Participants explore strategies and resources for engaging students during face-to-face and virtual instruction. Equity, differentiation, and nonlinguistic representations of instruction and learning will be targeted.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn research-based strategies that increase student engagement so that all students are involved in the learning process; 2. learn new ways to increase the confidence of learners who may be reluctant to engage in classroom activities and discussions; and 3. obtain numerous activities, templates, games, resources, etc. they can use with their students. These can be used “as is” or modified to include other content based on the needs of the attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Iris Mudd (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools: Winston Salem, NC)

Connect the human impact of trash pollution to engineering design. Get your students thinking critically and creatively as they collaborate in real-world problem solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Connecting the human impact of single-use plastics and their effect on aquatic ecosystems; 2. Exposing students to basic coding and engineering design in an NGSS-focused content classroom; and 3. Developing a project that enhances STEM skills in students such as collaboration, curiosity, and creative problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Kohout (Howard County Conservancy: Woodstock, MD), Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA)

My NASA Data will model interactive resources for students learning in-person and via virtual environments that feature short activities, lessons, and access to NASA data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. walk away with access to NASA resources for their Earth science classrooms that can be linked directly to their learning management systems; 2. learn of interactive strategies for using these resources with students in a variety of learning environments; and 3. learn of an Earth science data visualization tool that enables students/educators to access and visualize NASA data for a particular region or time period.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Joyner (NASA Langley Research Center: Hampton, VA), Angela Rizzi (NASA Langley Research Center/ADNET: No City, No State)

Learn effective techniques, including Claims-Evidence-Reasoning, to help students navigate media filled with fictional information promoted as fact and cherry-picked data offered as evidence.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Teachers are provided with a checklist to assist their students in determining if information found on the internet is reputable, factual, and accurate; 2. Learn effective techniques to consider and understand why someone would believe common misconceptions about climate change and global warming; and 3. Participate in group discussions that take a deep dive into data to determine its relevance to a question or issue.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Tucker (Consultant: Port Townsend, WA), Lois Sherwood (Professional Development Coordinator: Port Townsend, WA)

Across the western United States, wildfires are burning more and more of the landscape. In the NASA-funded "Future of Forests" curriculum, tied to NGSS Life Science standards, students engage with online mapping tools and authentic datasets to discover how landscapes recover after wildfires.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Introduction to the model-based inquiry instructional framework designed around the construction, revision, and testing of explanatory models; 2. Strategies to implement the NASA-funded "Future of Forests" MS/HS curriculum tied to NGSS Life Science standards; and 3. Skills to connect unit to the GLOBE citizen science protocols.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Griffith (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, VT)

Connect the human impact of trash pollution to engineering design. Get your students thinking critically and creatively as they collaborate in real-world problem solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Connecting the human impact of single-use plastics and their effect on aquatic ecosystems; 2. Exposing students to basic coding and engineering design in an NGSS-focused content classroom; and 3. Developing a project that enhances STEM skills in students such as collaboration, curiosity, and creative problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA), Jessica Kohout (Howard County Conservancy: Woodstock, MD)

Learn effective techniques, including Claims-Evidence-Reasoning, to help students navigate media filled with fictional information promoted as fact and cherry-picked data offered as evidence.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Teachers are provided with a checklist to assist their students in determining if information found on the internet is reputable, factual, and accurate; 2. Learn effective techniques to consider and understand why someone would believe common misconceptions about climate change and global warming; and 3. Participate in group discussions that take a deep dive into data to determine its relevance to a question or issue.

SPEAKERS:
Lois Sherwood (Professional Development Coordinator: Port Townsend, WA), Laura Tucker (Consultant: Port Townsend, WA)

Participants explore strategies and resources for engaging students during face-to-face and virtual instruction. Equity, differentiation, and nonlinguistic representations of instruction and learning will be targeted.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn research-based strategies that increase student engagement so that all students are involved in the learning process; 2. learn new ways to increase the confidence of learners who may be reluctant to engage in classroom activities and discussions; and 3. obtain numerous activities, templates, games, resources, etc. they can use with their students. These can be used “as is” or modified to include other content based on the needs of the attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Iris Mudd (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools: Winston Salem, NC)

My NASA Data will model interactive resources for students learning in-person and via virtual environments that feature short activities, lessons, and access to NASA data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. walk away with access to NASA resources for their Earth science classrooms that can be linked directly to their learning management systems; 2. learn of interactive strategies for using these resources with students in a variety of learning environments; and 3. learn of an Earth science data visualization tool that enables students/educators to access and visualize NASA data for a particular region or time period.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Rizzi (NASA Langley Research Center/ADNET: No City, No State), Elizabeth Joyner (NASA Langley Research Center: Hampton, VA)

Explore with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers how and why to include Indigenous Ways of Knowing and voices in your place-based STEM projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
With guidance from an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper: 1. gather examples of, and reasons for, looking at NGSS PEs, DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs through the complementary lens of Indigenous Ways of Knowing, which we call Indigenizing STEM; 2. create an ancestral land acknowledgement statement, with instructions, that can be used at your school, organization, or project site; and 3. create an honoring (blessing) protocol from the Indigenous perspective that acknowledges the respected human-environment relationship. This protocol could be done on the land of STEM project before changing or taking from the ecosystem.

SPEAKERS:
RunningHorse Livingston (Mathematize, Inc.: Madison, WI), Pte Ska Hinapa Wi Poor Bear (Indigenous Educator and Knowledge Keeper: Denver, CO), Laura Arndt (Global GreenSTEM: Franktown, CO)

Bring science processes and SEL alive using wonder and the natural world. Free online resources help in-person or virtual teachers access nature with students.

Note: If you are able to watch this short video "Pocket Worlds" BEFORE the session, it will be beneficial to you. 

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn how to access and use a suite of free web-based resources designed to promote discovery learning in nature; 2. experience the lesson individually and discuss it with colleagues to make meaning and increase relevance for both teachers and their students; and 3. share and discuss applications for using these tools for discovery learning in their own setting.

SPEAKERS:
John DiDiego (Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont: Townsend, TN)

Do you care about inspiring girls to pursue STEM careers? Then join us to learn about the IF/THEN Collection designed to help ensure equitable gender representation in STEM! The IF/THEN Collection is the world’s largest FREE library of images, videos, and other content portraying women in STEM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. learn about the background and purpose of the IF/THEN Collection; 2. learn how to use the IF/THEN Collection to support STEM learning programs; and 3. get hands-on experience utilizing assets from the IF/THEN Collection.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Hay (National Girls Collaborative Project: Seattle, WA)