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

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

SPEAKERS:
Dana Lupton

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

What happens when 5th graders think like real scientists and engineers? In this interactive poster session, explore a high-energy engineering design lesson that gets students asking questions, solving problems, and making sense of the world around them. You’ll see exactly how the lesson unfolds from sparking curiosity at the start, to hands-on investigation, to meaningful reflection and extension. Walk away with ready-to-use resources, student examples, and simple strategies you can bring straight into your classroom. If you’re looking for ways to boost engagement, deepen thinking, and make science come alive for your students, this session is for you.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a complete, ready-to-implement 5th-grade science/STEM lesson, along with practical strategies to increase student engagement through inquiry. Attendees will walk away with clear, actionable approaches for aligning science instruction to standards.

SPEAKERS:
Samantha Henery

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

Augmented Reality (AR) tools, including Merge Cubes, offer an engaging way to make abstract science concepts more visible (and interactive) for elementary students. This poster highlights how pre-service teachers (PSTs) integrated AR into inquiry-based, NGSS-aligned lessons within an educational technology course. Using a 5E instructional model, PSTs learned to move beyond the novelty of using AR to embed purposeful questioning and scaffolding strategies that support student sensemaking. We will share common implementation challenges and offer practical supports such as lesson templates and classroom routines. Findings suggest that intentional, pedagogy-driven integration of AR builds confidence and supports meaningful science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
AR tools like Merge Cubes can enhance elementary science learning when paired with intentional pedagogy. Using the 5E model and structured supports helps teachers move beyond novelty to create meaningful, inquiry-based lessons aligned to standards.

SPEAKERS:
KIRTIKA PANWAR, Sarah McDowell

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

Feeling isolated? Looking for other teachers to connect with outside of your building or district? Learn how we built a thriving, local physics teacher network from scratch in the Columbus, OH region. We’ll share recruitment strategies, intentional norms, and organizational tools used to sustain our community for the last two years. Join us to get some ideas and support—if we can do it, you can too!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will hear about how we approached building and sustaining a community of teachers we did not know, and walk away with strategies for how to do it in their own context.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Pochodylo

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

What does digital literacy actually look like in a classroom? In this lesson showcase, step inside an Inquisitive Technology lesson and experience how students move from clicking to thinking. Through a real classroom example, see how inquiry-based routines help students use digital tools with purpose, communicate responsibly, and make informed choices online. Watch how a simple, open-and-go lesson builds understanding of digital systems, online safety, and responsible decision-making. Notice how student thinking is surfaced, supported, and extended through discussion, interaction, and reflection. With built-in supports and multiple entry points, these lessons make digital literacy meaningful for students and manageable for teachers. Walk away with practical ideas you can use right away.

TAKEAWAYS:
Seeing a digital literacy lesson in action reveals how simple, structured routines can help students think critically, make informed choices, and act responsibly in a digital world.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Shaw

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Hill

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Michael Rodgers, Randall Landsberg

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

Explore how Micro:bits can empower students to quickly design and conduct their own science investigations using built-in sensors. This poster highlights hands-on, NGSS-aligned activities that engage learners in real-time data collection, analysis, and evidence-based reasoning across grade levels. Discover how students can investigate phenomena through motion, temperature, light, and more while integrating computational thinking and scientific practices. The poster shares classroom-tested lessons, strategies for scaffolding inquiry, and approaches to support equitable access and participation in STEM. Attendees will see examples of student-driven investigations, discuss implementation ideas, and gather adaptable, ready-to-use resources. Walk away with practical tools to foster curiosity, ownership, and deeper sensemaking through data-rich, student-centered science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to empower students to design and carry out investigations using Micro:bits’ built-in sensors. Walk way with NGSS-aligned activities that integrate real-time data collection, computational thinking, and student-driven inquiry across grade levels.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Silbernagel

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 action research project looks at how hands-on, constructionist learning can support student sensemaking in a high school biology classroom, especially during a genetics and DNA unit. Instead of focusing on memorization, students engaged in projects where they designed and created models to explain complex ideas, connecting their work to real-world phenomena. Throughout the unit, I intentionally assigned projects that gave students the opportunity to construct their own understanding by building, testing, and revising their ideas. Rather than just measuring how much content students remembered, this study focuses on how students made sense of the material. Student-created artifacts, reflections, and discussions were used to see how their understanding developed over time. Overall, this approach highlights how giving students opportunities to design and create can lead to deeper understanding, increased engagement, and more meaningful learning in biology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Biology teachers will gain practical strategies for using constructionist, project-based learning within their DNA/Genetics unit to move beyond memorization and support student sensemaking through designing, building, and revising artifacts.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Stewart

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Hill

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Anna Rahmadianty

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

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

This poster shares preliminary findings from a qualitative thematic analysis of public responses to AI-generated speculative science content on TikTok and Reddit. Guided by research on epistemic play and the NRC Framework’s science and engineering practices, we examine how non-experts question claims, test plausibility, construct explanations, and challenge inaccuracies in comment-thread discussions. Preliminary analysis suggests that humor, exaggeration, and speculative framing can function as low-risk entry points into science sensemaking, making critique and tentative reasoning more socially acceptable in public online spaces. These findings can inform conversations about AI literacy and scientific reasoning in informal learning spaces.

TAKEAWAYS:
AI-generated science media can be a productive prompt for questioning, critique, and evidence-based sensemaking, giving science educators a useful lens for teaching AI literacy and critical engagement with scientific representations.

SPEAKERS:
Lucy Bae, Xinyu Xu

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Kavita Gupta

As the climate continues to change, so should our approach to teaching environmental science. Join the Children's Museum of Indianapolis as we showcase how we adapted a beloved water cycle game to teach about climate change. In this program, students have the chance to become a water droplet and roll their way through the water cycle. During their first round, the dice will represent the standard way water has moved around the planet. On their second trip, dice will be swapped with our climate change dice. This trip will illustrate the changes in how water moves and where water is stored as the planet warms. After the two trips, students will compare their two trips by mapping their journey, allowing them to directly compare how climate change affects the water cycle.

TAKEAWAYS:
With a few tweaks, existing lessons can be adapted to teach about our changing world.

SPEAKERS:
Meghan Carpenter

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Adrian Suladay

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Anqi Zu

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

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

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

Bring STEM to life without breaking your budget! In this hands-on session, educators will learn how to guide students in designing, building, and testing balloon-powered cars using recycled and everyday materials. Participants will explore key science concepts such as force, motion, friction, and air resistance while engaging in an engineering design challenge that promotes creativity and problem-solving. Walk away with ready-to-use strategies, classroom management tips, and ideas for differentiating instruction for diverse learners. Perfect for elementary and middle school teachers, this session shows how “trash” can be transformed into high-impact learning that supports standards and excites students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to design and facilitate a low-cost, standards-aligned STEM challenge where students build and test balloon-powered cars from recycled materials to explore force, motion, and engineering design.

SPEAKERS:
Daniell Cossey

The EDP or Engineering Design Process is not just for older students! Any teacher of any class can teach using the EDP as a framework. This interactive poster session will prove it. The poster will allow participants to choose a "lesson" that has been divided into sections and actively connect the sections to the parts of the EDP. This will facilitate valuable conversation and aspects of fun! Blank handouts of the EDP will be available for takeaways in order for partipants to engage themselves in creating their own lesson using the EDP. It's not just simple, it's Elementary!

TAKEAWAYS:
The main takeaway is the Engineering Design Process, and its parts. The poster will feature an interactive portion where participants can choose a "lesson" that has been divided into sections and actively connect the sections to the parts of the EDP aiding valuable conversation and aspects of fun!

SPEAKERS:
Brittany Clark

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta, Hannah Wedger

Participants will explore the importance of building a positive STEM identity and integrating it into the K–12 curriculum. This poster will highlight strategies for fostering an environment that promotes competence, curiosity, and confidence in students as they pursue STEM learning. Attendees will discover ways to leverage students’ existing “working knowledge” to deepen engagement and connection to STEM concepts. Resources and examples will be provided to help educators support students in developing a strong and lasting STEM identity. This session is ideal for educators seeking to empower their students in STEM, regardless of background or experience. Participants will leave inspired and equipped to make a meaningful impact on their students’ STEM identity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Unlock students' STEM IDENTITY with hands-on strategies that inspire confidence, curiosity, and STEM skills. Learn how aviation and aeronautics can promote a growth mindset and create real-life engineering scenarios and career connections. Get free resources and actionable steps at this session.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Davis

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Triplett

What if the true origin of scientific thinking begins with what students see? In this visually rich, graphic novel–inspired session, discover how Visual Wonder acts as the catalyst for engaging students in Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs). Through compelling imagery and simple, classroom-ready routines, you’ll explore how noticing, questioning, and interpreting visuals can spark curiosity and lead students into authentic investigation and sensemaking. Grounded in NGSS and aligned with a Wonder → Investigation → Sensemaking structure, this session offers practical strategies that are both meaningful for students and manageable for teachers. Walk away with ready-to-use tools that help students think and act like scientists, starting with the power of what they see.

TAKEAWAYS:
Visual Wonder sparks curiosity that leads directly to Science and Engineering Practices. With simple routines, teachers can turn what students see into meaningful investigation and sensemaking, helping them think and act like scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Shaw

Discover practical ways science teachers can use AI tools to streamline planning, differentiate instruction, generate assessments, create engaging review activities, and support diverse learners. This interactive poster session features authentic classroom examples, ready-to-use prompts, QR-linked resources, and a live “Prompt Makeover” station where attendees can revise and improve their own classroom prompts for immediate implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with practical AI prompts, classroom-ready examples, and implementation strategies they can immediately use to create engaging, differentiated, and standards-aligned science instruction while saving valuable planning time.

SPEAKERS:
Caitlynn Richardson

This project focused on work with the Ozobot Evo robot, which is programmable through block-coding and color-coding. During the summer of 2025, teachers participated in three, 6-hour sessions to learn how to integrate Evo into their classroom activities. Training activities included work with learning programming structures and how to use Evo in the block-coding and color-coding (with markers and magnetic tiles) formats. Each teacher self-evaluated knowledge and skills, before and after the 3-day workshop. Nine teachers provided paired survey data for a self-efficacy scale and responded to open-ended questions. The goal was to provide high-quality, teacher professional development to increase knowledge and instructional skills for integrating robotics into the elementary, middle, and secondary grades classroom. Results showed a significant improvement in programming self-efficacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this initial project, results showed a significant increase in computer programming self-efficacy and significant increases in all five sub-scale scores. In a follow-up session, teachers provided qualitative data regarding use and modifications for the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Lynberg, Deborah McAllister

Science texts are filled with vocabulary that can interrupt comprehension before students reach the concept. Technical terms, academic words, and familiar words used in scientific ways can all derail reading flow, especially for multilingual learners and students who need stronger disciplinary language support. This presentation shares a predictive vocabulary routine teachers can use before reading to identify likely barriers, prioritize essential terms, and prepare students to make meaning from complex science texts. Attendees will learn how to sort vocabulary into must-know science terms, concept-supporting academic words, and words students can infer through context. The session connects vocabulary preparation to science notebooks, annotation, discussion, CER writing, and student-generated explanations. The focus is not memorizing definitions; it is helping students read, reason, and communicate like scientists.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn a predictive vocabulary routine that prepares students to read complex science texts with stronger comprehension, discussion, and written explanation.

SPEAKERS:
Lynette Dickerson

The tech tool is designed to help preservice science teachers (PSTs) practice STP 1.1: Selecting or sequencing age-appropriate, grade-level instructional goals or big ideas for a topic that explicitly involve developing, using, and revising models for MS‑PS2‑5 PSTs play the role of a new teacher planning a 3–4 lesson sequence. They first interpret MS‑PS2‑5 and choose among alternative big‑idea framings, revealing whether they see the PE as primarily about “doing a lab” or about using evidence to support and refine a model of fields. Next, they select from competing lesson goals: some low‑level (recall, definitions, confirmatory labs) and some 3D (students develop, use, and revise field models to design, interpret, and critique investigations). Each choice triggers feedback and classroom vignettes that make the consequences of their selections visible. Finally, PSTs sequence their chosen goals and see outcomes that highlight coherent vs. fragmented modeling progressions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Preservice science teachers (PSTs) practice STP 1.1 for MS‑PS2‑5 by choosing and sequencing lesson goals that move beyond recall toward 3D learning, in which students develop, use, and revise models of fields to design, interpret, and critique investigations of non‑contact forces.

SPEAKERS:
Jaclyn Murray

Science and STEM learning deepen when students engage concepts through multiple modalities. In this interactive session, participants will explore three elementary arts integration experiences embedded within science and engineering units. Attendees will experience movement-based investigations of wind, forces, and energy transfer; a watercolor mixing inquiry that mirrors scientific experimentation in a properties of matter unit; and a partner movement activity that explores material properties through physical representation. Participants will leave with practical strategies for integrating visual arts and movement into science instruction to strengthen conceptual understanding, student engagement, and durable skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how purposeful integration of movement and visual arts can deepen elementary students’ understanding of scientific concepts while building creativity, collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills.

SPEAKERS:
Trudy Giasi

Discover how to leverage AI to design high-impact, interdisciplinary elementary STEM lessons that prepare students for the future workforce. While not all students pursue STEM careers, these lessons cultivate the essential 21st-century skills—critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication—needed for all career pathways. Explore why early engagement is critical for students to identify diverse career opportunities. Participants will learn to apply Backward Design—identifying results, determining evidence, and planning instruction—to integrate community-led STEM experiences. Walk away with actionable, AI-generated lesson examples to implement immediately.

TAKEAWAYS:
Take away a roadmap for AI-assisted, career-aligned STEM instruction. Attendees will use a QR code to access a comprehensive Padlet of resources, featuring the Backward Design framework and ready-to-use interdisciplinary lesson examples for immediate classroom implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Annette Larson

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Eileen Malick

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

The Eco-Design Builders Project empowers elementary students to explore sustainability, environmental education, and STEM through hands-on learning with 3DuxDesign and recycled materials. Using Design Thinking and the Engineering Design Process, students become young architects and engineers as they design and build eco-friendly communities, sustainable carnival attractions, green spaces, and innovative environmental solutions. This project integrates science, engineering, creativity, and collaboration while teaching students about recycling, renewable energy, water conservation, and responsible community design. Attendees will learn how to implement engaging, standards-aligned sustainability projects that foster problem-solving, student voice, and real-world connections in elementary classrooms. The session will showcase student prototypes, project ideas, classroom strategies, and interdisciplinary connections that support environmental stewardship and 21st-century learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use 3DuxDesign and Design Thinking to engage elementary students in hands-on sustainability and environmental STEM projects that promote creativity, engineering, and real-world problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Alvin De Lara

HERO (Healthcare Experience and Research in Oncology) is a two-week, part-time virtual program designed to introduce high school students to oncology through a collaborative, cross-institutional model. Led by multiple institutions in partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS), the program integrates hands-on research, cancer care education, and mentorship. Students engage in a hybrid curriculum that includes laboratory training, case studies, and career panels, culminating in a holistic understanding of cancer and its human impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
The model exemplifies a scalable approach to cultivating future oncology professionals and advocates (or that of other in-demand STEM expertise).

SPEAKERS:
Carey Dieleman

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

Every Place Runs on Science is a place-based NGSS model that helps teachers turn local environments into meaningful science learning experiences. Instead of starting with a textbook, this approach begins with real places and phenomena, allowing students to investigate the science happening in their own communities. Each location serves as a ready-to-use lesson anchor that includes a short explanation of the science, NGSS alignment across grade bands, and practical classroom ideas. The model integrates AI and digital tools to support research, data analysis, and student-driven inquiry. Students can explore their own interests by creating and contributing new place-based entries, making the learning scalable and personalized. This approach supports three-dimensional learning by connecting practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas through real-world systems, while also building relevance, engagement, and connections to culture and community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Start with place, not the textbook. When students investigate real locations and phenomena, science becomes relevant, engaging, and meaningful. Using NGSS, AI tools, and student-driven inquiry, this model helps learners explore their world and discover that science is already all around them.

SPEAKERS:
Chelsea Lucas

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

This poster describes a field-based biochemistry laboratory designed to integrate scientific inquiry with Ignatian pedagogy and the mission of Jesuit higher education. Implemented in an undergraduate biochemistry course, the multiweek experience engaged students in environmental sampling, water quality assessment, biodiversity observations, community cleanup, and proteomics-based laboratory analysis. Guided by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm and the Universal Apostolic Preferences, students connected biochemical concepts to ecological stewardship, environmental justice, and ethical discernment. Assessment through student reflections, surveys, discussions, and instructor observations suggests increased engagement, systems thinking, and awareness of the relationship between scientific knowledge and care for our common home. The project provides a replicable model for integrating experiential learning, service, and student formation within STEM education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Field-based biochemistry laboratories can integrate scientific rigor, Ignatian pedagogy, and ecological stewardship, helping students connect molecular science to environmental responsibility, ethical discernment, and care for our common home.

SPEAKERS:
Corey Damon

Distinguishing observation from inference is a persistent conceptual barrier for preservice elementary teachers, hindering their capacity to teach science as inquiry. This poster explores a study that engaged preservice teachers in creating initial models of novel phenomena (e.g., a marshmallow in a vacuum, a chemical reaction, and a moving toy train). Using a two-part modeling tool, 23 participants documented observations and represented inferences through writing and drawing. The poster will visually display findings revealing a distinct rhetorical shift. Observations rely on definitive language and sequential visual narratives, while inferences employ tentative language and symbolic visual arguments to explain unseen mechanisms. Attendees will view qualitative examples from student artifacts to see these differences firsthand.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a practical modeling tool to help preservice teachers distinguish observation from inference. The poster provides a framework to analyze how drawn and written models reveal the shift from describing the visible to explaining unseen mechanisms.

SPEAKERS:
Jaclyn Murray, Alex St. Louis, Kelly Feille

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Tsianina McCain

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

This poster session explores practical strategies for integrating AI and data tools into middle school science classrooms while building career-connected learning pathways. Attendees will discover classroom-safe AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, NotebookLM) and data analysis tools (CODAP, Google Sheets, Python/Colab, Tuva Labs) mapped to real STEM careers. The session features a sample "AI vs. Human: Data Detective" activity using the CER framework to help students evaluate AI-generated analyses alongside human scientific work. We will also discuss how to connect each tool and activity to real STEM career pathways, giving students a clear picture of where these skills lead. Resources include ready-to-use rubrics, datasets, and career profile cards. Whether you are new to AI or looking to deepen data literacy instruction, this share-a-thon format offers hands-on resources, mentor guidance, and actionable takeaways to prepare students for data-driven futures.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical strategies and ready-to-use resources for integrating AI and data tools into science instruction, helping students build critical thinking skills while connecting classroom learning to real STEM career pathways.

SPEAKERS:
Treshana Weise

This interactive poster session showcases Pop-Up Science Sparks, a collection of low-cost, interactive science experiences designed to encourage observation, questioning, conversation, and sensemaking in elementary and informal learning spaces. Attendees will explore examples of portable, hands-on exhibits, examine student-facing “Try This” prompts, and discuss how simple materials can support curiosity-driven science learning. The session highlights practical ways teachers can create engaging science experiences without expensive equipment while still supporting scientific practices such as noticing patterns, testing ideas, modeling, and collaborative discussion. Examples may include a human kaleidoscope, balancing ball, Newton’s cradle, magnetic field exploration, and other adaptable interactive displays for classrooms, libraries, STEM nights, and hallway learning spaces.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical design principles for creating low-cost interactive science experiences that invite student exploration, talk, and sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Alexis Markavage

This poster shares the design of an Introduction to Engineering course for preservice elementary teachers that helps future educators connect engineering design with science teaching. The course combines hands-on investigations, science and mathematics connections, computational thinking, lesson planning, and field-based teaching with elementary students. Examples include wind tubes, circuits, electromagnets, Makey Makey projects, micro:bit investigations, and machine learning recycling tasks. The poster highlights how preservice teachers move from doing activities to planning lessons that include problem scoping, criteria and constraints, testing, data collection, iteration, reflection, and student explanation. Attendees will see a course structure, sample projects, and practical ideas for preparing future teachers to teach science through engineering design with confidence.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how a preservice teacher education course uses field-based components, school partnerships, lesson planning, and hands-on engineering investigations to prepare future elementary teachers to teach science through engineering design.

SPEAKERS:
John Somers

This proposal recommends science lessons for grades 6–8. Students explain the transformations of matter & energy in chemical reactions using household products like baking soda & vinegar. Teachers receive low prep lessons that develop students' thinking & cognitive engagement, promote scientific discourse, & build connections between green chemistry & real-world sustainability. Lesson 1: What Is a Chemical Reaction? — Observe phenomena & identify evidence. (Anchor Phenomenon) Lesson 2: Mass Before & After — Investigate mass conservation. Analyze data. (Matter and its Interactions- particle model) Lesson 3: Gas in a Reaction — Explore how gases are produced or used. (Energy and Matter) Building thinking classroom strategies: collaborate in random groups, use non-permanent vertical surfaces (VNPS), maintain flow by providing hints & extensions, & ask thinking questions. Evidence of Student Learning: CER responses, drawings on VNPS, & listening to student conversations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Build Thinking Science classrooms through the lens of green chemistry with low-prep, classroom-ready lessons your students will relate to.

SPEAKERS:
Aparna Chandra

his session explores innovative strategies for integrating science and literacy instruction to improve student engagement, critical thinking, and academic achievement across K–12 classrooms. Participants will examine how reading, writing, speaking, and inquiry-based learning can work together to deepen scientific understanding and strengthen literacy development. The presentation will highlight practical classroom approaches including scientific argument writing, close reading of informational texts, vocabulary development, collaborative discussions, and hands-on STEM investigations. Attendees will gain access to standards-aligned instructional resources, interdisciplinary lesson ideas, and evidence-based practices that support diverse learners and promote equitable access to high-quality STEM education. Educators will leave with ready-to-use tools and strategies designed to foster scientific literacy, increase student confidence, and create engaging, student-centered learning environm

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn practical strategies for integrating science and literacy instruction to increase student engagement, strengthen critical thinking, and improve achievement through inquiry-based, student-centered STEM learning.

SPEAKERS:
April Braddy

This session presents a secure, fully offline AI system for K-12 science classrooms that supports assignment generation, auto-grading, and real-time AI tutoring. Aligned with the AI and Data education strand and the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education, the tool demonstrates how instructional design and feedback can support NGSS three-dimensional learning, including Science and Engineering Practices such as analyzing and interpreting data and constructing evidence-based explanations. Participants will explore classroom-ready workflows showing how assignments are created, how student work is evaluated using consistent rubrics, and how tutoring responses adapt to learner input using performance data. The system enables continuous instructional feedback loops grounded in student work. Designed for privacy-sensitive and low-bandwidth environments, the platform operates entirely offline to ensure equitable access while reducing teacher workload and improving feedback consistency.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn an offline AI workflow for K-12 science education that supports NGSS-aligned instruction through assignment generation, auto-grading, and adaptive tutoring, enabling data-informed feedback, reduced teacher workload, and equitable implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Nitindra Chowdary Pavuluri

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Elly Walsh-Rock

A goal of science instruction is to help students learn about and explain the world around us. Digital media can expand the world students can investigate by making a broader range of phenomena and data accessible to the classroom. Media can also make science and engineering content more engaging and meaningful to students by providing stories that connect it to their daily lives, communities, or greater society. Authentic STEM role models can broaden students’ ideas of who is and can be a STEM professional as well as what they do and model scientific practices to provide students with opportunities to evaluate and argue with evidence they would be otherwise unable to collect in the classroom. We will showcase how free standards-aligned supplemental digital resources can seamlessly integrate into the middle school science curriculum and support three-dimensional phenomena-driven instruction aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

TAKEAWAYS:
You’ll leave with ideas for actively engaging middle school students in science and engineering practices to make sense of phenomena with crosscutting concepts using free media-rich NGSS-aligned resources and strategies for answering the question “why is learning science important?”

SPEAKERS:
Shawn Stevens