Diminished conceptual understanding of core concepts in physics and calculus acts as a primary barrier to STEM persistence. Students frequently struggle to apply theoretical concepts which lead to lower retention in STEM majors. This presentation will focus on how educators can enhance understanding and build connections between various metrics in sports and foundational concepts of math and physical science. Utilization of affordable sensor technology to capture real student/athlete generated data in sport settings such as golf and baseball will help educators visualize how to bring these concepts into their classrooms. The application of various Artificial Intelligence platforms to manipulate student/athlete generated data in various functions and calculations in math and science will be covered and a case study presented. Finally, pilot data demonstrates how conceptual understanding of core concepts in calculus and physics is improved through presented methods.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how sports analytics connects calculus and physics through real athlete-generated data, affordable sensors, and AI tools. Explore how students can apply math and science concepts to analyze performance, solve problems, and deepen conceptual understanding in authentic sports scenarios.

SPEAKERS:
Timothy Goodale

Discover how mathematics becomes a powerful tool for science sensemaking in elementary classrooms through the lens of OpenSciEd Elementary units. In this session, participants will experience how elementary-age learners engage with mathematics and computational thinking and data—measurements, observations, sketches, photos, and recordings—to make sense of real-world phenomena featured in OpenSciEd investigations. We’ll explore how children notice and describe variability, create visual displays to organize their ideas, and analyze and interpret patterns to answer questions and spark new inquiries. Through an immersive experience grounded in OpenSciEd materials, participants will experience how integrating mathematics, computational thinking, and data science practices into elementary science instruction deepens reasoning, supports a range of learners, and empowers children to think critically about the data they encounter every day.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd K-5 units create rich opportunities to use math as a tool for sensemaking by exploring variability, creating data displays, and analyzing and interpreting patterns—strengthening students' mathematics, computational thinking, and data literacy while supporting grade-level standards.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Belcastro

Science data analysis relies on mathematical and statistical reasoning that develops across grade levels. Co-facilitated by the NSTA Professional Learning Team and Tuva, this workshop explores how NGSS Science and Engineering Practices connect with grade-level math standards to support student data analysis and interpretation. Participants will analyze authentic science datasets to identify grade-level mathematical, statistical, and data skills. They will examine how these math standards and science practices align and discover how to leverage math learning to strengthen science sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will identify grade-level data and statistical reasoning skills and examine how they support student use of the Science and Engineering Practices. Teachers will leave with strategies for connecting mathematics learning to data-rich science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Participants will learn how to integrate PreK-2 science and math concepts into English Language Arts (ELA) instruction to support students’ literacy development while nurturing critical thinking, problem-solving, and a lifelong interest in the world around them. Primary students are exposed to the 5 C’s of STEM: critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and character which will help them to be better prepared for a 21st Century workforce.

TAKEAWAYS:
STEM learning in the Primary grades supports the most critical point of brain development (between birth to age 5). STEM learning improves social-emotional learning skills, builds vocabulary and encourages a positive school experience.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Berry

National guidance in math and science education advocates for integrating STEM through authentic, design-based tasks (NASEM, 2014). These policies reflect the multidisciplinary nature of real-world problems; however, students often push back, especially when math appears in science lessons. These connections enable the transfer of knowledge between subjects, deepening learning in both. Our session includes design-based activities that use math models (SMP.4) to explore cause-and-effect relationships on human impacts on ecosystems (5-ESS3-1). Because teachers rarely experience as learners the type of integrated instruction they are expected to deliver (Frykholm & Glasson, 2005), this session immerses participants in the lesson using square tiles to calculate the surface area of a proposed shopping center development and explore the direct and indirect effects on an ecosystem before stepping back to examine the instructional design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a design-based lesson that authentically integrates math models through area (SMP.4) and human impact on ecosystems (5-ESS3-1), while learning to recognize and design true integration opportunities in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Fleming, Allison Esparza

What if science did not compete with literacy and math, but actually made them stronger? In this interactive, hands-on workshop, experience how inquiry-based, phenomena-driven science turns classrooms into places where reading, writing, speaking, and math all have a real purpose. You will step into a model lesson where curiosity leads the way and students use evidence, language, and data to make sense of the world around them. Along the way, we will uncover simple, classroom-ready strategies that protect science time while strengthening cross-curricular learning. Expect a few “oh, this just makes sense” moments and plenty of ideas you can use right away. Walk away with practical tools that make science the most connected and doable part of your day.

TAKEAWAYS:
When science leads, literacy and math gain real purpose, helping teachers protect science time while engaging students in meaningful, connected learning through inquiry, evidence, and sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Shaw

Join us for an immersive journey where STEM standards meet epic, character-driven quests! This workshop explores a transformative framework for elementary classrooms. We bridge rigorous science and math skills—with vital character education, rebranding them as "Superpowers." Participants will learn to guide students through the design process, using geometry standards to craft personalized superhero characters. We’ll demonstrate how to synthesize math and creativity through collaborative school-wide mural projects and AI-assisted art creations, proving that every student has the potential for scientific heroism. Leave with a practical, high-engagement roadmap to inspire the next generation of innovators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Rebrand STEM skills as tangible 'superpowers' to boost engagement. By using geometry in character design and collaborative AI art, we empower every student to see themselves as a scientific hero, transforming the classroom into a launchpad for connecting to Scientists with Superpowers.

SPEAKERS:
Annette Larson

This workshop builds data literacy for science instruction through mathematical modeling with data. In this session, co-facilitated by the NSTA Professional Learning Team and Tuva, participants will work in a student role, using data to make sense of phenomena as they explore how distributions describe variability using dot plots, box plots, and histograms, and when to use mean, median, or mode. They will also model relationships between variables using scatterplots, lines of best fit, and concepts such as correlation, association, and linear vs. nonlinear patterns. Participants will reflect on how these skills can be incorporated into their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will strengthen their understanding of distributions, variability, and relationships through mathematical modeling and will consider how to bring these ideas into their own classrooms to support student sensemaking with authentic science data.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Do your students struggle to construct explanations and engage in argument from evidence using data? During this session, co-facilitated by Tuva and the NSTA Professional Learning Team, participants will analyze datasets to explore how explanations and arguments can be scaffolded with the CER structure. Data is central to the process of constructing a claim and selecting the strongest evidence. Participants will surface common student challenges, and identify instructional moves and prompts that strengthen claims, evidence selection, and reasoning in science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn strategies to help students construct explanations and argue from evidence using data to support clearer claims, stronger evidence selection, and more effective reasoning in NGSS-aligned science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran, Brianna Reilly Oliveira