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)

Attendees will actively engage with innovative, technology-rich tools, learning strategies to teach data collection and analysis, engineering design processes, coding, and robotics, and 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 (Educational and Technology Consultant: Prairie Village, KS)

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)

Introducing Dream2B, an innovative, integrated curriculum designed to bolster math performance and interest in STEM /information communication technology (ICT) careers.

Note: Laptop/mobile device and head phones/ear pods are necessary to fully engage in this workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Accessible and supportive learning environments are needed to bolster STEM performance and address unique learning abilities; 2. Collaborative challenges embedded in universally designed virtual worlds have the potential to bolster both conceptual knowledge and engagement in relevant STEM workforce skills (aligns with NGSS https://www.nextgenscience.org/pe/3-5-ets1-2-engineering-design); and 3. A proactive curriculum designed with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework addresses diversity in the student population and act as tools teachers can use to ground instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Patterson (University of Central Florida: Orlando, FL), Rohana Swihart (University of Central Florida: Orlando, FL)

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)

Learn what representations and data your students can use to bridge phenomena and mathematics, and how to assess kinematics understanding, as opposed to rote algebra skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Using authentic data from real, open-access journal articles to model motion; 2. Students using multiple representations to shift back and forth from pictures, graphs, and math; and 3. Assessing students' understanding through their performance using real data.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Moore (University of Nebraska Omaha: Omaha, NE)

Literacy has used “Text to…”connections  to help students make authentic connections. Strategies/examples of expanded “text to…” connections for science and math are modeled.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore how to expand a common literacy strategy of “text to” connections when using picture books in the elementary science classroom; 2. engage in investigations that model the use of “text to” connections that help students connect their own authentic experiences and help them understand and make sense; and 3. consider how the criteria for the selection of books, identification of phenomena, and selection of investigations can be a powerful experience for students.

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