NSTA Engage: Spring21 - Sessions

Best Practices for Offering Remote Science Activities

Attendees will participate in a hands-on experience as they construct an understanding of the best practices for presenting hands-on activities remotely.

This session is targeted for novice attendees.

Materials needed:

• scissors
• several paperclips
• sheet of scrap paper

Takeaways: 1. Discover tips, techniques, and strategies for the successful facilitation of online activities; 2. Discover new activities appropriate for online delivery, including virtual field trips; and 3. Participate in an online activity to experience (as a student) what works and what doesn't.

Speakers

Visual Scaffolds That Transform Content Vocabulary Instruction During Remote Instruction

Virtual word walls support academic language acquisition. Three strategies will be presented for use in remote or in hybrid classrooms to strategically target vocabulary.

Takeaways: 1. How to use virtual interactive word walls to support academic language acquisition during remote or hybrid instruction; 2. Learn how to use virtual interactive word walls to highlight connections between science concepts and inquiry-based science activities while connecting scientific concepts and academic vocabulary; and 3. Experience three strategies that may be used, with virtual interactive word walls, to strategically target vocabulary during remote or in hybrid instruction.

Speakers

Best Practices for Offering Remote Science Activities

Attendees will participate in a hands-on experience as they construct an understanding of the best practices for presenting hands-on activities remotely.

This session is targeted for novice attendees.

Materials needed:

• scissors
• several paperclips
• sheet of scrap paper

Takeaways: 1. Discover tips, techniques, and strategies for the successful facilitation of online activities; 2. Discover new activities appropriate for online delivery, including virtual field trips; and 3. Participate in an online activity to experience (as a student) what works and what doesn't.

Speakers

ASTC-Sponsored Session: Science Inquiry During Remote Learning

Explore using the SEPs to make remote STE instruction inquiry based. Participate in a remote hands-on investigation. Receive a toolkit of resources, strategies, and instructional tools.

Materials needed:

• Markers or crayons
• Large sheet of heavy weight paper (11x17 or 8.5 x14)
• 4–6 ice cubes all about the same size
• 4 paper cups big enough to hold 2 ice cubes
• Cooler or access to freezer to keep ice frozen
• Aluminum tray
• Black or white tray (take-out container will work)

Takeaways: 1. Leave with a toolkit of distance-learning practices and investigations to enhance students’ use of the SEPs; 2. Learn about distance-learning tools that support the engagement of all students in STE; and 3. Develop new ideas for performance-based assessments using distance-learning strategies.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Engagement Strategies and Resources for Remote and Face-to-Face Instruction

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

Level Up Students' Analysis Skills with NASA Earth Science Data

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

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Virtual Field Labs: Student-Generated Data Explorations of Investigable Questions Led by Climate Scientists

Based on three-dimensional learning and field-tested in high school classes, Virtual Field Labs can be used synchronously, asynchronously, or in hybrid classrooms.

Takeaways: 1. Hands-on virtual tool for teaching climate change concepts; 2. Student-generated data activities led by climate change scientists; and 3. Generate, graph, and analyze data on the way to making claims supported by evidence related to the investigation.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Visual Scaffolds That Transform Content Vocabulary Instruction During Remote Instruction

Virtual word walls support academic language acquisition. Three strategies will be presented for use in remote or in hybrid classrooms to strategically target vocabulary.

Takeaways: 1. How to use virtual interactive word walls to support academic language acquisition during remote or hybrid instruction; 2. Learn how to use virtual interactive word walls to highlight connections between science concepts and inquiry-based science activities while connecting scientific concepts and academic vocabulary; and 3. Experience three strategies that may be used, with virtual interactive word walls, to strategically target vocabulary during remote or in hybrid instruction.

Speakers

NASA GLOBE Cloud Resources for Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

NASA GLOBE Cloud resources provide a variety of ways for diverse learners to engage in the science process in their local community through citizen science.

Takeaways: 1. NASA GLOBE Cloud resources are free and flexible and allow diverse learners to engage with content in many ways; 2. A NASA scientist will discuss why citizen science observations are important to NASA; and 3. Learners can actively participate in citizen science in their own community.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Energy Escape Room for Middle School

This session presents an eesmarts activity using the popular “escape room” format in which students solve clues using science knowledge to complete the challenge.

Takeaways: 1. Using an escape room to explore the concepts of energy transformation and its environmental impact; 2. Ideas to enhance distance learning through competitive activities/ gamification; and 3. Suggestions for using adapting escape room format with eesmarts or your existing curriculum.

Speakers

Teaching Evolution in the Virtual World

We are teaching students in class, at home, and in quarantine. TIES offers FREE evolution units packed with activities. Check them out at www.tieseducation.org.

Takeaways: 1. You can teach evolution virtually, but effectively; 2. There are free online activities that can replace our more traditional active learning lessons; and 3. This session can give your students high-quality evolution instruction all in one free, downloadable unit with student response sheets, rubrics, answer keys, and assessments.

Speakers

NASA GLOBE Cloud Resources for Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning

NASA GLOBE Cloud resources provide a variety of ways for diverse learners to engage in the science process in their local community through citizen science.

Takeaways: 1. NASA GLOBE Cloud resources are free and flexible and allow diverse learners to engage with content in many ways; 2. A NASA scientist will discuss why citizen science observations are important to NASA; and 3. Learners can actively participate in citizen science in their own community.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Investigation DarkSky: A Virtual Escape Room–Type Activity

Participate in an energy delivery–themed virtual escape room activity. Solve puzzles and pursue clues to discover the origin of a cascading blackout.

Takeaways: 1. The U.S. power grid is the system of producers and consumers of electricity. It includes power generators, switches that control the flow of electricity, substations, miles of power lines, and millions of transformers; 2. Nearly all electricity is used the moment it is generated. The power grid is continually evolving as we integrate alternative power resources and invent technologies; and 3. This challenging process allows us to deliver energy to homes and businesses in cleaner, more efficient ways and makes the system more resilient to disruption.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Engagement Strategies and Resources for Remote and Face-to-Face Instruction

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

Virtual Field Labs: Student-Generated Data Explorations of Investigable Questions Led by Climate Scientists

Based on three-dimensional learning and field-tested in high school classes, Virtual Field Labs can be used synchronously, asynchronously, or in hybrid classrooms.

Takeaways: 1. Hands-on virtual tool for teaching climate change concepts; 2. Student-generated data activities led by climate change scientists; and 3. Generate, graph, and analyze data on the way to making claims supported by evidence related to the investigation.

Speakers

Level Up Students' Analysis Skills with NASA Earth Science Data

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

Presenter Materials for this Session:

The Journey Back: Leveraging Data Tools and EdTech in the Post-COVID Classroom

Engage in a lesson from NOAA’s Data in the Classroom to explore some effective engagement and assessment tools and technologies for the post-COVID classroom.

Takeaways: 1. Keep experimenting with EdTech inside and outside of your classrooms; 2. Utilize EdTech for assessment and engagement of all learners in the classroom; and 3. Access scientific data from NOAA to help students evaluate claims, construct arguments, and better understand the world around them.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Using Online Tools to Engage Students in Asking Questions About Phenomena

Learn to use free Google tools to support your students in analyzing phenomena and asking good scientific questions that drive learning in the classroom or remotely.

Takeaways: 1. Students' observations of and questions about phenomena should drive their learning; 2. You can use free online tools from Google to engage students in analyzing and developing questions about phenomena whether you are teaching face-to-face or remotely; and 3. We can use these same tools to scaffold students' ability to revise and improve their questions to be more productive.

Speakers

Presenter Materials for this Session:

Summer STEM Institute Goes Virtual: Creating an Engaging STEM Learning Program

We will share the strategies and activities that made our first virtual STEM institute an engaging and educational experience for diverse upper elementary and middle level youth.

Takeaways: Participants will: 1. identify best practices for engaging youth in informal STEM experiences, including an end-of-summer celebration; 2. learn how we delivered programming in STEM with multiple grade-level bands; and 3. gain a list of valuable resources we used to teach scientific concepts, including how we created and distributed kits.

Speakers