Join us to experience how students make decisions and engage in class discussion as part of their sensemaking. Learn how the OpenSciEd Elementary’s instructional approach supports all students in figuring out complex science issues in their world through a coherent storyline.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary units are designed to support students in collaborative sensemaking through use of Science and Engineering Practices and engagement in equitable discussions.

SPEAKERS:
Janna Mahfoud, Yanira Vazquez, Susan Gomez Zwiep

Don’t miss this exciting event showcasing STEM and science-based programs, organizations, mobile labs, and local Philly attractions! Explore a variety of displays, connect with showcase presenters, enjoy tasty bites from the food cart, and take advantage of ample networking opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about STEM and science-based programs, organizations, mobile labs, and local Philly attractions

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Eaton

Join us for an engaging session exploring several sense-making lessons, aligned with the NGSS. Discover amazing assessment tools used to inform your teaching and focus on increased student learning/excitement. Come investigate assessment strategies while engaging in sense-making lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will take away a deeper understanding of innovative assessments (prior, formative and summative) that will inform them using sense-making lessons. We will specifically focus on what the results of the assessments mean and how that will change their teaching and student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Dey, Judith McDonald

Join us for boppin’ lessons that address NGSS K-2 (force & motion, biomimicry, pollination). We integrate computational thinking, literacy, robots, science, and sense-making! We show how we adapted for students’ cultural, and linguistic (Apache, Navajo, Spanish) backgrounds.

TAKEAWAYS:
The attendees will learn to analyze and implement interdisciplinary K-2 STEM teaching and learning using 3D NGSS standards, sense-making, aligned assessment and also integrates the language, culture, and place of a community in ways that position young students as leaders for their communities.

SPEAKERS:
Sophie Forbes, Deena Gould, Megan Smith

Led by members of NSTA Early Childhood-Elementary Committee, this session addresses the relationship between science education & children’s literature by providing an interactive platform for educators to discover how literature can support & enhance science and engineering practices in classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore the integration of science and engineering practices and children’s literature through cross disciplinary connections and hands-on activities. Resources provided.

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Jennifer Williams, Melissa Parks

This session will explore how a Texas school district implements dual-language instruction in science for PK-8 students. With a focus on fostering biliteracy and bilingualism, we'll be sharing practical strategies to integrate language bridging into science lessons in both English and Spanish.

TAKEAWAYS:
This presentation offers educators a framework for integrating dual-language instruction into science, based on research and practical strategies from a proven dual-language model. Attendees will gain actionable insights and tools to foster bilingualism and content mastery in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Merium Valdez, Magda Esparza, Gisella Calejo

Science is a social endeavor! Gain strategies to transform your classroom into a community of learners in which students and teachers actively try to make sense of the natural and built worlds.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with strategies for developing classroom norms in collaboration with your students.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano

Explore how AI tools like ChatGPT can streamline the creation of NGSS-aligned science lessons. Through live demonstrations and guided practice, participants will generate personalized lesson plans, learn to ask effective AI prompts and understand how human expertise makes AI an effective tool.

TAKEAWAYS:
Write effective AI prompts for NGSS-aligned lesson plans Create classroom-ready plans using AI tools Understand how AI can augment lesson planning and evaluate your own AI-generated lesson plans for accuracy and NGSS compliance. Learn to integrate AI with their expertise for more efficient planning.

SPEAKERS:
Ariela Ikezawa

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Together, we can change this by making science more engaging, relevant and meaningful. We’ll explore how hands-on experiences with LEGO® Education spark those 'ah-ha' moments, helping students build knowledge, skills, and excitement for learning.

SPEAKERS:
Andrew Sliwinski

Build a deep understanding of what STEM means by creating opportunities to fully engage students in science learning. Participants will engage in hands-on STEM and learn how to incorporate it in the everyday science classroom. Learn how STEM integration increases students’ desire to learn science!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical strategies for engaging all students in science learning using STEM integration. Walk away with a deeper understanding of what “doing STEM” means and how STEM integration offers an engaging, effective way for students to learn science.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Drager, Courtney Heikkila, Amy Monahan

Discover ways to strengthen NGSS practices through interdisciplinary practices with children's literature, beginning with Ada Twist and Rosie Revere.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Hesson

This workshop will describe methods used to engage a range of learners, including neurodivergent and English Language Learners, in grades 3-5, in place-based investigations of plants and weather. Lesson descriptions and student work will be used to initiate discussion with attendees.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop will describe methods used to engage a range of learners, including neurodivergent and English Language Learners, in grades 3-5, in place-based investigations of plants and weather. Lesson descriptions and student work will be used to initiate discussion with attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Feit, Andreia Ferreira, Soraya Santana, Peter Garik

Come learn how we integrate science and language arts mini units, using food chains to guide participants through the process. Also, learn how we instruct our teacher candidates in higher education to do the same and then implement the lessons in local schools with immediate feedback from us.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to integrate science with language arts in classrooms, as teachers or instructors of higher education.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Lampley, Frances Hamilton

Build, test, and change ramps and consider ways to help early elementary students answer some BIG questions: How do different objects move? How can we change the way an object moves?

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave this workshop with the hands-on experience and curricular materials needed to support young elementary students as they explore and make sense of forces and interactions.

SPEAKERS:
Adrien Kaye

Help students see the forest for the trees -- and all its biodiversity -- in this interdisciplinary, hands-on session. Engage in a game inspired by The Lorax, a simulation of biodiversity in temperate and tropical rainforests and a resource management game of strategy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn ways to introduce elementary students to concepts about natural resource use and management and the importance of preserving biodiverse ecosystems through games and 3D simulations that are interdisciplinary and inquiry-based.

SPEAKERS:
Bennett Steidinger, Pam Wasserman

Many curriculum materials minimize elevating students’ brilliance with teacher directed, pre-designed activities. COESEE envisions classrooms where students’ ideas are foregrounded and learning is centered in students’ lived experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Working collaboratively, educators will investigate ways to understand and elevate students' brilliance by centering science in their everyday experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Ewing, Mary Starr, Carla Zembal-Saul

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Learn to promote interest and engagement while helping students achieve specific learning objectives with games. Join us as you learn simple and valuable ways to gamify your lessons. We will be sharing a few creative game ideas for building relationships and reviewing and learning content.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Discover engaging activities that help students explain the significance of Gregor Mendel’s pea plant experiments. Attendees will use glitter to represent the dominant and recessive traits of two parent plants and their offspring and complete a pompom Punnett square.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be able to explain that Gregor Mendel’s experiments on pea plants laid the foundation for the study of heredity, Punnett squares are a tool used to predict the traits of an offspring, and Mendelian genetics enables animal and plant breeders to produce new varieties with more accuracy.

SPEAKERS:
Lynn Wallin

Help students build empathy and connect science to their lives using a STEM picture book (Dr. Rosie Helps the Animals). Engage in science phenomena embedded in the story and learn how open-sourced interdisciplinary lessons can address literacy, science content, and inquiry skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will engage in student activities that show how NGSS content and inquiry skills can be addressed by investigating real-world phenomena introduced through a STEM picture book. Teachers will leave with the resources and background knowledge to facilitate these activities with students.

SPEAKERS:
Judith Newcomb, Jennifer Welborn

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 the newly published Wild Wonderings to learn how these books (and the stories of the scientists in them) can illuminate the nature of science.

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

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Join us for an interactive session where engineering meets speed dating! Experience hands-on challenges inspired by TCI's K-5 science programs. Attendees will participate in engineering-focused "speed dates," uncovering valuable insights.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

3D teaching and learning is a powerful way to engage all students in science, but making the shift in a classroom or district involves fundamental cultural and practical changes at all levels. Engage in examples and take away your own Change Management Playbook for navigating this important work.

SPEAKERS:
Isaac Stauffer, Naz Yaqubie

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Successfully engaging students in scientific reasoning, discourse, and investigation requires confident educators and reliable tools. Join us to explore hands-on lessons you can use to spark student curiosity, address Pennsylvania’s STEELS standards, and improve outcomes with LEGO® Education classroom solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Tom Taylor, Evangelia Papacostas

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Join our interactive science workshop where literacy meets exploration! Immerse yourself in a world of discovery as we blend scientific concepts with the power of language. Through engaging activities see how to unravel the wonders of science but also enhance literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Sarah Glassman, Hoover Herrera

Did you know sugar is grown and refined in 17 US states? Sugar cane thrives in the south, while sugar beets flourish in the north. Discover the difference!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about the sugar-making process from field to final product and see a variety of activities you can use with students to discover the difference between sugar cane and sugar beets.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Sponholtz, Michelle Blodgett

Learn how you can use robots to integrate with core academic content to teach skills to your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn about different types of robots that are available and how they can incorporate technology with academic content.

SPEAKERS:
Veena Black

I will have a tri-fold of the carbon cycle. I will also have print outs of vocabulary to use, a coloring sheet with carbon cycle, and an exit ticket or a way to test knowledge. I will also have some other helpful links and resources that explain the carbon cycle.

TAKEAWAYS:
The attendees will be learning how to incorperate sceince into their school day. There will be resources and print outs of how to explain the carbon cycle to elementary level students.

SPEAKERS:
Lydia Chapman

Access to supplies is often a barrier to learning yet amazing projects can be made with just paper, tape and scissors. Paper is great for introducing students to engineering fundamentals. Together we will explore how to use just  paper, tape and scissors to make amazing engineering projects

TAKEAWAYS:
Science and engineering can be done with inexpensive materials

SPEAKERS:
Godwyn Morris

This session will explore using Success Criteria as steps toward mastery in math and science assessments to enhance student understanding and engagement. Participants will learn to create quality open educational resources (OER) that align with standards for effective assessment practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with practical strategies for integrating Success Criteria into assessments, promoting student ownership of learning and improving instructional practices in math and science.

SPEAKERS:
Laura - Ashley Hayes

Hexagonal thinking is a collaborative hands-on concept mapping strategy focused on making connections across vocabulary, concepts, and other subject-specific components that can be utilized in any content area including cross-curricular settings. Come learn how to implement it in your own classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
For Upper Elem through HS. Participants will experience the strategy from a student POV, learn the process of implementation, and receive links to templates. Examples of student work will also be shown.

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance

This lesson teaches young children how to use some of the tools they will need when doing science with some simple (but fun!) activities. Tools introduced include: magnifying glasses, tweezers, stopwatches, eyedroppers, and measuring cups and spoons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be look at a few simple (but fun!) activities they can use to introduce basic science tools to their PreK-2 students. How-to posters, basic assessment sheet, and materials lists are included for these tools/activities.

SPEAKERS:
Marie Elaina Zuccaro

Developed by experts in environmental health and K-12 STEM education, this unit for grades 3-5 teaches students how to understand and improve indoor air quality. Students read stories and engage in hands-on activities to explore indoor environments and take action to create healthier spaces.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to engage grades 3-5 students in investigating indoor air quality through storytelling and challenge-based activities. This modular unit empowers students to become active problem-solvers and builds their action competence in creating healthier indoor spaces.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Link, PhD

This poster will present an activity that dives into the phenomenon of bee vision, building personal relevance and connection through engagement in STEAM practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore the intersections between science sensemaking and STEAM, taking home a lesson that engages students in discovering how bees see the world.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Carsten Conner

Discover how 3D printing and modeling can transform STEM education. Come ready learn practical strategies, see student-driven projects, and gain resources to bring hands-on, problem based creative learning into your classroom. Learn how to integrate this into all subject areas to bring STEM to life

TAKEAWAYS:
Whether you're new to 3D printing or want to expand its use, this session will provide ideas, resources, and confidence to integrate 3D technology into your classroom. Learn how to use free software to bring science and engineering concepts to life, engaging students in real world projects

SPEAKERS:
Scott Woodard, Alicia Yewcic

This session will showcase STEM choices educators can consider to gauge students' interests with academic standards. Student artifacts will highlight the NSS of Human and Structure, i.e. the skeletal system on Minecraft Education, skeletal system illustration of cartoon characters.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will explore offering students choices to foster collaboration and creativity in their learning of science standards.

SPEAKERS:
Veena Black

Explore teacher leadership in this session on a pioneering elementary science conference created by teachers for teachers.Discover how two educators built a collaborative space to meet the need for quality science PD while leading from the middle.Including testimonials from participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore the journey of how teachers successfully led a science conference from initial concept to execution, as well as the challenges faced in exercising teacher leadership. Takeaways include insights into the structure and impact of a teacher-led conference on professional growth.

SPEAKERS:
Abbey Gilligan, Dr. Leana Peltier

Sponsoring Company: ECA Science Kit Services

In this session we will select 3-4 popular science programs to evaluate using the 15-Questions developed by ECA Science Kit Services. The objective is to have participants walk away with an easy guide to use as they evaluate different programs to adopt. The takeaway will be an understanding of how to set teachers up for success for implementation. This process will share information about alignment, usability and budget, as well as exposing “blindspot” costs. It will cover short-term and long-term goals for implementation. There will also be an activity related to the “usability” portion of the presentation. Participants will have a fun experience and leave with a navigational guide to support their adoption and implementation process.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Harlan

No time for science? Tap into children’s curiosity and wonder to bring joyful, student-led STEM experiences into your classroom. Engage in teacher-play as you design and engineer kinetic balance sculptures and imagine how you can make STEM learning happen daily in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
PreK-2 educators will be provided a framework for integrative STEM learning that fits into their scheduled day, and learn how it easily integrates with existing curriculum. By designing and engineering a kinetic balance sculpture, participants will view STEM from the perspective of PreK-2 children .

SPEAKERS:
Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren

Experience how classroom agreements can create productive and safe spaces for elementary students to share their ideas, let those ideas change and grow, and engage with each other as a community of learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Elementary students can co-construct classroom agreements that support an environment where they recognize that science can be done in many ways, feel safe and compelled to share their ideas and questions, listen/look/respond to others' ideas, and let their ideas change and grow.

SPEAKERS:
María González-Howard, Carla Robinson, Leticia Garza, Janna Mahfoud

Reading comprehension is central to sense-making in science. Hands-on investigation provides context and curiosity to motivate students in active reading. The session provides science education leaders and teachers with tools and strategies for using exact readings in scientific investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants receive a set of strategies for using effective readings within scientific investigations and a set of over 400 lessons aligned to the NGSS and STEELS standards. The lessons have hands-on investigations with exact readings to support learning core ideas and crosscutting concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Brett Moulding, Sarah Sleasman

Building a strong foundation in working with data is key to students’ long term science interest and success. However, it can be hard to find ways to best help students make sense of data. We will share a research-backed developmental sequence and grade-leveled rubrics for student data literacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a developmental sequence for developing data literacy for students across grades K-12, with particular focus on how to use it for instructional and assessment development for late elementary school.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Jabot, Kristin Hunter-Thomson

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Join us for an interactive session where engineering meets speed dating! Experience hands-on challenges inspired by TCI's middle school science programs. Attendees will participate in engineering-focused "speed dates," uncovering valuable insights.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for Elementary School and discover how the Carolina Certified Version enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, and safer for classroom use.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Unlock the secret to engaging middle school minds! Dive into dynamic discussion tools and powerful questioning techniques that will ignite classroom conversations. Elevate your teaching game with enhanced pedagogical insights, ensuring science becomes irresistible to your students. Don't miss out –

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain practical discussion and questioning tools, rooted in the crosscutting concepts, to transform quiet classrooms into spaces of students actively engaged in sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Brianna Reilly Oliveira, Kate Soriano, Ann Guglielmo

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Join LEGO Education for a special presentation/Q&A with Dr. Lisa Carnell from NASA’s Biological and Physical Science Division. Learn how they use space-based research to study phenomena in ways that cannot be done on Earth. Get inspired, be curious, and empower the next generation through science. 

You will learn how to use MFLOW, a web-based programming platform that makes it extremely easy to play with sounds and create sound compositions while learning the basics of programming. You will gain access to an NGSS-aligned curriculum to support students with coding and sound engineering.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn how to use MFLOW to sound engineer and code your own sound or music composition. Also, you will learn how to engage your students with coding through engineering design challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Alec Barron

This workshop is designed to equip elementary teachers with strategies for fostering science inquiry through dialogue and discussion. By emphasizing collaborative learning and critical thinking, the workshop aims to enhance student engagement, understanding, and scientific literacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
The workshop aims to provide teachers with strategies for creating a supportive and inclusive classroom environment for discussion.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Sanvictores, Michelle Velho

Climate change affects us all, but not equally; the worst impacts are felt by marginalized communities. This is everyone’s problem to solve! We’ll explore real examples of kids coming together to make a meaningful change, and the role you as a teacher can take to support students in taking action.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore issues affecting their local communities and discuss ideas for curriculum around said issues. They will also develop skills for facilitating discussions with students and supporting children’s ideas for creating change.

SPEAKERS:
Rina Zampieron

Sponsoring Company: The Wonder of Science

Explore 3-dimensional science instruction through modeling, argument-driven inquiry, and phenomenon-based teaching. Learn to apply the NGSS SEPs and CCCs using best practices and resources from The Wonder of Science. Led by Paul Andersen, this hands-on workshop is inquiry-driven.

SPEAKERS:
Paul Andersen

Transform early learning with "Teaching STEM Through Literacy". Blend STEM, books, and tech to nurture 21st-century skills in young minds. Join us for hands-on activities that create immersive learning spaces, igniting curiosity and problem-solving in our littlest innovators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Empower early childhood educators to seamlessly integrate STEM, literacy, and technology, creating engaging, multi-disciplinary learning experiences that foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and a lifelong love of learning in young children.

SPEAKERS:
Clint Coleman

Sponsoring Company: LaMotte + Stroud Water Research Center

Observe aquatic macroinvertebrate specimens, conduct experiments, learn classification skills, and calculate a biotic index in this hands-on introduction to stream ecology. Come learn from a Stroud Water Research Scientist. Take-aways and door prize!

SPEAKERS:
Michael Smith

Join us for a session on how 3-dimensional, phenomenon-based learning is designed for students with diverse learning needs and how we can ensure their success as we teach using the NGSS. We will explore practical examples of how to ensure your instruction is universally designed and accessible.

TAKEAWAYS:
Incorporating UDL with the NGSS helps all learners be successful. Attendees will gain practical strategies and tools for accessibility and inclusive practices for students in science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Sciacca

Discover ASCEND K-5, an initiative that empowers educators, researchers, and leaders to take tangible actions, prioritizing equitable access and transforming K-5 science education in their systems. Join us to explore how it connects to your work in driving change in elementary science education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will offer feedback on the ASCEND K–5 project, focused on transforming elementary science education by addressing key challenges. Through collaboration, networking, and shared insights, participants will help shape the strategic direction and contribute to the project's success.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanna Loper, Daniel Alcazar-Roman

Teacher mentors can support the implementation of high-quality science curriculum. Come learn about a model that provides teachers with ongoing professional learning to develop leadership and informal mentoring skills that support science instruction when called upon by their colleagues.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about a program that prepares teachers to serve as informal mentors who can support the implementation of high-quality science curriculum within their school community. The model provides teacher mentors with on-going professional learning to continually improve their leadership skills.

SPEAKERS:
Caroline Stabile, Kelly Houle, Zachary Orefice

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

Learn from a panel of educators who have successfully made the shift to 3-D teaching and learning – what steps they took to begin, strengthen, and sustain their implementation journey and how it has impacted classroom culture and student growth.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Hilda Aganga-Williams

Participants will explore hands-on stations as they use inquiry analysis tools to dive into phenomena, primary sources, and discovery boxes about coastal phenomena. Participants will share, engage, and connect with multiple tools, strategies and PreK-2 resources to use to analyze coastal phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Inquiry-based teaching focuses on moving students beyond general curiosity into the realms of critical thinking and understanding. We must encourage our students to ask questions and support them through the investigation process, understanding when to begin and how to structure an inquiry activity.

SPEAKERS:
Betsy Glisson

What approach can science educators use to create assessment tasks that support instructional practice and students’ three-dimensional learning? Participants will experience designing 3-dimensional tasks for classroom use that will help their students build toward the NGSS performance expectations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to construct 3-dimensional assessment tasks that they can use in their classroom to promote student learning of the NGSS performance expectations.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Harris, Joseph Krajcik

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Come along as we undergo a rigorous student experience to work through a complex investigation. Throughout the course of the session, participants will discover the importance of fostering an environment that encourages challenge where students can struggle in a safe space.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Ingram

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Join this hands-on workshop to explore three engaging experiments about how light, gravity & nutrients impact plant growth. Each participant receives Fast Plants seeds flown in space with Emily Calandrelli on a Blue Origin rocket, plus fun lesson plans for all experiments.

SPEAKERS:
Hedi Lauffer, Alexandra Felts

Youth need opportunities to learn about green colonialism and how Native Science and Indigenous sovereignty are fundamental to addressing the climate emergency. Workshop participants will engage in talk activities designed to support non-Indigenous youth in learning and processing these topics.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will support educators in understanding that climate experts across the globe are calling for the broad recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and climate expertise as fundamental to mitigating climate change and building a just future.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell, Kelsie Fowler, Deb Morrison

Girls Who Code (a global free non-profit) is on a mission to close the gender gap in tech and change the image of what a programmer looks like. Join us to learn about free CS resources and participate in an immersive deep dive on getting started with AI that you can adapt for your own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Join Girls Who Code and immerse yourself in an AI lesson for your elementary aged students that you can replicate in your classrooms tomorrow! We’ll reflect and make interdisciplinary connections between AI and your CS, Science, and Mathematics standards.

SPEAKERS:
Joe Ochterski, Christine Thompson

Join us as we simulate a mini unit on sound which integrates 1st grade reading, math, and science standards through an engineering task assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience a project based learning task which integrates standards from multiple content areas.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bay, Margaret Strehle, Alyssa Larkham

Looking to build student thinking about data? Come learn how the “Data Discussion” talk routine scaffolds class discussions about patterns in data. We’ll explore key features of the routine, participate in enactments, and brainstorm how to bring quality three-dimensional talk time to your lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be able to provide opportunities for elementary students of all language proficiency levels to engage in “data discussion” talks in which they make data public and analyze meaningful patterns in their own and their classmates’ investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Forsythe

This hands-on session is designed to engage elementary science teachers in a model lesson on building and testing ziplines using an engineering design process as advocated by the Next Generation Science Standards. We will also explore the physics, and energy and forces involved in a zipline.

TAKEAWAYS:
The experience within the session will help teachers develop a shared understanding of NGSS in action, 5E model, and engineering design process. Participants will work collaboratively to experience designing and testing ziplines for them to engage their future students in engineering design.

SPEAKERS:
Derek Cox

Engage in an OpenSciEd Elementary unit and see how classroom discussions can support ALL students’ in using their ideas, experiences, and evidence for collective sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about how to engage elementary students in classroom discussion to share initial ideas, build understanding and come to consensus about the phenomenon they are trying to collectively figure out.

SPEAKERS:
Guy Ollison, Susan Gomez Zwiep

Engage in plant-focused classroom demos and investigations using budget-friendly materials, and learn about community resources such as Master Gardeners who can ignite students' curiosity about plants in their local environment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be provided with resources for implementing low-cost, standards-based life science demonstrations and investigations and learn about the classroom resources that their local Master Gardeners can provide free of cost.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Cummings, Kristin Rearden

Sensemaking is essential to science learning. Reading, writing, and student discourse can foster sensemaking as students figure out phenomena in order to articulate their ideas when they write and talk. This doesn’t happen by accident and teachers need to plan opportunities for sensemaking to occur.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will see classroom examples of elementary students engaging in sensemaking through paired reading, focused writing tasks and prompted student discourse as well as develop their own prompts for sensemaking through reading, writing and student talk.

SPEAKERS:
Edwin Emmer

Empower your teaching with Scientist Circles! Discover research-backed strategies to foster collaborative learning, critical thinking skills and ignite curiosity in the classroom. Engage in hands-on-activities, share best practices and leave empowered to implement Scientist Circles effectively.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain effective strategies and actionable tips to boost student engagement and foster meaningful whole-class discussions.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau, Kate Soriano, Ann Guglielmo

Explore Shared Waters, a NGSS-aligned, hands-on curriculum for grades 3-6. This 10-lesson unit empowers students to investigate local watersheds and develop action projects to protect them. Perfect for educators looking for classroom-ready resources to engage students in environmental science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away equipped with a ready-to-use, NGSS-aligned curriculum that brings environmental science to life. They'll learn how to inspire students to explore, investigate, and protect their local watersheds through hands-on activities and impactful action projects.

SPEAKERS:
Nanette Marcum-Dietrich

Invention Education supercharges STEM for all K-12 students! Learn how invention meets the needs of all learners and become an inventor yourself! Through one of our invention activities you will transform ordinary items into extraordinary inventions, igniting creativity and problem-solving skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience the power of creative problem solving through an innovation activity to help educators prepare students to become inventors. Learn how invention becomes a vehicle for connecting your students with their community. The session will connect educators with free resources too!

SPEAKERS:
Denise Henggeler, Christine Lawlor-King

Led by NSTA Early Childhood-Elementary Committee members, the session addresses the relationship between the NSTA book series and natural phenomena, providing an interactive platform for educators to discover how this series of books can support & enhance SEPs in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore the integration of this series with science and engineering practices through cross-disciplinary connections and hands-on activities. Resources provided.

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Jenn Brown-Whale, Anne Lowry, Mary Lynn Hess, Jennifer Williams

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Ever wonder how your cells are like a tiny city? Or what a sheep would want in their hotel room? Come experience science standards in a way that will make science the highlight of your students' day. Reignite your passion for teaching with engaging, hands-on science lessons and LEGO® bricks.

SPEAKERS:
Jenny Nash

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

Join our session to learn how to harness the power of three-dimensional Performance Assessments! Beyond evaluating learning, these assessments offer students a meaningful context to demonstrate understanding. Explore the role of performance assessments in teaching core science concepts effectively.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Kumar

This session will use the attributes of sensemaking (phenomena and science ideas) through tactile, auditory and visual simulation to examine how organisms adapt to their environments. Participants will walk away with a free whale vision simulator which they can replicate to create a classroom set.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will participate in a “student hat” to explore the power of sensemaking via simulation to learn how whales have adapted to their environment. A “make and take” and lesson plan will allow teachers to apply the lesson easily in their own classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Snyder

We will share how we have helped our students see themselves as engineers. Using picture books that lend themselves to engineering tasks, students build to solve a problem. Then record what they built through drawing and writing. Participants will get to experience this and plan for their classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with plans on how to integrate reading, writing, and science into their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sheri Geitner, Jennifer Mouland

Explore how NSTA's formative assessment probes from the popular Uncovering Student Ideas series are used in an instructional sequence to understand the ideas your K-5 students bring to their learning, inform next steps for responsive instruction, and build a powerful thinking classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
A key takeaway is how to use formative assessment probes to uncover and understand the prior knowledge that K-5 students bring to their learning in order to tailor next steps where student thinking is valued, misconceptions are addressed, and deeper conceptual understanding is cultivated.

SPEAKERS:
Page Keeley

Join NSTA Early Childhood-Elementary & BSB Committees as they explore how these award-winning books support STEM learning. Educators will engage in interactive activities, leaving with a head full of ideas on how these books enhance science & engineering practices (SEPs) in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants can view and discuss the 2025 Best STEM Book winners and ways to incorporate them into their classrooms to teach the SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Simone Nance, Emily Brady, Melissa Parks, Mary Lynn Hess, Jennifer Williams, Anne Lowry

Sponsoring Company: LEGO® Education

Walk away with powerful insights from real classroom on how to better engage students in science with hands-on playful learning. A panel of educators will share how they use hands-on, inquiry-based methods and tools to spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and improve long-term learning outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Joshua Johnson, JoEllen Schuleman, Paula Don, Theresa Goltermann, Jenny Nash

Looking to amplify your elementary students’ sensemaking? Come learn how slight tweaks to how you use phenomena might be the answer for you. We’ll explore how to use phenomena to make science relevant to students, support sensemaking talk routines, and ground the development of academic vocabulary

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be able to improve how their curriculum supports students in critical thinking about phenomena and adjust their lesson activities and assessments to better support student engagement, sensemaking, and academic vocabulary.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Forsythe

Inspire your students to think like scientists and engineers with this hands-on STEM approach. Test variables, make predictions, and design the perfect plane—a new twist on straw rockets! Engage in reverse engineering to analyze existing designs. Get resources to elevate your STEM lessons today!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn hands-on strategies to help students develop measurement, data collection, and analysis skills they can apply in engineering design lessons. You will learn methods to differentiate this in any K-12 setting and leave with free resources to implement this in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Stormer, Christina Davis

Explore the storyline of the newly released OpenSciEd Unit K.2 How Can We Be Prepared for the Weather? and see how students leverage connections to ELA and math as they investigate and make sense of their local weather conditions.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary units provide significant opportunities for students to explicitly connect with grade-level mathematics, reading, writing, speaking & listening, and language standards in service of their science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Gail Housman

Today, teachers face challenges around engagement, widening achievement gaps, and the need to prepare students for an ever evolving future. Game-Based Learning (GBL) paired with multimodal instruction provides an innovative solution, fostering engagement, deeper understanding, and long-term success.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how teachers are able to provide a captivating experience for students to acquire knowledge, develop essential skills, and apply their understanding in meaningful contexts through this pairing of methodologies.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Gerlach

Join us as we share how OpenSciEd transformed classrooms in Roselle Public Schools, NJ, with seven elementary teachers (from five schools) leading the pilot. Through real teacher experiences, learn how this NGSS-aligned curriculum fosters student-led inquiry, collaboration, and critical thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will hear firsthand from practitioners about how OpenSciEd fosters student autonomy and deep thinking, helping educators create equitable, student-centered classrooms that inspire curiosity and meet NGSS goals.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Cunningham, Phaldynia Satchell

Speaker will model and actively engage attendees with strategies and explorations, where children investigate, explore and manipulate materials and technology-rich tools, to see the effects of their actions, creating sense-making and increasing sustained curiosity and engagement. Handouts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies and engaging exploration ideas, to create sense-making opportunities for young children, and to inspire children’s sustained curiosities. Activities will be easy and inexpensive to replicate and will help launch a trajectory of learning for young children.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell

The Environmental Empowerment Project is a grant funded curriculum project. Each of the NGSS aligned units in grades K-8 center locally relevant environmental issues and empower students to act on them. This presentation will describe how the units were developed and how to access them.

TAKEAWAYS:
Student and community voice in curriculum are essential to maintaining and motivating student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Eric CROMWELL

Using the science classroom for language development empowers all students, specifically multi-language learners, to build their confidence with communication needed for all academic areas. Learn strategies to incorporate language activities, movement, and song into your science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with instructional strategies that support elementary students, specifically multi-language learners, with academic language development within the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Houle, Sarah Reis, Catherine Knasas

Let's DO Science and increase our language development! Come investigate plants as we walk through a Science talk protocol, ask questions, make comparisons and predictions, and document and share our results from five plant exploration stations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science talk protocols will help develop understanding of science concepts, academic vocabulary, and oral language skills. Learn discussion and questioning techniques, ways to engage and communicate, how to use inquiry to spark curiosity, and strategies that build speaking, listening and writing.

SPEAKERS:
Betsy Glisson

Sponsoring Company: hand2mind

Bring your literacy block to life with STEM Bins®! During this session, you will learn how to use STEM Bins as an engaging hook for storytelling and creative writing. Participants will explore how to integrate read alouds with STEM and incorporate engineering with STEM Bins into literacy centers.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Brown

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Come learn more about the OSE elementary curriculum! We’ll look at shifting to a classroom where students' natural curiosities about the world are leveraged to motivate their learning in science. Meaningful conversations and ideas about what that might look like with your teaching and learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jen Gutierrez

This workshop will expand teachers’ attunement to the diverse communicative resources that can support multilingual learners’ (MLLs) sense-making in science classrooms, how teachers can integrate these resources into their practice, and the role of personal narratives in enhancing student engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore and leave with actionable strategies they can use in their classrooms to leverage students’ diverse semiotic resources for supporting MLLs’ productive engagement in science investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Eve Manz, Diana Garity, Souhaila Nassar

This session introduces a storybook-like scaffold that helps elementary students purposefully evaluate connections between lines of evidence and alternative explanations of phenomena to construct a deeper understanding of the topic.

TAKEAWAYS:
The scaffold encourages students to engage in science practices, literacy, and argumentation strategies to communicate basic content knowledge on climate change.

SPEAKERS:
Chantelle Renaud-Grant, Lorraine Ramirez Villarin

Win up to $20,000! Are you making a difference in your school and community with STEM? If you teach K–12, come join us to begin your application for one of three programs sponsored by Shell USA, Inc. We’ll guide you through the application process step by step, starting your application live!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn key tips regarding how to complete a strong application for the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Explore a 5th grade module to figure out how Balinese Rice farming has endured for 1,000 years. Through exploration, participants uncover a new process for developing models in science and see how the communication of ideas through models and sketches increases opportunities for student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Ingram

Struggling with student engagement in your science classroom? Incorporating the use of phenomena will spark student interest and engagement. Learn how to incorporate phenomena, and the Ambitious Science Teaching practices of student discourse and student created models in your elementary classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will utilize the Ambitious Science Teaching practices of Eliciting student ideas and developing models. In this session we will use a phenomenon to spark interest and work through getting students to engage in science discourse and develop a science model to explain their understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Sauder

In urban low-resourced districts, there's often a focus on literacy and math, what happens to science? Every student, regardless of race, gender, or zip code, deserves high-quality science learning. We will explore the role in elevating science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with actionable steps to make science instruction a priority in their districts, ensuring every student has the opportunity to think, explore, and engage with the world scientifically.

SPEAKERS:
Tyrone McNichols, J Carrie Launius

Come try an activity from DESIGN SQUAD LATINX and experience how the program materials connect students' funds of knowledge (skills, interests, and talents acquired from family, community, culture, and lived experiences) to the engineering design process, deepening student engagement and interest.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave this workshop with an understanding of why it is important to champion a funds of knowledge approach in your classroom and program, and gain tips and ideas for how to bring a funds of knowledge approach to STEM education.

SPEAKERS:
Nicki Sirianni

Transform your STEM programs through powerful community partnerships. Learn proven strategies to identify and engage partners from businesses to universities. Get practical tools for establishing sustainable collaborations that support project-based learning and create authentic career connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how to transform your STEM program through strategic partnerships. Learn to identify potential collaborators, define partnership roles, and develop a mindset that opens doors to enriched learning experiences. Walk away with practical tools to build/sustain meaningful community connections.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Nilvo, Lisa Blank, Heather Overkamp

Sponsoring Company: Adventerra Games North America LLC

Many young people are overwhelmed by the climate crisis, so let's give them the skills & confidence to protect the planet! Adventerra's eco games engage students, achieve curricular goals, and teach STEM skills. We'll play some games & discuss how to respond when climate emotions show up in class.

SPEAKERS:
Carolyn McGrath, Sue Mundell, Bryan Mundell, Ruthie Mundell

Early STEM activities capitalize on young children’s interest, curiosity, and prior knowledge during indoor and outdoor cooperative play-based activities. As a metacognitive approach, Thinking Maps helps educators understand and document children’s naïve theories, sensemaking, and problem solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science and engineering rely on a range of communication modalities, practices, and languages to support sensemaking and problem-solving efforts. Discourse tools and artifacts like Thinking Maps are fundamental mediational tools helping children to externalize and develop their observations and reasoning.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Lowry, Chaoyun Yan, Wenming Zhang, Shelly Counsell

An active workshop for participants to make music using their bodies, tables and/or chairs to create sounds, individually and with others. They will hum tunes and create accompaniments. They will be encouraged to include music exploration daily in their classrooms. Music vocabulary included.

TAKEAWAYS:
The focus is young children’s explorations of music-making and connections to science and mathematics. In every culture, people tap/hit items and use their mouths to create specific sounds. Adult explanations of music terms will include pitch, rhythm, tempo, volume, melody, harmony, and timbre.

SPEAKERS:
Ellen Cogan

This session will showcase NSTA's outstanding science trade books and lessons that can support and strengthen K-5 elementary science programs. Information will be shared about the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching and the impacts that it can have professionally and personally.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will get lessons for NSTA’s outstanding trade books from nationally recognized elementary educators. Members from the Society of Elementary Presidential Awardees (SEPA) will share about the PAEMST application process and the benefits that come from networking with this learning community.

SPEAKERS:
Crystal Brown, Katie Stevenson

Sponsoring Company: Ward's Science

Take the guesswork out of science inquiry at the elementary level. We will explore activities that engage students' curiosity and ignite their passion for science through Science Olympiad. Discover some great activities for the classroom, after school programs, family events and STEM programs.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Bogan, Patty Muscatello, Norman Marshall

Have you presented a phenomenon to your class only to have students ask for the answer? Uncertainty is uncomfortable, and figuring things out is not easy. Explore and discuss challenges and opportunities that arise when teachers encourage students to sit with unresolved phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participate in a series of hands-on phenomenon-based lessons, and practice new strategies for encouraging students to embrace uncertainty as an exciting opportunity, rather than a potential risk. Receive print copies of high-quality instructional materials to bring back to your students.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Emily Harrison

Attention diverse and experienced educators making a meaningful impact! Join us to learn how you can win up to $10,000 through the Shell-sponsored teacher awards. This is a great opportunity to celebrate your contributions and enhance your teaching initiatives!

TAKEAWAYS:
During the session, you’ll learn about the different award categories, eligibility criteria, and tips for crafting a compelling application. You’ll connect with fellow educators, share ideas, and learn best practices. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your work and make an even greater impact!

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton

Experience learning opportunities designed for early elementary students and reflect on strategies used to build instruction around students’ ideas and questions and support students in figuring out phenomena. Explore free, NGSS-aligned, research-based, resources for your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Children are naturally curious; let’s use that curiosity to foster and facilitate students’ questioning and discourse about phenomena in an elementary classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Amber Richmond, Chiara Kirkland, Cory Miller

Come learn about “language-expansive noticing” - a practice that enables teachers to recognize multilingual students’ brilliant ideas in addition to the various ways these students might draw from linguistic and multimodal resources to develop and communicate their scientific sensemaking!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will understand why developing their practice of language-expansive noticing is critical for ensuring equitable science learning experiences for multilingual students. They will leave with strategies and resources to help them continue to develop and use this practice in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Sage Andersen, María González-Howard

In Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula, a teacher leadership model has enabled an effective system of teacher-led elementary science support where teachers learn from and support one another. Learn from two teacher leaders who have helped develop a sustainable professional learning community!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how a teacher leadership model can benefit schools by ensuring high quality science learning for all elementary students and providing professional development for teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin St. Onge, Megan Dell, Jessica Krueger

With NE, classroom texts are the context for engineering design problems with characters acting as clients and finding characters’ problems, identifying design constraints and criteria through close reading of the text, and then designing and building physical solutions to selected problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
The session will include an introduction, examples of K-8 student work, how to put students’ ideas are at the forefront as they work on ELA and engineering, and several short Novel Engineering introductory activities in which audience members can participate to give them first-hand experience.

SPEAKERS:
Elissa Milto

Examine number & geometric patterns, learn the Fibonacci Sequence, understand Native Peoples’ symbiotic relationship with nature, use geometry to recreate a shape in plants or animals captured on the nature walk, draw a Golden Spiral and compose Fibonacci poetry, integrate literacy, math & arts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Use Nature and any outdoor space as a classroom and catalyst for learning. Use the power of observation and wondering to lead to innovation. Understand history of Fibonacci & Native Peoples’ symbiotic relationship with nature. How to integrate science, mathematics, literacy, social studies and art.

SPEAKERS:
Danette Riehle

Elementary teachers will learn about the role of plausibility in science and a new scaffold for their students' evaluation of the relationship between scientific evidence and explanatory models. This lesson about fossils includes a narrative nonfiction story and an interactive worksheet.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will takeaway that plausibility is a key cognitive construct in science and that elementary students are capable of evaluating these complex relationships.

SPEAKERS:
Timothy Klavon

All students have the right to develop a deep understanding of how the world works in ways that support their personal goals and the interests of their community. Come explore how instruction can more equitably support science learning that is consequential to your students and their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will develop an understanding of an equity project framework for science education for supporting professional learning and implementation projects. They will learn how open education resources (http://stemteachingtools.org/) can help them develop equitable approaches to science teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell

The excitement around the PA K-12 STEELS Standards involves opportunities to engage students in three-dimensional learning. In this session, we’ll explore what the three dimensions are, why they matter for student learning, and how they are implemented in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Be familiar with the three dimensions of the PA K-12 STEELS Standards

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau, Emily Mathews

Explore the expanded ways of communicating and negotiating meaning children use as they engage in sensemaking at all ages. Work with us as we share ways to becoming more attuned to the multiple ways children explore meaning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will engage in meaning making around children's communication and processes of negotiating meaning to become more familiar with various strategies and their importance.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Ewing, Mary Starr, Carla Zembal-Saul

Do you like seeing the microscopic world? Immerse your senses in food webs by designing them in a collaborative competition using Merge Cubes, an augmented reality (AR) tool. This session highlights how AR usage improves outcomes for underrepresented minority students in elementary settings.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a STEM PBL hands-on augmented reality food web and identify how the real-world student experience of an augmented reality activity can be used to improve outcomes for underrepresented minority students.

SPEAKERS:
Jarrod Collins

How can we fit student-centered science instruction into the varied schedules of K-5 classrooms? Experience and explore how OpenSciEd Elementary’s free high-quality units are designed to support teachers in making time to engage their students in 3D science.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary lessons are organized in four components: Navigate, Explore, Connect, and Synthesize. These components support teachers in understanding the purpose of each part of a lesson, allow for more flexible timing, and can be implemented in various parts of the school day.

SPEAKERS:
Guy Ollison, Gail Housman

If you have ever wondered about NSTA's Picture Perfect STEM lessons, and how they will fit into your classroom, this session is for you. Come and learn about these dynamic lessons written in the 5E model that engage your youngest learners in sensemaking through investigation and problem-solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to engage students in trade books that launch each science unit and how NSTA's science kits make each lesson easy to incorporate into your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren LoPorto, Kristen Crawford

Learn effective ways to help students formulate effective questions, design investigations to answer their questions, apply analytical and critical thinking skills, collect and interpret data, and determine effective ways to communicate their findings and the concepts they have learned. Handouts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to help students formulate effective questions to guide their investigations, and then apply their critical thinking skills and disciplinary skills (objective observations and analysis of phenomena), to determine cause and effect and analyze results of the investigation.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Teek and Tom Explore Planet Earth investigates the relationship between the ocean, weather and climate on local to global scales. You’ll sample some of the ten hands-on activities for upper ES and MS students to reinforce Earth science concepts related to oceanography, meteorology and climate.

SPEAKERS:
Peggy Steffen, Kurt Mann

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for Elementary School and discover how the Carolina Certified Version enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, and safer for classroom use.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera

Connect your current science lessons to cutting-edge engineering research and inspire students to pursue careers in STEM. Receive access to K-2 NGSS-aligned resources that immerse students in meaningful hands-on engineering tasks with real-world applications.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to enhance student engagement and promote STEM college and career pathways by connecting classroom learning to current engineering research at URI and UCONN. Leave with access to video and instructional resources aligned to NGSS and connected to the research.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie Maier-Speredelozzi, John Koziatek, Charlene Tuttle, Kelly Houle

Attend this ‘short course’ - with highlights from the full four-day workshop in Detroit! – to discover how you too can use real-world challenges, community assets, and history to create dynamic interdisciplinary units for students with PBL³ and Library of Congress primary sources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to leverage primary sources and community issues to foster interdisciplinary problem-solving and creativity, and discover how Project-, Problem-, and Place-Based Learning can elevate STEAM units in ways that foster creativity, critical thinking, and student agency.

SPEAKERS:
Trey Smith, June Teisan

Participants will use the engineering design process to create models that support science, literacy, and math standards. Energetic engineering activities will be linked with nursery rhymes for research-based learning that can be easily replicated in the classroom. Come engineer with us!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to teach science and engineering practices to young learners who undoubtedly need these foundational skills. Engineering explorations will be seamlessly integrated with language, literacy, and math standards, leading to valuable cross-curricular learning.

SPEAKERS:
Pam Nolan-Beasley

Do you have an innovative idea for improving Science, technology, engineering and math learning in your classroom? Is your idea project based learning with measurable outcomes? What do you need to make learning STEM fun for your students? Engage with teachers who received funding!

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn tangible tips on how to complete their grant application online before the October 1 annual deadline.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Stotz, Ariel Coff, John Anderson, Miz Fischer, Eddie Temistokle

Is it important to distinguish between data and evidence in science? YES! We’ll observe young students engaged in analyzing data and then broaden our focus to explore how data and evidence are woven through the science and engineering practices and across students’ K-12 science experience in school.

TAKEAWAYS:
Distinguish between data and evidence and why the difference matters in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano, Brianna Reilly Oliveira

Have you ever wondered why the excited chatter during a science investigation disappears when teachers ask their students to write science explanations? Students enjoy hands-on investigative activities but need support to shift from their provisional language to science-specific language.

TAKEAWAYS:
Writing strategies and talk moves can improve students’ ability to develop clear writing. Appropriate scaffolds benefit all students, particularly multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Participants will learn how to support students’ development of ideas into written explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Haverstick

A critical component of any science lesson is the opportunity for students to make sense of their experiences. After a brief hands on lesson, engage in sensemaking yourself and leave with clear strategies to use in your classroom on Monday. Sensemaking norms posters link is included!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn strategies for providing sensemaking discussions through discourse in the elementary science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Lausten

This interactive workshop empowers educators to embrace the Engineering Design Process as an instructional pedagogy for fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and engagement across all subjects. Participants will explore how the EDP supports 3D learning and can be integrated into any class.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop focuses on a mindset shift: embracing the Engineering Design Process as an adaptable instructional framework that enhances student learning and engagement in any classroom or subject, fostering a deeper sense of ownership, inquiry, and problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Devin Canaday

This session advocates for biographical read-alouds as a key part of K-8 STEM education. Attendees will learn to prioritize equity using STEM role models, review biographies that can be used as an entrance to inquiry, exploration, and engineering, and inspire all students to see themselves in STEM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using STEM read-alouds in K-8 education promotes equity by engaging diverse learners—including multilingual, female, and students of color—in STEM content and careers, framing STEM education as a commitment to social justice and a field that all can enter.

SPEAKERS:
Geoff O'Brien, Nicole Glen

How can we shift the culture of science teaching and learning in an elementary school or district? Explore how transformative leadership practices can build the capacity of educators and create the conditions for equitable opportunities for 3D phenomena-based science in K-5 classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will take away ideas and next steps for enacting transformative leadership practices in their own context, whether it is in their classroom, school, or at the district level

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger, Suzanna Loper

Learn about making art as a way of understanding and engaging climate and environmental justice issues happening in our world today. We will engage the current science related to climate change and produce art to creatively explore and communicate just responses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will come away understanding of how climate science can be engaged and represented through various artistic forms—and the pedagogical power of art pedagogy. People will use supplies in this workshop to make their own creations during the session.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell, Nancy Price

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Does grant writing feel overwhelming? This session will provide practical tips, strategies, and resources to help you write grants that win!

SPEAKERS:
Covey Denton

This session will show how integrating Success Criteria with sensemaking pillars enhances 3D learning for elementary students. Participants will learn to create clear Success Criteria that guide young learners through authentic phenomena and foster equitable engagement in science practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Success Criteria empower elementary students to engage deeply with scientific phenomena, connecting their ideas to practices and achieving clarity in their learning, promoting a more equitable 3D learning environment.

SPEAKERS:
Laura - Ashley Hayes

We’ll explore how agriculture is used in Florida elementary education to teach STEM, critical thinking, and environmental stewardship. Participants will learn strategies, resources, and lesson plans to engage students, meeting NGSS while making science relevant and connected to their daily lives.

TAKEAWAYS:
Agriculture can be used as a teaching tool in elementary education.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Lynn Hess, Jennifer Morgenthal

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Create integrated STEM learning experiences that connect content areas and engage students in scientific practices. Shift the focus from end results to the learning process as students investigate, problem-solve, and develop deeper understandings of science through real-world connections.

SPEAKERS:
Zipporah Miller

Learn how to develop family-friendly STEM events that foster curiosity, collaboration, and lifelong learning. This session will provide practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable tips, tools, and strategies to help you make your family-friendly STEM events successful!

TAKEAWAYS:
Session attendees will come away with a list of must-haves for family STEM engagement. They will participate in STEM activities from past STEM events hosted at the Oakley STEM Center at TN Tech University.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Edwards, Jennifer Meadows, Kelly Moore, Leslie Suters

Teachers are introduced to micro fossil material from the Pungo River formation, Aurora, North Carolina. Session will include ways to incorporate the materials into the early childhood science classroom (ages 4-10).

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive teaching materials as well as a hands on lesson in searching for and identifying micro fossils that are dated from 25 million t 5 million years old.

SPEAKERS:
Ginny Switt

Ignite excitement and curiosity about science in your elementary classroom! Engage in and explore how phenomenon-based instruction can spark students' interest in science and go beyond special activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience how including science in the elementary classroom engages children's curiosity about the world while authentically applying literacy and math skills.

SPEAKERS:
Yanira Vazquez

Smithsonian Science Education Center has explored many ways of introducing hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum. Learn more about how we presented virtually, hybrid, and in person, the pros and cons, and what teachers had to say. Join us in discussing key features of high quality professional learning

TAKEAWAYS:
Each mode of professional learning delivery has pros and cons but providing time for collaboration, reflection, and exploration is key to teacher engagement and understanding in order to change teacher practice.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Gainsback, Katherine Fancher

Participants will get free teacher-tested support materials for two participatory (citizen) science projects, engage in the projects' monthly activities, and explore how to increase students’ outdoor learning experiences, authentic data collection, and sensemaking in third through sixth grades.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away ready to engage their students in 3D learning opportunities as students make sense of real-world data collected in their own schoolyard involving daily precipitation data and searching for native ladybugs.

SPEAKERS:
Lindsey Sachs, Danielle Scharen

Join the author of Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classrooms to discover how notebooks are an interdisciplinary, sensemaking tool. Leave with strategies for immediate classroom use.

TAKEAWAYS:
When science notebooks are incorporated into student-centered, three-dimensional classrooms, they become powerful interdisciplinary sensemaking tools and a rich source of assessment data.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Fries-Gaither

We will discuss plans for working with a cohort of 12 K-5 teachers on developing: leadership skills, climate change content knowledge, and strategies for including ALL learners in STEM teaching over the course of a 5-year period. We will be at the beginning of an NSF-funded Noyce grant.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn tools and strategies for enhancing inclusive STEM teaching and learning about climate change for K-5 teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Taylor, Melissa Zrada, Helen Corveleyn, Lauren Madden

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Join our interactive workshop where literacy meets exploration! Through investigations, such as testing magnets, students solve problems and grow their literacy skills. Leave with classroom resources. Smithsonian Science for the Classroom received an All-Green rating from EdReports.org. 

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Emily Harrison, Hoover Herrera

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

Making connections between science and students’ personal experiences is essential for engaging students, and it can also motivate teachers! Learn three low-effort, high-impact ways to localize your science curriculum and continue to reach your grade level learning goals.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Abbott, Hilda Aganga-Williams, Leslie Stenger

Educators can integrate Minecraft Education with academic standards. They can create challenges for students to gauge students' interests and provide creativity using Minecraft. Educators will also discover that there are built in lesson plans on Minecraft Education to assist with standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
After this session, participants will be able to create lesson plans, integrate standards from multiple academic content with Minecraft Education. Educators will be able to instill enthusiasm and positive learning outcomes using Minecraft Education to teach students their core academic content.

SPEAKERS:
Veena Black

Integrated Science Workshops bring science into activities kids already do and love. Science is Elemental has developed several of these involving the arts, music, and soccer. Come learn how we weave (Fabric Arts: Friction and Tension!) science concepts, like vector and power, into fun activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrated Science Workshops can be adapted for the students’ grade-levels and for the time available, all while teaching key science concepts made accessible through activities kids love.

SPEAKERS:
Ann Miller

The STEM Cultural Online Night project explored how integrating culturally responsive instruction improves STEM affinity and cultural competence among American and Korean teacher candidates through six weeks of international online collaboration, enhancing cultural awareness into STEM education.

TAKEAWAYS:
The session will highlight the benefits of cross-cultural collaboration in developing effective, culturally-aware teaching strategies.

SPEAKERS:
Jiyoon Yoon

After learning the chemistry of sugar, starch, and fiber, students use information from food labels to measure out the correct weight of sugar, starch and fiber and create physical presentations to compare energy value in familiar foods.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will get everything they need to implement this activity in their classroom, whether during a nutrition unit or during a unit on types of energy. This activity weaves in themes such as human body energy needs, cultural food choices, food deserts, and student wellness.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Grumbach

This presentation shows examples of how student choice can be incorporated into culminating group projects to help build collaboration and allow students to share their ideas and teach others what they’ve learned. Examples range across grades K-5 for a variety of topics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see how student choice can be incorporated into any unit in grades K-5 to allow students the opportunity to show what they learned, teach others the information they found most interesting, and collaborate with their peers.

SPEAKERS:
Marie Elaina Zuccaro

Come along on a fun-filled journey to incorporating Science vocabulary schoolwide and in the classroom.  Explore strategies and activities to help your students understand the world around them in engaging ways--one science word at a time.  There is something for every type of learner!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be given a Padlet link with resources for ways to incorporate science vocabulary in their school and classrooms. The Padlet includes a list of books by science topic to teach and reinforce science vocabulary by integrating literacy into science.

SPEAKERS:
Tara McClintick

In this session, we will examine how to leverage time used to practice and reinforce math and reading skills to also include phenomenon-based science. By using math and ELA standards as a starting point, short units building off of a common science phenomenon are created.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience a phenomenon-based, science-focused lesson series that was designed to help reinforce and practice the standards in math and ELA.

SPEAKERS:
Miranda Orellana

Research in science education shows students assert epistemic agency when teachers cede authority over knowledge, create space for alternate claims, and take up students’ ideas as classroom resources. Drawing on literature, we present a framework for supporting elementary students’ epistemic agency.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers can make space for students to assert their epistemic agency in the science classroom. Doing so can result in positive learning outcomes such as productive dialogue, active student participation, and meaningful learning experiences for students.

SPEAKERS:
Greta Etherton, Daniel Levin

Delve into math and science! In this versatile mathematical modeling activity, students collect qualitative and quantitative observations on different-sized apples. Then they examine data on circumference and diameter to derive pi. This exercise can easily be part of a larger lesson plan as well!

TAKEAWAYS:
This activity is an example of how different math skills can be integrated into a larger Science lesson plan. Students derive pi by collecting quantitative data, creating a scatter plot to graph it, and calculating slope of the best fit line. It is also easy to differentiate for grade and ability.

SPEAKERS:
Rama Sreekantham

In order to better understand how well existing environmental science education pedagogies and approaches prepare young children to handle the complexity of climate change, this session puts forward critical methods and approaches to teaching environmental science education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Environmental education should be grounded in environmental literacy, using multiple perspectives beyond human-centric to understand the interconnections between natural systems and human activities, leading to children developing a sense of ecological citizenship.

SPEAKERS:
Peter Oyewole

This session will discuss mathematization as a framework to teach the concept of energy and the use of Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) to design related learning environments. Attendees will learn about the affordances of the MEAs to provide opportunities to mathematize scientific phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
MEAs allow students to engage in science practices to mathematize scientific phenomena and learn the concept of energy.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Lima

This presentation shares findings from an NSF-supported project on the use of podcasts, particularly the Tumble Science Podcast for Kids, to promote access to STEM and introduce sighted, blind and low vision students in grades 3 through 5 to STEM careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Podcast listening can be a powerful tool for engaging blind and low vision students as well as sighted students in STEM learning in upper elementary grades.

SPEAKERS:
Marshall Escamilla