Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping science, engineering, and society. Science classrooms need approaches that help students understand the science behind AI, how it is used in STEM, and how it can support their learning. In this full-day professional learning institute (PLI), participants will explore emerging AI standards and how the problem-based storyline curricular units can anchor AI learning in meaningful ways that support equitable participation.

During the session, participants will engage with a set of three units: Sensor Immersion, Self-Driving Cars, and Animal Prosthetics. In this three-unit progression, students use Micro:bit sensors to investigate real world problems. They explore meaningful AI concepts including the shift from decision trees to probabilistic neural networks, the important role of training data, how AI makes predictions, and the ethical implications of AI. Participants will get hands-on experience with how it feels to participate in a unit from the student perspective, allowing participants to understand how the units leverage students' own questions to support coherence and sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
- A deeper understanding of problem-based, storyline units as an instructional model that supports coherence from the student perspective. - Firsthand experience with three curricular units focused on AI mechanics and societal impact. [ Strategies for both helping students figure out how AI works and teaching with AI tools. - Practical approaches to leveraging AI responsibly to support sensemaking and student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Greg Benedis-Grab, Kate Henson

Navigate your first National NSTA Conference with ease! Join our session for an orientation to the conference, tips on selecting sessions, and an opportunity to meet other first-time attendees. We will share a few insider tips from experienced conference attendees and give an overview of the conference app. This session will help you discover why you belong at NSTA and how to make the most of your experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to get the most out of your conference experience in addition to becoming an engaged learner.

Join us for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA ANA26! We’ll keep it casual—enjoy beverages and small bites while networking with old and new friends. The event is complimentary and open to all registered conference attendees.

Navigate your first National NSTA Conference with ease! Join our session for an orientation to the conference, tips on selecting sessions, and an opportunity to meet other first-time attendees. We will share a few insider tips from experienced conference attendees and give an overview of the conference app. This session will help you discover why you belong at NSTA and how to make the most of your experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to get the most out of your conference experience in addition to becoming an engaged learner.

This presentation focuses on student use of AI, with an emphasis on how their motivation can help build a classroom of Sensemakers. Participants will engage with several AI tools and applications commonly used by high school students and evaluate how these tools can be leveraged to support Sensemaking. A strong emphasis will be placed on classroom assessment examples, particularly those involving the critique of AI-generated responses to traditional open-ended student questions. Additionally, survey data from current high school physics students will be shared to help examine student voice regarding the use and leverage of AI implemented instructional strategies. Attendees will leave with adaptable tools and clear next steps to immediately implement routines and activities that foster a community of Sensemakers who also use AI in their learning environments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Instead of fighting AI, flip the script in your high school classroom. This session will explore multiple AI tools, but more importantly, how to leverage those tools to build a community of Sensemakers that critically analyze AI-generated content. Special emphasis will be placed on assessment use.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Bulman

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

This session proposal outlines a student-driven, guided inquiry approach to teaching molecular properties and ionic bonding using tactile models. The activity is structured into five key phases:Foundation & Model Building: Students use LEGO bricks to establish that molecular properties are rooted in composition, setting class-defined rules for using the bricks as elements. Ionic Inquiry: Through experimentation with over 15 compounds (e.g., $CaO$, $Al_{2}O_{3}$), students assign specific ions to LEGO configurations to discover unique chemical combinations. Pattern Recognition: Students map charge numbers onto a periodic table, allowing them to independently identify ionic charge patterns across groups. Application: The lesson concludes with thinking questions and traditional formula writing for compounds like sodium chloride. Extension: The framework allows for natural exploration of periodic trends and nomenclature once students have mastered formula balancing.

TAKEAWAYS:
The main takeaway of this session is a student-driven, guided inquiry approach that uses tactile LEGO models to bridge the gap between abstract chemical composition and the concrete patterns of ionic bonding and periodic trends.

SPEAKERS:
Jeff Sesemann

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

Experience how embedding literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in 3D teaching and learning promotes sensemaking and science understanding for ALL learners! Learn how the BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model succeeds the 5Es and embeds literacy supports throughout cycles of inquiry. The NGSS calls for 3D learning grounded in real world phenomena to ensure science learning is equitable and relevant to all students. The SEPs and CCCs require sensemaking of complex texts and data as well as communicating explanations and arguments and engaging in scientific discourse. In this session, participants will 1) experience literacy strategies that support student engagement in the SEPs and CCCs, 2) consider how these strategies support all students, particularly below grade-level readers and EMLs, in sensemaking, and 3) consider how embedding these strategies in assessments allows all students to demonstrate their learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and embeds literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in conjunction with science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to promote students in figuring out key science ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay

During this session (on the HASTI Pathways document), HASTI members and non-members are able to come and interact with HASTI Board members. They can ask questions, offer suggestions, and share their thoughts about the future of HASTI.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be able to connect with HASTI board members, find out about our current work and offer suggestions for future work.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Poindexter

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

How can educators (re)imagine science education that builds authentic, transformative opportunities for deepening engagement towards career and community readiness? We will introduce participants to a framework for Place-Based Science Teaching that dynamically supports science teachers in (re)envisioning and creating learning activities to respond to the historical and present contexts of students and schools, all while integrating rigorous science practices and phenomena. In this NGSS-aligned session, participants will explore high-interest activities that strengthen students’ sense of geographic location and geologic time, all while triangulating themselves and their potential as scientists in their local context. We’ll then provide an opportunity for participants to engage in a (re)design challenge of an existing activity through the lens of the Place-Based Science Teaching framework. This framework was published in our book with Corwin Press (2025).

TAKEAWAYS:
Place-based learning honors the lived experiences of students and the living beings that form a community. Participants will learn how to develop NGSS-aligned, place-based science lessons that cultivate curiosity and innovation.

SPEAKERS:
Kirstin Milks, Whitney Aragaki

Get your students excited about science with a hands-on project that demonstrates how to help prevent mosquito-borne disease spread using data science with real data collected from a NASA satellite and scientists. Mosquitos that carry serious diseases, such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and Zika virus, are becoming more prevalent in the United States because of climate change. Unlike the United States, less prosperous countries do not always have sufficient resources to eliminate mosquitoes and stop the spread of these diseases. In these lessons, we will learn how data science and sensemaking can help solve the problem of mosquito-borne diseases in a cost-effective, time-efficient manner. Your students will see how studies using data science techniques can synthesize data to obtain relevant information that can help solve many societal problems in the 21st century. This relates to careers in biology, environmental science, and data science.

TAKEAWAYS:
This presentation will demonstrate how to use data science to find the answers to problems in our environment. The lesson will be based on the eight NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. You will receive the lesson plan, the data, and tips for engaging diverse learners.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Feille

This energetic Lesson Showcase reveals how robotics competitions drive NGSS-aligned science learning through authentic student challenges. During the 60-minute share-a-thon, attendees will explore a complete robotics competition lesson cycle: pre-competition hooks that spark curiosity and build foundational skills, the featured robotics competition lesson where students engage in engineering design, data analysis, teamwork, iteration, and sensemaking during actual competition prep and events, and post-competition extensions that sustain teams, reflect on learning, and connect to classroom instruction. The poster shares take-home resources, equitable strategies that broaden access, and practical tools for building durable skills like problem-solving and collaboration.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical resources and strategies for robotics competitions that support three-dimensional science learning and sustainable student teams.

SPEAKERS:
Dana Lupton

Join your fellow elementary educators for a free catered lunch. While registration is free, attendance is limited and you must RSVP. Everyone registered will be required to attend one or more Elementary Extravaganza sessions Thursday morning.

This poster session shows how to upgrade what teachers are already doing (bell ringers, notes, exit tickets, stations) into high-impact learning experiences using Embedded Targeted Vocabulary Instruction (ETVI)—without adding new lessons or extra prep time.

TAKEAWAYS:
You don’t need more time or new lessons—small upgrades to what you already do (bell ringers, notes, exit tickets) can dramatically increase student understanding by turning vocabulary into a tool for thinking, not memorization.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Hill

Explore meaningful ways to incorporate AI into your classrooms, clubs, and science festivals that encourage critical examination of this emergent technology. Use AI as a tool to examine AI via: the eeriness of voice cloning, the biases counterfactual thinking combined with prompt engineering can reveal, and the inaccuracies uncovered by testing AI on content that you and your students are experts in.  Learn about field-tested activities on the construction and programming of small autonomous robotic arms (available online at arm.ttic.edu). TTIC (ttic.edu) is a philanthropically endowed university and research institute focused on AI and CS theory. NGSS Alignment.  NGSS Alignment: CCC 1, 2, & 4; Practices 1, 3, 4, 6, & 8.

TAKEAWAYS:
AI is here but one should take it with a grain of salt - here is how.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Rodgers, Randall Landsberg

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

Many secondary science classrooms struggle to move beyond task completion to true student thinking. This poster session highlights low-prep, high-impact strategies that transform everyday lessons into opportunities for student-driven sensemaking—without increasing teacher workload. Participants will explore how to embed sensemaking routines into what they already do using strategies such as CER (Claim-Evidence-Reasoning) micro-responses, structured student talk, and phenomenon-based prompts across topics like cells, genetics, and ecology. The featured lesson showcase demonstrates how a typical class period can shift from passive learning to active meaning-making through small instructional moves implemented before, during, and after instruction. By centering sensemaking, these strategies help students construct explanations, use evidence, and engage in scientific discourse, all while remaining practical for real classrooms with limited time and resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn that sensemaking doesn’t require new lessons—small shifts like CER, structured talk, and phenomena-based prompts can turn everyday instruction into opportunities for students to actively build understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Hill

Every time we fry food, we produce used cooking oil. Most of it gets thrown down the drain or into the trash, quietly polluting waterways, harming aquatic life and the land. But what if that waste could become something valuable? In this 3–4-week STEAM project, high school students turn hazardous waste cooking oil into real, handmade soap. Students begin by investigating the environmental impact of WCO waterways using real water quality data. They then learn the chemistry of soap-making, calculate their own ingredient ratios, choose natural colorants and scents, and design eco-friendly packaging. Along the way, they collect data from their households and use it to build a persuasive public awareness campaign for their community. This project is rooted in a real local problem, particularly in developing countries. Every decision students make, from soap formula to campaign audience, is theirs. Chemistry is the backbone, but the project asks students to think as scientists, engineers,

TAKEAWAYS:
A single topic learned at school can be the entry point for students to think across disciplines, engage with a real local problem, and produce something that actually matters to their community.

SPEAKERS:
Anna Rahmadianty

This poster showcases a classroom-tested framework that supports student agency through real-world problem solving. The poster will feature visual models of the research cycle, student project examples (including food justice and environmental initiatives), and scaffolds used to guide learners from idea to implementation. Attendees will explore practical tools such as project planners, research protocols, and assessment rubrics, along with strategies for supporting diverse learners in open-ended inquiry. This poster is designed as a “lesson showcase,” highlighting what happens before, during, and after student projects. Participants will leave with adaptable resources to implement this research model in their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with adaptable resources to implement this research model in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Kavita Gupta

In rural Alaska, Science becomes most meaningful when it is rooted in place, culture, and lived experienced. This teacher-student collaborative project investigates how locally available resources and subsistence knowledge systems can be integrated into formal science instruction to increase student engagement, conceptual understanding, and scientific identity. Students participated in multiple inquiry-based investigations using materials sourced from their environment, including spruce sap as a potential adhesive, freeze-thaw plant growth systems using lettuce, Do it yourself Pipeline, and Alaskan blueberries as pH paper. These investigations were designed to connect Western scientific methods with Indigenous knowledge systems and rural subsistence practices. This project highlights how place-based, culturally responsive science education can transform student attitudes toward STEM while maintaining rigorous scientific inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how integrating local subsistence knowledge and hands-on investigations can increase student engagement, strengthen scientific thinking, and make science more meaningful in rural and culturally diverse classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Adrian Suladay

This poster will present an exploratory qualitative study examining how high school science teachers conceptualize students’ science identities and how these understandings shape their use of the curriculum and instructional decision-making. Although science identity has been widely recognized as important for students’ participation and persistence in STEM, less is known about how teachers define science identity in practice and how these definitions influence how they adapt, evaluate, and enact the curriculum. Drawing on sociocultural theory, particularly figured worlds and teacher sensemaking, this study uses semi-structured interviews with high school science teachers in the greater Seattle area to investigate how teachers imagine who belongs in science and how curriculum can support students’ identity development. Findings will contribute to conversations on identity-supportive teaching, teacher learning, and science curriculum design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn that supporting science identity is not only about STEM pathways but also about helping students build academic confidence, engage in scientific reasoning, critically question information, and see science as meaningful for their community.

SPEAKERS:
Anqi Zu

One area of ongoing research at IU Indianapolis is understanding past climate conditions through lake sediment cores. This lesson covers key principles of stratigraphy and how prevailing climate conditions can be interpreted from climate proxies found in lake sediment cores. Students will explore how to understand what past climate events are represented in lake sediments and what those events say about climatic conditions. The lesson PDF includes a PowerPoint, worksheets and a materials list for conducting the activity with groups of 2-4 students. This HS science lesson is intended to be used after students have received an introduction to climate change. The lab focuses on group work to investigate a Climate Layer Cake made from Playdoh that will have distinct layers representing historical climate events. Students are guided through coring and interpreting the events represented in their cake. The groups will gather their data on the whiteboard for full group discussion at the end.

TAKEAWAYS:
Do you need an engaging lesson designed to build student understanding and discourse around the topics of historical climate change, climate proxies and the three key principles of stratigraphy? This lesson covers it all and it is easily adaptable to teaching rock layers and geologic events.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Plankis

How do we move beyond traditional assessments to truly measure three-dimensional learning? This poster session explores the differences and connections between Transfer Tasks and Case Studies as high-quality NGSS-aligned assessment strategies. Using agriculture-based phenomena, participants will examine how each approach supports sensemaking, increases cognitive demand, and provides meaningful opportunities for students to apply scientific understanding in real-world contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Clear comparison of two high-impact assessment strategies Ready-to-use examples grounded in real-world agricultural contexts

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta, Hannah Wedger

This poster session highlights how students use real-world data to investigate scientific questions and make evidence-based decisions. It showcases a structured approach to building data literacy within science instruction, allowing students to analyze patterns, interpret results, and communicate findings. Attendees will explore a classroom model that integrates data analysis into everyday learning without requiring additional courses or resources. The poster will include sample tasks, student learning progression, and strategies that support inquiry, sensemaking, and engagement. Participants will leave with practical ideas to help students connect scientific concepts to real-world applications through data-driven learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use real-world data to support student inquiry, helping students analyze information, identify patterns, and make evidence-based decisions in science.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Triplett

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 do we move students beyond climate anxiety to evidence-based advocacy? Join us for an immersive experience with the New Visions Earth & Space Climate Change unit. Participants will step into the role of science learners to compare past natural climate cycles to current warming trends and then reflect to see how students uncover the "fingerprint" of human activity. This three-dimensional, phenomenon-driven unit empowers students to counter common misconceptions, such as "it's just a natural cycle," by interpreting the same data that has led 99.9% of climate scientists to conclude humans are the culprit. Learn how to build durable skills in reasoning and evidence-based explanation through structured and collaborative sensemaking routines. Leave with classroom-ready materials, including storyline-based lesson sequences and consensus-building protocols, designed to support evidence-based explanations and arguments and empower students to educate their community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Climate science curricula should empower students to move from anxiety to empowerment. Experience a free HS ESS unit and learn to use sensemaking routines to help students collaboratively analyze data and build 3D explanations that clarify human impact on climate change and debunk misconceptions.

SPEAKERS:
Dora Kastel

This session explores the practical and ethical implementation of AI-driven "Study Bots" to enhance student mastery in high school chemistry. We will demonstrate how to shift AI from a potential source of academic dishonesty to a powerful formative tool that delivers on-demand, targeted practice for complex topics such as stoichiometry and exam preparation. Participants will see concrete examples of how bots can be trained on specific classroom materials—such as unit tests and lab manuals—to provide personalized feedback, guide students through multi-step calculations, and help them develop strategic study plans. The session will also outline a practical rollout strategy, including student verification checklists and clear ethical guardrails, to ensure technology use remains safe, equitable, and focused on original student thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with copy-ready AI prompts and a student verification protocol they can immediately use to create custom, content-specific study bots. These tools streamline instructional planning and feedback while building the durable data-literacy skills students need for future STEM care

SPEAKERS:
Diane Vrobel

Are you interested in learning more about what HASTI has to offer or how you can become more involved? Attend this session to hear from current board members about their experiences and learn more about each board position. We have a position for everyone! We will share a short history of HASTI and why our mission and focus is so important, now more than ever! Teachers of ALL grade levels and areas are welcome, including pre-service, informal, and postsecondary educators!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about HASTI's mission and how they can become more involved with our state science teachers association.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Poindexter

The science practice of developing and using models supports students in applying crosscutting concepts such as recognizing patterns, making claims about cause and effect, and explaining system changes, to make sense of disciplinary core ideas. This session focuses on designing ‘look-to-learn’ items to guide all students, including learners with varied language and literacy backgrounds, in analyzing visual models from high-content diagrams to simplified comics used as sensemaking prompts. These items can be used at any point in a lesson as group or individual assessments that provide feedback supporting student discussion and explanation revision. Workshop materials include clear examples of look-to-learn items and design rationales, links to effective visuals, and a list of tools to support development. Item types include open-ended, scaffolded performance tasks and closed-ended, multi-modal questions for life & earth sciences, chemistry & astronomy (6-12+, including AP & Onramps).​

TAKEAWAYS:
Expect brief modeling and an overview of materials; spend the workshop collaborating or working solo to design ‘look‑to‑learn’ items (low‑ or ed‑tech) or select from a gallery. Return to your classroom with items that support student sensemaking through structured model analysis.

SPEAKERS:
TeNeal Metcalf

Quantum science-related career paths are rapidly increasing and reshaping curriculum needs. High school students need access now to quality quantum resources to be prepared for their future. Engage in a hands-on introduction to the PhET Interactive Simulations project’s Quantum Education Initiative, which includes a growing suite of free, research-based simulations and classroom-ready activities designed for high school physical science. Participants will engage as learners with newly updated simulations (Photoelectric Effect, Alpha & Beta Decay, Models of the Hydrogen Atom, Quantum Wave Interference, and others), then work through two model activities from the initiative database. Leave with lesson plans, student handouts, and implementation tips you can use next week. You will also learn how you can join the community for this multi-year effort.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave ready to bring quantum science into physics, chemistry, or Earth science classrooms using free, classroom-tested simulations and ready-to-use activities from PhET’s Quantum Education Initiative.

SPEAKERS:
Brett Fiedler, Katherine Perkins

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

Step into the role of a forensic toxicologist in this hands-on workshop that bridges the gap between abstract chemical principles and real-world applications. Participants will conduct a "layered" investigation, using both digital instrumentation and wet chemistry to identify "poisons" in simulated biological fluids. We will demonstrate how to integrate conductivity, pH, and spectrophotometry (using Vernier GoDirect sensors) to screen for physical anomalies before proceeding to confirmatory chemical reagent testing. This session focuses on strengthening student sensemaking by connecting the dots among physics (light absorbance), chemistry (oxidation-reduction and acid-base reactions), and career-connected forensic science. Participants will leave with a complete "Lesson Showcase" packet that includes digital templates for data collection, scoring tools, and strategies for adapting this lab to various grade bands and resource constraints.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Integration of Instrumentation and Analysis: By synthesizing data from digital sensors with traditional chemical observations, students develop durable skills in evidence-based reasoning and adaptability. This workshop demonstrates that true scientific literacy isn't confined to a single subject

SPEAKERS:
Diane Vrobel

The Science and Engineering Practices help students show how they question, investigate, model, analyze data, construct explanations, and argue from evidence. In this interactive session, participants will examine traditional science assignments and identify where student thinking may remain invisible. Using the SEPs as a design lens, educators will revise tasks so students must use evidence, make decisions, critique ideas, and explain their reasoning. The session helps participants strengthen existing lessons so student sensemaking remains central, even when students have access to AI tools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the Science and Engineering Practices as a design lens to revise science tasks so student reasoning, evidence use, critique, and sensemaking remain visible, even when students have access to AI.

SPEAKERS:
Velma Itamura

"This session will demonstrate a classroom-tested approach for teaching series and parallel circuits through hands-on materials, mathematical reasoning, and digital simulations. Participants will experience how a simple circuit kit can introduce key concepts such as brightness, current distribution, and the effect of removing a bulb in a series circuit. The session will also highlight how students use calculations to determine total resistance, voltage drops, and current flow. The presenter will show how the PhET Circuit Construction Kit simulation supports verification, modeling, and deeper conceptual understanding. The session will end with a look at a culminating engineering design challenge where students design and build a functional house prototype using series and parallel circuits. An optional competition format where students present their prototypes to judges for evaluation will also be discussed. "

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn a complete, classroom-tested way to teach series and parallel circuits using hands-on kits, math reasoning, PhET simulations, and a student house‑prototype design challenge.

SPEAKERS:
JOANNA MARIE DE BORJA, Kelly Feille

Description Students are increasingly using AI in science classrooms, but using AI does not automatically lead to deeper thinking. This session shares one simple, classroom-ready strategy that uses AI to prompt students to pause and extend their reasoning during scientific tasks. A single prompt can push students to clarify their thinking, identify gaps, and strengthen explanations, supporting NGSS-aligned practices such as analyzing evidence and constructing explanations. This quick, practical move is easy to implement and positions AI as a support for student thinking rather than a source of answers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn one simple way to use AI to prompt students to pause, extend their thinking, and strengthen scientific explanations during classroom tasks.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle McClanan

How can robotics competitions spark deeper science learning? This speed sharing session shows how competition-based experiences can build integrated learning and durable skills in science classrooms. Attendees will explore practical strategies for using robotics competitions to strengthen teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and persistence while connecting science, engineering, and other disciplines. Designed as a fast-paced, high-value session, this presentation offers an adaptable idea participants can use immediately to engage students in authentic challenges and support real-world skill development.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how robotics competitions can build integrated learning and durable skills by strengthening teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and persistence across science and engineering experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Dana Lupton

In the rapidly evolving landscape of STEM education, artificial intelligence is often viewed through the lens of academic integrity concerns. However, when integrated intentionally, AI can serve as a powerful catalyst for authentic learning, bridging the gap between classroom theory and real-world scientific inquiry. This speed talk explores two distinct case studies in high school Chemistry and Environmental Science. First, we examine the use of AI in Chemistry, where students evaluate Large Language Models (LLMs) to support their learning of Chemistry topics. Second, we highlight an Environmental Science project in which AI-driven tools enabled students to evaluate ecological problems, identify areas impacted using data collected from the internet, and create an infographic using that data to help solve the problem, transforming them from passive observers into active participants in the solution.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with a framework for designing not AI-resistant, but AI-enhanced use that prioritizes critical thinking, data interpretation, and the ethical application of emerging technologies.

SPEAKERS:
Joe Hendrzak

Traditional lab reports and written responses do not always reveal what students understand about a science concept. Short student-created video explanations give learners another way to explain phenomena, defend models, interpret data, reflect on labs, and communicate claim-evidence-reasoning arguments. This presentation shares a classroom-ready approach for using concise video explanations as formative and summative evidence of science understanding. Attendees will explore prompt types, success criteria, feedback routines, and grading strategies that keep the focus on science thinking rather than production quality. Examples will show how video explanations can support multilingual learners, oral rehearsal before writing, student self-assessment, and teacher identification of misconceptions. The session emphasizes low-prep routines that help students practice science communication while making their thinking more visible.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use short student-created video explanations to make science thinking visible, strengthen communication, and assess understanding without creating grading overload.

SPEAKERS:
Lynette Dickerson

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

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

Look‑to‑learn items are brief, visual prompts that guide students to analyze models, discuss evidence, and revise explanations during sensemaking lessons. In this speed‑sharing presentation, the presenter will model look‑to‑learn items that use existing diagrams, GIFs, and simplified comics. Participants will see classroom‑ready examples of both open‑ and closed‑ended look‑to‑learn items and learn how these quick scaffolds can be used at multiple points in a lesson. The presenter will also share brief rationales for matching question types to visuals based on the intended performance outcome. Examples are drawn from grades 6–12 science classrooms, including AP Environmental Science and AP Biology, though the underlying principles are broadly transferable.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn practical ways to use visuals—diagrams, GIFs, and comics—as prompts for categorizing, fill‑in‑the‑blank, matching, and sequencing tasks that help students notice patterns, discuss evidence, and revise explanations. Receive a link to a library of classroom‑ready examples with feedback.

SPEAKERS:
TeNeal Metcalf

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

Short on time but want to bring meaningful engineering into your classroom? Are you looking for plug-and-play STEM labs that require minimal prep while maximizing student engagement and real-world connections? In this fast-paced session, educators will explore ready-to-use, NGSS-aligned engineering labs that come with all materials provided—at no cost. Participants will see how students engage in hands-on problem-solving while collaborating virtually with professional engineers and college mentors, helping them make sense of science concepts through authentic application. What Participants Will Experience: Quick overview of a complete, ready-to-implement engineering lab Hands-on interaction with lab materials Snapshot of how virtual mentorship supports student thinking and engagement Practical strategies for immediate classroom implementation Classroom Relevance: Zero-prep or low-prep labs ready “out of the box” Applicable to existing science units Designed to fit typical class

TAKEAWAYS:
With over 6,900 schools and 1.3 million students served nationwide, engineering focused labs demonstrate how high-quality, equitable STEM experiences can be both scalable and easy to implement—helping students build the durable skills they need for future success.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Kysely

How do science teachers help students determine what climate information is credible? This qualitative case study examines three Indonesian science teachers' approaches to teaching epistemic evaluation, the practice of critically assessing claims and sources, within interdisciplinary Science classrooms. Findings reveal three key patterns: the instructional strategies teachers use to scaffold information evaluation, how teachers conceptualize this practice, and the curriculum and contextual challenges they face. Although situated in Indonesia, the challenges these teachers navigate:  misinformation, fragmented curricula, and limited frameworks for teaching evidence evaluation, mirror those faced by science educators globally. This session offers practical insights and transferable strategies for science teachers seeking to strengthen students' ability to critically evaluate information about climate change and other natural phenomena in today's complex information landscape.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees, particularly teachers, will gain insight with transferable strategies for teaching students to critically evaluate climate change information, grounded in real classroom practice across any kind of teaching contexts

SPEAKERS:
Anna Rahmadianty

Much like the game of football, science teachers need to get their students across the goal line of learning important science concepts with little time to spare. As a science teacher in a busy school environment, the task of reaching all learners is difficult when faced with a diverse student population with various strengths, weaknesses, and diverse backgrounds. To ensure that teachers maximize equity and inclusion of ALL students, low-prep and high-impact lesson strategies are an important component of helping students make sense of the natural world around them, participate in classroom discussions, and ultimately express their understanding of science concepts. This presentation will discuss some key strategies, set in the context of a high school geoscience class, which allow teachers to use and adapt easily based on student needs. An example lesson will be provided to participants, as well as access to the strategies to try out in their classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
The presentation will include an example lesson demonstrating how low-prep, high-impact strategies can be integrated into a geoscience lesson with diverse learners. Teachers will receive access to the instructional tools and resources, which can be adapted based on the needs of their students.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Covil

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 session introduces educators to the process of identifying agricultural phenomena and connecting them to NGSS science concepts and emphasizes how to make science instruction more relevant by integrating agriculture as a lens for exploration and inquiry. Participants will engage in hands-on activities including an agriculture phenomena sort, a game designed to evaluate and align examples of agricultural phenomena with the NGSS three dimensions and science standards. Teachers will brainstorm local phenomena and leave with tools like a phenomena checklist and a ready-to-use list of agricultural phenomena that can be used across disciplines.

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

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Wedger, Angela Gulotta

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

TAKEAWAYS:
Use the NSTA Sensemaking Tool to evaluate instructional materials (lessons) and provide feedback.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews

Join us for an engaging workshop that brings cutting-edge particle physics into your classroom. Explore how scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN tackle fundamental questions about the universe—and how their discoveries connect to high school science. Through hands-on activities from the NSF-supported QuarkNet program, you'll experience ways to integrate real data, current research, and core physics concepts into your curriculum, all aligned with national science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with examples of standards-based classroom activities that link cutting-edge physics research to core concepts taught in high school physics and physical science.

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Cecire, Shane Wood

Interactive notebooks are powerful tools that physically relate activities to concepts which supports student construction of the lesson arc. Use of dynamic manipulatives, particularly with structured inquiry, provides more opportunities for illustrating relationships and making deep connections than static artifacts. Integrating these components in a notebook provides permanent scaffolds for content and support for continuing review and engagement with the material. Ready-to-use templates and examples, suitable for courses ranging from physical science through chemistry I and AP Chemistry will be shared. Attendees will be encouraged to make and take a variety of examples, ranging from stand alone activities to notebook-ready page layouts. All materials were created by and have been published on Chemical Education Xchange by the presenter, and are freely available for download. Student-made interactive notebook examples will also be available for review and discussion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience several mini-lessons from the student perspective using interactive notebook pages and manipulatives to explore the impact of these artifacts on the classroom experience. Participants will then be able to self-select stations to make and take manipulatives.

SPEAKERS:
Nora Walsh

Early career science teachers face challenges such as learning to manage classrooms, enacting instruction aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and implementing effective strategies for diverse learners. These challenges can impact a teacher’s well-being and lead to teacher burnout. One approach that can be used to mitigate the effects of teacher burnout is self-care. In this session, we will share teachers’ voices from our three-year longitudinal study on early career science teachers’ well-being and self-care practices in high-need schools. Our data indicate individual self-care practices alongside collaborative approaches that build capacity to support teachers’ well-being and retention. We will share these research-based strategies, examples, and self-care planning tools. These strategies are important because teachers need to take care of their own well-being in order to provide effective science instruction, as suggested by the NGSS, for all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about research-based self-care strategies for teachers, and how individuals and organizations can foster supportive environments for teacher self-care and well-being. Attendees will participate in self-care reflections and will leave with self-care planning tools and goals.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Borgerding, Ella Yonai, Shannon Navy

This session highlights practical, classroom-ready strategies for strengthening three-dimensional sensemaking in high school science courses, with an intentional focus on courses with heavy content standards (e.g. honors and AP classes). Participants will engage with coherent lesson sequences that intentionally integrate DCI's, SEP's and CCC's through anchoring phenomena and the use of student voice. Concrete examples of instructional routines, assessment tasks and student work samples will demonstrate how to make student thinking visible and actionable. Emphasis will be placed on designing and using assessments that capture evidence of reasoning, model development and evidence-based explanation, while informing real-time instructional decisions. Attendees will explore adaptable templates, scoring tools, and planning protocols aligned to typical classroom constraints, ensuring feasibility without increasing workload.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore instructional shifts that can be implemented immediately in your high school classroom. Participants will leave with small, practical adjustments to lesson planning that allow student voice to drive instruction while still addressing rigorous, content-heavy standards.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Bulman

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

Scientific sensemaking requires students to question claims, evaluate evidence, revise ideas, and defend decisions. In this interactive session, participants will explore how AI can be positioned as a reasoning partner within SEP-based classroom routines. Rather than treating AI as an answer source, educators will consider how structured routines can prompt students to analyze information, test claims against evidence, identify gaps in reasoning, revise ideas, and explain their decisions. Participants will examine adaptable routine structures and consider how they could support purposeful AI use, productive struggle, and evidence-based discussion in their own science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to facilitate SEP-based classroom routines that position AI as a reasoning partner while keeping students responsible for evidence, critique, revision, and sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Velma Itamura

Attendees will be shown various strategies and platforms for utilizing AI in the science classroom. Participants will be able to discuss strategies to address common misconceptions connected with AI use. Attendees will be shown ways AI can be used to create meaningful, critical-thinking, hands-on activities for science students. Educators will also be shown the positive and negative aspects of AI use by teachers and students. The AI policies that some school systems are adopting will also be discussed in this workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will address the misconception that teachers might believe that AI is only useful for text-based tasks (essays/reports) and cannot contribute to the hands-on, experimental nature of a science lab.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Stracener

When students have access to AI, a polished final product may not provide enough evidence of what they understand. This interactive session helps educators use the Science and Engineering Practices to identify what student reasoning should look like and how it can be assessed. Participants will explore how different types of student work, discussion, revision, and explanation can provide evidence of reasoning when tasks are designed around the Science and Engineering Practices. The session focuses on designing assessment approaches that value evidence use, critique, revision, explanation, argumentation, and decision-making in science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the Science and Engineering Practices to identify and assess evidence of student thinking, critique, revision, and reasoning defense in AI-resilient science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Velma Itamura

Driving Question: How do environmental conditions influence plant growth? This hands-on workshop demonstrates how to use plant processes to investigate how environmental conditions influence plant growth through a three-dimensional model aligned to NGSS (e.g., HS-LS1-5). Participants will engage in a classroom-ready activity manipulating variables such as light and temperature, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting a sample dataset to construct evidence-based explanations using a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) framework to determine the cause and effect relationship between environmental factors and plant growth. The session emphasizes coherence across curriculum, instruction, and assessment by aligning learning goals, inquiry-based investigation, and CER assessment to make student thinking visible. Attendees will explore how disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts support sensemaking. Strategies for diverse learners, including s

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to implement a coherent, three-dimensional lesson using plant investigations and CER to support student sensemaking and explain how environmental conditions influence plant growth.

SPEAKERS:
Macon Beck

Explore online tools that enrich forest & watershed activities from Project WET and Project Learning Tree that will help you localize the phenomena desired in the environmental science classroom. These ecosystem activities are designed for grades 6-12 instruction and have extensions that can be used at the AP/IB level.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore online tools that enrich forest & watershed activities from Project WET and Project Learning Tree that will help you localize the phenomena desired in the environmental science classroom. These ecosystem activities are designed for grades 6-12 instruction and have extensions that can be use

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

The STEM workforce is changing. From facilities in Indiana to global tech hubs in Asia, companies now use Physical AI (intelligence built into physical tools like sensors) and Agentic AI (systems that can finish multi-step tasks on their own). This session shows how science and engineering are evolving. We demonstrate how teachers can use these technologies to prepare for and teach in class by incorporating low-cost pocket computers and sensors. Physical and Agentic AI can help teachers align lessons to NGSS Science and Engineering Practices, improve skills, and make sense of student lab data more quickly. This allows for better instructional choices and helps teachers give more helpful feedback. Integrating these tools into a structured science classroom can level the playing field for all students. By the end of this session, you will see how robust science education paired with AI—not just technology for its own sake—prepares every student to lead and innovate in modern careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive an Advanced AI Science & Engineering Education Toolkit that shows how to use Physical and Agentic AI to make planning smoother, lab feedback easier, and improve decision-making while helping students learn the skills needed for modern science and engineering careers.

SPEAKERS:
Naeem Turner-Bandele, PhD

Learn how to write for grants and awards. Whether you've never written a grant, have tried but have never won, or just want to improve your skills as a writer. The presenter has written for numerous grants and awards. To date he's won 30 grants for over $60,000 to expand what he's able to offer for students in his rural school. Additionally, he has made progress on numerous awards (and won some). Furthermore, he will share about his experience as a Fund for Teachers Fellow and share sources for funding and recognition.

TAKEAWAYS:
The presenter is an award winning teacher who has also won 30 grants for over $60,000 for his rural classroom. He'll share his tips and tricks for writing to help you learn how to bring in new materials to improve student learning and for funding to support yourself as a teacher.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Sullenberger

This workshop will have teachers to critically examine the role of Deep Fakes in science classrooms. Educators will be challenged to challenge their students to critically examine media for reliability and credibility. The workshop will revisit the role of background research in the science classroom and how to teach learners to navigate a world of AI and Deep Fakes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how Deep Fakes are made and how to teach their learners to spot them.

SPEAKERS:
Cecelia Gillam

Across STEM education, there is a growing push to move beyond isolated disciplines toward learning that reflects the complexity of real-world challenges. This session shares insights from co-design work between Boston University’s Center for STEM Professional Learning at Scale and Vivayic focused on developing convergence professional learning pathways and impact networks. Participants will explore how to design transdisciplinary, phenomenon-based learning grounded in real problems and local contexts. Through examples from pathway design and facilitation, the session highlights strategies such as systems mapping, stakeholder mapping, and collaborative routines that help make sense of complex problems. Attendees will also examine how convergence approaches and networks of educators and organizations can break down silos and support scalable approaches that foster systems thinking, agency, and equitable participation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how convergence-based professional learning can support educators in designing learning experiences that help students make sense of complex, real-world problems across disciplines and leverage community assets.

SPEAKERS:
Craig Rebich, Brian Beierle

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta, Hannah Wedger

This session explores how the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) can serve as a powerful foundation for helping students connect phenomena-driven learning to high-skill, high-wage, in-demand careers. This session will offer practical insights into the current postsecondary and workforce landscape and demonstrate how career-connected learning can increase student engagement by making science more relevant and purposeful.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using state science standards as a foundation for career connected learning helps students see science as purposeful and relevant by directly linking science content and application to in-demand career pathways boosting both engagement and motivation.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker

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

The NOAA-supported resource, “Ocean Protector,” is a free, online educational game that teaches students about the impacts of ocean acidification and solutions to address it. This decision-making game serves a full curriculum designed explicitly to bring ocean science to high school students with little or no connection to the ocean. Teachers will have a complete classroom-ready educator guide, instructional module, standards alignment and assessment tools. Students will learn about the causes and effects of ocean acidification and evaluate real world solutions. In the game, students choose a character representing specific ocean sectors (e.g. fishing boat captain) and make real-time analytical decisions and evaluate their consequences. This experience helps students construct explanations, reason effectively, and become self-directed learners of ocean science. Attendees will have ample time for informal discussion. Ocean Protector: https://outreachgames.org/OceanProtector/main.html

TAKEAWAYS:
ring the ocean inland! Use the free and classroom ready, decision-based 'Ocean Protector' game for high school students, complete with curriculum, educator guide, standards align and assessment tools.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Perotti

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

Dr. Michael Wysession, NGSS co-author and geophysics professor, presents engaging place-based Midwest-centered storylines that allow students from all backgrounds to more effectively develop sensemaking of up-to-date, research-driven climate science and how it relates to their home communities. For example, the establishment of many Midwestern states (Indiana-1816; Illinois-1818; Missouri-1821) was directly impacted by global and regional climate changes that included the Little Ice Age (creating a demand for animal furs for clothing) and the 1815 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora, which caused the “year without a summer” famines and drove easterners westward into the Midwest. Examining current local extreme weather events and regional Midwest geology (e.g., glacial deposits and limestone bedrock) can foster student sensemaking of the many different cycles of climate change required by NGSS performance expectations.

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

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession

PhET Interactive Simulations are free, high-quality, interactive science and math simulations that are perfect for any science classroom. Whether you are new to PhET or a seasoned user, this session will help you explore and navigate the extensive PhET resources, including activities, teacher guides, teaching strategies and more. Presented by U.S. PhET Simulations Fellow Vanessa Wentzloff, attendees will walk away with a deep understanding of all that PhET has to offer. Teachers will be able to select a simulation aligned to their curriculum and begin planning an engaging lesson centered on inquiry and discovery that they can use in their classroom right away. This session is perfect for teachers looking to boost student engagement, simplify complex topics, and walk away with something practical they can use immediately.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to effectively navigate and use the full range of PhET resources, including simulations, activities, teacher guides, and instructional strategies and leave with practical ideas for integrating these tools into their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Vanessa Wentzloff

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

This session provides a deep dive into a phenomenon-driven chemistry unit centered on climate change. Participants will experience how a full unit can be built around the question: “How do we use chemistry to help solve the climate crisis in a fair way as a global community?” The unit uses fossil fuel combustion, ice core data, and greenhouse gas chemistry phenomena to teach mole conversions. stoichiometry, limiting reactants, percent composition, and molecular structure. Participants will engage with student-facing materials, data sets, and modeling tasks that connect chemical equations to real-world climate impacts. A key focus of the session is integrating climate justice into chemistry instruction by examining how emissions, energy systems, and environmental harm are distributed unevenly across populations. Participants will leave with a fully mapped unit storyline, assessment ideas, and instructional routines for supporting student sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will explore how we can use molecular-level explanations to support student climate reasoning, allowing students to integrate climate justice and equity considerations into chemistry-based solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Gustafson

Students are increasingly using AI in science classrooms, but using AI does not always lead to deeper thinking. This workshop focuses on how teachers can design classroom tasks that use AI to support, rather than replace, scientific reasoning. After a brief introduction, participants will work through example tasks from a student perspective and examine how specific prompts can push thinking, reveal gaps, and strengthen explanations. Grounded in NGSS practices, this session emphasizes analyzing evidence and constructing explanations. Participants will leave with practical strategies and a clear structure for designing tasks that position AI as a tool for thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to design classroom tasks that use AI to prompt deeper thinking and strengthen evidence-based scientific reasoning.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle McClanan

This workshop will introduce the Educating for Environmental Change project at Indiana University and provide information on how teachers can get involved. The presenter will also facilitate exemplar activities from the project that are designed to engage students in the practice of scientific argumentation. Surfacing student thinking, addressing student misconceptions, and alignment to the NGSS will also be emphasized. The EFEC project is designed to elucidate and deepen understanding of environmental issues through hands-on lessons co-designed by IU's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, the School of Education, and veteran K-12 science teachers. EFEC utilizes the following driving questions: how do we know the climate is changing; what are the impacts of these changes; what can be done moving forward; and how do we cultivate optimism in our students?

TAKEAWAYS:
The Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) project utilizes the following driving questions: how do we know the climate is changing; what are the impacts of these changes; how can we mitigate these changes; and how do we cultivate optimism in our students while teaching them about climate change?

SPEAKERS:
Adam Scribner

Students often wonder how the science they learn in class connects to life beyond school. This session tackles that question by showcasing practical strategies for bridging core science instruction with Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways and career applications. Participants will explore how phenomena-driven, three-dimensional science learning naturally aligns with the skills and knowledge used in engineering, health sciences, technology fields, agriculture, and more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through examples, discussion, and ready-to-use ideas, attendees will discover how to help students see the relevance of scientific thinking in authentic career contexts.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker

How do robotics competitions spark deeper science learning? In this high-energy 60-minute workshop, participants will explore how robotics programs can engage students in authentic challenge, teamwork, and problem-solving while supporting three-dimensional, NGSS-aligned science learning. Led by a robotics team mentor, this session shares practical strategies for using competition experiences to build student sensemaking, strengthen science and engineering practices, and sustain teams over time while widening access for all learners. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use ideas, planning tools, and sustainability strategies they can apply immediately.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use robotics competitions to energize student engagement, strengthen NGSS-aligned science learning, and sustain equitable teams through sensemaking, teamwork, and problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Dana Lupton

Join BSCS as we share and discuss how leadership can support NGSS implementation through planning for professional learning experiences that center the needs of teachers and students through the use of high quality instructional materials. We will discuss how leaders can leverage high quality instructional materials to strengthen the shared vision of the instructional shifts called for by the NGSS. Hear how a state level partnership with multiple LEAs deepened teacher’s knowledge of the NGSS and three dimensional instructional practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using high quality instructional materials as a lever to further NGSS implementation across multiple district/school contexts can support teachers and leaders as they enhance and expand their practice to improve outcomes for their students and learning communities.

SPEAKERS:
Jenine Cotton-Proby

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

Current research around ML science focuses on creating a supportive environment, moving from traditional teaching methods like frontloading to integrating language with learning (Lee, 2021; Lee & Grapin, 2025). However, ML equity can be misunderstood, replicating deficit perspectives in the classrooms. Thus, we will dive into reframing linguistic justice by centering key attributes for a culturally sustaining space. Culturally rich classrooms strive to understand ML youth, ranging from those within language programs and students in ‘regular’ tracked courses. The diverse linguistic, academic, and cultural knowledge of students and their communities should be drawn from and developed. This can happen by creating a collective community, giving language space to flourish, centering social justice in planning, problematizing/humanizing the science and classroom. We will expand on these attributes, provide examples, reflect together to develop strategic plans for the coming school year.

TAKEAWAYS:
This interactive and reflective workshop centers multilingual youth to develop a culturally sustaining classroom for linguistic justice through key strategies. Participants will walk away with a toolbox and a structure to implement that supports ML student learning throughout the school year.

SPEAKERS:
Diana Bonilla, Jessica Garcia

Do you teach multiple subjects (we do!) want an easy-to-implement tool that works for all your classes? Wish every student could explain the thinking behind their work? Do you spend way too long giving feedback that isn’t read? Need students to spend more time on areas they haven’t mastered yet? Or maybe administrators are telling you “use AI,” but you’re not sure what to do? Two tools can do just that – Snorkl and Brisk Teaching! Snorkl allows students to submit their work and gives you the option to have them verbally explain their thinking - Snorkl’s AI will provide the feedback! Brisk Boost uses an AI chatbot to question students until they’ve met their learning targets, based on an artifact (video, PDF, image, etc.) you’ve uploaded. You’ll get (A) a quick overview of what the tools do (and what they don’t that I wish they did!), (B) examples of student work from multiple disciplines, and (C) time to try activities we’ve created and to create your own to use in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn to leverage Snorkl and Brisk Boost to automate meaningful feedback and deepen student reflection. You'll discover how each tool uses AI in different ways, from using student-written and verbal work to provide feedback, to using AI chatbots to ensure mastery of learning targets.

SPEAKERS:
Brandi Argentar, Andy Fitz

Discover how real-world research can transform your STEM classroom. This session is designed for middle and high school educators interested in connecting authentic research experiences to meaningful student learning. Learn how the Army STEM Teacher Fellowships support teachers in bringing real-world science and engineering into their instruction. You’ll explore practical ways to turn research experiences into integrated STEM lessons that help students connect core ideas, apply science and engineering practices, and build skills in problem-solving and data analysis. Through classroom-ready examples, you’ll see how teachers translate authentic research into engaging lessons that promote critical thinking, collaboration, and evidence-based reasoning. You’ll leave with adaptable ideas and strategies you can use right away to create more connected, real-world learning experiences that prepare students for future careers and complex challenges.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about Army STEM Teacher Fellowships (RESET). When working alongside Army researchers & Engineers, teachers don’t just gain content knowledge, they bring back real-world context, current practices, & practices, &increased confidence that improves how they teach STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Winnie Boyle

HS-ESS3-5 asks students to analyze data and global climate models to forecast rates of regional climate change and future impacts. We share a 5E set of place-based activities in which students collect NOAA climate data from a city of their choosing and forecast what their community will look like by 2100. Students collect 30 years of temperature and precipitation records, analyzing trends and calculating rates of change to identify patterns. Using the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, students explain cause and effect between policy decisions and outcomes by matching news articles to scenarios. Then, students forecast local climate at mid- and end-of-century and identify cities already at those conditions. Next, students explore fall temperature and first frost dates. Using ice core records students compare their findings to warming rates of the last 400,000 years. Each activity builds toward the evidence-based forecast, rooted in data students collected from their own community.

TAKEAWAYS:
We share a 5E set of place-based activities in which students collect NOAA climate data from a city of their choosing and forecast what their community will look like by 2100. All data guides, Google Sheets templates, worksheets, and readings provided.

SPEAKERS:
Stephen Mattox

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

In this hands-on professional development workshop, teachers will use physical and conceptual models of atoms and isotopes to explore how scientists reconstruct past climates. Participants will investigate how isotopic signatures preserved in ice cores and sediments reveal information about vegetation, temperature, precipitation, and Earth’s climate history. Model-based reasoning and alignment with NGSS and Indiana science practices will be emphasized. The goal of this workshop is to support teachers in translating authentic climate science research into engaging classroom investigations. This workshop will be led by Dr. Julia Kelson, IU Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Dr. Robyn Embry, high school science teacher, Mitchell High School. This workshop was developed for Indiana University’s Educating for Environmental Change project (EfEC) project.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) project utilizes the following driving questions: how do we know the climate is changing; what are the impacts of these changes; how can we mitigate these changes; and how do we cultivate optimism in our students while teaching them about climate change?

SPEAKERS:
Julia Kelson, Adam Scribner

Simulations and games have shown great promise in science education, increasing students' scientific reasoning, enhancing motivation, and reducing cognitive load. However, teachers have been relying on developers to offer a fixed set of simulations or games. With the emergence of AI coding tools such as Claude Code (CC), teachers and students can now design simulations and games tailored to their own needs and interests. With coding no longer a barrier, mathematical and scientific principles can be harnessed to create something teachers and students are passionate about. We start with a 15 min intro to CC with a demonstration of a simulation and a game developed by a nonprofessional coder. The next 15 min, teachers brainstorm a game or simulation supporting phenomenon sense-making. The remaining time is dedicated to implementation using CC on six provided computers with CC pre-installed. We close with a 5-minute wrap and will provide resources including an installation guide and a proc

TAKEAWAYS:
Familiarizing oneself with simulation and gaming possibilities one can create for their class on CC with alignment to NGSS and 3D learning. Understanding the current limitations of the tool, such as computational power and working memory. Awareness of the ethical aspects of using CC.

SPEAKERS:
Ella Yonai, Emanuel Eidin

Over six years, our science department transformed assessment from a traditional grading model to a skills-first competency-based system. Beginning with NGSS-inspired exploration and classroom pilots, we gradually developed shared competencies, common assessment practices, and department-wide expectations that emphasize scientific skills, feedback, and student growth. In this session, participants will explore the evolution of our framework, the challenges and successes of implementation, and the lessons learned from moving from isolated experiments to a fully integrated competency-based program. Through examples of assessments, rubrics, student reflections, and feedback systems, attendees will examine practical strategies for building competency-based assessment in their own classrooms and departments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with a roadmap for implementing competency-based assessment in science, including competencies, rubrics, feedback systems, student reflection, and lessons learned from six years of implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Grissom

How can chemistry feel more relevant, coherent, and connected to the real world across an entire course? In this session, participants will explore a year-long chemistry course redesigned around Earth and Space Science phenomena anchored in NGSS storylines. Rather than treating chemistry as a sequence of isolated units, this approach uses compelling phenomena—such as climate change, stellar life-cycles, geomorphology, and water quality—as the driving narrative structure for learning. Participants will experience how chemistry content standards can be purposefully embedded into Earth and Space Science contexts to build coherence and deepen conceptual understanding. We will also examine how storylines support student sensemaking, increase engagement, and create authentic opportunities for modeling and explanation.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will explore how the use of Earth & Space phenomena make the abstract world of chemistry more visible and equitable for students.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Gustafson

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Jim McDonald

Connecting AI to the physical world (aka embodied AI) is the next technological frontier. Join us to explore project-based activities that combine AI with physical robots via the construction and programming of autonomous robotic arms. These field-tested actives use Python and an accessible (relatively cheap ~$300) hardware platform. This workshop will walk you through the parts, construction, Python skill building, game theory, object detection, and autonomous arm programing modules. All components: parts, 3D printing files, construction instructions, programming activities, and lecture slides are available online (arm.ttic.edu) and can be used as a whole or piecemeal for clubs and classrooms. High school interns who explored these activities saw key indicators of retention and success in CS, such as Sense of Belonging in Computing, increase. TTIC is a university & research institute focused on AI and CS theory. NGSS Alignment: HS-ETS1-1 & HS-ETS1-2; CCC 1,2,4,& 6; Practices 1,2,3,4 &

TAKEAWAYS:
Robots + AI = Tool You Can Use + Student Engagement

SPEAKERS:
Michael Rodgers, Randall Landsberg

Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers bring powerful real-world expertise, but too often, their work sits apart from core science instruction. This session focuses on putting PLCs together so teachers from science and CTE can strategically align units with their disciplines, creating opportunities for authentic, applied learning that benefits both students and teachers. Participants will explore a framework for identifying natural connections between NGSS science domains and CTE pathways, such as welding with physical science, health careers with life science, agriculture with earth and environmental science, and engineering with physical and mathematical modeling. Attendees will learn how collaborative planning between science and CTE educators can result in lessons and projects that meaningfully incorporate scientific ideas and technical applications.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through examples, planning tools, and shared experiences, participants will leave with strategies for matching CTE expertise to the science content where it naturally fits and designing instruction that blends scientific sensemaking with hands-on technical skills.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker

How do we move students from "checked out" to "self-directed" without adding hours of prep? This session introduces classroom-tested, high-leverage routines that build student self-efficacy and grit through the lens of John Hattie’s Visible Learning research. Participants will explore low-prep strategies to foster Collective Efficacy and Teacher Credibility, turning the "space of struggle" into a launchpad for success. We will examine common "grit-robbers" and replace them with adaptable structures for meaningful feedback and stronger classroom cohesion. Attendees will leave with a practical toolkit of routines that strengthen sensemaking and resilient learning, shifting the focus from fixing students to optimizing the environment to support science practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Implement high-leverage routines that foster student agency and collective efficacy. Leave with a low-prep toolkit to transform classroom 'struggle' into productive grit, using evidence-based strategies that boost engagement and sensemaking without increasing your workload.

SPEAKERS:
Jeff Anderson, Christina Sladek, Scott Albright

Science educators are among the most trusted voices in education policy—but many have never been trained to advocate effectively. This highly interactive session will provide practical tools for communicating with elected officials, building coalitions, working with media, and influencing policy decisions at the local, state, and federal levels. Through real-world examples and guided exercises, participants will learn how to translate classroom expertise into policy influence and become effective champions for science and STEM education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Effective advocacy is a learned skill that allows science educators to transform their expertise into meaningful policy impact.

SPEAKERS:
James Brown

Wondering where familiar chemistry topics like naming compounds, stoichiometry, and gas laws fit into OpenSciEd High School Chemistry? In this interactive session, participants will explore how and why these traditional topics are woven into OpenSciEd's five chemistry units in ways that maintain rigor while supporting student sensemaking. Through examples from across the course, participants will examine how concepts such as atomic structure, the Periodic Table, acids and bases, and the mole are integrated into coherent storylines that preserve students' "aha" moments. For example, students develop models of ions and polar molecules to explain phenomena such as lightning before using atomic models to explain bonding. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how OpenSciEd blends essential chemistry content with engaging, phenomenon-driven learning.

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

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

This is a poster I am working with the DESC STEM group: Poster explores how cognitive dissonance can transform student misconceptions into powerful learning opportunities in 9th grade physics. The implementation began with a “failed” free-fall lab in which students strongly argued that heavier balls fall faster than lighter ones. Rather than correcting students immediately, the lesson leveraged prediction, experimentation, and evidence-based discussion to challenge deeply held beliefs about gravity and motion. Students conducted investigations using balls of different sizes and masses, then analyzed surprising results showing that objects fall at nearly the same rate. The session also highlights how connecting physics concepts to physical therapy careers increased relevance and engagement through the use of weighted balls and household resistance tools. Attendees will learn how productive struggle, scientific argumentation, and career connections can deepen learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students learn physics more deeply when evidence challenges their misconceptions. In this investigation, cognitive dissonance transformed a “failed” lab into a memorable learning experience, increasing engagement, scientific reasoning, and conceptual understanding through hands-on experimentation.

SPEAKERS:
Eileen Malick

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

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

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to use Rubin Observatory’s free classroom-ready investigations and STEM activities. These complete lessons on introductory astronomy topics are designed to support the NGSS. Mix and match add-on resources such as videos, games, data-based image tours, and trading cards for a deeper dive.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold

Join your fellow high school educators for a free catered lunch. While registration is free, attendance is limited and you must RSVP. Everyone registered will be required to attend one or more High School Haven sessions Friday morning.

A presentation of low-cost ideas for Middle School, Chemistry, and ICP lessons using low-cost materials for mini- science labs and demonstrations. Concepts discussed will be the classification of matter, identifying chemical reactions, and calculations from chemical reactions. Materials for the activities are found in Dollar Tree and Walmart. Other concepts discussed will be how to keep students' interest when tackling scientific terms, concepts, or ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see how a single lesson can be applied in various contexts across Chemistry concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Tsianina McCain

During a unit of study on the Respiratory System, 10-12th grade students engaged in a written conversation protocol followed by a facilitated circle conversation evaluating trends of lung capacity data when a race factor is applied to respiratory health for non-White people and how this impacts overall Respiratory health for people of color, particular the Black community. This poster session includes samples of authentic student work from the activity and educator facilitation recommendations that utilize anti-racist practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will be able to identify existing social justice topics connected to their science curriculum content and be able to facilitate a written conversation data analysis activity.

SPEAKERS:
Elly Walsh-Rock

In this session, we will share our motivation for adopting competency based grading and the reasons we will never go back to traditional, “average of total points,” grading. As part of the session, we will ask participants to consider what they believe grades communicate and examine their current grading practices to determine if their stated priorities match their grading practice. We will offer advice and suggestions for a smooth implementation of a competency based grading system including how to use generative AI to reduce your workload and make the writing process more efficient, and win over colleagues, administrators, and parents. Finally, we will share our standards for our chemistry and physics courses as well as examples of how our integration of the 3D NGSS standards with and have improved our classroom instructional practices, homework alignment, and assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn the advantages, philosophy, and basic mechanisms of 3D, competency-based assessment and grading in the high school science classroom utilizing the NGSS and generative AI

SPEAKERS:
Gary Pritts, Amanda Horan

Choose Your Own (OA)dventure (CYOA) is an interactive platform to improve educator accessibility and inclusion of expert-curated materials on ocean acidification (OA). By providing a personalized compilation of resources, tailored to teaching needs, CYOA lowers preparation time and bolsters confidence with teaching this complex topic. Educators can navigate a comprehensive database of multimedia and curricula, building their toolkit based on criteria like topics, activity types for different learning styles, regional relevance, or age groups (K-12). This approach streamlines finding classroom-ready content through clear categories such as "Background information for educators," "Engage your students," "Hands-on learning," and "Explore and visualize data." Ultimately, the CYOA empowers teachers with the tools and assurance to foster ocean literacy and inspire students to take informed action toward OA solutions. Attendee feedback will directly improve the next version of NOAA's CYOA.

TAKEAWAYS:
Get the resources and confidence you need to bring ocean acidification (OA) science and literacy into your K-12 classroom, with NOAA’s interactive, online Choose Your Own (OA)dventure platform.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Perotti

Climate change will bring uneven effects to different communities around the world, with poorer and less advantaged communities hit harder by extreme weather events, crop failures, sea-level rise, and more. Incorporating this reality into science classrooms can be a challenging endeavor, from both a practical and a conceptual perspective. The MacArthur Foundation and TERC have begun a nationwide program to address this pedagogical gap by bringing together teachers from across the country, in order to begin conversations and share ideas. Practical activities, such as using mapping programs rich with demographic as well as climate data, can begin conversations in your classroom about the disconnect between advantaged and disadvantaged communities. Join us as we show you examples of how to use these programs in your classroom and incorporate ideas of climate justice alongside NGSS modeling and data analysis.

TAKEAWAYS:
Addressing climate anxiety in the classroom and talking about concrete solutions with students, whether in terms of broad policy decisions, or hands-on ecosystem restoration solutions, shows students that no matter where they live, they can have a meaningful impact on their future.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Young, Carl Armstrong

The Lawrence Hall of Science conducts groundbreaking research and partners with stakeholders to transform science education and prioritize innovative teaching and learning for students worldwide. Connected to this work, The Lawrence Hall of Science is exploring ways to impact and contribute to the grades 9-12 science environment by engaging teachers and leaders directly in the process. In this session, participants will engage with the initial findings from a landscape study related to teachers’ expertise, capacity, and identity. They will contribute their own perspectives about the challenges in high school science, and brainstorm solutions they can apply in their own contexts. This session will support participants in translating research into action, developing shared understanding, and building the relationships and tools needed to lead and implement actions to support Framework-aligned grades 9-12 science pedagogy and instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away findings from a landscape study conducted at the Lawrence Hall of Science, that explored common challenges in grades 9-12 science. They will strategize solutions related to a community effort to support science educators and students, including in their own context.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Wachowski

Artificial intelligence can do more than answer questions. With thoughtful design, it can support student thinking. In this hands-on session, you will experience a custom AI Tutor from a student’s perspective, examine how its prompt shapes its behavior and learn how to define the instructional purpose of a tutor bot. We will focus on one key design step: turning a classroom learning need into clear bot instructions. You will draft a purpose statement and initial prompt for an AI Tutor that could support review, practice, feedback, or student questioning in your own classroom. You will see how AI can support this entire design process. This session is designed to show that effective AI tutoring begins with instructional design, not technical expertise. Bring your computer so that you can get the most out of this session.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a practical process for translating a classroom learning need into clear bot instructions that can guide an AI Tutor to support student thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Adam Pennell

The Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) of the Next Generation Science Standards already mirror many of the skills employers value most: problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and iterative design. This session explores how intentionally pairing the SEPs with Career Readiness Competencies can help students build transferable workforce skills while engaging in authentic science learning. Participants will examine classroom examples and instructional strategies that make these connections explicit, allowing students to practice thinking and working like scientists and engineers while developing skills essential for college, careers, and the modern workforce.

TAKEAWAYS:
When the Science and Engineering Practices are intentionally aligned with Career Readiness Competencies, everyday science instruction becomes a powerful way for students to develop real, transferable workforce skills without adding “one more thing” to the curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker

This workshop will present a climate engineering teaching module that was co-designed by Indiana University atmospheric scientists and veteran high school educators for the Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) project. The module consists of five complete lessons that encourage students to design technological solutions to slow global warming: including in-class experimentation demonstrating the potential cooling effect resulting from brightening marine clouds. The hands-on activities are supplemented with cutting-edge climate engineering and climate modeling research – including discussions on geoengineering’s potential to limit the negative impacts of climate change. Each lesson is aligned with Indiana state science standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. This workshop will be led by Dr. Ben Kravitz and Dr. Paul Goddard from Indiana University’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) project utilizes the following driving questions: how do we know the climate is changing; what are the impacts of these changes; how can we mitigate these changes; and how do we cultivate optimism in our students while teaching them about climate change?

SPEAKERS:
Ben Kravitz, Paul Goddard, Adam Scribner

Scientists at Institute for Systems Biology have been using AI and Machine Learning (ML) to analyze complex systems biology datasets for many years. As such, we developed an interactive lesson that guides high school students through how, why, and when ML can be used. These step-by-step free resources were built for non-computer science teachers using a heart-health dataset. We believe all people should understand, and be able to use, the process of ML to make sense of data, especially life science data. In this workshop, we will give a quick overview of the lesson and will share all curricular materials so that attendees can try the activities as students would. We’ll work through the correlations portion of the lesson with plenty of time for questions and technical assistance. We’ll then give an overview of the logistic regression and applications portions of the lesson. We will focus on having all teachers leave with the links, skills & confidence to bring this to their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Machine learning is a subset of AI and is easy to comprehend when you guide “learning” using a spreadsheet to analyze an interesting dataset. You can use our step-by-step resources to guide your students through this lesson and then watch as they apply their learning to other data sets of interest.

SPEAKERS:
Claudia Ludwig

Collecting and analyzing data to inform decision-making is an important step in sustaining broad and effective implementation of HQIM and the practices likely to improve each student’s learning. Join BSCS to dig into one district’s efforts to enact and monitor a curriculum implementation plan.

TAKEAWAYS:
One important step in sustainability of teacher and leader practices that are likely to improve the learning of each student is to collect and analyze implementation data to inform decision-making.

SPEAKERS:
Jenine Cotton-Proby

Teachers face the challenge of making NGSS-aligned instruction meaningful for students with diverse identities, interests, and community and workforce contexts. The K-12 Framework emphasizes student sensemaking through authentic engagement with real-world phenomena, but teachers need more than materials to do this well. They need practical strategies and adaptable frameworks for customizing curriculum without losing coherence. This session shares guidance for modifying curriculum and OER using place-based design to better reflect students’ lives, communities, and workforce connections. Drawing on work with national STEM initiatives, participants will explore models that support three-dimensional learning, strengthen equity, and expand access for diverse learners. Through classroom examples and adaptations, attendees will leave with concrete approaches for designing rigorous, culturally responsive STEM learning grounded in place.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn practical strategies to customize curriculum for local contexts by using community assets, relevant phenomena, and culturally responsive place-based practices.

SPEAKERS:
Rick Henningfeld, Brian Beierle

Increasingly, the most important STEM education decisions are being made in state capitals rather than Washington. State legislatures, governors, boards of education, and education agencies are driving debates over standards, accountability, curriculum, teacher workforce development, and STEM funding. This session will explore major state policy trends shaping science education in 2026 and highlight successful examples of state-level advocacy. Participants will learn how to identify key decision makers, understand state policy processes, and build effective strategies for advancing STEM priorities in their own states.

TAKEAWAYS:
State governments have become central drivers of STEM education policy, making state-level engagement essential for science education leaders.

SPEAKERS:
James Brown

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

Polymers are characterized as thermoplastic or thermoset; natural or synthetic; or as being formed by addition or condensation reactions. The amount of cross-linking in polymers also affects their properties. Activities will be shared that highlight and explain the categorization of polymers. We will investigate polymer powders to infer the amount of crosslinking when they are exposed to water. PVA slime also can show crosslinking. Thermoplastics can be reshaped after heating so are recyclable. Thermosets are the result of a heat-producing chemical reaction and are non-recyclable. We will do activities with each, investigating properties and uses. Our clothing is made up of a variety of polymers, some natural, a growing percentage synthetic. We will share some observational tasks using materials to discuss the benefits of each type of polymer in clothing. The environmental impact of polymers will be discussed and activities related to biopolymers and recycling will also be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Overview of polymers - different ways of categorizing, difficulties with recycling, and the variety of properties. We will provide hands-on activities to be done in the classroom, exploring cross-linking, reactions to heat and water, and natural vs synthetic polymers in clothing to name a few.

SPEAKERS:
Briana Richardson

Students use AI but do they critically think about it? This workshop will explore classroom activities that use AI to examine the veracity, biases, flaws, and ethics of AI. Delve into voice cloning technology, and debate its pros and cons. Employ counterfactual/what if thinking and prompt engineering (e.g., images generated from “old man in a church” vs “Asian old man in a church”) to reveal biases in AI models. Try a simple student-centered activity to critically analyze AI by testing its knowledge of something you yourself and/or your students are experts in. TTIC (ttic.edu) is a philanthropically endowed research institute and university focused on AI and CS theory. NGSS Alignment: HS-ETS1-2 & 3; CCC 1, 2, & 4; Practices 1, 3, 4, 6, & 8.

TAKEAWAYS:
These activities will help your students to think critically about AI in their lives and in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Randall Landsberg

I'm a Physics teacher, and over the last six months I've been building something I didn't realize I would be capable of building. This 1-hour session is a chance for other teachers to see firsthand what is possible before deciding whether to invest the time and small expense to set the tools up themselves. Most teachers do not yet realize the kind of tooling that has become accessible through AI coding agents that take instructions in plain English rather than in code. I have built a small but growing curriculum platform that generates problem sets, analyzes my course through different pedagogical lenses, and writes narrative feedback for each of my students after every assessment. I built it on my kitchen table with an AI coding agent called Claude Code and plain-English prompts. For the full hands-on installation experience, see my 2-hour workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
This 1-hour session is, honestly, the demo I wish someone had shown me before I went down the AI rabbit hole alone. This is the working-teacher version of AI tools, not the marketing. See what is actually possible right now in a real classroom—no AI slop here.

SPEAKERS:
Brendan Wischweh

This session will help secondary science educators design 3-dimensional transfer tasks for district summative assessments, like finals, that align with NGSS. Participants will explore what makes an assessment truly 3-dimensional and practice using a practical tool to unpack Performance Expectations (PEs), select focal Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs), and design tasks that require students to apply knowledge in new contexts. Examples based on OpenSciEd High School Assessment System will be shared, along with strategies for scaling this work across classrooms and districts. Attendees will leave with a clear framework and sample tools to start developing their own transfer tasks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design 3-dimensional transfer tasks, based on OpenSciEd Assessment System, that assess students' ability to apply science ideas in new contexts, using a practical tool to unpack PEs, SEPs, and CCCs—perfect for creating common district summative assessments aligned with NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
Jacob Noll

ASA’s Artemis missions provide powerful opportunities to inspire students through authentic connections to science, engineering, technology, and future career pathways. This interactive session will explore classroom strategies, educator resources, and outreach approaches that use NASA’s return to the Moon to increase student engagement in STEM learning and career exploration. Participants will examine hands-on activities, multimedia resources, engineering design challenges, and real-world mission applications that help students connect classroom science to future workforce opportunities. The session will also highlight ways educators can foster curiosity, problem solving, collaboration, and STEM identity through space exploration themes across diverse learning environments. Attendees will leave with practical resources and implementation ideas to help students envision themselves as part of the future Artemis generation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain practical strategies and NASA Artemis resources that help students connect STEM learning to future careers in science, engineering, technology, and space exploration.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Bjerke

Why do some natural hazards become disasters while others do not? This workshop explores the complex relationship between natural processes, human decision-making, and community resilience. Through data analysis and case studies, participants will examine hazards such as floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, extreme heat, and earthquakes while considering the social, economic, and environmental factors that influence their impacts. In this workshop, teachers will engage in activities to better understand how climate change, land-use decisions, infrastructure, and public policy shape vulnerability and resilience. Participants will explore classroom-ready activities that integrate environmental science, geography, and civic decision-making, helping students investigate real-world challenges through inquiry-based learning. This workshop was developed for Indiana University’s Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) Project.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) project utilizes the following driving questions: how do we know the climate is changing; what are the impacts of these changes; how can we mitigate these changes; and how do we cultivate optimism in our students while teaching them about climate change?

SPEAKERS:
Michael Hamburger, Adam Scribner

Wondering where familiar physics topics like Newton's laws, energy conservation, and kinematics fit into OpenSciEd High School Physics? In this interactive session, participants will explore how and why these traditional topics are thoughtfully woven into OpenSciEd's six physics units. Through examples from across the course, participants will examine how concepts such as forces, momentum, energy, waves, electricity, and magnetism are integrated into coherent storylines that support student sensemaking while maintaining rigor. For example, students develop ideas about unbalanced forces and energy transfer in P.2 and apply them in P.3 to investigate momentum and Newton's second law. These ideas are then extended to explain gravity, orbits, and electromagnetic radiation. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how OpenSciEd blends essential physics content with engaging, phenomenon-driven learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how "traditional" physics topics are incorporated into OpenSciEd High School Physics 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

The Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) Galápagos Islands Collaborative Education Project is an international professional development initiative that connects K12 educators from Indiana with teachers, researchers, and community partners in the Galápagos Islands. This workshop will share the design, implementation, and early outcomes of this international collaboration. Participants will learn how the project leverages the Galápagos Islands—one of the world’s most significant ecological and evolutionary laboratories—as a context for teacher learning, place-based education, and global environmental literacy. Presenters will discuss strategies for building international partnerships and creating opportunities for teachers and students to engage with authentic environmental challenges. The session will examine how international partnerships can enrich teaching by helping educators connect global environmental issues to the communities where their students live.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical ideas for integrating global environmental issues into STEM instruction and fostering meaningful cross-cultural learning experiences that promote environmental stewardship and scientific literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Ben Kravitz, Adam Scribner

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

This presentation describes the design and implementation of a health data science professional development program created for middle and high school educators participating in a one-week, face-to-face summer teacher institute. The program integrated foundational data science concepts with laboratory sciences through authentic healthcare delivery contexts. Teachers engaged with real healthcare laboratory datasets, using Excel to analyze data, identify trends, and create data visualizations that mirror practices used in health and laboratory science careers. A primary goal of the program was to expand awareness of laboratory science, data science, and health-related career pathways among rural teachers and their students, while providing classroom-ready curriculum that supports career-connected science learning. Instruction emphasized core data science practices, ethical use of health data, and technology-supported analysis, aligning with the NSTA Position Statement on Data Science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Authentic healthcare laboratory data can be effectively used with accessible technology like Excel to build teachers’ data science skills, connect science instruction to real healthcare careers, and empower educators—especially in rural settings—to introduce ethical, career-connected data analysis a

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Reynolds

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

This session will help science educators understand Indiana’s new diploma and how science and STEM intentionally shape student readiness. Attendees will explore how science coursework fits into the statewide vision, the role of STEM in the broader diploma framework, and how students can earn relevant diploma seals. While designed to support strong Indiana representation, the session offers national value by clarifying how policy, pathways, and classroom practice intersect to prepare students for postsecondary success.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science educators need a clear, accessible understanding of Indiana’s new diploma and how science and STEM contribute to overall requirements and diploma seals.

SPEAKERS:
Rebekah Frazer

Forecasting with evidence can help students connect classroom data to larger weather systems. This session shares an eighth grade severe weather unit in which students collected local weather data, created graphs, explored ArcGIS weather layers, and developed forecasts for Tippecanoe County. Students used data sources such as satellite imagery, precipitation forecasts, temperature, pressure, and wind station data to examine weather patterns across the United States before considering local impacts. The session will highlight how geospatial tools can support three dimensional science learning, data literacy, and evidence based reasoning. Attendees will see examples of the unit sequence, student facing materials, ArcGIS layers, and the final forecasting task. Participants will leave with adaptable ideas for helping students use real weather data to explain and forecast changing weather.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to guide students in using classroom weather data, graphs, and ArcGIS layers to connect larger weather systems to local forecasts through evidence based reasoning.

SPEAKERS:
Danielle Malone, Kelly Feille

This session shares the design and relaunch of a district-wide STEAM program integrating AI, data literacy, multilingual learning, and career-connected experiences to prepare students for the future workforce. Originally launched in 2019, the program showed strong engagement but was interrupted by the pandemic. It is now being reimagined for Summer 2027 to include CTE pathways, manufacturing, technology, and community partnerships. Participants will hear from a 2025 Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel – Meritorious Service awardee and a 2026 Shell NSTA Urban Science Educator Development Award recipient, sharing insights from implementation and redesign. Participants will explore how to build a teacher cohort, integrate AI and data into student projects, develop meaningful partnerships, and design a scalable, high-impact STEAM program.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to design a district-wide STEAM program that connects AI, CTE, and real-world careers Strategies for building meaningful community and industry partnerships that extend beyond guest speakers A replicable framework for launching or relaunching a high-impact summer STEAM experience

SPEAKERS:
DANIELLE ENGLISH

A high yield practice (HYP) is based upon John Hattie’s research from Visible Learning (2009) that consistently leads to gains in student learning. These practices represent the best return on investment for instructional time, planning, and collaboration. While there are numerous HYPs, one of the strongest influences on student achievement is teacher clarity. In this interactive session, science educators will explore what teacher clarity looks like in an NGSS-aligned classroom and how it can increase student engagement, sensemaking, and achievement. Participants will examine practical strategies for making learning intentions, success criteria, scientific thinking, and classroom expectations more explicit for students. Through real classroom examples, collaborative discussion, and ready-to-use tools, teachers will learn how clarity can support all learners, including multilingual learners and students with diverse learning needs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with immediately implementable strategies for improving communication, structuring student discourse, clarifying complex scientific concepts, and increasing student ownership of learning for deeper science understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Pavic

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

Getting tired of the same forensics activities but don't know how to spice it up? Interested in AI but don't know how to get it to produce what you need? I got you! This presentation will show you FREE AI tools that can kick your forensics lessons in to high gear! Increase engagement and have some fun while learning how to use AI in your forensics classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers leave with several free AI tools as well as lessons created using these tools. Everything is ready to implement right away!

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Mullen

Students are increasingly using AI in science classrooms, but using AI does not always lead to deeper thinking. Many students rely on AI-generated responses without fully engaging in scientific reasoning. This session explores how teachers can use AI to support, rather than replace, student thinking. Attendees will see classroom examples of how targeted prompts can help students clarify ideas, identify gaps, and strengthen explanations, supporting NGSS-aligned practices such as analyzing evidence and constructing explanations. This session focuses on practical strategies that position AI as a tool for thinking, not an answer source.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use AI to support student thinking and strengthen scientific reasoning rather than replace it during classroom tasks.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle McClanan

Join your fellow middle school educators for a free catered lunch. While registration is free, attendance is limited and you must RSVP. Everyone registered will be required to attend one or more Meet Me in the Middle sessions Saturday morning.

Uncover the secrets of the past using the power of nuclear chemistry through an engaging exploration of geochronology and absolute dating. This hands-on session demonstrates how scientists utilize radioactive isotopes to reconstruct Earth's 4.6-billion-year history, bridging the gap between physics, chemistry, and archaeology. Participants will explore the fundamental concepts of radiation and half-life, starting with the visualization of charged particles in cloud chambers and moving into simulations that model the random nature of radioactive decay. Participants will learn how to calculate decay constants and analyze carbon-14 activity. These skills are put to the test in a series of "artifact mysteries," where data is used to verify the authenticity of items. This presentation provides high school educators with classroom ready materials to help students investigate the reliability of scientific evidence and the precision of the primary tools used in modern geochronology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understand radiation and half-life through cloud chamber visualization and simulations. Learn to calculate decay constants and apply carbon-14 dating to determine the absolute age of materials. Participants will get usable lessons that can be taught in person or virtually.

SPEAKERS:
Steven Smith

Explore the creative use of board games as a dynamic and effective tool for teaching science concepts in the classroom. In this session, participants will select from a variety of board games that align with various science curriculum standards. Through hands-on play, educators will gain practical strategies for incorporating and adapting board games into their teaching practice to enhance student engagement, sensemaking, and problem-solving skills. Presenters will address the benefits of board games in fostering collaborative learning, promoting scientific literacy, and making science accessible to students of all backgrounds. No experience is required to play any of the games that we will be presenting. Presenters will teach the games as we go. Participants will be provided access to templates and planning tools for immediate classroom use. No gaming experience required.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to boost student engagement and sensemaking by integrating board games into their science curriculum. This hands-on session offers practical strategies for collaborative learning and provides templates and planning tools ready for immediate classroom use.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Nern