How can students design technologies that detect and warn people about natural hazards, while learning the science behind them? In this interactive session, experience how OpenSciEd + Computer Science integrates coding, sensors, and engineering design into a 6th-grade science unit on Natural Hazards. Step into the role of students as you investigate earthquakes and tsunamis using micro:bit devices to collect and analyze data. See how students design and program early warning systems by adjusting inputs, thresholds, and outputs. Discover how coding helps students unlock the “black box” of technology, seeing how it works as they build it, while deepening science understanding. Ideal for current OpenSciEd users and those new to the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience how students use coding, sensors, and engineering design to unlock the “black box” of technology while designing early warning systems for natural hazards through phenomenon-based science learning

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

Purposeful use of quality media can be an engaging strategy for supporting the STEM learning of young learners. Familiar characters can help students build important foundational knowledge and skills such as computational thinking, accessing and creating informational text, and observing and asking questions about the world around them. We will showcase free, standards-aligned media-rich resources that can be seamlessly integrated into the elementary science curriculum. Friends can model how to engage in scientific practices to prepare learners to investigate and make sense of phenomena themselves through three-dimensional instruction. We will highlight how this strategy can be used to support young learners’ investigations into Earth, space, and physical science phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
You’ll leave the session with a list of free resources from PBS LearningMedia and ideas for actively engaging your students with media to support science instruction that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards.

SPEAKERS:
Shawn Stevens

Teachers have expressed a desire to incorporate authentic climate data into their curricula, but struggle to find accessible and meaningful datasets that can be easily integrated into modern teaching practices. In response to this problem, climate scientists and instructional specialists from the University of Colorado Boulder have collaborated to create "Data Puzzles", a free resource that utilizes instructional practices as outlined by Ambitious Science Teaching (AST) to engage students in data analysis in the context of important scientific research. Data Puzzles challenge students to analyze and interpret climate datasets to construct explanatory models for important questions like, "What is causing the megadrought in the Colorado River Basin?” and "Why might the Arctic be warming faster than the rest of the world?".

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be introduced with AST practices and authentic climate datasets in the context of the Data Puzzle resources.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Griffith

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Sabrina Brown

Receive resources that will inspire your students to connect with nature...and write about it! Participants will see examples of student writing inspired by the "Next Time You See" picture book series and gain access to free resources that will guide students through the writing process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how a mentor text study can help your students write their own nature-based book.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Morgan

Looking for a way to bring authentic Earth System data to life for your students? Check out our My NASA Data StoryMap collection! My NASA Data StoryMaps offer an immersive storytelling experience that blends rich narrative text with interactive maps and NASA visualizations designed to captivate students. These resources use high-quality multimedia—including images and video— empowering students with the tools to explore complex Earth system processes. Each of the My NASA Data StoryMaps follows the 5E Instructional Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), is aligned with NGSS Earth System phenomena, and is ready for "plug and play" use in whole-class instruction, small group rotations, or independent student-led explorations making them a seamless fit for your existing curriculum. Bring Earth system science to your classroom through real world storylines that will engage your students with NASA data relevant to what they are experiencing in their own community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Each of the My NASA Data StoryMaps follow the 5E Instructional Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), is aligned with NGSS Earth System phenomena, and is ready for "plug and play" use in whole-class instruction, small group rotations, or independent student-led explorations.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Rizzi, Tina Harte - Ballinger

We will showcase newly developed, middle school STEM lessons that interweave Native American stories, language, and culture to positively impact student learning. The lessons are a part of Native Earth | Native Sky (NENS) curriculum that can be accessed through our website and downloaded for free. The poster will showcase cultural connections with STEM, a 5E lesson overview, the pedagogical approaches of Two-Eyed Seeing and Place-Based Learning, implementation strategies, and NASA resources and tools through graphics, illustrations, and text. As we highlight our standards-aligned lessons in the poster presentation, we will include feedback from students and teachers to demonstrate the positive impact of interweaving stories, culture, and language with STEM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to connect all students’ cultures to engage students in STEM lessons, using Native American stories as a starting point for standards-based, 5E science lessons and discussion. Attendees will also learn about other free lessons and activities published on our website.

SPEAKERS:
KIRTIKA PANWAR, Kena Hawkins, Kathryn Gardner-Vandy, Sarah McDowell

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 can students design technologies that help communities respond to water challenges while learning the science behind them? In this interactive session, experience how OpenSciEd + Computer Science integrates coding, sensors, and engineering design into a 7th-grade science unit on Earth’s Resources and Human Impact. Step into the role of students as you investigate flooding, drought, and carbon imbalance case studies from communities across the United States using micro:bit devices and sensors to collect and analyze environmental data. See how students explore and modify MakeCode programs as they design technologies to monitor conditions and develop solutions to community water problems. Discover how coding helps students unlock the “black box” of technology, seeing how it works as they build it, while deepening science understanding. Ideal for current OpenSciEd users and those new to the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience how students use coding, sensors, and engineering design to unlock the “black box” of technology while designing solutions to community water challenges through phenomenon-based science learning

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

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

Learn how to connect your students with nature and inspire them to write about it with Emily Morgan, author of the "Next Time You See" picture book series, and Terri Collins, Senior Lecturer of Elementary Education at Kennesaw State University. They will share free resources - teacher guide, videos, and templates - to guide your students through writing their own “Next Time You See” book about a natural object of their choice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with everything they need to guide a mentor text study where their students can write their own "Next Time You See" book.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Morgan

The first human beings who will ever set foot on Mars are very likely in elementary or middle school right now. Learn how you can use this fact to inspire success in both literacy and science through the speaker’s book, Max Goes to Mars, which has been read from the International Space Station (ISS) in both English and Spanish and is currently being made into a movie/planetarium show that you will be able to FREELY stream into your classrooms. This session will also introduce you to the FREE Story Time From Space program (storytimefromspace.com), in which books are read aloud from the ISS and to other ways the speaker/author can support your teaching, including through his free school visits.

TAKEAWAYS:
Inspire your students across the STEAM curriculum by thinking about the fact that some of today’s students are likely to be the first humans to visit Mars.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Bennett

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

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

How can students use technology to investigate weather and climate systems while learning the science behind them? In this interactive session, experience how OpenSciEd + Computer Science integrates coding, sensors, data analysis, and modeling into a middle school science unit on Weather and Climate. Step into the role of students as you investigate hailstorms, severe weather, and unusual climate patterns using digital sensors and simulations to collect and analyze atmospheric data. See how students use coding and computational tools to model how sunlight, gravity, air movement, and water interactions drive weather and climate systems. Discover how coding helps students unlock the “black box” of technology, seeing how it works as they build and revise models, while deepening science understanding. Ideal for current OpenSciEd users and those new to the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience how students use coding, sensors, data analysis, and modeling to unlock the “black box” of technology while investigating weather and climate systems through phenomenon-based science learning

SPEAKERS:
Kristy Lathrop

Tornado Alley is shifting - can your students explain why? Step into the role of a learner and tackle this real-world phenomenon by analyzing data, spotting patterns, and building an evidence-based explanation. Then switch to a teacher lens to uncover what three-dimensional learning actually looks like in practice and how to assess it. You’ll dig into student responses, identify evidence of real thinking, and turn traditional questions into meaningful 3D assessment tasks. Walk away with ready-to-use strategies, templates, and tools that make student thinking visible, without adding to your workload.

TAKEAWAYS:
Design and use three-dimensional assessments that turn real-world phenomena into opportunities to make student thinking visible, revealing what students truly understand, not just what they can recall.

SPEAKERS:
Shelby Irvin

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

Dinosaurs are a high engagement topic for elementary students, and not only captivate imaginations but have rich scientific connections. As books on dinosaurs or featuring dinosaurs as main characters are reading available provide rich opportunities to connect literacy and STEM. During this session we will explore the overlap of literacy skills and STEM practices through the lens of dinosaurs. When students are responding to and reflecting on what they have read, they often use skills such as sequencing, comparing and contrasting, or character features. In STEM experiences, we often ask students to do the same thing – consider the sequence of cycles, identify physical features or compare and contract phenomena. This session will explore these intersections and how they can be used to support STEM and literacy instruction using a variety of children’s books on dinosaurs, fossils and geologic time.

TAKEAWAYS:
The skills students use when exploring STEM and processing what they have read intersect in several ways, and using high interest topics will support learning across STEM and literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Becky Wolfe

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Fleming, Allison Esparza

The first law of ecology is that “everything is related to everything else.” Understanding connections in nature can help elementary students explore how people’s actions shape the Earth’s landscapes and affect ecosystems in our own backyards and across the globe. In this hands-on session, explore engaging, interdisciplinary activities that connect core science concepts with math, literacy, and real-world decision-making. Through an interactive story, 3D modeling, concept mapping and simple data investigations, students examine ecosystem interactions, resource use, and climate impacts while developing skills in reasoning, communication, and problem solving. Activities encourage students to apply what they learn across contexts – whether analyzing food webs, modeling Earth’s limited resources, or exploring carbon use in everyday life. All activities align with NGSS, especially the Disciplinary Core Idea, Earth and Human Activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a set of integrated lessons that connect science, math, and literacy, helping students apply their learning to real-world environmental questions through hands-on exploration and discussion.

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Jeff Thomas

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

This session explores how graphical representations can be leveraged to develop elementary students’ understanding of Scale, Proportion, and Quantity, one of the NGSS Crosscutting Concepts. Using examples from OpenSciEd Grade 5 Earth in the Universe, participants will examine how students use standard units of measure, data displays, number lines, and comparative models to make sense of patterns in the Sun, Moon, and stars. Attendees will explore the role of graphical representations in helping students make sense of patterns and relationships across scales that are otherwise difficult to observe directly. Participants will leave with practical strategies for leveraging graphical representations and digital tools to support student sensemaking, develop Scale, Proportion, and Quantity thinking, and deepen understanding of Earth and space science phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how graphical representations can make otherwise inaccessible Earth and space science phenomena observable, helping elementary students develop Scale, Proportion, and Quantity thinking while making sense of patterns in the Sun, Moon, and stars.

SPEAKERS:
Jacob Noll

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

Purposeful use of quality digital resources can enrich science instruction and remove barriers to support the learning of all students. We will demonstrate how free media-rich resources can provide strategies for engaging all K–12 learners in instruction aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). See how supplemental digital resources can provide opportunities to investigate a broad range of phenomena; visualize data in unique ways; and actively engage in scientific practices to make sense of the world around us. We will showcase strategies for using the digital media and accompanying materials to support all students, including multilingual learners and students with disabilities, in meeting level-appropriate Earth, space, and physical science learning goals.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with ideas for actively engaging their students in NGSS-aligned instruction through free media-rich resources from PBS LearningMedia to create an inclusive science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Shawn Stevens

NSF NOIRLab’s educational programs serve to inspire future professional scientists, engineers, and technologists and to engage the general public in a deeper understanding of our Universe. The goal of NOIRLab’s education programs is to enhance the science literacy of all students and to demonstrate the value of astronomical research to society. NOIRLab’s educational staff have developed a variety of educational resources that are available free to educators and the public. Learn about our programs including the Teen Astronomy Cafe To Go, 88+ Constellations, and the Multiwavelength Universe. These programs bring authentic astronomical data and images to the classroom. Our citizen science program Globe at Night lets students gather data about light pollution that is used in authentic research. All educator materials have been designed to support the Next Generation Science Standards and are available in multiple languages.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about a variety of free educational programs and online resources available for their classrooms that bring the excitement of NOIRLab science to their students including using authentic data in the classroom and citizen science.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Sparks

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

Geology can be a challenge to teach because its core processes are often too slow and vast for students to easily grasp. Traditionally, we ask students to piece together static stages of a process, which can make geology feel less 'hands-on' than other sciences. This session introduces activities that bridge the gap between deep time and classroom time. We’ll explore how rock tumblers compress decades of weathering and erosion into weeks; how to build tactile, scale stratigraphic maps of bedrock, and how to conduct an interdisciplinary rock cycle tour in a local cemetery - making the unobservable visible and tactile.

TAKEAWAYS:
Despite deep time processes being slow and hard to comprehend, these hands-on activities will help teachers make it tangible for students. Explore how rock tumblers compress decades of weathering and erosion into weeks; how to build tactile, scale stratigraphic maps of bedrock, and how to conduct a

SPEAKERS:
Eric Sullenberger

Explore classroom-ready NASA Artemis educator resources designed to engage K–12 students in lunar exploration, engineering design, and STEM careers. This poster will highlight hands-on activities, lesson ideas, multimedia tools, engineering challenges, and outreach resources that educators can easily adapt for classrooms, afterschool programs, and informal STEM settings. Featured materials will support student sensemaking through authentic NASA mission connections while encouraging problem-solving, collaboration, and curiosity about space exploration. Attendees will be able to browse sample activities, visuals, and resource collections and discuss implementation ideas for a variety of grade levels and learning environments. QR codes will provide easy access to free NASA and Illinois Space Grant resources for immediate classroom use.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with free, classroom-ready NASA Artemis resources, hands-on activity ideas, and implementation strategies to engage K–12 students in authentic STEM learning connected to lunar exploration and space careers.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Bjerke

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

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

NASA Data, Building Block by Block with Legos offers an innovative, hands-on approach to simplify complex NASA Earth science datasets for K-8 learners. In this workshop, participants will discover how to transform abstract NASA Earth observations into physical 3D models and graphs using Legos. By leveraging the tactile nature of brick-building, educators can bridge the gap between "big data" and learner understanding. We will explore a suite of classroom-ready activities that integrate mathematical thinking and data literacy within the scope of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) 3D learning. Participants will practice using Legos to represent data points, build land cover maps, and visualize sea ice and sea level changes in Earth’s systems, while exploring frameworks for scaffolding data literacy for diverse learners, and gaining access to curated NASA datasets specifically selected for elementary and middle school classroom integration.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA Data, Building Block by Block with Legos offers an innovative, hands-on approach to simplify complex NASA Earth science datasets for K-8 learners. In this workshop, participants will discover how to transform abstract NASA Earth observations into physical 3D models and graphs using Legos.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Rizzi, Tina Harte - Ballinger

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

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

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