Successful environmental science education needs to balance data with compassion and equitable sensemaking. How do we manage student anxiety and invite them into the problem?

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will form support groups to recognize their own anxiety in order to prevent burnout and deliver content effectively and sensitively. Subtractive problem solving will be highlighted as a means to ease "hopelessness" in climate discussions. The role of sensemaking, as it applies to students of various backgrounds and with various needs, will be brought into the climate discussion as well.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Epstein (The Baldwin School: Bryn Mawr, PA)

Join us for a hands-on FoodPrints lesson that explores the Three Sisters Garden to teach teamwork, SEL practices, cooperation, groups discussion, and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Engage in a hands-on engineering investigation to design and build a Three Sisters Garden model and learn the Native American legend of the Three Sisters Garden as participants work in groups to explore the themes of teamwork, cooperation, and empathy as it relates to their investigation and the legend. 2. Participants will practice strategies to engage students in discourse and develop habits for discussion and collaboration through a series of hands on investigations, as well as explore tools for assessing through discourse. 3. Explore the FoodPrints Curriculum’s interdisciplinary approach to teaching elementary science lessons with garden and food education themes, and gain free access to our lessons and resources for Pre-K through 5th grade.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Ramsey (FRESHFARM FoodPrints: Washington, DC), Susan Bandler (FRESHFARM FoodPrints: Washington, DC)

Support SEL while meeting science standards through student investigations and citizen science. Motivate students with schoolyard projects and real data with our free inquiry curriculum!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore free resources to scaffold citizen science–inspired inquiry projects; 2. discover how outdoor learning and inquiry projects can support social and emotional learning; and 3. discuss the challenges and opportunities related to authentic scientific inquiry and how classroom teachers have successfully implemented these practices.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Schaeffer (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY)

Come join a pharmaceutical research team! Go through the process of making a safe, cheap, and effective antacid while collaborating with your teammates.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Practicing science is more than just knowing content, it requires soft skills; 2. Current good manufacturing processes (CGMP) are required for a reason and students should be familiar with them prior to entering the career field; and 3. There are methods for letting students drive the investigation without losing “control” or instructional time.

SPEAKERS:
Courtney Behrle (BioNetwork: Greenville, NC)

How do science teachers and students rebound after a year of interruptions, remote learning, and a compromised learning experience last year?

TAKEAWAYS:
Tips offered on how to engage prior learner experience and content knowledge without student fear of judgement or negative evaluation Looking at 3-dimensional science teaching in terms of broad, transferable skills that can be backfilled if learning loss took place last year Creating opportunities for purposeful, personal self-reflection to help drive instruction and allow learners to connect with material in ways that couldn’t occur with COVID restrictions

SPEAKERS:
Shawn Sutton (Long Valley Middle School: Long Valley, NJ)

This session will take a deep dive into how to engage students experiencing chronic trauma in the science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Participants will be exposed to the signs and impacts of chronic trauma on science students. 2. Participants will be provided with strategies for engaging these students in the science classroom. 3. Participants will be provided with ideas and techniques for developing a science classroom environment that supports students living with chronic traums.

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

Participants will learn about how some districts around the country are using an asset approach to post-COVID learning and will collaboratively share ideas with others.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Some districts around the country are focusing on an acceleration rather than a remediation post-COVID approach to learning; 2. An asset approach to learning and learners supports social and emotional well-being; and 3. The NSELA Learning Center provides resources for continued learning about asset versus deficit approaches to learning.

SPEAKERS:
Andy Weatherhead (National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA): Downingtown, PA)

High school biology students use an inquiry-based approach to investigate the impact of five-minute mindful meditation in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn: 1. about the statistically significant impact short amounts of mindful meditation have in a classroom setting, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; 2. about connecting mindfulness to physiological factors, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate; and 3. to recreate this experiment with their own classes and integrate this activity into a biology or life sciences curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Dana Bunnell-Young (Severn School: Severna Park, MD)

The science classroom provides numerous opportunities to reinforce social emotional learning with students. This session will explore several ways we can naturally integrate SEL as we teach science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Define Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and list the 5 SEL competencies. Discuss how to integrate SEL in the science classroom. Provide examples of how SEL naturally aligns with how we teach science.

SPEAKERS:
Zipporah Miller (Educational Consultant: Bowie, MD)