Your STEM journey begins here. Incorporate STEM and PBL into the K–5 curriculum. Receive ideas for program development, grants and funding, as well as  inexpensive or free field trips.

TAKEAWAYS:
Incorporating STEM curriculum and PBLs into the K–5 grade–level curriculum requirements. Finding and scheduling in-house free and inexpensive field trips, guest speakers, and virtual experiences for all students at your school. Funding and grant writing information and sources to fund your STEM program.

SPEAKERS:
Johanna Disney (McKendree Elementary School: Lawrenceville, GA), Julie Wilkerson (McKendree Elementary School: Lawrenceville, GA)

Author Emily Morgan will share ideas for adding “green breaks” to the school day that provide an opportunity for students (and teachers) to get away from their screens and reset and refresh their minds.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Research on the importance of green time 2. Ideas for simple "green breaks" 3. Projects the integrate more extensive green time

SPEAKERS:
Emily Morgan (Picture-Perfect Science: West Chester, OH)

What if students habitually explored the key questions posed by scientists, engineers, and designers in anything they do? Innovators’ Compass is a 5-question tool, in all-free online and offline formats, to make that possible—developed by an MIT and IDEO alumna who’s now an Olin College educator. A quick introduction will include short videos of the Compass used in STEM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about a visual tool, in all-free on-and-offline formats, with 5 questions distilled from many practices in science, engineering, design, and beyond. See students and educators applying these for STEM, interdisciplinary, and SEL problems and projects. Use these 5 questions with peers on a pressing problem: how to advance hands-on STEM in (semi) virtual times.

SPEAKERS:
Valeria Rodriguez (STEM Educator & Instructional Technologist: Miami, FL), Ela Ben-Ur (Innovators' Compass: Cambridge, MA)

Hear how the Samueli Foundation along with its partners designed and scaled the STEM Learning Ecosystem to now 89 communities around the world.

TAKEAWAYS:
What it takes to build a STEM Ecosystem How to build a STEM Ecosystem The evidence to support the value of a STEM Ecosystem

SPEAKERS:
Veronica Gonzales (Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES): Cleveland, OH)

Have a great activity to share? Join in for an overview of how to write for The Science Teacher. Learn tips and tricks for being a published author.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Participants will learn about the inner workings of the journal. 2. Participants will gain skills in how to write for the journal. 3. Participants will be introduced to what kinds of articles are sought for the journal.

SPEAKERS:
Ann MacKenzie (Miami University: Oxford, OH)

Can the popular comic book medium be used to better support students learning chemistry? Science comic books are comic books designed to visually engage readers using sequential art to navigate a narrative that delivers science content. My investigation showed that students who read the comic book had higher gains in chemistry content knowledge than those who read the chemistry text. Given the findings, science comic books will be an effective educational tool.

TAKEAWAYS:
How science comics can benefit my students. How I can use science comics in my classroom. What science comics are there to use and where to find them.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Preece (University of Kentucky: Lexington, KY)

Model stellar evolution processes using NASA images, plotting H-R diagram transitions, and determining the chemistry and physics of supernovas with NASA STEM image analysis tools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Knowledge of the process of how stars form and change over time ending in catastrophic events, providing conditions for the formation of planets. Students will understand that all knowledge of celestial events is determined by analyzing the light from these events. Image analysis software tools allow scientists to gain knowledge of the physical and chemical processes involved to create constantly evolving models of stellar evolution.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

Have your students explore the theories of life’s origins. Guide your students through historical research to memorable experiences of independent experimental design with Proteinoid Production. Student-produced samples will be on display.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive instructional materials and learn how to guide students through historical technical research to develop independent labs for Proteinoid Production. Discussions will include ways to implement and manage lab experience and stay sane. Methods of providing quick (and judicious) feedback as well as streamlined collective result sharing will be addressed.

SPEAKERS:
Catherina Sammons (Tates Creek High School: Lexington, KY)

Hear about various NSTA competitions and how they can bring STEM and the NGSS into the classroom, as well as give students and teachers a chance to earn recognition and prizes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about NSTA competitions Learn about how you can use competitions as a resource to implement NGSS and STEM into your curriculum Learn how you and your students can win prizes and recognition

SPEAKERS:
Alexis Mundis (Army Educational Outreach Program: Arlington, VA), Acacia McKenna (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Matthew Hartman (BrainPOP: Pittsburgh, PA)

Experience the Question Formulation Technique: a simple, powerful strategy that can spark curiosity and deepen remote learning by teaching students to ask their own questions.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Participants will learn the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) by experiencing it for themselves. They will walk away with a practical strategy they can immediately use in a remote setting to teach students how to ask better scientific questions and drive science inquiries. 2. Participants will explore student work from science classrooms across the country to see how the strategy can be used for a range of instructional purposes. 3. Participants will reflect on their learning, think on how they can implement it in their own setting, and get access to free tools and resources to do so.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bolduc (Ellington Middle School: Ellington, CT), Katy Connolly (Right Question Institute: Cambridge, MA)

Faculty and current students will discuss Pitt-Johnstown’s unique approach to their STEM Endorsement Certification, including students’ personal experiences and future teaching goals, and the program’s benefits and implications for  research.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in discussion to learn about: • Current focuses on teacher preparation in STEM education • Pennsylvania’s approach to endorsing students via their STEM Endorsement Certificate model and its program design and evaluation competencies • Pitt-Johnstown’s unique approach to the model, through a Q&A with faculty and current students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Chesney (University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown: Johnstown, PA)