A hallmark of three-dimensional assessment is making student thinking about a DCI, a CC, and an SEP visible at the same time. In this interactive session, you'll step into the role of a student to experience a model Phenomenon-Driven Task and see how it brings sensemaking to life. Together we will unpack what makes a PDT useful, identify the key features that distinguish it from traditional science assessments, and practice analyzing student responses to reveal patterns in learning. The agenda includes: • What is a PDT and Why Does It Matter? (10 min): Key features of 3D assessment. • Hands-On PDT Experience (30 min): Complete a model task as a learner. • Analyzing Student Responses (10 min): Surface patterns in student thinking. • Design Your Own (5 min): Begin sketching a PDT for your classroom. • Q&A and Next Steps (5 min): Resources and support. You'll leave with strategies for designing meaningful assessments that surface student thinking and inform next steps in instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon-Driven Tasks mirror three-dimensional instruction and can be used to make students' thinking about and with DCIs, CCs, and SEPs visible at the same time.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson

This poster session showcases how a Science Communication Lab video, Corals on the Brink, was used to anchor a 7th grade NGSS-aligned lesson sequence. Students begin by analyzing coral bleaching as a real-world phenomenon, then build models of coral–algae relationships and explore ecosystem interactions through a hands-on marine ecosystem simulation. Learners analyze data trends, evaluate human impacts, and construct evidence-based arguments about whether humans should intervene to save coral reefs. The session highlights strategies that integrate science content with communication practices, including CER writing, peer review, and solution evaluation. Attendees will explore classroom-ready resources and interactive activities that promote systems thinking, argumentation, and real-world connections in middle school science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use Science Communication Lab videos and resources to anchor NGSS-aligned lessons that engage students in modeling ecosystems, analyzing data, and constructing evidence-based arguments about real-world environmental issues like coral reef decline.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Langston

A significant shortage of healthcare professionals is currently observed. To mitigate this challenge, multiple approaches have been implemented, including efforts to promote medical careers among K-12 students. The National Cancer Institute is actively working to increase the pool of entrants into cancer-related medical fields. Increasingly, initiatives are emphasizing career education at the middle school level, supported by research demonstrating its critical role in career development. Successful outcomes depend on the active participation of middle-level teachers, a principle foundational to the Medical Research Education Project at Indiana University. This poster presentation will provide an overview of the project and describe engagement opportunities for teachers. Presenters will highlight selected hands-on, inquiry-driven medical lessons collaboratively designed by educators, biomedical researchers, and education faculty. Emphasis will be placed on the alignment with NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Medical Research Education Project at Indiana University is collaborating with middle-level teachers to identify optimal methods for teaching students about medical inquiry. This poster presentation highlights this program, shares previous outcomes, and provides paths to involvement.

SPEAKERS:
Adam Scribner, Gayle Buck

This poster showcases how a school garden can function as core instructional infrastructure rather than enrichment in NGSS-aligned science classrooms. Drawing from a middle school program integrating aquaponics, trout systems, and food production, the poster highlights how outdoor spaces support three-dimensional learning through real-world phenomena. Attendees will explore a visual system model connecting fish, plants, nutrients, and community food systems, alongside classroom examples of data analysis, modeling, and CER-based explanations. The poster also outlines how multilingual learners are supported through structured discourse, visual scaffolds, and hands-on investigation. A key focus is scalability: participants will examine pathways for implementing similar systems across contexts, from no garden to container-based setups to full outdoor learning spaces. Attendees will leave with practical strategies, lesson entry points, and a framework for integrating food systems into scien

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to design and scale garden-based systems as core instructional infrastructure to support NGSS-aligned, multilingual-accessible science learning through modeling, data analysis, and real-world phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan Johnson

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Hasenmyer

This poster highlights a 6th grade project in which students observe a mini-ecosystem of anoles, insects, and plants, then design and construct models to explain interactions, energy flow, and system dynamics. Students develop and use models and construct evidence-based explanations to represent relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers. The poster includes student models, explanation samples, and assessment strategies that make thinking visible and support evaluation of three-dimensional learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Design and assess three-dimensional learning by using student models and explanations to capture evidence of systems thinking and energy flow in ecosystems.

SPEAKERS:
Shelby Irvin

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Christina Davis

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Wedger, Angela Gulotta

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 Hunt for the Mill Race Monster: Building Community-Connected Learning with Lovable AI Follow the clues and discover how a local legend became an engaging, cross-curricular learning experience. In this hands-on session, participants will explore how Lovable AI helped transform the story of the Mill Race Monster into a community-connected unit that engaged students while saving teachers valuable planning time. Learn how we partnered with the Columbus Area Arts Council to support and promote a community arts event through our public schools, creating authentic connections between classroom learning and the local community. Participants will see how Lovable AI can generate lessons, projects, communication tools, websites, and student activities in minutes. Attendees will leave with a working AI-created classroom resource, ready-to-use prompts, practical strategies for creating community-based learning experiences, and ideas they can implement immediately in their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how a local legend—the Mill Race Monster—became an engaging cross-curricular learning experience, and learn how Lovable AI can help you transform community stories, events, and partnerships into authentic student learning in minutes.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa HAINES

Students often struggle to connect Punnett squares and inheritance patterns to real outcomes. This speed sharing session introduces a classroom-tested, low-prep card game that uses euchre to model genetic inheritance. Participants will learn how trump and non-trump cards represent dominant and recessive alleles, allowing students to explore variation, probability, and trait expression through gameplay. The activity supports NGSS-aligned practices such as developing and using models and analyzing data while increasing engagement and participation. Attendees will walk away with clear implementation steps, differentiation ideas, and ready-to-use strategies that require only a standard deck of cards, making genetics both meaningful and memorable for middle school learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use a simple card-based game to model genetic inheritance, helping students understand dominant and recessive traits, probability, and variation through an engaging, low-prep activity aligned to NGSS practices.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Shultz

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Peter White

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Emily Justus

This session showcases how a Science Communication Lab video, Corals on the Brink, was used to anchor a 7th grade NGSS-aligned lesson sequence. Students begin by analyzing coral bleaching as a real-world phenomenon, then build models of coral–algae relationships and explore ecosystem interactions through a hands-on marine ecosystem simulation. Learners analyze data trends, evaluate human impacts, and construct evidence-based arguments about whether humans should intervene to save coral reefs. The session highlights strategies that integrate science content with communication practices, including CER writing, peer review, and solution evaluation. Attendees will explore classroom-ready resources and interactive activities that promote systems thinking, argumentation, and real-world connections in middle school science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use Science Communication Lab videos and resources to anchor NGSS-aligned lessons that engage students in modeling ecosystems, analyzing data, and constructing evidence-based arguments about real-world environmental issues like coral reef decline.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Langston

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Cezar Simeon

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Darla French

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

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

Your students eat every day. Do they know the science behind it? Corn alone touches genetics, energy transformation, solution chemistry, carbon cycling, and more, making it one of the richest phenomenon-based anchors available to MS/HS science teachers. In this session, presenters from NASELI (Nebraska Agriculture and Science Education Leadership Institute) show how putting teachers in the field with producers and industry partners transforms how they connect agriculture to 3D science instruction. Follow a single storyline: the sun powers everything, and corn is the converter. See how this thread connects biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science, and how NASELI teachers localized existing ag-science lessons to their standards and community. Learn the transferable process for doing the same in your own region. Whether you teach in a rural community or an urban school where students have never seen a cornfield, agriculture is a phenomenon your students already have a stake in.

TAKEAWAYS:
Every student eats, making agriculture a universally accessible phenomenon for any science classroom. Learn the NASELI framework for matching local ag contexts to your standards and walk away with tools to localize lessons in a way that feels relevant to your own students and community.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Bahr, Jennifer Jones