EPIC Bioscience are free online investigations for NGSS middle school life science. Students collect and analyze data from digitized museum specimens to develop evidence-based arguments.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Online science investigations can be evaluated by assessing key features to engage students in real-world issues, motivate accurate data collection, and facilitate critical thinking and reflection; 2. Digitized museum specimens can be used to increase student engagement during data collection and support their understanding of data patterns; and 3. Using online data collection can enhance opportunities for authentic science investigations by reducing barriers related to specimen access.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Butcher (The University of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT), Madlyn Larson (Natural History Museum of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT)

Engage with Research Quest, free, online, NGSS-focused, phenomenon-based investigations using authentic museum objects and research to build students' literacy, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will: 1. experience an exemplar set of free resources that successfully integrate NGSS and ELA standards to provide students with meaningful, self-directed learning; 2. recognize that providing students with opportunities to research phenomenon-based problems professional scientists devote their careers to using the collections and data they build new knowledge from can empower students to better understand the enterprise of science, the natural world, and the natural history of our world—while building their literacy and critical -thinking skills; and understand that creating opportunities to make critical thinking visible is an essential scaffold necessary to support student efficacy with problem-finding and problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Madlyn Larson (Natural History Museum of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT)

Argument-Driven Inquiry is an instructional model that gives students an opportunity to learn how to use the DCIs, CCs, and SEPs to explain natural phenomena. It creates a learning environment where students are able to talk, read, and write in the service of sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How to use this instructional model, or way of teaching, to give students an opportunity to learn how to use the DCIs, CCs, and SEPs to make sense of natural phenomena; 2. How to give students an opportunity to use their own ideas and ways of communicating to talk, read, and write in the service of sensemaking; and 3. How to give students more opportunities to decide what counts as valid and acceptable and develop new criteria for what counts evidence in science.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX)

Explore free NGSS-focused activities from the USGS and partners on earthquakes, shake intensity, and how the ShakeAlert system works.

TAKEAWAYS:
After this session, participants will be able to: 1. find and use free activities and animations available at the ShakeAlert Education and Training Materials Website; 2. describe how P- and S-waves are critical to how the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning system works and how ShakeAlert improves earthquake preparedness; and 3. use USGS ShakeMaps to describe the factors that affect the intensity of earthquake shaking (Magnitude versus Shake Intensity activity).

SPEAKERS:
Jenny Crayne (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI): Portland, OR)

Throw away your worksheets and turn your classroom into a collaborative, engaging escape room.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. You will discover how to turn existing lessons into engaging escape rooms; 2. Receive dozens of hands-on puzzles to use in any escape room; and 3. Hear how your students can start to create standard-based escape rooms for you.

SPEAKERS:
Carissa Brazeal (Without Walls EDU: No City, No State)

Join museum educators and classroom teachers to learn how data collection and analysis can help students make meaningful connections with content and with each other.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn: 1. how to create a unit of study around authentic data collection and analysis; 2. data collection and analysis can connect teachers (or students) who can't connect in person; and 3. about tools for data collection and analysis.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Baldioli (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Washington, DC), Kate Kogge (AFOSR: No City, No State), Michelle Rahn (Will Rogers Junior High School: Claremore, OK)

Participants will work in cooperative teams to explore how POGIL supports CRT to help close the achievement gap for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
I can: 1. describe how the three stages of learning in Zaretta Hammond’s book Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) and the Brain (2015) relate to the learning cycle used in POGIL activities; 2. describe how team roles contribute to improved learning in small cooperative teams; and 3. share the three guided inquiry activities (Roles, CRT and POGIL, and a middle school science activity) with my peers and students.

SPEAKERS:
Mare Sullivan (Seattle Pacific University: Seattle, WA), Lori Stanton (Canyon Park Middle School: Bothell, WA)

Multiple lessons were learned with remote instruction that can be transitioned into the face-to-face classroom and support blended science instruction. Examples, tools, and strategies provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Discuss the lessons learned during remote instruction that have the staying power and should be part of blended instruction; 2. Identify positive instructional strategies that maximize technology and digital tools and determine the best way to transition those tools into the blended classroom; and 3. Engage in example activities where connections between digital tools and strategies for use in student engagement are made.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Anne Royce (Shippensburg University: Shippensburg, PA)

Connect to nature, explore biodiversity data, and build science practices with eBird citizen science. Use free apps to discover birds and beyond, wherever you are.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to: 1. use the Merlin Bird ID app to identify birds and create a list of the most 10 common birds in their area, and to use the eBird citizen science app to submit a checklist of birds; 2. define citizen science and describe how it can help students develop data literacy, deepen understanding of biodiversity, uncover real-world patterns and trends, and support conservation efforts; and 3. name and access at least three freely available resources (such as apps, online interactives, videos, lesson plans, data visualizations, and projects) that are suitable to use in their classroom to diverse learners in citizen science.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Fee (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY)

Join us to strengthen STEM in your classroom by STEMifying a Daily Do lesson plan.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Sensemaking in your classroom using NSTA Daily Do's; 2. How Daily Do's and other lessons can be modified to include more STEM; and 3. How to design for equity in STEM/Science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Elizabeth Allan (University of Central Oklahoma: Edmond, OK)

Teach homologous structures by having students design and build limbs and compare them with other students’ creations.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to: 1. design a hands-on activity to illustrate homologous structures; 2. design an engineering activity for students to design and build limbs, like arms, wings, and flippers; and 3. use these limbs to begin a discussion about homologous structures and common ancestors.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Rockow (Leslie Middle School: Salem, OR)

Use the Engineering Design Process to build and test a Mars Rover that will carry equipment and astronauts while learning about current NASA missions.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn about the Engineering Design Process; 2. Gain in-depth knowledge of NASA's BEST Curriculum; and 3. Attendees will design, build, and test a Mars rover.

SPEAKERS:
Vemitra White (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center: Huntsville, AL), Jamel Alexander (Missile and Space Intelligence Center: Huntsville, AL)

Get ready for the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. See how learning activities about Earth, the Moon, and Sun provide three-dimensional learning experiences to connect to these events that will be more spectacular than the 2017 eclipse.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. have a better understanding of what is meant by three-dimensional learning; 2. see how 3-D learning can lead to knowing what causes lunar phases and eclipses; and 3. be prepared to enjoy the solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR)

Bring your creativity and learn how to implement game-based learning in your science classroom. We will explore using hands-on techniques to make science fun.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. create a science-based game to use in their classroom; 2. develop an understanding of game-based learning; and 3. embed game-based learning in their current content/curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Tammie Schrader (NorthEast Washington ESD 101: Spokane, WA)

Looking for ways to connect what students learn at school with their home learning environment? This session will provide participants with many overarching hands-on science lessons that integrate the science and engineering practices and can easily be completed at home or school. Materials are cheap and easily accessible for parents/teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Overarching science concepts at each grade band; 2. Connecting hands-on science activities to at-home learning; and 3. Creating an at-home lessons template.

SPEAKERS:
Curtis Varnell (Guy Fenter Education Service Cooperative: Branch, AR)

Explore climate science and justice intersections in teaching and learning through practical examples and resources for classroom engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Explore learning activities and resources to build capacity to teach justice-oriented climate science; 2. Learn how to foster inquiry and civic practices for both educators and students; and 3. Share resources to help educational leaders navigate the implementation of climate justice learning.

SPEAKERS:
Ellen Ebert (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA), Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Meredith Lohr (EarthGen: Seattle, WA)

Climate Science can be a difficult topic, however focusing on hope and action allows students to see they can make a difference. Come see how!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Gain strategies to support all students, but especially English Learners (using OCDE, Orange County Department of Education, Project GLAD® strategies); 2. Learn the content and the relevant issues that are impacting climate change; and 3. How to focus on the importance of maintaining hope. We do this by showing students how their actions will make a difference.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Lindholm (North Central Educational Service District: Wenatchee, WA)

Join us to learn what sensemaking is and how to use research-based resources to engage students in making sense of the world around them.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Develop an understanding of what sensemaking is and how it can help build classrooms where students are able to make sense of the world around them; 2. Using a Daily Do, explore the four critical attributes of sensemaking: Phenomena; Science and Engineering Practices; Student Ideas; and Science Ideas; and 3. See what Professional Learning Units are and how they can help bring sensemaking to your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Elizabeth Allan (University of Central Oklahoma: Edmond, OK)

Join me for this FREE 3-D unit featuring progressive modeling supported by multimedia tools. A realistic and dynamic exploration of cells, cell systems, and disruption by pathogens. Visit https://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/cells/ for more information.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Where to access a new, free, NGSS-friendly middle school unit on cell structure and function, cell systems. and pathogens; 2. How to integrate realistic multimedia and paper-based modeling exercises to depict the dynamic inner workings of cells and tissues; and 3. Experience with cell models that can be carried through to cell systems and infection by pathogens.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Malone (The University of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT)

Students love sketchnoting in science! Come learn how visual notetaking leads to deep processing and retention of content. Editable templates will be provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. What are sketchnotes; 2. How to use sketchnotes in science; and 3. How to greatly increase student processing.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Weibert (Fresno County Office of Education: Fresno, CA)

The focus of this session is to engage educators in a discussion about authentic and effective assessment that informs teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies for: 1. designing appropriate and meaningful assessments that go beyond mutiple choice; 2. managing project-based learning and assessment; and 3. incorporating formative assessments—both formal and informainto instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Vicki Meeler (Newton County Schools: Covington, GA)

Make student thinking come to life with notebooks! Increase the rigor of student work—learn new strategies for organizing content and how to use templates for any science class. Take home many current NGSS classroom examples to get you started.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. The how and why of science notebooks; 2. Engaging ALL students in science; and 3. Templates scaffold student learning for success.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Weibert (Fresno County Office of Education: Fresno, CA)

Find out why by studying the phenomenon of the urban heat islands using the GLOBE Urban Protocol Bundle and My NASA Data. Training and ongoing support offered virtually.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Science content on heat islands, cloud formation, Earth’s energy budget, and NASA satellites collecting this data; 2. Face-to-Face interactions in collecting data (clouds, air, and surface temperature) using the GLOBE Observer App; and 3. Instructional materials from GLOBE and NASA to teach the science content and protocols aligned to NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Czajkowski (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH)

Teachers partner with University of Washington paleontologists during four days of the summer field season in central Montana to dig fossils that add to our understanding of the extinction of the dinosaurs.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn how you and your students can participate in ongoing research about the extinction of the dinosaurs through the University of Washington and Burke Museum DIG Field school; 2. Learn to identify 66 million-year-old species from microfossils; and 3. Receive access to 10 Lessons on Earth History and Fossils, all connected to NGSS standards.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Watrin (WSTA: Olympia, WA)

Explore the new IRIS web-based interactive earthquake lab! Have your students learn and practice earthquake location and analysis techniques with real seismic data! Bring a laptop/iPad!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Analyze and interpret data to help explain how patterns in seismic data allow earthquakes to be located; 2. Construct an explanation of how models of Earth structure are used in conjunction with recordings of seismic waves to calculate earthquake locations; and 3. Investigate how different methods can be applied to the same dataset to calculate earthquake locations using an online toolkit.

SPEAKERS:
Tammy Bravo (IRIS | Earthscope Consortium: Vancouver, WA)

This session will integrate programming/coding as a tool for use in a science classroom. Participants will use various tools, such as Scratch, to implement programming in their already designed science classes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn how to integrate computer science into their science classroom; 2. experience resources they can use in their classrooms; and 3. develop a lesson using computer science in their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Tammie Schrader (NorthEast Washington ESD 101: Spokane, WA)

Draw students into science literacy through a science fiction project! We will cover the history of sci-fi, a PBL unit, and resources for your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Science literacy is learned through formal and informal science learning; 2. Science fiction has historical value, current implications, and future applications ; and 3. Literary arts are made richer through scientific application.

SPEAKERS:
Erin Lark (Kognity: Stockholm, 0)