2021 Los Angeles Area Conference

December 9-11, 2021

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FILTERS APPLIED:PreK - 5, Sharing Authentic Assessment Strategies, Physical Science

 

Rooms and times subject to change.
11 results
Save up to 50 sessions in your agenda.

How to Give Children More Opportunities to Use Science and Literacy to Make Sense of the World Around Them

Thursday, December 9 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 403B


Show Details

This session introduces a way to create learning experiences that will give students opportunities to talk, read, and write in the service of sensemaking as they use the DCIs, CCs, and SEPs to explain natural phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How to ensure students have access to science by designing investigations that promote and support the use of literacy skills; 2. How literacy can be used in the service of sensemaking; and 3. How to embed formative assessment of science practices and literacy skills into an investigation in a meaningful and informative way.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Hutner (Del Valle ISD: Del Valle, TX)

Inspiring Literacy and Science Interest with Data

Thursday, December 9 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 402A



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Session Resource Document Form
Form to access Resource Document and slide deck from the session.

Show Details

We use data to do science; data literacy is its own set of skills. Young learners benefit when we integrate data, literacy, and science together.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Identify how data literacy is a critical aspect of literacy and science literacy in the 21st century; 2. Explore strategies and resources to use to authentically integrate data into K–5 science instruction; and 3. Develop a plan for next steps to elevate data as an aspect of meaningful connections between literacy and science.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, LLC)

Connecting NGSS to Student Interests and the Science That Surrounds Us in Real Life

Thursday, December 9 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 408A


Show Details

Learn how to create engaging lessons, connecting to student interests and to the science and natural phenomena that surround us. Pick up strategies to engage K–6 students in explorations, helping them recognize and understand real-world science while creating a lifelong love of science. Handouts!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn: 1. innovative strategies to help children identify, explore, and understand a variety of interesting, real-life science that surrounds them in their everyday world; 2. how to design lessons that emphasize exploration, and give students the opportunity to test variables and analyze their effects; and 3. effective questioning strategies to engage students and increase the depth of student thinking, also helping to make student thinking visible; and to help teachers use effective questioning strategies to help students clarify and articulate their understanding of essential science phenomena and concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell (self: Shawnee Mission, KS)

Develop Engaged, Future-Ready Science Learners

Thursday, December 9 • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 408B


Show Details

Attendees will actively engage with innovative, technology-rich tools while learning strategies to teach data collection and analysis, engineering design processes, coding, and robotics. Discover engaging ways to apply coding to make devices “work,” adding rigor and complexity as learners gain skills and understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to: 1. design accessible, equitable hands-on learning experiences, in which ALL students actively participate and engage with innovative technology tools, helping students learn essential science concepts, engineering processes, and learn how to collaborate with peers to increase understanding; 2. teach authentic data collection and analysis, so that students can learn how to explore and test variables and measure and analyze their effects; and 3. use programmable technology tools and devices as effective teaching tools, helping students learn how to input code to achieve a desirable outcome, and how to analyze, diagnose, and correct the code when the device doesn’t perform as intended.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell (self: Shawnee Mission, KS)

Bridging the Gap: Using Teacher Leaders to Support Informal Educators

Thursday, December 9 • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 504


STRAND: Successful Collaborations Between Informal and Formal Educators

Show Details

Want to create high-quality, NGSS-focused field trip experiences? Come learn how we brought together classroom teachers and informal educators to accomplish this goal with amazing outcomes!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn the steps we took to create a collaborative environment for teacher leaders to support informal educators in learning more about NGSS and the EP&Cs; 2. learn the value of bringing the expertise of informal educators and the knowledge of formal educators together in order to create high-quality, NGSS-focused field trip experiences; and 3. be given access to the agendas, handouts, and templates we used in our training/planning sessions.

SPEAKERS:
Lesley Gates (Fresno County Office of Education: Fresno, CA)

Transforming Science Classrooms by Redefining Learning Spaces with Stile

Friday, December 10 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 406B


STRAND: Innovating the Future of Education: Technology and Science Education

Show Details

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Redefine your science classroom with Stile technology. Experience how Stile empowers teachers to facilitate student-centered learning environments, all grounded in relevant, real-world science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Technology in science classrooms should redefine how we teach, not substitute it; 2. Current classrooms require multiple entry points for students to learn; and 3. Teachers can redefine how they plan for, facilitate, and analyze student thinking connected to the NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
Shawna Jensen (Stile Education: Portland, OR), Julianna Jimenez (Stile Education: Los Angeles, CA)

Local Phenomenon-Based Projects

Friday, December 10 • 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 406B


Show Details

Sponsoring Company: AEOP

Come learn about using community-based phenomena as the basis for long-term STEM projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How to intergrade local phenomena into STEM projects; 2. Using eCYBERMISSION in your middle school science classroom; and 3. How to better engage middle school students with local problems.

SPEAKERS:
Sue Whitsett (Retired: Arlington, VA)

Teaching Science Standards Through Coding

Friday, December 10 • 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 502B



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
CYBER.ORG
Check out the amazing work and free resources from CYBER.ORG!
Power Point File
Register for Free Content
CYBER.ORG is grant funded through the Department of Homeland Security and provides free resources and professional development to teachers in the United States.

Show Details

Learn how to reach the three-dimensional science standards in your classroom through hands-on coding with the BBC micro:bit and free online Microsoft MakeCode simulator.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. gain personal hands-on experience using a BBC micro:bit to teach the Next Generation Science Standards; 2. learn how to teach problem solving through coding at an age-appropriate level with tips and pointers from presenters who each have over 10 years' experience in the elementary classroom; and 3. walk away with a free sample lesson from CYBER.ORG that includes the corresponding Next Generation Science Standards for the upper elementary classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Salvail (CYBER.ORG: Bossier City, LA), Brittany Pike (CYBER.ORG: Bossier City, LA)

Beyond Labz: Realistic Virtual Labs That Bridge the Gap Between Real Labs and Scientific Inquiry

Friday, December 10 • 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 407


Show Details

Sponsoring Company: Beyond Labz

Built on a platform developed over 20 years, Beyond Labz creates an open-ended environment providing students the opportunity to experiment, practice, fail, discover, and learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Beyond Labz simplifies and reduces the cost and expertise needed to provide crucial laboratory experiences and practice for secondary and higher ed students; 2. Attendees will learn how the labs are used for pre- and post-lab experiences, credit recovery and lab make-up, student engagement in class, and meeting NGSS standards; and 3. Basic onboarding and startup instructions will be provided for drop-in solutions, and instructions for using some of the more sophisticated features will also be described.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Woodfield (Brigham Young University: Provo, UT)

Using Environmental Solutions as a Lens for Teaching Science and Engineering

Saturday, December 11 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 406B


Show Details

Sponsoring Company: Green Ninja

The workshop will introduce and provide examples for a project-based framework that integrates climate science topics and themes with all the science disciplines, including engineering and computer science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. get the opportunity to reflect on the framework and model presented and share their own experience with other participants; 2. get the opportunity to develop a storyline and sequence of lessons that blend together multiple science NGSS standards using a project-based approach; and 3. get to review and discuss the work of other colleagues during the session.

SPEAKERS:
Eugene Cordero (Green Ninja: Mountain View, CA)

Language Proficiency and Rigorous Science Instruction—What’s the Connection?

Saturday, December 11 • 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Los Angeles Convention Center - 408B



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
California Association of Science Educators (CASE)
Sci-Lingual Education
Language and Literacy Resources: developing language in the context of science.
Science Centered Language Development
Science Practices and ELD Standards K-5
Slides for CASE Session Language Proficiency and Science

Show Details

What can we learn from examining the CA ELPAC science-related test items? Join us for a hands-on exploration into how three-dimensional NGSS teaching and learning can increase students’ English language proficiency.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Language proficiency is not a prerequisite for content instruction but an outcome of effective content instruction. Science learning and language development are mutually supportive; 2. As Emerging Multilingual Learners engage in science practices, they use disciplinary language and language functions (describe, sequence, evaluate, synthesize, etc.) to make sense of phenomena and to communicate their ideas; and 3. The functional use of language in social contexts improves language learners' communication abilities. Using language for meaningful purposes in an engaging science context improves students' ability to communicate in all areas and increases their language proficiency levels as measured by the ELPAC.

SPEAKERS:
Claudio Vargas (Sci-Lingual Education: Oakland, CA), Peter A'Hearn (California Association of Science Educators: Folsom, CA), Diana Velez (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

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