Ticket Price:

• $75 earlybird
• $100 advance

If you have not yet registered for the conference, you may purchase tickets when you register online.

Please note that if you are already registered for the conference and wish to purchase this ticket, click the "add to cart" button above.

Assessment tasks for NGSS classrooms are different from the typical tasks that require students to recall what they know. A Framework for K–12 Science Education and the NGSS call for assessment tasks that ask students to use and apply the three dimensions of science proficiency: disciplinary core ideas, scientific and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. With three-dimensional tasks, the expectation is that students will use and apply the three dimensions of science proficiency together to make sense of phenomena or solve problems.

In this session, we focus on designing three-dimensional assessment tasks for classroom use with an emphasis on assessment for teaching and learning. A good assessment task should provide actionable information of value to teachers and their students. Importantly, it should provide insight into how students are building toward an NGSS performance expectation.

How can we use performance expectations to construct assessment tasks that can be used during instruction? Participants will learn an approach for designing three-dimensional assessment tasks and explore how to use them formatively in classrooms to help students build toward the performance expectations.

Participants will also be able to preorder our assessment book Creating and Using Instructionally Supportive Assessments in NGSS Classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn: 1. what is meant by three-dimensional assessment; 2. how to design classroom-based assessment tasks aligned with the NGSS; and 3. how to make use of formative assessment tasks to support instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Krajcik (CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI), Christopher Harris (WestEd)

By Invitation Only

Shifting from traditional professional development to curriculum-based professional learning is a simple concept but complex to design and execute well. At its core, it means teachers experience the same kind of inquiry-based learning we expect them to provide their students. Learn more about a Carnegie Corporation of New York report, The Elements, which identifies a core set of research-based actions, approaches, and enabling conditions that effective schools and systems have put in place to reinforce and amplify the power of high-quality curriculum and skillful teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Examine beliefs and assumptions regarding the relationship between high-quality instructional materials, curriculum-based professional learning and student success 2. Gain understanding of the foundation for The Elements, a challenge paper from Carnegie Corporation of New York 3. Learn from science practitioners whose successful curriculum implementation efforts are grounded in the elements and essentials.

SPEAKERS:
Jim Short (Carnegie Corporation of New York: New York, NY)

Ticket Price:

• $75 earlybird
• $100 advance

If you have not yet registered for the conference, you may purchase tickets when you register online.

Please note that if you are already registered for the conference and wish to purchase this ticket, click the "add to cart" button above.

This workshop is designed for instructional coaches and leaders who want to support their teachers in making the instructional shifts required by three-dimensional science standards. Participants will receive NSTA’s suite of instructional coaching tools and gain experience using the protocols and providing feedback.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Become familiar with a suite of instructional coaching tools and protocols; 2. Gain experience using the instructional coaching tools and protocols; and 3. Identify ways to use the tools to provide feedback to teachers and document growth over time.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Since its release, the NSTA Quick-Reference Guide to the NGSS has become an essential tool for many educators across the country. A new version titled the Quick-Reference Guide to the Three Dimension has been developed to not only support teachers in all states that have standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education. This new version of the Quick-Reference Guide still contains the most useful features of the original, including descriptions of the practices and the crosscutting concepts from the Framework of K-12 Science Education and K-12 progressions of the elements of all three dimensions. In addition, the new Quick-Reference Guide contains several new features that should make it even more helpful. For example, every element now has a unique code (based on the codes in the NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions) that makes it much easier to reference a particular element. In addition, there is an entire chapter devoted to the Performance Expectations. Finally, the guide also contains a number of tools for working with standards. This session will outline all of the features of the guide through the process of unpacking the crosscutting concepts to better understand how to make curriculum, instruction, and assessment more three-dimensional.

TAKEAWAYS:
A deeper understanding of the Crosscutting Concepts and how a well-designed reference guide can make it easier to unpack the three dimensions for work in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard (Discovery Education: Silver Spring, MD)

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines are a tool that can be used to design learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners (CAST, 2018). Instructional designers and teachers can use these principles to create learning environments that reduce barriers to access for all students, while keeping in mind the learning goals of the lesson. The three guiding principles of UDL are engagement, representation, and action and expression. In this session educators will be provided with examples of these principles in action in sample materials from OpenSciEd and classroom videos. In these examples, participating will identify how the materials have been purposefully designed with multiple avenues for engagement, representation, and action and expression. Additionally, they will identify the built-in supports for teachers to highlight student assets and to address potential barriers to learning for their local student population. Teachers will utilize a tool to help them analyze their own lessons to identify goals, potential barriers, and ways to use the UDL Principles to remove barriers and create flexible paths to learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will utilize a tool to help them analyze their own lessons to identify goals, potential barriers, and ways to use the UDL Principles to remove barriers and create flexible paths to learning.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

After learning about computational thinking, participants will apply the framework to determine where students engage in computational thinking within the activity. Participants will engage in activities where students engineer as part of the investigations. Participants will be able to use a pre-programmed microcontroller (loaned by the presenters) to experience 3 different short investigations each tied to a different phenomenon. 1) Does angle matter? How does the angle of the collector affect how warm it is? Using the microcontroller and lamps participants will collect data to build a model that explains why the tilt of the Earth creates different seasons. 2) Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque. When working in a greenhouse, different materials can be used to cover the greenhouse. Which is the best material for your area? Using the light level sensor on the microcontroller, participants test different materials to recommend their uses when designing a greenhouse. 3) Making an alarm - using the microcontroller accelerometer sensor, participants arm an alarm and see how the accelerometer works in three dimensions. Participants will be provided printed copies of the lesson plans and how to engage students with using the microcontrollers. Note that no knowledge of coding or any equipment brought is necessary to participate in this workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn (1) Microcontrollers are small computers that come with several integrated sensors. Their functionality makes them useful for both investigations and engineering projects. Some of the basic functionality of different microcontrollers (2) One definition of computation thinking is how to use computers to solve problems. Computational thinking activities that connect students to everyday phenomena. The development of algorithms or the decomposition of problems into simple steps are just two examples of processes associated with computation thinking. It is a powerful problem-solving technique that is used in the modern world (3) How engineering tasks provide opportunities for student sensemaking

SPEAKERS:
Susan German (Hallsville Middle School: Hallsville, MO), G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS)

Introducing students to real-world engineering problems is a key component to engaging them in the science classroom. In this project, students solve the problem of saving pets from a hot car. Many students are aware of this issue and would have many ideas on how this could be achieved. This projects gives them the tools to help solve such a problem by building a model and finding a solution. Participants in this session will get to build the model themselves to see how information from sensors (input) can determine what should be done (output) through simple lines of code. No coding or engineering experience is needed, just imagination and logical thinking. Projects like these can expose students to STEM Careers. The exposure to coding and engineering design can also get them interested in doing more in the STEM field.

TAKEAWAYS:
Solve a real-work problem with coding and engineering design - no prior experience needed.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Ellicott City, MD), Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA)

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Software & Technology

Guests are getting sick at a dinner party. White powder is collected at a crime scene. Use pH and conductivity sensors to identify the powder. Bring your own device with our Graphical Analysis app installed or use our devices. All activities are available as a free download for attendees.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Gain experience with hands-on technology that encourages students to explore and test different solutions and make connections to the real world; 2. Get access to free resources to keep students engaged while learning key scientific concepts either remotely or in the lab; and 3. Gain hands-on experiences with innovative products that increase student engagement, promote creativity and collaboration, and develop problem-solving skills.

SPEAKERS:
Nüsret Hisim (Vernier Science Education: Beaverton, OR), Colleen McDaniel (Vernier Science Education: Beaverton, OR)

Sponsoring Company: Center for BioMolecular Modeling

COVID 19: Science to the Rescue! The COVID19 pandemic has created many challenges for educators over the past two years. Amidst all this chaos, there is one positive outcome of this pandemic – it has provided educators in the molecular biosciences with an opportunity to highlight the power of modern biology and the many ways in which this science has been used to provide solutions to the control of this virus. This workshop will tell the story of the COVID19 pandemic from the perspective of the CoV-2 virus, the structure of the spike protein, the molecular mechanism of the infections process and the successful application of an mRNA vaccine to provide protection from infection. Workshop participants will use physical models of the CoV-2 coronavirus – enhanced by Augmented Reality – to explore these topics.

TAKEAWAYS:
The nucleotide sequence of the CoV-2 RNA genome was the first step in vaccine development.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: SAE International

Attendees will explore different methods and student & teacher resources for enhancing real-world STEM skills with meaning-making literature. Using AWIM's award-winning STEM curriculum and complementary comic & children's books as examples, teachers will engage in discussions and hands-on activities they can facilitate in their classrooms. This workshop will also address how diverse representation in storytelling can foster more accessible & impactful STEM learning for all students. Participants will receive a free AWIM book.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn methods and resources for incorporating age-appropriate literature into hands-on STEM activities.

SPEAKERS:
Bonnie Thibodeau (SAE International: Warrendale, PA)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Students get engaged with practical and inquiry-based engineering experiences by using the DIVE-in method. This program was developed in partnership with the New York Hall of Science. Transform your classroom into an authentic makerspace with the DIVE process. Learn how to facilitate and use the design process through consensus.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to create a stomp-rocket using the engineering design process.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Spaeny (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Respiratory viruses like influenza or COVID can lead to worldwide pandemics. We’ll discuss how diseases spread and perform experiments to explore how disease testing works.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore pathology of common diseases, including clinical testing and epidemiology of pathogens.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ell (Edvotek Inc.: Washington, DC), Danielle Snowflack (Edvotek Inc.: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

What does pH actually measure? In this investigation, you will measure pH indirectly using indicators and absorption using the Lab-Master. Using their data participants generate a graph of absorbance vs. pH. This graph can be used to determine the pH of solutions, within the measured pH range. Join us for this activity from The Natural Approach to Chemistry program.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to calculate the pH of a basic solution.

SPEAKERS:
Wendy Jackson (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Fisher Science Education and Eisco Scientific

Participants will have the opportunity to build a Rube Goldberg machine and engineer an overly complicated process to accomplish a simple task. Put your engineering and creative skills to the test as you create your own Rube Goldberg machine out of cardboard, tape, rubber bands, a toy car and other everyday items. Attendees will be broken into teams of five and given a set of raw materials. They will then have approximately forty minutes to work as a group to create a complex series of steps to pop a balloon. Attendance will be limited to the first twenty-five people to register. This is a joint workshop presented by Fisher Science Education and Eisco Scientific. This workshop has a maximum capacity of 25 participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to create a Rube Goldberg lab using excess materials and common laboratory items.

SPEAKERS:
Tom Wright (Thermo Fisher Scientific: Waltham, MA), Tim Montondo (Eisco Scientific LLC: Victor, NY)

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Genes in Space is an experimental design competition that invites students in middle and high school to design biology experiments addressing challenges faced by space travelers. Each year, one winning project is launched to the International Space Station, where it is carried out by astronauts. Join us to learn how the contest can engage your students in authentic research combining science and engineering practices. We will also share how you can access free Genes in Space classroom resources, including lesson plans, classroom activities, explainer videos, and biotechnology equipment loans.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engage students in an experimental design contest, access free classroom resources including lesson plans, activities, videos, and biotechnology equipment loans, and make a real-world scientific contribution for a chance to launch your experiment to the International Space Station

SPEAKERS:
Bruce Bryan (miniPCR: Cambridge, MA)