A core tenet of modern science standards is providing students with phenomena-based questions that assess their skills and knowledge across the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards. As assessments become more three-dimensional, a new problem has arisen: how do we help students make sense of these high-demand questions? The key is providing students with a strategy to help them identify and parse essential information in the question. Using a two-column note strategy, students can effectively identify what the question is asking of them, sort essential information from non-essential information, connect prior knowledge, and use their notes to answer the question correctly. During this workshop, attendees will be introduced to the two-column note strategy for assessments and given an opportunity to practice it themselves. Participants will see several examples of student work from a diverse group of students and receive a digital poster to use with students in class.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop introduces a two-column note strategy to help students analyze complex phenomena-based assessments, improving test scores by identifying key information and connecting prior knowledge.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Boyer

A hallmark of three-dimensional assessment is making student thinking about a DCI, a CC, and an SEP visible at the same time. In this interactive session, you’ll step into the role of a student to experience two example 3D assessments and see how they bring sense-making to life. Together we will unpack what makes an assessment useful, identify key features of strong 3D tasks, and practice a “thinking analysis” of student responses to reveal patterns in learning. The agenda includes discussion, hands-on assessment experiences, analysis of student work, and time for questions. You’ll leave with strategies for designing meaningful assessments that surface student thinking and inform next steps in instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three-dimensional assessment mirrors three-dimensional instruction and can be used to make students thinking about, and with, DCI, CCs, and SEPs visible.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson

Workshop Overview Through hands-on exploration and collaboration, teachers will engage in three-dimensional learning using The Three Billy Goats Gruff. This workshop builds confidence in designing and teaching lessons that integrate children’s literature to support science content, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Participants will experience how stories can drive meaningful connections between literacy and science while engaging in real-world inquiry, storytelling, creative problem-solving, and classroom discourse—speaking and writing about science. Emphasis will be placed on three-dimensional assessment and sensemaking as essential components of authentic science teaching and learning. Teachers will leave with practical strategies, classroom-ready lesson ideas, and a deeper understanding of how to use literature to inspire curiosity, strengthen science understanding, and promote student voice through talk and writing.

TAKEAWAYS:
3D assessment and sensemaking are key components of science learning. Teachers will leave with practical strategies, lesson ideas, and a deeper understanding of how to utilize literature to spark curiosity, enhance science comprehension, and foster student voice through discussion and writing.

SPEAKERS:
Jason Harding, Julie Jackson

How can assessments support three dimensional sensemaking? Explore how the OpenSciEd Elementary assessment system illuminates the brilliance and strengths of students, teachers, and classroom communities as they figure out science ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
OpenSciEd Elementary curriculum units have three-dimensional assessment opportunities woven throughout the unit. Five different assessment types work together as a system to support teachers, students, and the classroom community in responding to ideas, reflecting, and checking progress.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Belcastro, Gen Zoufal, Gail Housman

A Framework for K-12 Science Education identifies critiquing, arguing, and analyzing as evaluative processes that are foundational to science learning. However, misinformation and the influence of social media make it challenging for students to think critically and scientifically about controversial topics. This session introduces a scaffold that can be used as a formative assessment tool to help students purposefully evaluate connections between lines of evidence and alternative explanations of phenomena for sensemaking. In doing so, middle grades and high school students not only construct a deeper understanding of science topics, but exercise negotiation, evaluation of claims and argumentation among peers which are skills that intertwine with English Language Arts. These resources are available through funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a collaborative effort for the Lateral Reading & Model-Evidence-Link (LR/MEL) project.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Model-Evidence-Link instructional scaffolds are assessments designed to assist learners as they evaluate the plausibility of evidence connected to models and to exercise negotiation and argument-building skills from evidence. Participants receive access to all instructional materials.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Holzer, Derek Piper, Lorraine Ramirez Villarin

Videos are fun to watch, but they can be even more powerful when they help students think, talk, and show what they know. In this session, we will explore how to use Class CrunchLabs video supports to turn viewing into an interactive experience. Learn how to embed checkpoints, create choice-based reflections, and invite students to investigate instead of just observe. You will leave with ready-to-use strategies for building in meaningful assessment moments that are way more choose-your-own-adventure than sit-and-get.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to transform Class CrunchLabs videos into interactive learning and assessment tools that spark engagement, surface thinking, and let students drive the experience.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Semeyn, Spencer Martin

Participants will actively engage with authentic, research-based science phenomena that illustrate core physics concepts and support NGSS-aligned instruction. They will observe and analyze demonstrations such as a child on a sled remaining stationary when a dog pulls the sled (illustrating inertia), the Whack It! experiment comparing the motion of ping pong and golf balls, and a pendulum showing how force affects motion. Attendees will practice prompting student reasoning, connecting observations to Crosscutting Concepts and Science and Engineering Practices, and translating phenomena into strategies that foster curiosity, questioning, and deep conceptual understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of the session, participants will leave with ready-to-use examples, tools, and approaches for making sense of science in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Annie Smith, Stephanie Wendt

3D science assessments can be difficult for learners with skill set discrepancies. When students are given time to collaborate with other learners during data analysis and modeling tasks, this increases equity of learning in the classroom. Then, by independently reflecting and reevaluating group efforts, students are better able to synthesize personal ideas and provide solid evidence-based claims that truly reflect individual student achievement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn processes of 3D assessment using group and independent science performance tasks. Please bring an assessment from your practice to workshop, discuss, and receive feedback.

SPEAKERS:
Mallory Davis

Are you looking for an assessment that fosters collaboration, combats cheating, and connects content to the physical world? Discover the power of group exams. This workshop shares practical strategies for implementing physics group exams at all levels, from College-Prep to AP. We will cover the pedagogical research and personal classroom experiences, focusing on how these exams encourage students to apply their knowledge to solve tangible problems that align with the NGSS. Participants will engage in a sample group exam to experience the challenge and excitement firsthand. Participants will also gain strategies in using AI to efficiently design complex, three-dimensional tasks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain a framework for creating authentic group assessments that challenge students to apply scientific principles to solve real-world problems in a high-stakes, low-stress environment.

SPEAKERS:
Justin Fournier

Crickets, Climate, and Claims. Ready for a science lesson your students will actually dig into (maybe even literally)? In this hands-on session, you’ll experience a full, classroom-ready Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) cycle that helps students make evidence-based arguments in science. Step into your students’ shoes as you explore a real-world 3D task connecting protein, planet, and persuasion. Using OER data on land and water use by different protein sources and a short reading on insect protein (yes, eating bugs!), you’ll learn how students can build and defend a claim with strong evidence and clear reasoning. Practice quick scoring with a simple three-row rubric that separates Practice, Crosscutting Concept, and Core Idea, and explore multilingual supports that maintain rigor and access for all learners. Leave with a ready-to-use task, anchor samples, and next steps to elevate climate literacy, student voice, and curiosity—all aligned with California AB 285.

TAKEAWAYS:
Reflect on the value and challenges of implementing CER in science classrooms and explore how scaffolded CER supports critical thinking around complex climate-related topics. Walk away with a ready-to-use 3D task, rubric, and strategies that spark inquiry and meet NGSS and CA AB 285.

SPEAKERS:
Lucretia Anton, Lauren Reh

Science teachers are increasingly asked to help students write scientifically—using evidence, reasoning, and clear explanations—yet many struggle to meet these demands. The DEFEND strategy, adapted from the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model, gives students a structured, accessible process for constructing scientific arguments and sensemaking through writing. DEFEND guides students to Declare their claim, Elaborate on science ideas, Form evidence-based points, Explain reasoning, Note counterclaims, and Drive home their conclusion. Teachers implementing DEFEND saw students improve in organization, use of evidence, and reasoning, especially those with exceptionalities. This interactive session models how to teach DEFEND through SRSD’s six stages, share student examples, and provide ready-to-use tools—lessons, quick-write prompts, and scaffolds—to strengthen science writing aligned with NGSS and ELA standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn the DEFEND strategy, a structured, classroom-tested approach to help students write, reason, and defend scientific ideas. Participants will see examples, practice steps, and receive tools to support diverse learners and align with NGSS and ELA standards.

SPEAKERS:
Angelique Aitken, Jeff Thomas

The goal of this session will be to highlight the advantages of using single column rubrics in the classroom and spark thinking around feedback and assessment. Single column rubrics can be used to emphasize feedback, give students more choice, and provide more opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. The session will involve an in-depth introduction into single column rubrics, valuable group discussion on feedback and assessment in the classroom, and sample before/after rubrics and their uses (labs, science fair, pbls). Teachers will leave the session with a new strategy to try out in the classroom and access to a myriad of resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave the session with a new strategy to try out in the classroom: single column rubrics. There will be a QR code resource folder to guide them in the future as they develop single column rubrics of their own.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Vandervort

This hands-on workshop shares district-developed tools used by curriculum teams to create, analyze, and improve science assessments. Using a validated Assessment Screening Checklist and 3-D Analysis Document, participants will learn to evaluate items for phenomenon-driven questions and three-dimensional coverage. Participants will apply NGSS Evidence Statements and K-12 Progression documents to verify appropriate grade-level integration of DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs, while using the Hess Cognitive Matrix to analyze DOK levels. These field-tested tools, developed through district curriculum work, have proven successful in creating aligned assessments across secondary science. Participants will receive all freely accessible tools: Assessment Screening Checklist, 3-D Analysis template, and completed examples. Session includes guided practice with actual assessment items and time for analyzing participants' own assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session provides concrete strategies for improving assessment quality through systematic analysis of three-dimensional alignment and student sensemaking opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Nelson

Portfolio-based assessments can make student sensemaking visible in a way that is equitable, asset-based, and holistic. This interactive presentation will walk participants through how one district in Los Angeles is constructing portfolio-based assessment in grades TK-12. This portfolio system is geared toward developing student self-confidence through asset-oriented feedback about their science sensemaking directly linked to the NGSS Performance Expectations. We will share examples of student portfolios across TK-12, supports that students needed to build those portfolios, and professional development teachers needed to design and evaluate this type of three-dimensional assessment. Participants will be invited to consider how to begin developing portfolio-based assessments in their own context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will receive examples of portfolios and professional development structures needed to develop an assessment system that can be applied in a single classroom or district-wide.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Scholz

Videos are fun to watch, but they can be even more powerful when they help students think, talk, and show what they know. In this session, we will explore how to use Class CrunchLabs video supports to turn viewing into an interactive experience. Learn how to embed checkpoints, create choice-based reflections, and invite students to investigate instead of just observe. You will leave with ready-to-use strategies for building in meaningful assessment moments that are way more choose-your-own-adventure than sit-and-get.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to transform Class CrunchLabs videos into interactive learning and assessment tools that spark engagement, surface thinking, and let students drive the experience.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Semeyn

Are you wondering how to make grading motivational for students and less exhausting for teachers? Come learn to apply research-based strategies for providing feedback that is positive, efficient, and hopefully even joyful. This session will explore how to provide feedback in a way that accounts for the 3-dimensional nature of the NGSS by sharing the distinction between evaluating student knowledge about DCIs (which are often taught only once per grade band) and student sensemaking with the science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts (which are taught multiple times per grade band). In our experience, grading and assessment systems often replicate and perpetuate unjust patterns of opportunities and achievement. This session will provide alternatives that teachers can use to mitigate these patterns of oppression. You will have opportunities to examine your own practice and consider new and inspirational ideas for your own classroom assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
During this session, participants will identify grading practices that increase equity, use a protocol to provide asset-oriented feedback about the 3 dimensions of NGSS, and make a plan for moving toward more equitable, growth-oriented grading in your own classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Dozier

Three-D science assessments can be challenging to construct, especially to incorporate critical thinking skills. Join us as we explore the criteria for high-quality science assessments and discuss strategies for writing them. Your session leader is a widely-published writer of science assessments and curriculum, and he has a wealth of experience to share.

TAKEAWAYS:
When you write a science test, keep its focus on the science knowledge and skills that you want students to demonstrate. Clear focus = Useful, fair assessment!

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Berman

Student success in science is inextricably linked to their ability to access and comprehend complex scientific texts, especially those found on standardized assessments. The challenge of helping students navigate the specific language, data, and question formats of these exams is more critical than ever. This workshop will provide science educators with research-based, actionable strategies to equip students to deconstruct and successfully respond to standardized assessment questions. Participants will go through the process of “writing in the margins”, a six step approach to breaking down any assessment question. Participants will learn how to teach students to analyze prompts, identify key vocabulary, and employ targeted strategies that bridge the literacy gap and unlock deeper content understanding for test-taking success.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will engage in a proven assessment annotating process that increases state test scores. Resources will be shared to equip students with practical literacy strategies so that they can confidently tackle any science assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Davidson

Participants will explore how students make sense of agricultural genetics through data, models, and discussion. Using a gene mapping activity from an EQuIP-badged genetics unit, teachers will experience strategies like jigsaw sharing, color coding, and whole-class reflection. The session defines sensemaking around an agricultural phenomena and highlights teacher moves that support student reasoning. Teachers will leave with a structured template to adapt these strategies to their own classrooms and phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Sensemaking is about students figuring out phenomena with evidence and reasoning — teacher moves create the space, but students do the explaining.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta

In this session, we will share how our district leverages state assessment data to identify patterns in student misconceptions and weaknesses, and then uses The Writing Revolution (TWR) strategies to directly address those gaps in science. By analyzing where students struggled on constructed-response and data analysis items, we can design intentional scaffolds that support students in writing to demonstrate their scientific knowledge—rather than losing credit due to incomplete or imprecise written responses. Participants will see concrete examples of how TWR sentence- and paragraph-level strategies (e.g., Because–But–So, sentence expansion, appositives, and subordinating conjunctions) are aligned to the types of reasoning and explanatory tasks required on the state exam. We will model how teachers can transform assessment data into targeted literacy-based interventions, helping students both strengthen their command of content and more clearly communicate their scientific reasoning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers can leverage state assessment data to identify where students struggle with three-dimensional science tasks, then apply targeted writing strategies that support sensemaking and help students clearly communicate their scientific understanding on assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Lynn DiAndrea, Dr. Kristen Cummings

When we broaden our idea of assessment beyond traditional paper and pencil tests, we give our students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in both creative ways and real world applications of Earth Science concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Assessment can take a number of different forms that are more relevant than traditional paper and pencil tests. These assessments are particularly valuable for Earth Science Students who struggle with traditional assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Vanessa Ueltzen

Discover how mastery learning and AI can support equitable 3D science assessments. Use provided learning scales and AI tools to build NGSS-aligned tasks. Engage in hands-on practice and leave with ready-to-use strategies and assessments for your classroom or team. This workshop is deeply rooted in the belief that all students deserve access to meaningful, rigorous, and transparent science learning experiences. By centering mastery learning and learning scales, we create a framework where success is not based on one-time performance but on clear pathways toward growth—supporting equity over uniformity. Key ways this workshop supports access, inclusion, diversity, and equity: Transparent Expectations: Learning scales break down abstract standards into student-friendly, observable progressions, helping all learners—especially multilingual students, students with IEPs, and those historically underserved in STEM—understand what success looks like and how to get there.

TAKEAWAYS:
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: Understand the role of learning scales in mastery-based instruction and assessment.; Use learning scales aligned to NGSS SEPs to create assessment tasks; and use AI tools to generate and refine 3D assessment items.

SPEAKERS:
Chrystal Anderson, Tamara Alt

Using publicly released assessment items from the Maryland High School Life Science assessment, participants will analyze how each of the 3 dimensions are being assessed. Participants will focus on designing assessment items equitable for all learners, specifically for multi-language learners (MLLs). Participants will analyze questions to determine the language demands and objectives, using these demands and objectives to inform instructional design. Participants will examine accommodations and modifications that can be made to assessment items to make them more accessible for MLLs. Assessment items must focus on one language demand at a time for MLLs, ensuring that language objectives align with what is being assessed. Participants will explore sample items and learn to revise their own assessment items to allow students to write explanations which are reflective of their current writing abilities, allowing them to demonstrate their understanding of the 3 dimensions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Use the 3D Framework of NGSS to analyze publicly released items from MD Biology Assessments for components that could present challenges to diverse groups of learners with a specific focus on multi-lingual learners. Specific strategies to develop 3D assessments and support diverse learners.

SPEAKERS:
Andrew Collins, Edmund Mitzel, Jr., Ph.D.

Everyone is familiar with the effects of perspiration on the skin. The cooling effect is very refreshing on a hot summer day. But what if we perspired some liquid other than water? Would we cool off more rapidly? Would we heat up? The goal of this activity is to help participants use the 3-D model to understand the "magic" of the water molecule. Without water and its incredibly unique characteristics, life as we know it would be impossible. In this session, we will experimentally address the question, "What if we perspired some liquid other than water?" On a grander scale, since Earth is covered mostly with water, the overall global temperature remains pretty constant. What if there were less water? Or what if, instead of water, another liquid were the norm? We will hypothesize an answer to these questions and then experimentally test those hypotheses.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this hands-on workshop, attendees will discover the evaporative cooling properties of water through experimental discovery.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens

How can we determine if classroom assessments support three-dimensional (3D) student learning? In this session, participants will explore how an adapted version of the NSTA’s Single-Point Rubric for Sensemaking (the Sensemaking Tool) can be used to evaluate an assessment’s ability to capture evidence of student sensemaking. We’ll begin by surfacing participants’ ideas about features of 3D assessment, then take a guided tour of the Sensemaking Tool to highlight essential criteria of 3D assessment. Participants will analyze a featured assessment through one criterion of the tool individually, then collaborate in teams to compare compiled evidence, identify strengths, and suggest improvements. Teams will share highlights with the whole group before closing with individual reflection on how their ideas and thinking about 3D assessment may have shifted. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of key features of 3D assessment necessary to capture and support student sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through guided analysis and collaboration, participants will actively engage with NSTA’s Sensemaking Tool to evaluate a featured assessment, identify evidence of criteria for student sensemaking, and reflect on the key features that make assessments authentically three-dimensional.

SPEAKERS:
Alan Berkowitz, Kevin Garner, Jenn Brown-Whale, Angela Hood

Assessment and grading are an integral part of science instruction in the classroom, but they don't have to be scary or daunting. Working together, the science curriculum team and the assessment team have developed a process for creating a transfer task with a new phenomenon to gather information and assess student understanding of their application of the standards from a unit. This process asks students to apply learning in a new way, rather than fill in the blanks with key vocabulary or recite certain facts from DCIs. These types of tasks peek student curiosity and promote a feeling of calm rather than anxiety because they don't look like a "test".

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk through the process that we use to create a transfer task for a unit of instruction. The process includes reviewing the standards, instruction from the unit, identifying a new phenomenon that the students can connect with, and designing the task.

SPEAKERS:
Miranda Orellana

Using finger LEDs and color filters, we will explore basic properties of visible light in the electromagnetic spectrum to sort colored M&M candies in the absence of white light. It’s a great exploratory activity to investigate the basic properties of visible light including reflection, absorption, and transmission. Using one color at a time to sort the colored candies helps to see which color wavelengths are reflected and absorbed in the colored candies, and when all 3 primary light colors are combined, it offers a different perspective. Additionally, by collecting data for enrichment opportunities and cross curricular connections, we can compare percentages of our population samples to determine the most likely percentage of green M&Ms in the bag (a very popular color).

TAKEAWAYS:
It's an exploration to introduce the EM spectrum using RGB LEDs and filters to investigate the basic properties of visible light by seeing how it interacts with colored candy through reflection, absorption, and transmission. These interactions connect to color perception and light-based tech.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Anderson, Brittany Chase

How can we assess science learning in ways that are inclusive, rigorous, and responsive to diverse learners? This session explores how to design equitable assessments that support 3D teaching and learning by incorporating a variety of formats—lab reports, hands-on models, student-choice projects, in-class essays, science writing, multiple-choice questions, and FRQs that reinforce close reading skills. Participants will examine how these formats align with science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts while promoting voice, access, and authentic engagement. You’ll explore how varied assessments expose students to the broad skill set needed to thrive in science—modeling, analysis, argumentation, communication, and writing- and how to ensure all students have multiple pathways to demonstrate understanding. Participants will also reflect on student work and adapt their own assessments using equity-focused strategies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design equitable science assessments that support all learners by incorporating a variety of formats—essays, models, projects, MCQs, and FRQs. Walk away with tools and time-tested strategies to build access, voice, and engagement into your assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Doran

Discover how digital portfolios can transform assessment in middle school science by centering reflection, equity, and student voice. In this workshop, participants will explore how portfolios help all students—across diverse learning needs—document products from coursework, reflect on growth, and identify skills they are strengthening, while also aligning with NGSS practices of constructing evidence-based arguments. This session highlights how portfolios move toward a more holistic and equitable assessment approach, emphasizing skill development over traditional grades to instill a growth mindset. Attendees will examine classroom examples of student portfolios, including reflections that reveal growth over three years of science, and consider strategies for fostering inclusive, differentiated opportunities that make every student’s learning visible. The session will also provide hands-on experience: participants will build a sample digital portfolio to model for their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Walk away with practical tools, templates, and strategies to implement portfolios that strengthen three-dimensional assessment and support equitable, student-driven reflection in middle school science.

SPEAKERS:
Whitney Koch, Kevin Rohn, Kristina Klammer

This presentation outlines how to support teacher readiness for new state science assessments, as well as the challenges and celebrations of student performance. We will also delve into the development of classroom formative and summative assessments in alignment with three-dimensional standards. Examples of how to coach teachers through the specificity of language in preparation for student sensemaking during classroom activities and assessments. Although this is classified in the Biology strand, it applies to all subject areas and grade levels 3-12.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom assessment requires focus and careful attention to increasing student sensemaking abilities through careful attention to the language embedded in the three dimensions.

SPEAKERS:
David Jacob

This session focuses on building authentic assessments tied to agricultural phenomena. Teachers will role-play a condensed transfer task centering around a relevant agricultural phenomenon, analyze its components, and discuss the potential design of their own using a provided template. The session emphasizes how transfer tasks connect classroom learning to real-world challenges, encouraging students to apply science concepts meaningfully. Participants will leave with a blank and sample template to use in their own instructional setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
Agricultural transfer tasks give students authentic assessment opportunities where they can apply their science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Gulotta, Brian Beierle

Participants will gain insight into the interplay of three-dimensional learning and assessment by diving into a 7th grade learning sequence anchored in the phenomenon of a global biodiversity hotspot. Participants will engage with key instructional and assessment moments to learn how students study the challenges species face and use engineering design to enact a solution that protects and enhances biodiversity in their community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discuss and make sense of how the use of three-dimensional formative assessments can strengthen instruction and student sensemaking in science.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Griffith, Stacey Vigallon, Andrea Frias

Incorporating and assessing the science and engineering practices into summative assessments can be a challenge for educators. This session will allow participants to dive into the difference between proficiency scales and rubrics. Using a hands-on, collaborative approach, participants will get the opportunity to use proficiency scales aligned to the science and engineering practices to create, review and revise assessments. They will be provided sample assessments, rubrics and proficiency scales. Upon completion, the participants will utilize tools to identify the rigor of the assessment they built to ensure deeper learning from their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will build a summative assessment using a proficiency scale aligned to the science and engineering practices then identify the rigor of the assessment utilizing tools to ensure deeper learning.

SPEAKERS:
Leah Ward, Becky McKinney

Join us to experience designing 3D summative transfer task assessments using the OpenSciEd curriculum and AI in order to evaluate student learning and assess mastery of NGSS performance expectations. Resources developed by Achieve’s Task Annotation Project in Science (TAPS) will be leveraged to ensure that assessments include the non-negotiables for NGSS assessment design including a focus on how science assessments can be more equitable. A four-point, mastery-based rubric scoring system will be introduced alongside a conversion strategy to input assessment scores into a percentage-based gradebook that reflect student mastery of NGSS performance expectations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with a strategy for designing and implementing equitable 3D summative assessments that require sensemaking to meet the requirements of the NGSS and guidance for assessing student learning using a 4-point, mastery-based scale.

SPEAKERS:
Grace Sohn, Cari Williams

Long trails terminated by heavy rocks called “sailing stones" were discovered along smooth valley floors in Nevada, California, and the surface of Mars. How are these heavy rocks moving across what seems to be desert? In this workshop, you'll learn what productive representations your students can use to assist them in bridging phenomena, words, pictures, and mathematics in kinematics. Can your students solve complex kinematics problems using pictures, graphs, and deep understanding? They will. Can they use real data from recently published journal articles to answer authentic questions in kinematics? They will. Can you assess them based on their performance with real data, instead of rote algebra? You will. Based on research on expert-like problem-solving, the framework attendees will work through takes a three-dimensional approach, requiring science practices and crosscutting concepts that go deeper than the rote algebraic manipulation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use real data, pictures, and graphs to help students solve kinematics problems, deepen problem-solving skills beyond algebra, and design assessments that support inclusion and align with NGSS and Common Core.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Moore

This session highlights how physics educators can lead and advocate for equitable access to rigorous science learning by using recycled household materials and free software in their labs and projects. In the workshop, participants will first experience one example of a summative assessment to build an “Egg Crash Cart” to protect an egg during a collision, modeling real-world safety systems such as crumple zones, airbags, and seatbelts. Student work samples will be shown that highlight how using everyday objects and freely available measuring instruments get kids closer to the physics of the project. Participants will then engage in discussion about how this style of project might address barriers in equity and sensemaking in their own physics instruction, and get time to collaborate on how to transform some of their own engaging labs into trash physics. Participants will leave with a digital folder of other lab and project examples, along with scoring rubrics and materials lists.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use low-cost, household-material design projects to provide equitable and engaging STEM assessments for all students without compromising high-quality three-dimensional NGSS Physics instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Scholz, Pooja Gupta