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:
Michael DiSpezio (Master Educator, Presenter, and Author: North Falmouth, MA)

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:
Julie Jackson (Texas State University: San Marcos, TX)

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:
Michael DiSpezio (Master Educator, Presenter, and Author: North Falmouth, MA)

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:
Rosemary Rak (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Angela Damery (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Sandra Ryack-Bell (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Margaret Brumsted (Education Specialist: Riverside, RI)

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)

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:
Louise Huffman (U.S. Ice Drilling Program: Hanover, NH), William Grosser (Curriculum Designer: Auburn, CA)

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:
Julie Jackson (Texas State University: San Marcos, TX)

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:
Rebecca Tonkinson (eesmarts: Hartford, CT), Kathleen Brooks (eesmarts), Sharyon Holness (eesmarts: No City, No State)

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)

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:
Louise Huffman (U.S. Ice Drilling Program: Hanover, NH), William Grosser (Curriculum Designer: Auburn, CA)

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:
Amy Dean (Jewish Community High School of the Bay: San Francisco, CA)

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:
Jeremy Peacock (Jackson County School System: Jefferson, GA)

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:
Demetrice Smith-Mutegi (Old Dominion University: Norfolk, VA)