Investigations™ bring interactive, curriculum-aligned OpenSciEd Middle School labs to life anytime, anywhere. Designed to complement hands-on investigations, these virtual labs support students who miss a lab, need extra practice, or benefit from reviewing key concepts before assessments, helping them return to class ready to engage in sensemaking. Join educators from Auburn School District (WA) as they share how Activate Learning Virtual Investigations™ increase access to phenomena, support diverse learners, and make it easier to keep all students moving forward, even when a teacher is absent and a substitute teacher is leading the class!

SPEAKERS:
Casey Killett, Tori Coyle

Energy leaks through screens long before we feel “stressed.” This practical session helps science educators re-architect their attention by pairing MBSR-informed pauses with simple systems for email, LMS, and chat. We will map common drains, install notification tiers with a personalized Do-Not-Disturb (DND) map, and provide plug-and-play email/LMS scripts that reduce after-hours spillover while keeping families supported. Participants will develop a 10-minute daily shutdown ritual to prevent evening rumination and launch a 7-day Attention Diet to test what actually improves focus and mood.

TAKEAWAYS:
A personalized DND Map with notification tiers and schedules. An email/LMS script pack for parents, students, and colleagues. A 10-minute shutdown ritual to protect evenings and sleep. A 7-day Attention Diet tracker. A PLC norms template to sustain boundaries as a team.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Reading comprehension doesn't start in ELA — it starts with knowing something about the world. This session shows elementary teachers how to use science instruction to build the concepts, vocabulary, and schema students need across every subject. Explore how BrainPOP movies and connected texts turn your science block into the knowledge foundation that makes reading and discussion possible. Walk away with strategies you can use this week.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Bonville

Ditch the workbooks, coloring pages, and foldables! Discover how sensemaking notebooks can transform your K–5 science lessons into powerful tools for learning. In this session, you’ll explore how to help students document their thinking, analyze data, and build literacy while strengthening their 3-dimensional understanding of NGSS. Together, we’ll tackle key questions: What should an elementary science notebook look like? What belongs inside? How do we guide students to record observations, explain their reasoning, and make sense of phenomena? You’ll see examples of how notebooks support the Science and Engineering Practices, integrate writing and drawing, and provide a window into student thinking. Sensemaking notebooks give you the flexibility to adapt to your teaching style and your students’ needs—all while centering the four essences that drive meaningful, lasting learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will walk away with clear strategies and examples for designing flexible sensemaking notebooks that help K–5 students record observations, explain reasoning, analyze data, and connect literacy with 3D NGSS learning—making science meaningful and accessible for all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Lesley Gates

In this interactive session, we will explore the transformative power of science notebooks as a versatile tool for engaging and empowering ELs and high-needs students in science education. Unlike traditional one-size-fits-all approaches, science notebooks can be tailored to meet the unique needs and learning styles of diverse students. Participants will learn how to effectively implement science notebooks, allowing students to take ownership of their learning, build their own science resources, and foster creativity. We will delve into strategies for differentiation, language support, and fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment. Key Topics Covered: - Customizing Science Notebooks: Moving beyond rigid templates to empower student creativity. - Hands-Off Teaching: Allowing students to work through problems and build their own science resources. - Differentiation: Providing translated notes, vocabulary support, and drawing aids for ELs and high-needs students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Empower ELs and high-needs students by embracing flexible science notebooks, fostering creativity, and promoting inclusivity in science education.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Warren

Speaker will help attendees grasp the vast scientific concepts and exploration opportunities that comprise the young child’s everyday world. She will actively engage attendees with explorations and discourse, and offer strategies and ideas teachers can implement, to set up Science and STEM explorations and simple engineering problems for young children that support NGSS. She will discuss the importance of nurturing a child’s natural curiosity and will offer strategies to help children develop their observation and thinking skills. She will emphasize the importance of engaging young children in manipulation of objects and materials so they can recognize the effects of their actions. She will offer strategies to help children develop their science vocabulary. She will model how instruction that starts with children’s questions and provides rich opportunities for exploration and investigation is the most engaging way to introduce and teach science concepts to young children. Handouts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies and engaging exploration ideas, to create sense-making opportunities for young children, and to inspire children’s sustained curiosities. Activities will be easy and inexpensive to replicate and will help launch a trajectory of learning for young children.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell

Experience how LabXchange’s interactive lab simulations can elevate middle school teaching and learning. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to navigate the LabXchange platform, exploring a variety of virtual lab simulations such as photosynthesis, osmosis, cellular respiration, and using a light microscope. LabXchange simulations encompass the scientific method—from predictions and protocol, to analysis and reflection—all while providing real-time hints and feedback for students. Discover how inquiry-based virtual labs can foster a deeper understanding of science topics, strengthen curiosity, and develop critical skills in a no-cost, safe online environment. Participants will leave with ready-to-use educator resources and new strategies for facilitating science learning in both in-person and virtual settings. Note: Participants should bring a device with Wi-Fi capabilities to actively participate.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how LabXchange’s free interactive lab simulations can make science learning accessible and engaging to enhance your middle school classroom experience, no matter your budget, time, or experience.

SPEAKERS:
Paul Schwein, Angela Campbell

Participants will actively engage with authentic, research-based science phenomena that illustrate core physics concepts and support NGSS-aligned instruction. They will observe and analyze demonstrations such as a child on a sled remaining stationary when a dog pulls the sled (illustrating inertia), the Whack It! experiment comparing the motion of ping pong and golf balls, and a pendulum showing how force affects motion. Attendees will practice prompting student reasoning, connecting observations to Crosscutting Concepts and Science and Engineering Practices, and translating phenomena into strategies that foster curiosity, questioning, and deep conceptual understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of the session, participants will leave with ready-to-use examples, tools, and approaches for making sense of science in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Annie Smith, Stephanie Wendt

As AI becomes more accessible, many traditional science assignments no longer reveal what students truly understand. This session helps educators move from policing AI use to designing tasks that encourage reasoning, reflection, and deeper engagement with phenomena. Participants will analyze why certain activities are vulnerable to AI shortcutting and learn practical strategies for redesigning them into AI-resilient tasks that surface student thinking. Through live demonstrations and sample routines, attendees will explore approaches that require students to critique, revise, justify, and apply ideas during phenomenon based investigations. The session include a framework to identify non-AI resilient tasks and reivse them into tasks that promote purposeful, sensemaking focused AI use.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn strategies for transforming traditional assignments into AI-resilient tasks that reveal student reasoning and strengthen sensemaking during phenomenon based investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Lazzaro, Velma Itamura

Sponsoring Company: Discovery Education

Step into the role of a research scientist. In this interactive breakout session; you’ll experience a classroom-ready lab activity designed to mirror authentic biomedical research practices. Led by Discovery Education and a Charles River scientist, this hands-on experience immerses educators in the scientific habits that drive innovation in real laboratories. Participants will explore core scientific practices, examine why precision and sterile technique are essential for reliable results, and uncover how these methods reflect the realities of today’s research environments. Drawing on insights from Charles River’s work, this session bridges classroom instruction with the authentic processes used in biomedical research. You’ll leave with practical strategies, ready-to-use resources from the STEM Careers Coalition, and a deeper understanding of how scientific rigor and ethical research practices fuel the innovations that improve lives every day.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Willis, Caitlin Arakawa

Have your students take ownership of their learning while strengthening their scientific reasoning by using interactive notebooks. They are a powerful tool for sensemaking, modeling, and tracking growth throughout the year. In this session, you’ll discover how to design and assess notebooks that go beyond simple note-taking. Learn strategies for incorporating activities such as CER writing, card sorts, graphic organizers, and models that help students organize their thinking and make connections. You’ll walk away with practical resources, classroom-ready ideas, and assessment tools to support engagement, accountability, and long-term learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to design and assess interactive notebooks using practical strategies and resources that support student sensemaking, engagement, and growth tracking.

SPEAKERS:
Kyla Glasser

Multilingual learners often need targeted language support in the moment—without interrupting sensemaking or lowering cognitive demand. In this session, participants will explore just-in-time instructional strategies that support multilingual learners during science discussions, investigations, and explanation-building. Attendees will analyze classroom video to identify teacher moves that provide timely language scaffolds while keeping students engaged in authentic science and engineering practices. Participants will leave with concrete strategies they can immediately apply to support student talk, writing, and reasoning in science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use just-in-time language scaffolds to support multilingual learners’ talk, writing, and reasoning while maintaining high cognitive demand and authentic science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Pawlowski, Ji Sun Ham, Zoe Evans

Engage. Inspire. Innovate! Join us for an interactive session filled with teaching ideas, make-and-take science tools, and creative strategies to make learning exciting and accessible for all students. We are the National STEM Scholar Program (NSS), a group of middle school science teachers from around the U.S who have created and implemented Challenge Projects in our schools to advance science education, strengthen scientific literacy, connect learning to real-world problems, and inspire the next generation. Funded by the National Stem Cell Foundation, the NSS Program selects ten middle school teachers each year from across the US to participate in innovative professional development while networking with each other. At this Share-a-thon, Scholars will showcase their projects, complete with curriculum, classroom resources, and results. Come discover fresh ideas, gather hands-on tools, and connect with fellow science educators from across the country!

TAKEAWAYS:
Come discover new ideas, lessons and effective real-world projects that you can use in your middle school classroom while networking with other middle school science teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Vassiliev, Rico Tyler, Aprille' Morris-Butler, Kerrie McDaniel, Lalita Khemka, Jo Slavitz, Renae Lewis, Alexandria Wicker, Melanie Hardy

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

How can classroom NGSS assessments provide an early, reliable window into readiness for state science tests? Explore district case studies—including findings from the CAST—that show how NGSS-aligned assessments can predict and support readiness for state science tests. We’ll dig into the data from district case studies and then demonstrate how to design 3D summative assessments in InnerOrbit so districts can recreate these patterns and monitor state test readiness with confidence. Whether you’re in California or another NGSS-aligned state, you’ll leave with concrete tools for monitoring state test readiness long before testing season.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Miller

Step into the role of a CSI to experience how science can be applied in a real-world investigation. Participants will collect, document, and analyze evidence as they work to solve a simulated crime scene, practicing the same skills their students will use in class. See how storytelling, collaboration, and problem-solving increase engagement and deepen understanding. Participants will gain access to a shared Google Drive with ready-to-use documents and resources, making it easy to replicate these activities in their own classrooms. Teachers will leave with practical strategies to create immersive learning environments such as a body farm, blood spatter chamber, and outdoor crime scenes with limited resources. This session demonstrates how to transform classroom content into engaging, real-world applications that align with best practices and standards, while challenging students to think critically, apply scientific knowledge, and arrive at valid conclusions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create an interactive learning environment where students act as CSI's to collect evidence, document evidence and analyze evidence and will be able to create these learning environments with limited resources and no additional training required.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Barber

In this era of science denial K-12 teachers have an opportunity to provide appropriate responses in their programs. This session introduces understandable and achievable responses with clear connections to NGSS and associated state science standards that use the 5E instructional model. This session will include both a short presentation and a brief activity. The activities in this session are contained in a new co-publication by Corwin and NSTA presses.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this era many science teachers have concerns about science denial but express doubts about what they can do. This session's main takeaway is a response to the stated concern--teach students about the nature of science as included in NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
Rodger Bybee

Sponsoring Company: FLINN

Experience Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) for yourself in this interactive, hands-on session. Learn how this student-centered strategy builds critical thinking, teamwork, and conceptual understanding through guided inquiry.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Marvel, Ph.D.

o Explore integrated professional learning models that center joy, relevance, and collaboration. This session highlights innovative approaches to professional learning that bring educators across disciplines together to explore environmentally focused phenomena and connect science, mathematics, computer science, and the arts through outdoor learning. Hear firsthand from County Office educators who will share how this approach became a catalyst for reimagining professional learning in their local contexts, resulting in redesigned PL that is more engaging, collaborative, and impactful. Participating educators will engage in activities that model outdoor- and arts-connected learning and explore planning tools and supporting resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical strategies and ready-to-use tools that build educator confidence and deepen student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Chelsea Cochrane, Rachel Myers

Reading science text can be challenging for students, especially for those who are learning English. Join us for a hands-on learning experience where we will model and discuss evidence-based reading strategies that elicit and leverage students' prior knowledge, lived experiences, and language skills to increase comprehension of complex science ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to implement reading comprehension strategies that support multilingual students in reading complex science texts.

SPEAKERS:
Claudio Vargas, Diana Velez

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

Sponsoring Company: BFW Publishers

AP® Chemistry presents instructional challenges that differ from traditional college chemistry courses. Topics such as photoelectron spectroscopy and AP®-specific language and expectations often surprise even experienced instructors. Participants will explore a practical framework for navigating AP® Chemistry distinctives with clarity and confidence. Grounded in the AP® CED and classroom-tested strategies, the workshop will examine how to align content, pacing, assignments, and labs to the AP® Exam. Attendees will work through concrete examples—sample instructional materials, practice questions, and lab activities—that they can use immediately. The session will also preview a new BFW program, Chemistry for the AP® Course, designed specifically for AP® Chemistry (2027). Takeaways: • Insight into AP® Chemistry topics that differ from college coverage • Practical strategies for teaching and assessing AP®-specific concepts • Classroom-ready materials to support instruction and exam prep

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Revell

When I began my teaching career in 2005, I was struggling to explain how to create the chemical formulas for ionic compounds to my students. In return, my students struggled to write the chemical formulas for various ionic compounds. Until it hit me...teach them how to DANCE!!! The "Ionic Compound Dance" was born out of determination to create an engaging lesson on teaching students how to write the chemical formulas for ionic compounds utilizing the learning styles of all students in the chemistry classroom. Learn how to DANCE...The "Ionic Compound Dance" method.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use the "Ionic Compound Dance" to effectively teach writing chemical formulas for ionic compounds to all learners from special needs to gifted/talented students across all disciplines of middle school science to AP Chemistry and beyond.

SPEAKERS:
Nichole DePaul

Inspired by InSECT, we propose courses that include both science and humanities. Elizabeth Zodda has five years of experience teaching an interdisciplinary course that blends science and social studies and includes students who may not see themselves as science students. In this session you will see how such a course was developed and how it runs. As students investigate current or historical issues that make use of scientific knowledge, we analyze the differences between science and other disciplines such as literature or political science. How do they compare in their approach to knowledge production, interpretation, and communication? Through this unusual classroom experience, students develop an appreciation for science and its role in providing trustworthy and reliable knowledge about the world and come to understand the arts and humanities. Stand-alone lesson suggestions will be included for use in your own classroom to enhance your science students’ connection to current events.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a better understanding of how science and other subjects differ in terms of building up, evaluating and using knowledge. You will be introduced to interdisciplinary methods for discussing the nature of science with your students.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Zodda