The public needs a fundamental literacy regarding data science—its methods, functions, and role in daily life. This is vital today as data science powers the AI algorithms shaping our world. Its relevance is underscored by massive field growth; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 36% job growth in data science and computing sectors by 2032. To meet this demand, we must prepare students for a workforce where data fluency is a prerequisite. Science education is a critical venue for this across the K-12 science spectrum. This session presents a selection of author contributions from data science special issues in NSTA’s Science & Children, Science Scope, and The Science Teacher. These exemplars offer concrete starting points for designing and assessing data science learning across all grade levels. By bridging the gap between raw data and classroom practice, we aim to empower teachers to equip students with the competitive skills necessary for modern data-driven careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain a working definition of data science literacy and see how science teachers design data science lessons using real-world applications. The session also covers pedagogical opportunities and challenges when integrating data science and AI into the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Peter Lindeman, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Justice Walker

In the modern science classroom, literacy extends far beyond the lab bench, it now encompasses the digital interfaces through which our students consume and process scientific information. This session explores the critical convergence of digital, media, and AI literacies and how they can be leveraged to sharpen, rather than bypass, scientific thinking. As students navigate a digital Wild West of social media algorithms and AI-generated content, the traditional motto of "seeing is believing" is no longer enough. We will discuss how to move students from passive consumers to active investigators by teaching them to recognize human influence in media, understand AI as a pattern-recognition tool rather than a "truth machine," and apply epistemic vigilance to scientific claims found online.

TAKEAWAYS:
Moving from the era of "finding information" to "filtering information" to ensure students use digital tools for the betterment of society. Join us to discover how to transform the potential distractions into powerful opportunities for deep sensemaking and critical scientific inquiry.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Anne Royce

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

STEM is often pushed aside in 1st and 2nd grade, but it plays a critical role in building thinking, language, and confidence. In this session, a teacher from a rural Title I school in North Carolina shares how simple, hands-on STEM experiences can create powerful learning moments for students with limited access to real-world opportunities. Participants will engage in classroom-tested activities like a paper airplane design challenge and a chain link engineering task using basic materials. These experiences show how STEM supports literacy, problem-solving, and collaboration. Attendees will leave with practical, realistic strategies they can use immediately.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use simple, low-cost STEM activities in 1st and 2nd grade to build student language, problem-solving, and real-world understanding, especially in classrooms with limited resources.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Calhoun-Minnis

Students often see science as a static body of knowledge instead of a dynamic human endeavor. Join the author of Notable Notebooks, Exemplary Evidence, and Wild Wonderings to learn how these books (and the stories of the scientists in them) can illuminate the nature of science. We’ll use the classic Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST, Chambers 1983) to guide reflection on our own perceptions of scientists, as well as that of our students, and we’ll learn more about scientists featured in each book through story, primary source analysis, and discussion. Finally, we’ll utilize portions of the NGSS’s Appendix H (Understanding the Scientific Enterprise) and discuss how this integrated approach can help students gain age-appropriate understanding of the nature of science. Chambers D.W. 1983. Stereotypic images of the scientist: The draw-a-scientist test. Science Education 67 (2): 255–265.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about the lives and work of historical and contemporary scientists, why telling these stories is an important strategy for helping students understand the nature of science, and how they might use these books in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Fries-Gaither

This session presents three low-prep, high-impact instructional routines for PreK–3 classrooms that advance student sensemaking, science discourse, and science practices. Grounded in purposeful questioning, co-constructed anchor charts, and class-generated science books, these function as efficient, reusable instructional structures that support inquiry, evidence-based reasoning, and equitable participation. Designed for implementation within typical time, material, and planning constraints, the strategies embed formative assessment by capturing student thinking in real time. PreK inclusive classroom-tested examples illustrate how these approaches scaffold language development, support diverse learners, and promote coherent understanding of core science concepts over time. This presentation shares adaptable templates, questioning frameworks, differentiated instruction and replicable routines that enhance instructional rigor while streamlining planning and materials management.

TAKEAWAYS:
Ready-to-implement approaches with examples–purposeful questioning, anchor charts, and class science books—that strengthen student sensemaking and discourse while embedding formative assessment and reducing planning time for Inclusive, PreK classroom-tested, science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Jue Wang, Karen Rinehart

This poster showcases CLUES (Crucial Literacy for Understanding Essential Science), an innovative professional learning model designed to support middle school educators—particularly in rural and under-resourced settings—in integrating disciplinary literacy within NGSS-aligned science instruction. CLUES equips science and special educators with strategies to embed reading, writing, reasoning, and communication into three-dimensional science learning. Attendees will explore a lesson showcase featuring before, during, and after instructional supports, with adaptable tools to meet varied learner needs. This work advances NSTA’s mission by promoting equitable, high-quality science instruction through professional learning, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and scalable, practice-based resources that empower all students to engage meaningfully in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be introduced to how to integrate disciplinary literacy into NGSS-aligned science instruction using practical, classroom-ready strategies that support diverse learners, including students with disabilities, and strengthen equitable science learning outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Moore

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

The lesson presented in this showcase from The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis focuses on the principles, protocols, and technology needed to successfully collect evidence from the scene of a mystery. Teachers will be empowered to lead their students through an activity where they will have the opportunity to practice following procedures, making observations, and using the tools that forensic technicians use in their work. Teachers will also be able to lead students in the analysis of the evidence collected, allowing them to draw conclusions as to who might be responsible for leaving the evidence behind.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see how to set up a simulated crime scene and learn how to guide students through the collection of evidence using real forensics techniques.

SPEAKERS:
John McCollum

The session will showcase literacy integration examples from ML-PBL Science Classrooms. Handouts will provide links to the FREE OER ML-PBL units of instruction for Grades K-5, unit/lesson framework showcasing coherence, cross-disciplinary connections; lesson overviews and instructional routines; guidance for formative and summative assessment; literacy integration affordances; and alignment with The Framework/NGSS. ML-PBL units are designed to address ALL grade level NGSS, provide guidance for three-dimensional instruction and learning, engaging all students in sensemaking, and developing and using language literacy and mathematics tools to develop usable science knowledge. Examples of trade books included in the units will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will peruse plans for integrating science and literacy, and for extending science ideas throughout the school day as shared by ML-PBL Elementary Teachers. They will learn how to access FREE OER Elementary Science Units.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Codere

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

In this session teachers will explore research-based strategies for teaching science in the era of the science of reading, aiding in developing understandings in reading, as well as science content, nature of scientific knowledge, and scientific inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies for combining reading and science teaching will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Gayle Buck, Valarie Akerson

Engaging with science concepts and their contextual applications is a predominant challenge for English Language Learners (ELLs). This challenge stems from the inability of students to communicate fluently in English, let alone the language of science. Beyond the academic implications, this challenge impacts their social interaction with other students in the classroom. This study explores how visualization impacts the engagement of ELLs when incorporated within a dialogic teaching environment. Visualization tools, including images, pictures, videos, simulations, and building models, were used as instructional strategies. Also, student-student talk and teacher-student dialogue were facilitated while students engaged in building a physical model of the phases of mitosis. The engagement level of students was contextualized across three domains: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral. The outcome of the strategy showed the effectiveness of visualization and dialogue in science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Visualization, when paired with dialogic teaching in science classrooms, enhances the cognitive, behavioral, and affective engagement of English Language Learners

SPEAKERS:
Mary Oloyede

Elementary students make sense of the natural world through curiosity, discussion, investigation, and meaningful connections, and children’s literature can play a powerful role in that process. Children’s literature can support science sensemaking and go beyond the traditional read-aloud or topic introduction. Using engaging examples and classroom applications for the PK-2 classroom, this session highlights ways teachers can intentionally integrate literature to spark wonder, support evidence-based discussions, encourage modeling and explanation, and help young children connect science ideas across experiences. Participants will leave with developmentally appropriate strategies, book recommendations, and practical ideas for integrating literacy and science in meaningful and authentic ways.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical ideas for moving beyond the traditional read-aloud to create literacy-rich science experiences that deepen curiosity, thinking, and sensemaking in the PK-2 classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Beth Pesnell

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

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

What if students could inhabit the perspective of a threatened monarch butterfly or painted dog, then use that empathy to drive real conservation action? In this session, we share how sixth graders in Wheeling, IL combined MagicSchool AI, ESRI crowdsourced mapping, and the HomeStories storytelling platform to research endangered local wildlife, write compelling stories blending science and heart, and present solutions to actual community decision-makers. Students published their wildlife stories on a global map, connecting classrooms across Illinois, Iowa, and Botswana. We will share curriculum, student examples, technology tools, and lessons learned from this interdisciplinary model integrating science, language arts, and civic engagement. Leave with a replicable framework for transforming students into empathetic scientists and community advocates who fall in love with local nature and fight for its survival.

TAKEAWAYS:
When students write from the perspective of endangered wildlife, combining scientific research with empathy, they become powerful conservation advocates who take real civic action in their communities.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Burke, Tracy Crowley

What happens when young learners are invited to notice first and explain later? This session challenges PK–2 educators to reimagine science instruction by stepping outside—literally—and embracing a phenomena-based, inquiry-driven approach that nurtures curiosity, sensemaking, and a lasting connection to the natural world. Through practical examples, we’ll share strategies for lesson design, integrating STEM and literacy, and using themes like birds or trees to build connections. Learn how to overcome barriers, use available space and resources, and embrace “messy” science without needing all the answers. Leave with simple, adaptable ideas, increased confidence, and a clear message: meaningful science learning can happen anywhere—starting just outside your door.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn to use curiosity and everyday outdoor spaces to drive phenomenon-based, inquiry science. You’ll gain practical, easy-to-apply strategies, integrate STEM and literacy, build confidence, and leave thinking, “I can do this.”

SPEAKERS:
Joel Eichenauer, Susan Gnagy

Learning in Places supports all elementary learners, their families, communities, and educators in creating relationships with the outdoors. Join us to learn more about how to effectively engage learners in identifying important phenomenon in their place, creating Should We questions, answering them through inquiry experiences students design, and designing models that help support developing understanding. Ultimately, Learning in Places advances change making and decision making as durable skills but through the lens of science exploration, transdisciplinary learning, and explanation of relationships with phenomenon. We will explore a storyline and some of the critical pieces of this amazing education resource.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will explore Learning in Places and learn more about how transdisciplinary explorations by elementary students elevate decision making and change making in their community.

SPEAKERS:
Jordan Sherry-Wagner, Mary Starr

How can we safeguard future scientists against automation bias, cognitive offloading, and scientific slop? The SIFT (Stop-Investigate-Find-Trace) framework is a learner-focused procedural approach for assessing the contributions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a partner in the context of inquiry science. Phase 1 emphasizes literacy as students develop a method for critically evaluating their own use of AI, a model’s reliability, and the viability of the output. In Phase 2, they broaden their critical lens to assess output in regards to its validity within the field: Is it accurate? Does it align with current scientific consensus? What might it be overlooking or excluding?

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to scaffold AI-enhanced lesson plans with an active learning process that develops a student’s habit of a routine critical evaluation of collaborative AI in the context of accuracy, usefulness, and suitability.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Yost

An integral focus of this session is providing concrete examples of curriculum structures embedded within an established, high-quality curriculum: OpenSciEd. Rather than asking teachers to build culturally responsive units from scratch, this workshop provides explicit scaffolds to overlay cultural assets onto existing OpenSciEd middle school units. Reviewers and participants will actively examine middle school student artifacts from OpenSciEd Units, demonstrating how Latin-American folktales can be utilized as an equitable entry point for multilingual learners to engage in complex spatial modeling and data analysis. By showing actual student-generated models that map tectonic data directly onto the geography of oral myths, the session provides clear, classroom-tested evidence that leveraging students' linguistic and cultural resources as assets directly strengthens their capacity for evidence-based scientific reasoning.

TAKEAWAYS:
We don’t need to reinvent the curriculum wheel to be inclusive. We just need to provide the tools that allow students to navigate that wheel using the rich, ancestral roadmaps they already bring from home.

SPEAKERS:
Ivan Ochoa Martinez

How do literacy and science practices strengthen one another, and what can that look like in elementary classrooms? In this session, participants will learn about key research-based principles for integrating literacy and science in elementary classrooms. We will also engage with K-5 materials from the OpenSciEd Elementary curriculum as a model for how to enact these principles in classrooms. This will include a review of student-facing materials, including a variety of grade-level science texts, to showcase how integrating literacy practices into science lessons enhances both science and literacy learning. We will also examine teacher-facing materials and other curricular resources to understand how these tools help make the connections between science and ELA explicit. Finally, the presentation will highlight how teachers can apply these key principles in their classrooms to support young children’s sensemaking and ELA development.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrating literacy practices within elementary science strengthens learning in both science and ELA. Participants will learn key research-based principles for integrating literacy into science time to support students’ sensemaking in science, while also building their ELA skills.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Belcastro

In this session, participants will learn about the NSTA Best STEM books and how they are selected. They will dive into the SEPs and examine how they are portrayed in the books. They will also take advantage of opportunities to examine how each book models the SEPs, improving their ability to identify and apply them throughout the book. The books selected will be from previous BSB lists.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn to utilize the Best STEM Books to teach the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs).

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Kimberly Berry, Christine Anne Royce, J Carrie Launius

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Berry

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Renee Shaw

This session pulls back the curtain on the NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book award, examining the selection process and how titles can anchor complex, three-dimensional learning. Participants will first explore the committee's specific criteria, looking beyond standard narratives to identify books that authentically model the Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) and the iterative nature of design. In a hands-on workshop format, you will act as a committee member to evaluate a variety of high-quality trade books. Can you identify which titles meet the "Best STEM" threshold and which fall short? We will analyze how these books highlight real-world problem-solving and divergent thinking. Finally, we will demonstrate how to move beyond "read-alouds" by using these books as catalysts for these practices. You will leave with instructional strategies and ideas for support materials to help students engage with complex content through the lens of award-winning STEM literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
Go beyond read-alouds by learning how the NSTA/CBC committee selects Best STEM Books. Evaluate titles using the Science and Engineering Practices to anchor three-dimensional learning. You'll leave with strategies to integrate these books into instruction, making the practices come alive for students

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Elizabeth (Betsy) O'Day, Christine Anne Royce, J Carrie Launius

This workshop incorporates principles of student-driven science notebooking with practical realistic applications for today’s science classrooms. Building on the ideas and strategies in Jessica Fries-Gaither’s NSTA Press publication, Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classroom, participants will discover how using notebooks increases student engagement and ownership when attempting to make sense of a phenomenon using the three-dimensions. Participants will experience authentic notebooking from the student perspective in either K-4 or 5-8 grade bands, connect their experiences to Jessica’s four principles of student-centered science notebooks, and apply these ideas by incorporating science notebook principles and strategies to a lesson/unit of their own choosing. This session will demonstrate how well-selected science notebook scaffolds that are removed over time help students gain confidence and motivation to use notebooks as authentic sensemaking tools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a science notebook of their own that contains strategies, scaffolds, and organizational structures that increase realistic use of student-centered science notebooks as sensemaking tools.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Moorhead, Jessica Fries-Gaither

One of the greatest challenges facing teachers as they adopt a science notebooking practice is assessment. Should notebooks be graded? What might formative and summative assessment look like in a science notebook? How can teachers balance providing meaningful, constructive feedback with the large volume of notebook entries? Building on Jessica Fries-Gaither’s NSTA Press publication, Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classrooms, this workshop allows participants to explore, reflect, and discuss research about assessment and feedback as well as experience assessment and grading techniques from both a teacher and student perspective. This session will demonstrate how these techniques can increase student authentic use of the science and engineering practices, increase students’ independent use of practices, and ultimately, support student growth.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with assessment techniques that increase student authentic use of the science and engineering practices, increase students’ independent use of practices, and ultimately, support student growth.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Moorhead, Jessica Fries-Gaither

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Karen Amende