Explore how excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes water more acidic through hands-on activities from the free 5Es lesson plans in middleschoolchemistry.com.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Awareness of a free resource of NGSS-focused lesson plans in chemistry for middle school teachers and students; 2. Simple, safe, and inexpensive hands-on experiments showing that carbon dioxide gas makes water more acidic; and 3. Use of grade-appropriate explanations of the interactions of atoms and molecules to help students better understand the causes of the phenomena they observe and its connection to the problem of ocean acidification.

SPEAKERS:
James Kessler (American Chemical Society: Washington, DC)

Science current events journals bring real science into the classroom. Use the news to teach science content, media literacy, and analytical thinking, and to reinforce language arts.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How to integrate media literacy in the science classroom; 2. Tools for differentiated instruction in science literacy; and 3. Integration of NGSS in a science literacy project.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Weissman (The Ramaz School: New York, NY)

Delve into how to access and explore NOAA’s data-rich resources, lesson plans, and visualization tools to build data literacy and proficiency in scientific data analysis.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. What types of data are available from NOAA; 2. How to find and use NOAA data in your classroom; and 3. How students can be involved in data collection.

SPEAKERS:
Bekkah Lampe (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD), Kayla Smith (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Silver Spring, MD)

We will introduce a collection of units and resources to help teachers engage students in three-dimensional learning through model-driven inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Anchoring instruction around authentic phenomena is the first step to 3-D learning; 2. The practice of modeling should be at the center of your instructional units; and 3. Models help groups of students build explanations of phenomena together over time.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Campbell (University of Connecticut: Storrs Mansfield, CT), Ron Gray (Northern Arizona University: Flagstaff, AZ), Victor Sampson (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX)