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)

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)

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)

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 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)