You’ve used blood glucose regulation to teach homeostasis. Extend those lessons with classroom-ready strategies that address how policy and place contribute to Type 2 Diabetes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. become familiar with a research-based storyline that disassociates genetics from health outcomes; 2. learn that type 2 diabetes is a complex condition that is heavily influenced by environmental factors such as access to resources, personal choice, product marketing, public policy, socio-economic status, and stress; and 3. learn that environmental factors can both increase and decrease a person’s risk for type 2 diabetes.

SPEAKERS:
Joan Griswold (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Atom Lesiak (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Do you want to learn how to integrate children’s literature into your elementary science block? This workshop will walk you through some children’s books that not only engage students and help build literacy skills but also provide a foundation for NGSS-focused STEM-related projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. gain an understanding of developing science literacy in their young students through literature; 2. walk away with resources (ideas and activities) to strengthen literacy and science skills; and 3. use children's literature as a way to enhance STEM learning in their classrooms through hands-on activities.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Pearcy (Jefferson Elementary School: Spokane, WA), Jayna Ashlock (Logan Elementary School: Spokane, WA), Kendra Robinson-Harding (Jefferson Elementary School: Spokane, WA)

Reading should not be limited to English courses. Leave with strategies on how to motivate students to explore science through scientific novels. Review three years of qualitative data on how novels increased  literacy, scientific fluency, scientific connectivity, and college preparation in a marine biology course.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will: 1. learn how to use articles to make their content more applicable to the lives of students; 2. receive strategies on how to get students to read more scientific articles; and 3. receive resources on selecting grade-appropriate scientific articles.

SPEAKERS:
Jonte' Lee (Whittier Elementary: Kansas City, KS)

Explore how to take advantage of NSTA’s vast resources and pathways, including both asynchronous and synchronous options to create personalized professional learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Discover the value of being a School or District NSTA Partner; 2. Explore how to maximize online professional learning for all teachers; and 3. Discover how to utilize NSTA's online learning resources to support in-person professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Learn how ungrading works in a science classroom as feedback and reflection replace points to increase student autonomy and connection to learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Connect deep 3-D learning with the tenets of ungrading to see how they work together; 2. Explore concrete ways of tracking student progress and feedback while devaluing points and centering learning; and 3. Leave with access to resources that support ungrading in STEM classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Johanna Brown (Washington State OSPI)

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)

Emphasis will be placed on five-minute daily strategies that will get students to become fluent in scientific vocabulary.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Develop students’ critical-thinking skills through the use of scientific vocabulary words; 2. Provide teachers with five-minute daily strategies to strengthen students’ scientific vocabulary usage; and 3. Provide teachers with exercises that will help students recognize the difference between Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary words.

SPEAKERS:
Jonte' Lee (Whittier Elementary: Kansas City, KS)

How can we elevate equity and justice in our work in science education, personally and in community? Learn about Oregon’s efforts in this critical process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn about the Oregon Equity in Science Teaching and Learning Symposium; 2. experience (briefly) several components of the symposium; and 3. contribute to our collective understanding of this critical work.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Mayo (Portland Public Schools: Portland, OR), Jamie Rumage (Oregon Dept. of Education: Salem, OR), Noelle Gorbett (Portland Public Schools)

Join us as we explore how NSTA’s three-dimensional resources can be utilized to enhance your teaching. Walk away with effective strategies for science teaching and learning and hear from educators as they provide tips for using these resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Hear from classroom teachers about how they are using NSTA Press publications; and 2. Leave with top-notch teaching tips and innovative lesson plan ideas that promote imaginative learning and student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kim Stilwell (BIOZONE Corp.: Parker, CO)

Experience how the Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model creates learning experiences that motivate students to engage with significant, real-world phenomena and problems in biology!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Develop an understanding of the Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model, the research that underpins the approach, and how it integrates elements of the 5E, NGSS Storylines, and other instructional models; 2. Consider the role of instructional coherence and real-world phenomena or design problems as an anchor for multiple cycles of inquiry in effective teaching and learning; and 3. Consider the role of an anchoring phenomenon and culminating task in providing equitable access and motivation for all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Experiment with the “sugar-blocking” tea Gymnema sylvestre and model cellular communication pathways in the tongue and the gut before evaluating possible mechanisms of action.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn: 1. how to model the physiology of sweet taste perception; 2. hHow the systems that detect sugar can be disrupted; and 3. how to evaluate three proposed mechanisms of action.

SPEAKERS:
Atom Lesiak (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Joan Griswold (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Discussion centers on tools to properly analyze black students’ scientific work to determine if the misconceptions and misunderstandings are a learning issue or language issue. Emphasis will be placed on the use of language to reduce the ethnic achievement gap in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Analyzing students’ work from a linguistic lens; 2. Recognizing biases when it comes to student language; and 3. Push Black students academically forward without making them feel torn between two language worlds.

SPEAKERS:
Jonte' Lee (Whittier Elementary: Kansas City, KS)

PERFECT FOOD will instruct teachers how to bundle their diverse science standards and present them in an authentic, empowering, and engaging unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will: 1. be shown how the complex food system gives their individual students the power to positively impact the world; 2. participate in unit activities and actively brainstorm how they can integrate their required standards into an authentic Perfect Food unit; and 3. take home templates and activities to initiate the process of developing their own Perfect Food unit.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Jamsa (Silverton Middle School: Silverton, OR)

Learn how to break down standards, incorporate book clubs, and implement workshops to intentionally teach literacy skills that transfer to all aspects of life.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learners will: 1. learn how to intentionally break down the science standards to focus on the literacy skill to teach the science content; 2. practice breaking down their own science standards into literacy activities that can be run in a workshop classroom; and 3. learn how to use book clubs to support literacy through the workshop method within the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Katerina Flanders (Lambert High School: Suwanee, GA), Kelli Schuyler (Lambert High School: Suwanee, GA), Desmond Jackson (Lambert High School: Suwanee, GA)

Engage in three-dimensional learning with hands-on activities to explore human population, biodiversity, climate change, land and natural resource use, and paths to sustainability.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn ways to incorporate 3-D learning strategies into hands-on activities around the NGSS topic of Human Sustainability; 2. come away with ideas and lessons to supplement their coursework in High School Biology and Environmental Science (General and AP) with experiential activities for in-person and virtual classrooms; and 3. be able to identify how the presented hands-on activities meet the NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Science & Engineering Practices; and how the activities can be used to reach all kinds of learners, for an inclusive classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Brennan Brockbank (Portland Public Schools: Portland, CT)

We share inclusive approaches to science and engineering “flipped labs” that enabled hundreds of high school students to connect STEM with home and families.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Design guidelines for affordable and accessible STEM design activities that can expand from classroom to home and allow students to engage in inquiry and engineering exploration; 2. Example case studies, from high schools with diverse demographics, of integrated science and engineering “flipped lab” design projects that bridged the classroom to home; and 3. Suggestions for improving flipped labs into full 3-D learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Mihir Ravel (Visiting Scholar: Portland, OR), Stephen Scannell (Gresham High School: Gresham, OR), Dan Robinette (Clackamas High School: Clackamas, OR), Cary Sneider (Portland State University: Portland, OR)

Formative assessment through scientific discourse and argumentation regarding evidence for scientific phenomena or theory gives authentic insight into student understanding of difficult science concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. understand the importance of formative assessment in the learning process; 2. value argumentation as a form of formative assessment; and 3. identify that scientific discourse with peers is a valuable learning tool within a classroom that gives insight into student thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Mansell (Washington Fields Intermediate School: Washington, UT), Jessica Jones (Washington Fields Intermediate School: Washington, UT)

Discover how to connect your classroom to America’s best idea, our National Parks System. Participants will get access to engaging science videos that are NGSS-focused and instructional resources to connect classrooms to our public lands.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Integrate lesson plans with instructional materials that connect students to our national parks; 2. -Develop a sense of environmental stewardship and conservation with students; and 3. -Make concepts and current environmental impacts on the parks relevant to your students.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Anderson (Hamilton County ESC: Cincinnati, OH)

Take your students beyond your classroom walls through virtual speakers and field trips with those on the frontlines of science, exploration, and conservation.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Discover the benefits of bringing exciting scientists, explorers, and conservationists live into your classroom through virtual guest speakers and field trips; 2. Explore how easy it is to do with exciting resources like Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants, Explorer Classroom, Google, and more; and 3. What to do before, during, and afterwards so your students get the most from these experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Joe Grabowski (Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants: Elora, ON)

We will use Google Forms and Google Sheets to propose and evaluate hypotheses based on research conducted in Wisconsin's Apostle Islands. Bring your laptop!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Choosing appropriate independent variables is an important science practice; 2. Patterns of data points indicate the strength of correlation between dependent and independent variables; and 3. Strong correlations indicate a greater likelihood that an independent variable has an important influence on a dependent variable.

SPEAKERS:
Charles Collis (Clayton High School: Clayton, MO)

Come experience how embedding literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in three-dimensional, phenomenon-focused biology units promotes science understanding for ALL learners!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Develop an understanding of how embedding literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in three-dimensional units of instruction creates an equitable learning environment for all students; 2. Consider the role of literacy supports in conjunction with science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to promote students in figuring out key science ideas; and 3. Consider the role of literacy supports in formative and performance assessments that equitably allow students to demonstrate their learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

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)

Explore a new unit about cancer inequities, designed by Northwest science educators and the Science Education Partnership at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. critically examine cancer data and explore the question, "Is Cancer an Equity Issue?"; 2. analyze patient case studies; and 3. experience an overview of the other unit lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Lindahl (Multnomah Education Service District: Portland, OR), Renee Agatsuma (Mount Rainier High School: Seattle, WA), Hanako Osuga (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center)

Despite its central role in the Biology curriculum, evolution remains a topic of contention. We will examine evolutionary science today and the evidence behind it.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Participants will see examples of how the evolutionary narrative can be incorporated into topics as diverse as ecology, physiology, taxonomy, and cell biology [HS-LS1-2] ; 2. The evidence usually marshaled in support of evolution is often confined to passive descriptions of the fossil record and well-worn examples of natural selection. We will examine ways that students can use the availability of genomic data to pinpoint the marks of evolutionary change in DNA sequences and patterns of gene organization [HS-LS3-2, HS-LS3-5]; and 3. Finally, we will explore and discuss approaches to overcoming student and community resistance to the teaching of evolution by emphasizing the core biological events behind the process and the central role they play in the living world [HS-LS4-6].

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Miller (Brown University: Providence, RI)

The focus of this presentation is to equip teachers with the pedagogical and technological skills needed to drive three- dimensional NGSS-focused instruction using phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Help teachers develop and use thought-provoking phenomena to enable students to make connections between the science concept and real-life situations; 2. This session provides participating teachers opportunities to experience lessons in the same manner as students; and 3. Help teachers to use digital platforms for academic dialogue that would spike discontent in the students' understanding of the phenomena, driving them to use science practices to explore their curiosities further.

SPEAKERS:
Chidi Duru (Prince George's County Public Schools: Upper Marlboro, MD)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Explore the processes of DNA replication, transcription, and translation using manipulatives that support the NGSS three dimensions, most notably the SEP of developing and using models.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Model the leading and lagging strands of DNA; 2. Understand the semiconservative nature of DNA replication; and 3. Investigate how a change in DNA code can result in a change in the protein produced.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Auld (Sehome High School: Bellingham, WA)

Sponsoring Company: Bio-Rad Laboratories

In this hands-on walk-through, learn about a CRISPR gene editing classroom activity and discuss strategies to reveal student misconceptions with a free paper model set.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Free paper models for teaching CRISPR gene editing and revealing student misconceptions; 2. A deeper understanding of CRISPR gene editing at the molecular level; and 3. Information about a CRISPR gene editing classroom activity.

SPEAKERS:
Damon Tighe (Bio-Rad Laboratories: Hercules, CA)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Mitosis, meiosis, chromosome structure, and crossing over will be explored in this hands-on modeling event. Bring your student hat and be ready to engage.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Model chromosome structure and anatomy; 2. Compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis; and 3. Model mechanisms that contribute to genetic variation.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Bowers (Meridian School: Round Rock, TX)

This new framing of a popular forensics lab connects science topics such as DNA technology to mass incarceration by using real cases of wrongful convictions.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How DNA technology can be used not only to identify criminals but to exonerate the innocent; 2. How DNA technology can be presented in the classroom in a social context that can open discussions about issues like mass incarceration and criminal justice; and 3. How science can be used in service of social justice.

SPEAKERS:
Jeanne Chowning (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: No City, No State), Hanako Osuga (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center)

Join me as I share an example of how to incrementally build skill in argumentation from evidence as part of a freely available curriculum unit on Evolution. For more information on Teach.Genetics, please visit https://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/evolution/.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn about a successful, classroom-tested approach to building skill in argumentation through a series of lessons interwoven in a high school evolution unit; 2. Consider ways to apply an incremental approach to argumentation in any unit; and 3. Learn where to access free multimedia and paper-based genetics, evolution, and argumentation materials.

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

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Work through cycles of PCR using foam manipulatives that make the invisible visible. Demonstrate the role of Taq polymerase, primers, and nucleotides as they copy target DNA.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Explore the chemical mechanism involved in PCR; 2. Model polymerase chain reaction and how flanking primers result in the exponential amplification of a short product; and 3. Use a real-world scientific example of how PCR is used to help solve a crime.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Auld (Sehome High School: Bellingham, WA)

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 start-up 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)

Come discover a curriculum for biology educators that explores how racism, the construct of race, the history of science, and genetic variation intersect.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Race is a socio-political construct with deep implications but race is not a good surrogate/proxy for biology; 2. Understanding human genetic variation can disrupt the idea of genetically meaningful “races”; and 3. Using the idea of “race” uncritically in science can reinforce racist ideas (such as the idea that race, rather than racism, underlies health inequities).

SPEAKERS:
Jeanne Chowning (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: No City, No State), Hanako Osuga (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center)

As an extension of our Type 2 Diabetes curriculum, we developed an online game to learn about blood glucose metabolism and the impact of disease.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. How to use the web-based game Blood Glucose Balance to engage learners in the complex phenomenon of glucose metabolism and diabetes; 2. Blood glucose levels are regulated to stay within a healthy range. Type 2 diabetes is the result of chronic high blood glucose levels over time, as mechanisms for regulation fail; and 3. Type 2 diabetes is a complex condition that is heavily influenced by environmental factors such as access to resources, personal choice, product marketing, public policy, socio-economic status, and stress.

SPEAKERS:
Atom Lesiak (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Joan Griswold (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Explore NSTA’s new Professional Learning Units. Discover these bite-sized asynchronous professional learning experiences that support student sensemaking to earn credit to submit to your school or district.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Discover how NSTA can provide asynchronous and bite-sized continuing education credit options (2 hours per PLU); 2. Explore how each PLU contains reflections or tasks connected to the classroom that are submitted to NSTA for review or feedback; and 3. Explore how we can support professional learning for individuals or schools/districts including the flexible options available for Professional Learning Unit topics, and how these fit into our Professional Learning pathways.

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

EdReports is expanding into high school instructional materials reviews. Learn about the High School Learning and Listening Tour, provide feedback on our current thinking, and hear about opportunities to become a reviewer.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Build an understanding of the challenges educators face in finding quality materials and how EdReports aims to address those challenges; 2. Learn about the expansion into High School science and develop an understanding of the findings from our High School Learning and Listening tour, characteristics of alignment to the NGSS and usability, and discuss smart adoption processes; and 3. Hear about opportunities to engage as an EdReports reviewer in upcoming reviews, which includes NGSS training, an extended learning community, and a paid stipend.

SPEAKERS:
Sam Shaw (EdReports.org)

Discover cancer-based lesson plans and teaching resources that engage students and support opportunities for student voice and discourse.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Cancer disrupts the controls on mitosis and differentiation that normally produce and maintain complex organisms; 2. Cancer affects all population groups in the U.S. but certain groups may bear a disproportionate burden of cancer compared with other groups; and 3. Technology can be used to develop cures and treatments for different cancers.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Crowder (Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton: Atherton, CA), Regina Wu (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Seattle, WA), Maggie Lewis (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center: Seattle, WA)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Learn how trouble in a yogurt factory exposed CRISPR biology, paving the way for a groundbreaking biotechnology tool. This session explores virus-cell interactions at the boundary of living and nonliving systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. To update teachers’ knowledge of bacteria-phage interactions; 2. To demonstrate how teachers can connect this new technology to basic concepts of molecular biology they are already teaching; and 3. To connect a basic biological system to technological innovation.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Bowers (Meridian School: Round Rock, TX)

Learn practical strategies to build a more inclusive class culture in this NGSS-aligned session. Find out how to leverage student experience to promote learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Three-dimensional and phenomena-based teaching routines build classroom equity and inclusion; 2. Developing clear norms together is key to helping students find their voice; and 3. Productive student talk requires planning, but student and teacher tools are available.

SPEAKERS:
Steven Babcock (Louisiana State University Laboratory School: Baton Rouge, LA)

We will explore a COVID-19–based curriculum that provides a direct and compelling way to focus student attention on the most basic processes in biology.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Participants will examine specific curriculum plans using the COVID-19 virus to illustrate basic principles of cell biology, including biological membrane structure, mRNA function, transcription, translation, replication, and immune response [HS-LS1-1, HS-LS-3-1 2); 2. The emergence of COVID-19 variants will be explored as a case study in natural selection, evolution, and phylogenetic analysis [HS-LS3-2, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4]; 3. The public reaction to pandemic pubic health countermeasures and vaccination will be examined as a case study in scientific literacy and science denial [HS-LS2-8]; and 4. Participants will discuss ways to use their classrooms to promote student understand of the science behind these public health measures.

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Miller (Brown University: Providence, RI)

Join me as I share eight short stories about the most significant fossil discoveries in Washington and Oregon combined with a hands-on experience that connects to each story.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Use storytelling to engage students in the NGSS Earth Science Standards that include fossil evidence; 2. Utilize prehistoric animals as motivation to read and research about the place that you live; and 3. Make connections to the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon and the Burke Museum and Stonerose fossils in Washington.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Watrin (WSTA: Olympia, WA)

Come experience how leveraging complex culturally relevant societal challenges as phenomena in three-dimensional teaching and learning supports student motivation and development of agency.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Develop an understanding of how complex societal issues can serve as anchoring phenomena and problems in three-dimensional units of instruction to motivate students and develop student agency in adressing these issues; 2. Consider the role of complex societal issues as an anchor for multiple cycles of inquiry in effective teaching and learning; and 3. Consider the role of culuminating tasks and performance assessments that equitably allow students to demonstrate their learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

This session introduces CRISPR-Cas9 in the context of DNA, RNA, and protein structure. Functional interactions in the natural system are explained as well as engineered improvements for sequence-specific targeting in the human genome.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. To update teachers’ knowledge of this new gene-editing technology; 2. To demonstrate how teachers can connect this new technology to basic concepts of molecular biology they are already teaching; and 3. To explore the potential and limitations of genome-editing technology applications.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Bowers (Meridian School: Round Rock, TX)

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)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Support three-dimensional learning with the hands-on Phospholipid Membrane Transport Kit, exploring the chemical properties of water and the phospholipid bilayer membrane.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Model how phospholipids spontaneously assemble in water; 2. Identify and simulate the function of the various types of channel proteins involved in membrane transport; and 3. Show how the membrane model can be used over time to add increasingly more advanced topics such as transport of ions or active transport using sodium potassium pumps.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Auld (Sehome High School: Bellingham, WA)

Sponsoring Company: Bio-Rad Laboratories

A COVID-19 outbreak among restaurant customers has researchers puzzled. It's time for your students to analyze DNA samples by electrophoresis and propose evidence-based explanations.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Walk through a hands-on classroom lab activity to teach about SARS-CoV-2 detection methods; 2. Learn about a case study, based on a publication in 2020, in which researchers analyzed diagnostic data from patrons of a restaurant to learn about how SARS-CoV-2 spreads; and 3. See how students can use classroom lab results to propose evidence-based explanations for how SARS-CoV-2 may have spread in the case study scenario.

SPEAKERS:
Damon Tighe (Bio-Rad Laboratories: Hercules, CA)

Let me introduce you to a multidisciplinary, open-ended investigation that incorporates absolute and relative dating, anomalies, historical context, volcanoes, solar proton events, energy cycles, Earth systems, terrestrial events, and supernovas.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Students will have a better understanding of the process of constructing knowledge; 2. Students will have to analyze and defend their results; and 3. Sometimes there is no answer key, only possible solutions from constructing and analyzing data from several sources that cross traditional disciplines.

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

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Let's explore membrane transport and signaling support neuron function. This session covers the relationship between structures and the electrical changes during excitation along with strategies to deepen engagement and understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. deepen their understanding of the molecular mechanisms that support neuron activation and signal propagation during an action potential; 2. become familiar with the specific impacts of neurotransmitters on the pre- and post-synaptic neurons; and 3. use foam models to explore approaches to learning that invite deep questioning, such as via making predictions of the consequences of specific mutations in the sodium potassium pump on neuron activity.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Bowers (Meridian School: Round Rock, TX)

We’ll share free lesson resources that explore the immune system’s role in fighting cancer and how gene editing technologies hold the potential for new cures.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Our immune system uses specialized cells to deal with various threats to the body, including pre-cancerous cells; 2. Genetic engineering is a powerful tool with the potential to develop cancer treatments like CAR T-cell therapy, but also holds the potential for misuse; and 3. There are numerous ethical considerations when carrying out clinical trials for cancer therapies.

SPEAKERS:
Regina Wu (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Seattle, WA), Jeanne Chowning (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: No City, No State)

Engage students in a hands-on cellular respiration activity using handouts and pop-beads that help explain the concept.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn the stages of cellular respiration; 2. Discover how to follow glucose through the oxidation steps and track the carbons that are converted to CO2; and 3. Calculate the energy production (ATP) through substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation.

SPEAKERS:
Deborah Cardenas (Collin College, Wylie Campus: Wylie, TX)

Participants will learn how to create a culturally relevant science lesson using an Earth science unit on conflict minerals in electronic devices as an example.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn how to identify concepts that readily lend themselves to connecting and engaging students in culturally relevant content; 2. brainstorm science content that can lead to social activism; and 3. learn how to connect the NGSS crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices.

SPEAKERS:
Lesley Urasky (Saratoga Middle/High School: Saratoga, WY)