To fully understand genetics, students must be able to use the science practices to connect the proteins produced via gene expression and an organism’s traits. During this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore a free HHMI BioInteractive resource focused on helping students understand the relationship between molecular biology and classical genetics by exploring Leber congenital amaurosis, an inherited form of blindness. We’ll engage with several science practices including data analysis, modeling, and constructing explanations as we model classroom implementation strategies to help students build mastery of genetics. Workshop participants will also engage as practitioners to reflect on their own classroom implementation related to incorporating and adapting resources and strategies shared in the workshop to deepen student understanding of how the inheritance of traits is the result of the mechanism of gene expression.

TAKEAWAYS:
Workshop participants will engage as learners and as practitioners to reflect on their own classroom implementation of resources and strategies to deepen student understanding of how the inheritance of traits is the result of the mechanism of gene expression.

SPEAKERS:
Sherry Annee, Ann Brokaw

What if one carefully crafted question could transform engagement in your high school biology class, especially for multilingual Black and Brown learners? In this interactive session, participants explore the Cultural Bridges strategy: using a single, intentional question to connect learners’ lived experiences to NGSS biology phenomena without lowering rigor. We will examine provided biology lesson excerpts that include subtle deficit or paternalistic “savior” framings and practice rewriting them through Cultural Bridges questions that honor learners’ cultural and linguistic wealth. Educators will analyze sample questions, see how they shift discourse and sensemaking, and consider where this move fits naturally in upcoming units. No materials required—examples and templates are provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own for reference and crosswalking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants leave with simple templates and sample Cultural Bridges questions for high school biology that they can adapt to connect learners’ lived experiences to NGSS phenomena while interrupting deficit and white savior framings.

SPEAKERS:
Almitra Berry

Want to help high school students analyze community and citizen science data? Want to use real data in your classroom to support your existing curriculum? FieldScope and BSCS Science Learning offer "Invitations to Inquiry," free instructional activities designed to connect learners with real-world environmental data. These free lessons build student confidence in using scientific evidence to answer critical questions about our planet and the natural world. BSCS Science Learning's Invitations to Inquiry help high school students work with community and citizen science data from projects hosted on FieldScope—BSCS’s platform for collecting, displaying, and analyzing data. Invitations to Inquiry are activities in which students explore FieldScope’s mapping and graphing tools to dig into data in the context of meaningful questions. Each lesson engages students in interpreting graphs and maps to learn about where the data are collected and what they mean.

TAKEAWAYS:
Free, ready to use, and adaptable lessons, datasets, and visualizations for your classroom, using community and citizen science projects! Learn how to use the lessons as is or to build them into your existing curriculum! Teacher guides, slides, handouts, and other instructional resources included!

SPEAKERS:
Jamie Noll

This poster showcases a two-lab sequence (a candy DNA model followed by a card-based protein synthesis activity) connected by an explicit bridge activity that transforms two standalone labs into a coherent learning arc. Students build a physical DNA model, use it to generate an mRNA transcript, and decode that transcript into a protein, carrying the same sequence through all three steps. A Teacher Lens reflection asks pre-service teachers to explain the DNA-to-protein process to a 4th grader, building pedagogical content knowledge alongside science content. Materials cost under $3 per group. Attendees will be given access to the full lab sequence, bridge activity, lab report, and a framework for designing conceptual bridges between two related activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
A low-cost, two-lab DNA-to-protein sequence with a built-in conceptual bridge activity that eliminates the "why did we build the candy thing?" problem and a Teacher Lens reflection that builds pre-service teachers' capacity to explain molecular biology to children.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Hasenmyer

This action research project looks at how hands-on, constructionist learning can support student sensemaking in a high school biology classroom, especially during a genetics and DNA unit. Instead of focusing on memorization, students engaged in projects where they designed and created models to explain complex ideas, connecting their work to real-world phenomena. Throughout the unit, I intentionally assigned projects that gave students the opportunity to construct their own understanding by building, testing, and revising their ideas. Rather than just measuring how much content students remembered, this study focuses on how students made sense of the material. Student-created artifacts, reflections, and discussions were used to see how their understanding developed over time. Overall, this approach highlights how giving students opportunities to design and create can lead to deeper understanding, increased engagement, and more meaningful learning in biology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Biology teachers will gain practical strategies for using constructionist, project-based learning within their DNA/Genetics unit to move beyond memorization and support student sensemaking through designing, building, and revising artifacts.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Stewart

Throughout the program curriculum, Environmental Studies majors are involved in an experiential learning community at the Manchester University Campus Learning Garden. The goal of integrating project-based learning into courses across the curriculum is to provide students with the capability to apply their knowledge and skills to serving the Manchester University community and improve student competencies in both hard and soft skills through research-based practical applications. In Fall 2025, introductory-level students collaborated to generate hypotheses, develop and conduct basic experiments, and interpret results. In Spring 2026, students in Invertebrate Zoology worked together to build a butterfly garden from project development through completion. Plans for future academic years include developing additional project-based experiences into program courses so that students are involved with experiential learning at the Campus Garden throughout their academic careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrating project-based learning at the Campus Garden into courses across the Environmental Studies curriculum encourages students to apply their knowledge and skills to serving the Manchester University community and improve their academic competencies through research-based applications.

SPEAKERS:
Sabrina Brown

Looking to elevate student achievement through immersive learning? Discover how to harness the universal appeal of flight by captivating students with lessons and engaging activities rooted in biology standards while exploring exciting and fast-growing aviation career fields!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn strategies to construct activities resulting in greater interest and mastery of biology for students in grades K-12. Explore distinct professional practices that expand biology standards into unforgettable learning experiences associated with human life, animals, plantlife, and so much more!

SPEAKERS:
Christina Davis

This session showcases how a single agricultural anchoring phenomenon can launch and sustain a coherent storyline across a high-quality unit of instruction. Participants will experience a sample lesson from an HQIM genetics unit, focusing on the phenomenon of the influence of genetics and environment on cattle growth over time. Activities include observation of the agricultural phenomenon, developing a driving question board, making student models that support predictions and phenomenon explanations. Teachers will reflect on how anchoring phenomena can be used in their own classrooms and receive access to all unit materials, including how the resources map the phenomenon to NGSS dimensions and teacher moves for student sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anchoring phenomena rooted in agriculture topics can spark curiosity and drive coherence across lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Wedger, Angela Gulotta

How can we redesign a better school lunch to meet the nutritional needs of all students? In this workshop, participants will explore a 8-lesson high school biology unit that engages students in authentic sensemaking by connecting biochemistry, nutrition, anatomy, and engineering design to their own school meals. Built using OpenSciEd design principles, the unit launches with an anchor phenomena routine where students investigate USDA changes to school lunches and create timelines of how meals have evolved. Lessons then examine added sugars, how carbohydrates fuel the body, balancing energy from macronutrients, protein sources, and the impact of cooking on nutrition, culminating in student-designed lunch menus. Participants will engage in key routines, analyze student-generated questions, and take part in a gallery walk of student work, assessments, and redesign projects. All student-facing slides, worksheets, rubrics, and assessments will be shared as open educational resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience an OpenSciEd-inspired anchor phenomena routine and leave with a complete, freely available 8-lesson biology unit—featuring 3D assessments, student work, and strategies to adapt length and scaffolds to support all learners.

SPEAKERS:
William Baur

This research was intended to evaluate the effectiveness of a designing and facilitating hands-on activities for K-12 students in engaging undergraduate  students to develop a deeper understanding of course learning objectives. Students in various undergraduate biology courses (BIOL-104, 202, 204, 422) participated in a once-a-semester community outreach day at the North Manchester Public Library. Prior to this event, MU students designed a 5-10-minute hands-on activity, translating their didactic material from the classroom into a level that was accessible to the general public. At the event, the MU students facilitated their activities for upwards of 45 local K-12 home school students. Following completion of their outreach project, students in this study were be given a follow-up survey to evaluate their perspectives on whether the task of conveying their didactic material to the public enhanced their understanding of course learning objectives.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will evaluate the effectiveness of a designing and facilitating hands-on activities for K-12 students in engaging undergraduate students to develop a deeper understanding of course learning objectives.

SPEAKERS:
Cassandra Gohn

Insect collecting has long been part of K-12 science education because it gives students direct access to biodiversity, inquiry, classification, and place-based learning. At the same time, growing concern about insect decline and animal welfare has led many to question whether lethal insect collecting is still appropriate in classrooms. This session presents a balanced framework for thinking about the educational value and ethical challenges of insect collecting with K-12 students. Attendees will explore the major arguments for and against collecting, consider issues such as conservation, student consent, and cultural or religious perspectives, and leave with practical ideas for developing a classroom code of ethics and identifying when non-lethal alternatives may be more appropriate.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with a practical framework for deciding when insect collecting is educationally justified, how to address ethical concerns, and how to build a classroom code of ethics.

SPEAKERS:
Peter White

Insects and other arthropods are common, affordable, and highly engaging for students across grade levels. Because of their ubiquity, rapid life cycles, and essential ecological roles, insects make excellent low-cost model organisms for exploring biological concepts and scientific practices in the classroom. In this Speed Share Session, Purdue entomologists will share NGSS aligned lesson plans and other resources, with a focus on low-prep strategies and answer questions about integrating insects and entomology into your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Insects and other arthropods are among the most accessible and engaging organisms available to science teachers. This session will provide NGSS-aligned resources for integrating insects into your curriculum that are easy to implement and highly effective.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Justus

What if one prompt, added to the end of every lecture, lab, and assignment, could deepen student sensemaking, surface misconceptions before the exam, and build professional identity, all without additional prep or grading? The Teacher Lens does exactly that. Embedded throughout a college biology course for pre-service elementary educators, the prompt asks students to explain each concept to a child in their future classroom. The consistency is the mechanism: students begin to anticipate it and do the cognitive work during instruction rather than only at the end. This session shares three concrete examples showing how the same prompt surfaces different depths of understanding across biology topics, plus one formative use that requires no collecting or grading.

TAKEAWAYS:
A single reusable prompt: "How would you explain this to a student in your future classroom?" that deepens sensemaking, reveals misconceptions, and builds pedagogical thinking across any science course or grade band. Zero new prep required.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Hasenmyer

Under the philosophy of "We Do Science," The Citizen Science Lab (TCSL) positions students not as consumers of science content, but as practicing scientists. In this hands-on workshop, participants will do the same, designing and prototyping their own microbial fuel cells (MFCs), devices that use living microorganisms to generate electricity from organic matter. TCSL's ICE-T Project requires young scientists to simultaneously engage microbial metabolism, electrochemistry, circuit design, biosensor data collection, and computational modeling as a single integrated experience. Students author their own prototypes, propose hypotheses, iterate, and present findings of authentic research inside a community nonprofit. Educators will experience the ICE-T model firsthand, leaving with a replicable framework for bringing genuine cross-disciplinary research into their own classrooms regardless of budget, building, or zip code.

TAKEAWAYS:
A replicable framework for designing cross-disciplinary STEM programs that treat science as a unified practice. Strategies for building science identity in youth who have historically been excluded from science culture, including how space, story, and community change who feels like a scientist.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Andre Samuel

This hands-on session will showcase engaging low-prep activities from Project WET, Project WILD and Project Learning Tree that are correlated with NGSS and have a STEM and Career Connection. Participants will leave with 3 data collection activities that model earth systems and ecological community interactions. These activities can be adapted for use in grades 6-12 classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
This hands-on session will showcase engaging low-prep activities from Project WET, Project WILD and Project Learning Tree that are correlated with NGSS and have a STEM and Career Connection. Participants will leave with 3 data collection activities that model earth systems and ecological community

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Poindexter

Experience how leveraging complex culturally relevant societal challenges as phenomena in 3D teaching and learning supports student motivation and engagement and develops student agency within and beyond the classroom! The Framework for K-12 Science Education and NGSS call for learning grounded in real world phenomena and problems to ensure that science learning is relevant to all students. The AIL instructional model succeeds the 5Es and utilizes complex and culturally relevant societal challenges to anchor multiple cycles of inquiry and sensemaking, culminating with student explanations/design solutions. AIL employs science education research emphasizing coherence from students’ perspective. In this session, participants will 1) consider their own ideas about teaching complex societal challenges, 2) experience 3D learning, and 3) consider the science concepts of a societal challenge (antibiotic resistance, heart disease, food sustainability, anthropogenic changes to biodiversity).

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and leverages complex societal issues as anchoring phenomena/problems, culminating tasks, and performance assessments in 3D units of instruction to motivate students and develop agency in addressing these issues.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay

This workshop demonstrates how data interpretation and AI-supported tools can strengthen real-world science learning using H5N1 (bird influenza) in poultry. Led by a teacher educator and an agricultural diagnostician, the session makes connections to relevant topics such as disease spread and egg prices. Participants will engage in two free, classroom-ready lessons: (1) analyzing real-time USDA outbreak data to identify patterns in commercial and backyard flocks, and (2) an introductory activity with UniProt and AlphaFold that explores the cell receptor the H5N1 virus uses to dock and infect poultry cells. These activities highlight practical classroom applications and reflect tools used in agriculture and health science careers. Participants will leave with ready-to-use materials and strategies to help build transferable skills in data analysis, problem solving, and evidence-based reasoning, grounded in current events.

TAKEAWAYS:
Walk away with two ready-to-use lessons that use real bird flu outbreak data and simple AI tools to help students analyze patterns, understand disease spread, and connect science to real-world issues like rising egg prices.

SPEAKERS:
Jane Hunt, Zack Bateson

Looking for strategies that support all learners in your science class? Join experienced co-teachers as they share how they’ve built an inclusive biology course for both traditional diploma students and those earning an alternate diploma, typically students with significant cognitive disabilities. Learn how teachers use Indiana standards and modified Content Connectors to build assessment, class supports, and more to support the sensemaking of a wide range of students. This session will include a comparison between assignments, assessment, and tools that we use between our traditional and alternate diploma students. We will share our biology curriculum map that shows our approach on reaching standards for learners with disabilities. While the focus is on co-teaching, many of these approaches can be used by teachers that do not co-teach to help support students.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, teachers will discover practical strategies, planning tools, and alternate assessments that support sensemaking for both traditional diploma students and students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Fabian Lopez, Zackary Lopez

Who's the parent? Who's the offspring? In first grade, students learn that "young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents." In this workshop, the presenter will share the activities he leads so that his first graders make this discovery for themselves. By engaging in various picture matching exercises, a shared family traits homework assignment, and an aliens' family tree assessment, the presenter will show how he teaches the concept of inherited traits in fun, kid-friendly way.

TAKEAWAYS:
Children may have heard that they have their moms eyes and their dad's nose because they are a mix of traits and physical features that they have inherited from their mom and dad. People in families might look alike, but they can also be different. These differences are an important part of life.

SPEAKERS:
Cezar Simeon

Many educators are asking how to integrate AI into science classrooms without sacrificing critical thinking or meaningful learning. This interactive session shares an emerging framework for integrating AI literacy and AI applications into science instruction. Using examples from OpenSciEd’s Biology + AI development project, participants will experience student-facing AI routines, decision-making tools, and structured prompts that help students use AI purposefully and critically evaluate its outputs. Grounded in science education research, the framework supports three-dimensional sensemaking and student reasoning and can be adapted across science disciplines or grades. Whether you teach with OpenSciEd or another science curriculum, you'll leave with practical strategies for meaningful AI integration.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience practical routines, prompts, and decision-making tools that help students use AI purposefully, critically evaluate AI outputs, and deepen science sensemaking without replacing student thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

In today’s science classrooms, engagement alone is no longer the goal—students need experiences that develop scientific thinking, strengthen conceptual understanding, and mirror the practices of real scientists. While quiz-based review platforms like have helped increase participation and excitement, they do not allow students to develop deep understanding or higher-level reasoning. This session moves beyond surface-level gamification to explore game-based learning structures that are immersive, strategy-driven, and tightly aligned to the practice of science. Participants will experience and analyze three classroom-ready game models designed specifically for science instruction: escape rooms, scientific mystery investigations, and strategy-based board games.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore game-based learning strategies for the science classroom that are aligned to the practice of science. All participants will receive three class-room ready game models.

SPEAKERS:
Eustace Smarrella

Have you struggled keeping up with Driving Question Board and Consensus Model using only sticky notes and chart paper? What do you do if you have multiple biology sessions, but you DON'T want your other classes to see what previous classes came up with earlier? Do you struggle with creating "organized" models/driving question boards? Do you struggle with helping students keep up with their personal glossary protocols? Join me as I go over how I use instructional technology to make the sense-making process more smooth, interactive, and visible to ALL students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn to use instructional technology platforms such as Canva whiteboard to enhance the sensemaking process for students.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Choi

This session explores creative, non-traditional uses of AI to enhance science instruction in the biology classroom. Participants will learn how AI can be used as an instructional tool to increase engagement and deepen understanding through four approaches: 1. Responsive ecosystem simulations where students manipulate variables (species introduction, resources, climate) and observe real-time ecological outcomes, supporting inquiry and systems thinking. 2. AI-generated songs and music videos that teach scientific processes and concepts (e.g., the cell cycle, energy transfer, biomes) to support memory, retrieval practice, and student creation. 3. AI-generated interviews with scientists such as Darwin, Mendel and Rosaland Franklin, allowing students to “interview” them to learn more about their work and challenges they faced. 4. AI-Field Journals for use in outdoor field observations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical examples, design ideas, and NGSS-aligned strategies for integrating AI into interactive, student-centered science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Eustace Smarrella

This poster presents an interdisciplinary teaching strategy that integrates close observation methods from art museum education with biological inquiry to deepen student engagement and challenge misconceptions about arthropods. Many students enter biology courses with limited visual analysis skills and negative attitudes toward arthropods. By adapting visual thinking strategies and slow-looking protocols, students observe living and preserved specimens alongside artistic representations with greater attention and openness. This approach fostered curiosity, strengthened descriptive language, and encouraged students to question assumptions, ultimately increasing participation, improving observational notes, and generating more thoughtful engagement with arthropod structures and adaptations critical for taxonomic identification. The poster offers educators practical ways to incorporate observation-based learning to promote scientific thinking and interdisciplinary connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Observation-based, art-informed teaching strategies can significantly improve student engagement, curiosity, and scientific thinking in biology classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Darla French

HERO (Healthcare Experience and Research in Oncology) is a two-week, part-time virtual program designed to introduce high school students to oncology through a collaborative, cross-institutional model. Led by multiple institutions in partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS), the program integrates hands-on research, cancer care education, and mentorship. Students engage in a hybrid curriculum that includes laboratory training, case studies, and career panels, culminating in a holistic understanding of cancer and its human impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
The model exemplifies a scalable approach to cultivating future oncology professionals and advocates (or that of other in-demand STEM expertise).

SPEAKERS:
Carey Dieleman

Wondering where familiar biology topics like cell structure, genetics, and photosynthesis fit into OpenSciEd High School Biology? In this interactive session, participants will explore how and why these traditional topics are thoughtfully woven into OpenSciEd's five biology units. Through examples from across the course, participants will examine how concepts such as ecosystems, evolution, human body systems, and molecular biology are integrated into coherent storylines that support student sensemaking while maintaining rigor. Along the way, participants will reflect on the instructional design decisions behind these storylines and consider how similar approaches might be adapted to their own contexts. Educators will leave with a deeper understanding of how OpenSciEd blends essential biology content with engaging, phenomenon-driven learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how "traditional" biology topics are incorporated into OpenSciEd High School Biology storylines without giving away students' aha moments and still mantaining rigor.

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

Storylines are often presented as a powerful way to engage students in authentic science learning, but what does implementation really look like in practice? This session provides an honest examination of using storylines in a secondary science classroom, including both successes and failures. Through classroom examples, participant discussions, and collaborative brainstorming, attendees will explore how storyline instruction compares with traditional teaching approaches in supporting student engagement, curiosity, and scientific thinking. Participants will leave with a realistic understanding of the opportunities and challenges of storyline implementation and ideas they can immediately adapt for their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain a realistic understanding of how storyline instruction can transform science learning and identify practical steps for implementing storylines in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Erin Snelling

This Biology lab uses common lawn clover to explore genetics, plant physiology, and adaptation. White clover is polymorphic for cyanogenesis, an anti-herbivore defense controlled by two genetic loci. Cyanogenesis frequency varies with climate—over 95% of plants are cyanogenic in the South, but fewer than 10% are in the northern Midwest. During the Clover Project students collect local clover and test it for cyanide production using color-changing paper, and then calculate genotype frequencies and compare with data from other regions. Students can also calculate the rates of herbivory in their area and correlate the frequency to cyanogenesis.This hands-on activity engages students in inquiry-based learning aligned with the AP Biology CED and the Science Practices, while also illustrating how evolutionary pressures shape traits in their local environment. Participants in this session will learn how to implement this dynamic activity in their High School Biology classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to implement a hands-on clover genetics lab where students investigate adaptation by testing cyanogenesis, analyzing genotype frequencies, and connecting local data to evolutionary pressures using authentic, inquiry-based practices.

SPEAKERS:
Carolyn Spangler

Integrating a scanning electron microscope (SEM) into a high school classroom provides a unique and engaging way to bring STEM learning to life. Since acquiring an SEM in 2013, we have developed a specialized course that builds technical skills, fosters scientific thinking, and promotes student-driven inquiry. Students begin with hands-on training in microscope operation and imaging, then progress to sample analysis and independent investigation. The course blends theory with practice while supporting NGSS through authentic applications, including experimental design, troubleshooting, and analysis of structure-function relationships. This session will highlight our implementation process, share student work, and provide an overview of a curriculum that makes advanced scientific tools accessible and meaningful for high school learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
A scanning electron microscope can be successfully integrated into a high school classroom to provide authentic, hands-on STEM experiences that build technical skills, deepen scientific thinking, and make advanced science accessible to students.

SPEAKERS:
Gena Dalan, Krista Wilks

Biotechnology concepts can be difficult for students to visualize and connect to real-world applications. To address this, we developed an interactive escape room that combines inquiry-based learning with gamified problem-solving. Students investigate biotechnology and fermentation concepts through challenges focused on pH, temperature, microbial metabolism, DNA, and carbon dioxide production while working to “save” a malfunctioning bioreactor. In this presentation, we will review all five stations and demonstrate how collaborative problem-solving and hands-on activities can be used to teach fermentation science, biotechnology, and industrial microbiology in an engaging and accessible way. Participants will leave with strategies for increasing student engagement, critical thinking, and real-world STEM connections in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with strategies for increasing student engagement, critical thinking, and real-world STEM/biotechnology connections in the classroom through inquiry-based learning with gamified problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Allison Wells

Bring bioinformatics into your classroom through introductory, plant-focused investigations. This session highlights classroom-ready activities such as DNA barcoding for species identification, phylogenetic analysis using carnivorous plants, and exploring plant immune systems. Designed for high school classrooms, these lessons use free, web-based tools and genetics to build student skills in data interpretation. Activities are scaffolded, flexible, and aligned to NGSS, allowing teachers to integrate them into units on evolution, heredity, and plant biology. Participants will see how bioinformatics can move beyond human-focused examples to increase relevance, accessibility, and student interest using plants as a familiar and meaningful context.

TAKEAWAYS:
A practical starting point for teaching bioinformatics through classroom-ready plant investigations you can use immediately, built on free tools and real data, no prior experience required.

SPEAKERS:
Zack Bateson

In a world where bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to traditional antibiotics, how can we empower students to think of creative solutions? This session introduces an integrated laboratory experience where students explore the biological process of bacterial competition through the lens of medicinal chemistry and soil science. Students gather soil, isolate the bacteria that live in the soil sample, and determine whether the bacteria they isolate can defeat the bacteria from another soil sample. Using concepts from chemistry, biology, and environmental science, students develop skills in systems thinking and evidence-based reasoning. Through participation in this lab, students learn to connect the history of the development of penicillin to modern innovations in medicinal chemistry, while learning how integrated science creates lasting solutions for complex, real-world problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn to implement an integrated soil-to-lab investigation that bridges chemistry and biology. Full access to virtual resources and lab handouts will be provided.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Parkinson

The NeuroCase Chronicles is an innovative, case-based curriculum that engages students in emerging neuroscience topics—neurodiversity, neuromodulation, therapeutics, and AI—while integrating ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) throughout. This interactive workshop introduces educators to a classroom-ready curriculum that uses real-world case scenarios to deepen understanding and connect neuroscience to students’ experiences. Participants will engage as learners by completing selected activities. Through these hands-on experiences, teachers explore how students study brain structure and function, model neural signaling, and examine brain-computer interfaces and related therapies. They will also consider how AI influences cognition, learning, and decision-making, especially in developing brains, while evaluating its limitations and ethical challenges. The curriculum emphasizes evidence-based reasoning and supports critical analysis of complex scientific and societal issues.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore NeuroCase Chronicles, a hands-on, case-based neuroscience curriculum. Experience activities on emerging topics in neuroscience including brain-computer interfaces, AI, therapeutic interventions, and ethics, and leave with ready-to-use lessons and strategies for engaging high school students.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Blank

Integrating inquiry instruction and writing instruction is the most effective method for improving student’s academic writing across disciplines (Miller, Scott and Mc Tigue). We will make it easy for teachers to accomplish this with the following activities: 1. We will introduce the PMT Model and then provide a video case study demonstration of how it is used to frame inquiry instruction and the inquiry dialogue. We will pause the videos periodically to identify best practice strategies and facilitate reflection on how to meet standards for disciplinary concepts, inquiry, and essay writing. 2. Participants will then pair up for collaborative lesson planning using the PMT Lesson Planning Template and content from a two-minute video on cuttlefish. 3. We will then introduce the PMT Teacher Self-Reflective Tool and explain how it is used for both self-assessment and reciprocal coaching with peers. 4. The remaining time will be used for participant lesson plan exchanges.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Teachers will be able to use the Picture Me Thinking Model (PMT Model) to develop lesson plans and deliver instruction that integrates standards for inquiry-based instruction and argumentative essay writing instruction in grades 5-12.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Amende