Sponsoring Company: DoD STEM

An introduction to STEM IT!, a pilot program aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented students with competitive applications to high school STEM internships.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn strategies for educating and coaching underrepresented students on how to find paid STEM internships, and to plan their application process and anticipation of interviews; 2. be introduced to a step-by-step approach to coaching and mentoring students through the actual application process, including helping them navigate complex technology, letters of reference requests, and responding to difficult interview questions; and 3. be provided with suggestions for guiding students through practice interviews and sharing basics of a workforce culture.

SPEAKERS:
Julie Stolzer (Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES): Cleveland, OH), Toby Bothel (TAB Education Partners: Canton, OH), Marc Siciliano (Consultant: Chicago, IL)

Students and teachers can learn about STEM in an immersive and risk-friendly environment? A regional student competition was developed to accomplish this feat.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Students will take risks in learning when they are set up for success; 2. Teachers and students can learn together; and 3. Professional Development does not have to be lecture in format.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Semicek (Montgomery County Intermediate Unit 23: Norristown, PA), Ben DeSantis (Montgomery County Intermediate Unit 23: Norristown, PA)

Learn how to use your existing science kit materials to support your students with NGSS, based on experiences from the Elementary Science Olympiad program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn: 1. how to modify "instructional kits" available to them to allow for authentic student inquiry; 2. how to structure instruction to allow for cycles of failure and feedback; and 3. how hands-on science supports implementation of the NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
John Loehr (Science Olympiad: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Shari Haug (Science Olympiad: Oakbrook Terrace, IL)

Follow a storyline through early childhood explorations, looking at the needs of living things—space, water, sunlight, soil. Then engineer a garden designed to integrate all areas, supported by great literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. STEM Explorations need to be authentic and progressive, focusing on big ideas; 2. STEM Exploration leads to agency and equity in all areas of a child's life; and 3. Communication among all of the guides in early childhood, formal, informal, mentors, and family is the key to success.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Ruud (Cleveland State University: Cleveland, OH), Juliana Texley (Lesley University: Cambridge, MA)

Join us on your STEM journey and learn how to incorporate STEM and PBL into your K–5 curriculum. Receive ideas for program development, grants and funding, and inexpensive or free field trips. Teaching STEM digitally with coding and computer programming apps.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Incorporating STEM curriculum and PBL's into the K–5 curriculum requirements and incorporating Digital Coding and computer programs to use with virtual teaching; 2. Finding and scheduling in-house free and inexpensive field trips, guest speakers, and virtual experiences for all students at your school; and 3. 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)

See how early childhood educators at an urban charter school are revolutionizing their classrooms as makerspaces to promote developmentally appropriate practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how: 1. a makerspace for young children can be intentionally designed to allow for children to experience Seymour Papert's 8 Big Ideas of Contstructionism; 2. the young children can gain experience with the 8 Science and Engineering Practices in a makerspace-inspired Early Childhood Classroom; and 3. to facilitate child-directed learning in a developmentally appropriate manner in an intentionally designed makerspace.

SPEAKERS:
Sabrina Burroughs (Eagle Academy Public Charter School: Washington, DC), Karen Brooks-Bauer (Eagle Academy Public Charter School: Washington, DC)

Bring the world to your urban classroom with Global Science / Citizen Science. Experts will share their work and provide details on how to actively involve students in real-world science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Engage with educators who have led their school systems to meet various challenges; 2. Learn from successful programs; and 3. Discuss relevant issues related to urban science educators.

SPEAKERS:
Pat Shane (UNC-Chapel Hill Emerita: , NC), Mary Beth Berrien (Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School: Greenfield, MA), Michelle Ellis (Hunter Huss High School: Gastonia, NC), LeeAnne Jimenez (Wilson Teaching and Learning Academy: Tulsa, OK), Acacia McKenna (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Susan Meabh Kelly (University of Connecticut: Storrs Mansfield, CT), Brad Rhew (Guilford County Schools: No City, No State)

Through research conducted by the Growing Future STEM Teachers in Maine grant, this presentation explores the upsides, downsides, and enticements of secondary STEM teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore perceptions of careers in STEM secondary education; 2. understand factors that influence interest in STEM fields; and 3. identify evidence-based practices for preparation and retention of high-quality secondary STEM teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Patricia Waters (Saint Joseph's College of Maine: Standish, ME)

NSTA’s Committee on Postsecondary Science Teaching will examine best practices and the challenges in designing authentic assessments that not only measure learning outcomes, but remain inclusive to all students. A special emphasis will be placed on underserved populations and underprepared students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to: 1. explain the principles of Inclusive Authentic Assessment; 2. describe how underprepared and underserved students benefit from Inclusive Authentic Assessment; and 3. identify the challenges of using Inclusive Authentic Assessment in higher education.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ogle (Brevard Zoo: No City, No State), David Wojnowski (Georgia State University: Atlanta, GA), Esperanza Zenon (River Parishes Community College: Gonzales, LA)

The purpose of our research is to investigate how teacher candidates’ experiences in STEM field studies with community partners can inform our work with an integrated practicum semester based on a curriculum of place. Place-based education is an approach to teaching that is grounded in the context of community and environment and seeks to help participants in solving community problems. Many Indigenous scholars are replacing the term place with land and argue that land-based pedagogies promote the decolonization of education by recognizing the intimate relationship that Indigenous peoples have with the land. One challenge with land-based pedagogies is the role non-Indigenous peoples have in this approach to the decolonization of education. Our research, in a western Canadian context, explores this tension as we come to a deeper and shared understanding of our co-responsibility within Treaty 7 relationships. Our project considers varying perspectives of place as it informs STEM teacher education pedagogy.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Land-based pedagogies;2. Indigenous ways of knowing; and 3. Integration of STEM curriculum and pedagogies.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin O'Connor (Mount Royal University: Calgary, AB)

Are you interested in creating a comprehensive, equity-focused, schoolwide STEM environment? If so, join this session to gain insight into Indiana’s road map for implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. The “why” behind each element based on Hattie’s Visible Learning research; 2. Creating a comprehensive and equitable STEM environment is a two- to thre-year process, and the process is ongoing; and 3. Community partners are a critical component of providing a comprehensive STEM environment.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Hilton (Central Indiana Educational Service Center: Indianapolis, IN)

Explore a holistic snow curriculum built through collaboration between an Iñupiaq community and university educators. Learn development processes and access free STEM lessons and videos.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Explore the free and NGSS-focused Qanniksuq: It is Snowing resources targeting middle school; 2. Learn about an emerging research-based process for indigenous community-engaged STEM curriculum development applicable to K–12; and 3. Discover how curricula developed using this process impacted students, teachers, and community members in participating indigenous communities.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Schoening (Geophysical Institute: Fairbanks, AK), Lynda McGilvary (Geophysical Institute: Fairbanks, AK), Sean Asikluk Topkok (University of Alaska Fairbanks: Fairbanks, AK)

This workshop introduces participants to "Teacher Moments," a platform for digital clinical simulations to advance equitable, practice-based teacher education and professional development.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. be introduced to existing practice spaces published on the digital clinical simulation platform, “Teacher Moments,” and complete two–three simulations/practice spaces; 2. learn about simulations previously implemented in teacher education contexts, about simulation design, and how simulations support equity in distance learning; and 3. learn how to register for the free platform and create practice spaces customized to their context, e.g., instructional coaching, professional development, higher education, etc.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Lane (University of the District of Columbia: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: Pivot Interactives

Come see how Pivot Interactives can fill accessibility voids in our classrooms. Cost, time, scale, and safety limits are removed while still maximizing student engagement with the science practices through engaging content.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore the large Pivot Interactives library and identify activities that can fill lab gaps in classroom caused by cost, time, scale or, safety; 2. discuss the implementation of the tools within Pivot Interactives to scaffold, differentiate, and personalize content around common phenomena; and 3. dDiscuss pedagogical uses of Pivot Interactives in a changing educational landscape that allows to easy with in person, hybrid, or distance classes, as well as individual or collaborative work.

SPEAKERS:
Matt Vonk (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN), Eric Friberg (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN), Linda Detwiler (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN), Peter Bohacek (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN)

Sponsoring Company: DoD STEM

Hear how a cohort model to professional learning can not only build individual teacher capacity, but also impact STEM learning throughout an ecosystem.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn about the benefits of a cohort-based approach to STEM professional learning; 2. understand the impacts of this approach within the context of an ecosystem and on individual professional development; and 3. learn how collaboration can elevate common goals to impact student learning along the pipeline.

SPEAKERS:
Jason Porter (Tiger Woods Foundation: Washington, DC), Jessica Kesler (TGR Foundation: Irvine, CA), Patty Brunet (Cypress High School: Cypress, CA)

Students will see science concepts through the perspectives of characters in novels. Participants will leave with lists of book titles and ready-to-use reflective prompts.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. A list of literature that is categorized by grade level and science topics covered; 2. Examples of how to use literature in the science classroom to promote student engagement and meaning-making; and 3. Ways to connect social justice topics to a science curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Prince (St. John's Prep: Danvers, MA)

The “quantum revolution” is on the horizon. What can we do today—through policies and programming—to ensure quantum computing education is accessible to all students?

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to: 1. explain why quantum computing is an important emerging technology and STEM discipline; 2. identify the barriers to accessible, widespread quantum education and describe actionable strategies to combat them; and 3. discuss ideas to increase diversity in quantum computing, starting at the K–12 level.

SPEAKERS:
Kiera Peltz (The Coding School: Studio City, CA)

Sponsoring Company: DoD STEM

Connect with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to learn about engaging a diverse range of students through programs spanning the STEM Ecosystem.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn: 1. strategies to recruit a diverse group of students to their STEM classrooms; 2. where to find research-backed resources that are free to use and download; and 3. how to engage and celebrate their students with programs from NCWIT, including Aspirations in Computing and TECHNOLOchicas.

SPEAKERS:
Angela DeHart (STEM Impressionists Program: Ashburn, VA), Edie Cheng (National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT): Boulder, CO), Shannon Gibbs (Graceland Park-O’Donnell Heights Elementary/Middle School #240: Baltimore, MD)