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)

Feeling overwhelmed by all there is to see and do at an NSTA conference on science education? Join us for an interactive exploration through the conference app and NSTA’s social media. By the end of the session, you will know just how to get the most from your conference experience in addition to building new networks with your science colleagues.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Allan (University of Central Oklahoma: Edmond, OK)

Hurricanes, flash floods, and wildfires. Climate change brings more extreme weather, and the results can be catastrophic to our communities. As the weather becomes more severe, there is an increased need for shelters that can be easily transported and assembled to provide relief shelter for families who have been displaced from their homes. In this session, attendees will engage in an authentic STEM inquiry implemented in third and fourth-grade classrooms. The inquiry was designed so that students would be able to explore homelessness caused by natural disasters and design a tiny house prototype for a family in need. Participants will learn about planning and implementing a place-based and integrated STEM inquiry during this session. A major focus will be on planning and sensemaking as students learn through authentic opportunities and real-world mathematics and science. The presenter will share experiences using the Design Thinking Framework and place-based methodology as a guide for implementing and designing integrated STEM inquiries. In addition, the presenter will give specific strategies for developing problem statements to engage students in empathetic responses within STEM inquiries. The presenter will also share specific strategies for developing empathy during STEM inquiries for elementary-aged students. Participants will have the opportunity to experience key parts of the inquiry and view student examples.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Engage participants in NGSS-based engineering design challenge where participants are required to design a solution for homelessness caused by natural disasters (hurricane, floods, wildfire); 2. Learn the role of empathy in authentic STEM inquiries by using Design Thinking principles; and 3. Outline possible place-based strategies for implementing STEM inquiries in upper elementary classrooms that engage all learners in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Williams (Isidore Newman School: New Orleans, LA)

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)

Analyzing and interpreting data and using mathematical and computational reasoning are complex at the high school level, which requires students to employ correlational and causational thinking while manipulating visualizations using tools. CODAP, a product of the Concord Consortium, is designed to give students access to these powerful practices with minimal software requirements and with a mission to make data literacy accessible for all students. InquiryHub uses CODAP to provide students with agency because they can determine the variables of interest, in which to create graphical representations from the same data set. In our free, open-source program, students can work with authentic datasets from the CODAP website, data they gather, or data from professional studies. Inside our storyline instructional sequences, inquiryHub leverages CODAP as students analyze the rainfall on the Serengeti and how it correlates to wildebeest populations. In the session, participants will try out CODAP by adding multiple variables of data to answer the question, “What’s happening to large animals on the Serengeti plain?” and how to apply CODAP in their classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
CODAP can be used in many different three-dimensional ways to have students analyze and interpret data to make sense of phenomena while providing student agency.

SPEAKERS:
Kerri Wingert (Good Question Research: Boulder, CO)

Online investigations with digitized specimens offer broad opportunities for teachers to engage their students in authentic scientific research. EPIC Bioscience investigations are free, online, NGSS-aligned research investigations that guide students to participate in science practices: asking a question, collecting data, analyzing and interpreting findings, and communicating to others. Investigations use specimens from natural history collections in entomology, vertebrate zoology, mycology, and botany to provide fully-supported, online investigations centered on real phenomena and aligned to NGSS MSLS2-1 through NGSS MSLS2-4. These investigations offer key opportunities to enhance scientific literacy through effective sensemaking with student-collected data on compelling specimens. This session focuses on two key goals to help teachers support sensemaking during phenomena-based student investigations: (1) Identifying and remediating common student errors and confusion during data collection and analysis. (2) Practicing effective instructional strategies focused on enhancing students’ scientific reasoning and data interpretation. This session will involve hands-on experiences with student activities, as well as interactive discussion of classroom examples and evidence.

TAKEAWAYS:
Identify common student errors and sources of confusion during data collection, analysis, and interpretation and deploy strategies designed to enhance student sensemaking from data.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Butcher (The University of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT), Madlyn Larson (Natural History Museum of Utah: Salt Lake City, UT)

The NGSS is very complicated. The Institute for Quality Science Teaching at the Museum of Science and Industry provides professional learning opportunities for science teachers in Chicagoland and surrounding areas. Our approach is to ground everything we do in the NGSS and take a deep dive into all the elements of 3-dimensional learning. Professional learning programs at MSI are invested in helping teachers understand how to teach science effectively to meet these standards. Teachers in our programs learn science content in the context of 3-dimensional lessons, as instructors demonstrate instructional practices that enable NGSS-aligned teaching and learning. This presentation will review the basics of the NGSS, the 3 dimensions, how they’re combined in Performance Expectations, and the basics of enacting the NGSS in the classroom. If you need a refresher, just want a review, or still don’t have all those acronyms straight in your head, this is the presentation for you.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with a basic understanding of the structures of the Next Generation Science Standards and how they inform 3-dimensional standards and 3-dimensional science teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Slanker (Museum of Science and Industry: Chicago, IL), Karin Klein (Museum of Science and Industry: Chicago, IL)

The 1974 discovery of the iconic Lucy fossil in Ethiopia changed our understanding of human origins. Almost everyone today knows of Lucy, but over the last 48 years the field of human origins has exploded thanks to new discoveries all over the world as well as critical new developments in the realm of molecular biology. Few biology classes address these advances. However, the tools and techniques students learn in STEM classes have a direct connection to the advances and changes that have shaped modern work with human origins. Attending this session will give you the chance to appreciate the revolution that has occurred since “Lucy” and offer you tools to bring new understanding to your students in ways you can weave into your curriculum in less controversial ways connected to evolution, fossils, DNA, proteomics, genealogy, biogeography, 3D printing, as well as topics related to more recent human evolution (skin color, lactose tolerance, and high-altitude adaptation). As a 32-year K-12 human evolution educator who has been fortunate to work with leaders in the field, I have had a front row seat to many of the milestones of human evolution in the 21st century and I’m eager to share them with you.

TAKEAWAYS:
Since the discovery of Lucy, our understanding of human origins has grown and changed thanks to new discoveries and technologies – participants will learn about these amazing changes and how to integrate these new discoveries into their biology curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
John Mead (St. Mark's School of Texas: Allen, TX)

The purpose of the presentation is to model how to flip a classroom from the traditional methods to more innovative methods to engage students. The participants will be able to create a deck by the end of the session. Participants will be given the background and research based strategies that Pear Deck uses to ensure that equity and inclusion are met while ensuring the seamless integration of the platform. Participants will be given the pedagogy of why this tool is needed in their classroom. Participants will be introduced to EdPuzzle and Screencastify to highlight how these tools can be used as well to flip their classrooms. A Pear Deck interactive slide will be presented to the audience. The audience will log in with the given code. As I present the audience will have my screen on their device. The audience will participate in a series of interactive activities designed to immerse them platform and give them the experience that students will have. The presentation is highly interactive with the first half of the presentation be using to interact with the platforms and the second half given for participants to explore and ask questions. The audience will be engaged with device-based activities from the beginning to the end of the presentation. The presentation style will be catch and release. I will capture their attention for some time and then I will release them to navigate through the platforms while I offer support. Attendees will learn how to create a Pear Deck, a screencastify recording and how to navigate through EdPuzzle to either create or utilize existing videos. Attendees will learn how to take the materials they are already using to flip them into a more blended learning model. The attendees will walk away with a Deck that can be used immediately in their classroom and my information to reach out to me if they have any questions during implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with the basic knowledge of how to flip their classroom and be able to implement the strategies immediately into their classroom so that they are able to increase equity and inclusion.

SPEAKERS:
Cecelia Gillam (Hahnville High School: La Place, LA)

“You’re good at math; be an engineer.” Isn’t there more to it? Who is an engineer? Engineering helps society by solving problems. Let’s explore “why.”

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn that engineering is more than math + science and take away classroom activities addressing engineering identity, ethics, and society (not your typical engineering activities).

SPEAKERS:
Ken Reid (University of Indianapolis: Indianapolis, IN)

General-education science classes are often the last chance we have to empower students with the science literacy skills necessary to navigate today’s world. But what is science literacy? Memorizing facts and following recipe-like labs? Or is it understanding how the process of science learns about the world by testing explanations and critically scrutinizing the evidence? A good science education teaches students how, not what, to think. Science isn’t just what we know; it’s how we know. This presentation explores a novel course developed using a backward design approach designed to teach the essential skills of critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy. By focusing on the process of science over content, students learn how to evaluate the evidence for claims to determine how we know something. Directly including pseudoscience (e.g. astrology, psychics, homeopathy, Bigfoot) and science denial (e.g. climate change, evolution, GMOs) increases engagement, addresses common misconceptions, and teaches students how to recognize the characteristics of good science. Assignments and activities in which students actively create misinformation inoculates them against the real thing. Finally, providing students with a structured toolkit to evaluate claims (with lots of opportunities to practice) helps students apply what they’re learning to the “real world.”

TAKEAWAYS:
The goal of general education science should not be memorizing facts, but learning the essential skills of critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King (Massasoit Community College)

Finding support and collaboration, especially in rural settings, can be challenging for educators. The Interstate Science Collaborative (ISC) was formed by state science leaders from a handful of rural states to provide free professional learning for the teachers they serve. Fall and spring book study sessions and a summer learning series were offered with considerations toward equitable participation including making the sessions virtual, being mindful of schedules and capacity, and providing continuing education credits. Feedback from the sessions centered around appreciation from participants for the opportunity to connect with teachers from other states to discuss and share in conversations around common problems of practice. In addition to providing support for educators, the ISC became a safe space for the founding members to share challenges and successes in their own work. Join this presentation to learn about how to set up a professional community in your context that will not only support student learning but can also become a way to create the comradery and community we all need as educators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in whole and small group discussion to learn about and share strategies to build a professional community that not only focuses on how to improve student learning but also creates a support network for educators.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Cates (Phenomenon Science Education: Amherst, MA), Christy Krenek (New Mexico Public Education Department: Santa Fe, NM), Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Fort Collins, CO)

Built on the idea that, "you can't give what you don't have" (Heibert, 2018), we have intentionally designed our STEM teacher preparation pathway using the NSTA pillar of sensemaking. The undergraduate STEM major integrates the four pillars of sensemaking across the STEM curriculum and is brought together through a seminar to support culturally sustaining STEM teaching. We will share intentionally designed curricular ideas, investigations across the various fields of study (computer science, engineering, biology, chemistry, and mathematics), field experiences, mentorship and research opportunities for our NSF Noyce Scholars and STEM majors. This will be co-presented with undergraduate students and mentor teachers so participants will get an idea of the collaboration and design across various contexts. As STEM teacher educators, we must design and model sensemaking with supports and scaffolding so that our STEM graduates are confident in designing and revising curriculum that holds sensemaking and culturally sustaining pedagogy at the core (Emdin, 2021; Emdin 2022, Paris, 2012).

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away specific strategies for designing STEM teacher preparation built on a foundation of sensemaking and culturally responsive pedagogy.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rainville (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Bonnie Maur (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Sydney Worthen-Jenkins (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Nicole Hebert (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT)

The forthcoming OpenSciEd High School chemistry course combines physical science and Earth and space science NGSS performance expectations as a way to engage students in developing understandings around energy and matter. Learn about the focus of the five units that make up this course and their associated performance expectation bundles to see how the three dimensions are used as a way to authentically engage students in making sense of both physical science and earth and space science related phenomena and design solutions. In the session, we will highlight how anchoring phenomena of the first unit, typically associated with earth and space science, helps students make sense of the particulate nature of matter, energy transfers in earth systems, feedback loops, and human interactions with their environment. An in-depth examination of the performance expectation bundles for the following four units will help illustrate the learning progressions students will follow to develop progressively more complex models of the particle nature of matter, its properties, and its interactions using the lenses of all crosscutting concepts, in particular, patterns, energy and matter, structure and function, and stability and change.

TAKEAWAYS:
Incorporation of earth and space science NGSS performance expectations within a chemistry curriculum supports student engagement in and sensemaking of chemistry concepts around properties and interactions of matter and energy.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Vick (Northwestern University), Dan Voss (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Tara McGill (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

Confused about what to do post COVID? Thinking about switching careers? Learn about the experiences, challenges, and mistakes made by several esteemed science education leaders in this engaging and interactive panel discussion. This panel will feature current and former teachers, school leaders, district leaders, consultants, academics, national STEM education leaders.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about the increasing number of opportunities available for educators both inside and outside of the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Lach (Township High School District 113)

Explore curriculum of a 10th grade integrated chemistry and biology course that was designed to incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards while placing importance on the Science and Engineering Practices. The course follows the narrative: “Living systems obey the laws of physics and chemistry. Transformations in matter occur in predictable ways and are a function of molecular shape and molecular collisions. Chemical properties are the result of the arrangement of elements and the forces between them. Reception, sequestration, and transfer of chemical elements allow living systems to leverage chemical transformations to survive, grow, and reproduce. Reproduction allows for the transmission of these traits from one generation to the next. Pressures from the environment favors some traits over others which in turn produces new species over time and is responsible for the diversity of all life.” Students were introduced to content via phenomenon and then engaged with the DCIs, Cross-cutting concepts, and SEPs while working towards a culminating project. For example, students learned various topics of chemistry including stoichiometry and gas laws to design and build a functional Class B fire extinguisher. Following this unit, students applied their understanding of cellular respiration, photosynthesis and the carbon cycle to calculate the amount of carbon sequestered on a section of campus trees.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use phenomena and a 3D design approach to create project -based, integrated Curriculum that assesses SEPS equally with content. Participants will learn how to use student-centered pedagogical practices, hands-on exploration, and more authentic assessment practices. Participants will be familiar with how Integrating biology, chemistry and environmental standards in order to explore an authentic, real-world problem or challenge increases student engagement and performance.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Helfant (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School: Saint Louis, MO)

One of the key features of the NGSS and other standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education is the idea that a “a progression of knowledge occurs from grade band to grade band that gives students the opportunity to learn more complex material, leading to an overall understanding of science by the end of high school.” (NGSS Appendix A, p. 2) The NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions has a set of 62 maps that illustrate the how the elements of the three dimensions build on each other and connect to one another. Each map focuses on a particular topic and shows the progression students are expected to make in that topic from one grade-span to the next. Arrows connecting individual elements on a map indicate that competency in one element is useful in learning to achieve the other element. Educators can use maps to deepen their understanding of the standards to plan or improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This session will provide participants guidance on how to read the maps in the Atlas and use this powerful tool to deepen their understanding of elements of the standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
A careful review of the connections between elements of the three dimensions can provide a clearer understanding of science standards and important guidance in planning instructional sequences to support three-dimensional teaching and learning.

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

This session is an introduction to a new approach to STEM instruction called Argument-Driven Engineering (ADE). ADE is an instructional approach that gives students an opportunity to learn to use core concepts and processes form science, engineering, and mathematics to figure out solutions to a meaningful and authentic problem that will help make the world a better place. This instructional approach also gives students an opportunity to develop disciplinary literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) because they must obtain information, share and critique potential solutions through talk, and communicate what they figured out and how they know the solution is acceptable through writing. In this session, participants will examine the potential benefits and challenges associated with embedding engineering design into science classrooms and learn how the ADE instructional model can help maximize the benefits and reduce the challenges. Participants will also have a chance to experience an example of an ADE design challenge that invites them to design a shipping and storage container for insulin and see examples of how students who completed this design challenge used science, engineering, and mathematics content and processes to figure out how to keep the insulin cold for long periods of time. Participants will also learn about how this new approach was developed through three years of classroom-based research by a team of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and how well ADE instructional materials are aligned with the TEKS for science, mathematics, CTE, and ELA.

TAKEAWAYS:
• How to give students an opportunity to learn how to use concepts and processes from science, engineering, and mathematics to design a solution to an authentic problem that will help make the world a better place.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Hutner (The University of Alabama: Austin, TX)

Use innovative video-assisted STEM activities, demonstrations, award-winning videos, and behind-the-crash-tests tours to teach the science of car crashes. Visit classroom.iihs.org for more information.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants learn how to incorporate culminating STEM design challenges (Project Pedestrian Sensors and Egg-Carrying Paper Car Crash) into their curriculum to promote student awareness and understanding of how engineering and technology are used to build safer vehicles.

SPEAKERS:
Griff Jones (University of Florida: No City, No State), Pini Kalnite (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute: Arlington, VA)

Come explore creative storylines for integrating up-to-date, research-driven climate science into high school Chemistry courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Climate-related storylines provide powerful frameworks for students to learn fundamental chemistry core ideas and reinforce understandings of crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices; 2. The wealth of Earth-orbiting NASA satellite data now available in real time provides us with an unprecedented understanding of the science of climate change and also provides many opportunities for student experiential learning; and The latest advances in climate modeling can allow all students to both see the inequitable impacts that humans are currently having on Earth systems and build a sense of hope in how future changes in human practices can reverse current impact trends.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession (Washington University in St. Louis: Saint Louis, MO)

Faculty at the University of Indianapolis redesigned their physical science course for preservice teachers based on the 2020 NSTA/ASTE Standards for Science Teacher Preparation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about and become familiar with the 2020 NSTA/ASTE Standards for Science Teacher Preparation as well as examine our semester guide to a physical science course for preservice teachers based on the 2020 NSTA/ASTE Standards.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Hootman (University of Indianapolis: Indianapolis, IN), Sarah Reynolds (University of Indianapolis: Indianapolis, IN)

NSTA Partnerships provide personalized professional learning experiences for groups of K–12 educators. Find out more about this NSTA opportunity that combines membership with access to resources, online tools, and the national network.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover the value of becoming a Partner with NSTA for groups of educators.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

What are your #LeadershipGoals? All educators are leaders: in their classroom, department, institution, and personal life. During this workshop, participants will reflect on how they envision themselves as a leader, engage with a self evaluation tool, and consider the steps in developing an action plan for making change in their leadership life. Providing resources from the freely available, recently published guide Honoring Teachers as Professionals through AIP Publishing, the authors will share how university/K-12 partnerships led to increases in their own leadership capacity, building of professional networks, and improved professional development opportunities through self-reflective classroom research. We will discuss research and experiences around these partnerships, leadership in education, goal setting, and how participants can work towards the same.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will reflect on how they envision themselves as a leader, engage with a self evaluation tool, and develop an action plan for making change in their leadership life.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Fort Collins, CO)

Our students use field work, computer modeling, and long term databases to understand the Earth's changing system. Students collect local weather data. They compare this data with regional and national databases, satellites databases, and climate modeling software (EdGCM).

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to introduce climate science in a non-threatening way by empowering their students to take a stand in their communities regarding decisions that affect their future by seamlessly incorporating field studies with professional climate studies.

SPEAKERS:
Carolyn Mohr (University Center of Lake County: Grayslake, IL)

Participants will be introduced to an ongoing partnership between Chicago Public Schools and Loyola University Chicago in which 40 K-8 teachers participated in a Master Teacher Leadership Cohort to support the rollout of a newly-adopted science curriculum. The cohort supports teachers in becoming leaders in their schools and across the district, ensuring a greater impact on underrepresented students by removing barriers to appropriate grade-level content and high-quality instruction. We will begin by highlighting activities from the cohort that develop teacher knowledge of the NGSS and best practices in science instruction, including learning cycle action plans and other strategies to make practice public and engage in collaborative problem-solving (20 min). We will then share strategies for the development of teacher leadership, including case study work, leadership self-assessment and goal-setting, and leadership breakout discussions, where teachers were invited to share individual areas of expertise in science teacher leadership. (15 min) We will then engage participants in preparing for two of the cohort activities: an instructional strategy share-out (“pineapple share”) and leadership breakout discussions. (15 min) We will end with thoughts from a teacher leader in the cohort about how to recruit, retain, and engage teachers in this type of community. (10 min)

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with the tools they can use to develop collaboration, leadership, and high-quality science instruction among science teacher leaders.

SPEAKERS:
Andre Botello (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL), Julie Jacobi (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL), Allison Grandberry (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL), Kayla Cherry (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL)

Learn about the novel approach taken by Illinois to include teacher voice in developing a statewide three-dimensional science assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about the process of developing a state-wide assessment written by local educators.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Harvey Henson (Southern Illinois University Carbondale: Carbondale, IL), ANGELA BOX (Southern Illinois University Carbondale: CARTERVILLE, IL)

This session will provide educators with a clear understanding of environmental justice and give them tools to integrate this topic into science classrooms and student-led initiatives. We will focus on the case study of the Sonoma County Environmental Justice Coalition. During the 2021-2022 school year, middle and high school teams from across Sonoma County were invited to sign up for a year-long learning and leadership development program hosted by the Sonoma County Office of Education. Student teams received training and mentorship around environmental justice throughout the year and created and implemented local action plans to address an environmental justice issue. Students had the opportunity to receive input and mentorship from professionals and share their actions and future plans with local leaders and industries at a culminating showcase. Participants will hear a brief overview of the structure of the coalition and will view testimonials from student members. Participants will receive tools to integrate environmental justice into their classrooms and resources to help student teams develop and implement environmental justice action plans. Finally, participants will work collaboratively to design next steps for scaling environmental justice in their classroom and beyond by using their local resources and networks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore how to integrate environmental justice and civic engagement in science classrooms and programs.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan Kurada (Sonoma County Office of Education: Santa Rosa, CA), Anna Babarinde (Sonoma County Office of Education: Santa Rosa, CA)

This session will showcase lessons from around the world focusing on the exchange of ideas and networking. Come view a film created using videos from teachers around the globe, and posters while engaging with other teachers looking to network internationally.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will showcase lessons from around the world focusing on the exchange of ideas and networking. Come view a film created using videos from teachers around the globe, and posters while engaging with other teachers looking to network internationally.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0)

To help develop more scientifically curious and literate students, we use scientific literature or documentaries to engage students in developing the NGSS science practices. Students find an interesting topic, generate a question, collect and analyze data and then develop a Science Installation that communicates their learning to the greater community. Our most recent class project had students study how to grow food in a simulated Mars environment with the conditions controlled by student programmed raspberry pis. High school students organized 6th graders to do hands on data collection. They created a 10x12 foot exhibit that looked like a Martian landscape and highlighted the equipment they used with the plants still growing. The display included QR codes to communicate data and research using student-created videos, infographics, and data tables. Other installations include a monochromatic yellow room where everything looks grey and allowed observers to learn about the properties of light and the ways light energy is used in photosynthesis, the way it can be used to promote electrons, and the way it produces color. Other exhibits include sound waves and a history or music and musical instruments, the chemistry of color, and an environmental study of our use of carbon.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to guide students in the reading of scientific literature or the watching of documentaries in order to generate an authentic question and project. (How can we develop the capacity to farm on Mars? How does yellow monochromatic light produce the absence of color (an episode of Abstract, What can we learn about pollen structure from 3D printed files from Bayer’s agricultural division?) Participants will review a process to take the question and generate an authentic study that transcends a single class, grade, or discipline. (Students in 11th grade worked with students in 6th grade to test growing plants under controlled conditions that simulated Mars. Students in art and physics classes explored the properties of light and created a light-based art exhibit with science lessons on QR codes) Participants will explore a template for guiding students through the creation of an installation/exhibit that creatively shows the question, their experiment, their analysis, and potential solutions or conclusions in a creative and community-informing way. The exhibit is similar to an art installation with QR codes and experiment/study artifacts presented in a museum like scenario.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Helfant (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School: Saint Louis, MO)

In this session, participants will be introduced to a framework for identifying the features of a classroom culture that support equitable sensemaking. There are four main features: 1. Who is engaged in (or excluded from) classroom activity? 2. Who is treated as a "knower" in the classroom? 3. What ways of knowing are privileged in the classroom? 4. What science is practiced in the classroom? This framework is based off Kerri Wingert's Classroom Culture Investigations document and utilized as a foundational pieces of the OpenSciEd materials. Participants will unpack this framework and identify in sample pieces of student work and classroom videos examples of each one of these categories in action. They will be provided with tools and resources for self-assessing their own classroom culture including an exit ticket they can give to students to help inform the instruction. Examples of student work and instructional materials will be from the OpenScIEd instructional materials for middle school science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom culture is critical to providing equitable sensemaking opportunities for all students.

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

Participants will understand how to develop and effectively implement STEM curriculum units that include project based activities and performance based assessments. Participants will learn to help students answer complex questions and develop solutions for challenges and real-world problems. They will also assist students with extending and refining their acquired knowledge to routinely analyze and solve problems. By the end of this session: 1) Participants will gain a clear and coherent understanding of what a STEM PBL is and how it works. 2) Participants will be able to identify and create effective essential questions. 3) Participants will be able to identify and apply the components of a STEM PBL. 4) Understand how STEM PBL’s will impact instruction for participants and students. Agenda: What is PBL? Why is it important? How does a STEM PBL Work? How to effectively integrate journal reflections. Ways to Implement STEM PBL’s

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to effectively implement STEM PBL’s (Project Based Learning) by integrating the components of STEM and PBL in order to grow students' capacity for creativity, fun, and back-loaded learning in a STEM context.

SPEAKERS:
Adero Carter (Clayton County Public Schools: Jonesboro, GA)

Explore EiE’s curriculum design principles for inclusivity and NSTA’s sensemaking pillars as tools to evaluate curricula for inclusivity and equity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with a framework for evaluating curricula with equity and inclusivity in mind.

SPEAKERS:
Diana Christopherson (Museum of Science, Boston: Boston, MA)

Learn about opportunities to become a change agent within your school, district, and beyond. Discussion will be around strategies and programs to support teacher advocates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies and opportunities to support them in becoming change agents at various levels: within their school or district, local community, and state.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Vick (Northwestern University), Maggie Moore (Hononegah High School: Rockton, IL)

Need FREE grant funds for STEAM education, but don't know where to start? This session unpacks how to engineer a grant proposal in 12 steps.

TAKEAWAYS:
From this session, educators will be able to: 1. describe grant types and grant funders; 2. illustrate the 12-step grant writing process; and 3. identify sources of grant funding.

SPEAKERS:
Bejanae Kareem (STEM & Grant Specialist: Jonesboro, GA)

This session explores two key challenges faced by elementary school teachers for promoting 3D learning as outlined by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These are: (1) how to make sense of 3D proficiency based on student responses to assessment tasks, and (2) how to use student responses to inform next steps in instruction. We will address these challenges by guiding participants as they explore a set of 3D assessment tasks that are freely available online. These tasks have been developed in collaboration with teachers for performance expectations in physical science, life science, and earth and space science. During the session, we will highlight how the tasks help elicit what students know and can do. Participants will then learn about the features of the associated rubrics and practice applying rubrics to make sense of student responses. We will also share how information from rubric use can inform next steps in instruction and engage participants in a discussion about instructional decision making. Through this process, participants will learn about rubric features that will inform their own creations and adaptations of rubrics. Furthermore, participants will learn about various resources that are freely available.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the features of a new rubric that has been designed based on feedback from elementary school teachers. Through examples and discussions, attendees will learn how the rubric can help them evaluate student responses in a timely manner and provide detailed information about what students know and can do. This information can be valuable in linking student responses to 3D proficiencies and in determining instructional next-steps for teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Sania Zaidi (Education Development Center, Inc.: Waltham, MA), Samuel Arnold (Research Assistant: Chicago, IL)

From cartoon strips to mini documentaries, students can create digital works that show their science understanding. Having an all in one tool like the iPad allows students to show growth in their understanding with exciting, creative projects. Capturing videos, sounds and photos begins the student journey in learning. This session will begin with the why and move into the how. Sharing free apps for creation, the presenter will demonstrate the power of student creation. We will also highlight the various ways to assess and publish these student projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave this session with ready to go ideas for digital creation using iPad in the science classroom. Student samples from an 8th grade science classroom will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Leah LaCrosse (McCormick Junior High School: Huron, OH)

The Arctic keeps the entire world climate in balance and is a crucial, relevant, and engaging area of study for students. PolarTREC teachers will relate their experiences working with polar research scientists in Greenland to action projects for students in grades 6-12. The session will include interdisciplinary lessons and classroom strategies designed to connect polar science with Arctic geography and ecosystems and also economic and cultural systems . Moreover, the presenters are on the Council of Polar Educators International and will introduce participants to that organization and its strategies for building greater inclusion of Indigenous Arctic peoples in the global conversation about climate change and its repercussions..

TAKEAWAYS:
Practical multicurricular resources and activities ready for immediate implementation into curriculum and classroom

SPEAKERS:
Anne Schoeffler (Seton Catholic School: Hudson, OH)

News bulletins on social media and news sites contain topics that students need to understand now so that they can make informed decisions for their world today and tomorrow. STEM literacy is crucial to learners struggling to understand the multitude of information bombarding them through television, social media and the internet. Students in K-12 must become STEM literate so that they can identify, understand and solve problems in the world around them. STEM Literacy promotes innovative thinking and creativity as well as collaboration, problem solving, and most importantly, critical thinking. Today’s challenges need answers from our students but first they need to understand issues including climate change, space travel, robotics. By using real-world applications of scientific data and storylines, students become critical consumers, problem-solvers, and change-makers. Students who are STEM literate will be able to think critically and act responsibly about issues that impact them. In this session, lessons and strategies will be shared with teachers to inspire and to support their students as they develop STEM literacy skills. These lessons will encourage students to explore, explain and develop solutions to real phenomena and solve real problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three Takeaways: 1) Teachers will become familiar with technology, literacy and adaptive learning for middle school and high school students. 2) Teachers will be introduced to the free materials available that align with NGSS standards. 3) Teachers will be given ideas on how to incorporate these lessons in class

SPEAKERS:
Diane Ripollone (Cardinal Gibbons High School: Raleigh, NC), Kathy Biernat (Zanilu Educational Services, LLC: No City, No State)

In this session we will explore the experience of an instructional coach working with a fifth-grade teacher to engage students in three-dimensional learning using an NGSS curriculum at an urban school.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will explore how instructional coaches can be leveraged in elementary schools to support teachers and students in implementing the NGSS.

SPEAKERS:
Alayla Ende (University at Buffalo, SUNY: Buffalo, NY)

Improve inclusive classroom dynamics between teachers, families, and students by reflecting on disability model perspectives, identifying barriers to collaboration, and determining effective avenues of communication.

TAKEAWAYS:
The triangle of inclusion presents pathways that can be used by administrators and teachers to recognize and overcome barriers faced within the inclusive classroom and includes strategies such as early open communications, student advocacy, professional learning opportunities, and mentorships.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Wack (East Penn School District: Emmaus, PA)

Participants experience three different digital design challenges using branching scenarios that provide student choice and data sets involving wind energy, electromagnetism, and the greenhouse effect.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in three digital design challenges to test the efficiency of wind turbine blades, the strength of electromagnets, and the greenhouse effect on different land surfaces (polar region, water, and desert).

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

This presentation will include a proven model for allowing elementary students to explore and experience AP Biology content (at their level).

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take with them a protocol and resources for the successful implementation of an idea of what to do after the AP Biology exam. This allows AP students to explore a topic of interest and share that topic with elementary students.

SPEAKERS:
Scott VanderVeen (Valley Christian High School: San Jose, CA)

We will model activities that link Latino folktales to science and ELA learning as a means to connect natural phenomena and culture.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with Latin American folktales that connect to science phenomena for quick implementation in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Ivan Ochoa Martinez (Irene C. Hernandez Middle School for the Advancement of Science: Chicago, IL), Julio Mendez (Friedrich W. Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center: Chicago, IL), Madison Delaney (Teacher: , IL)

Learn about the many resources available to help plan your viewing of the 2023 annular and 2024 total solar eclipses.

TAKEAWAYS:
In order to see the maximum coverage of the Sun in a solar eclipse, the most important detail is a clear sky and fewer clouds. According to current climate data, the best locations to observe each solar eclipse will be reviewed.

SPEAKERS:
Richard Thomas (Beacon High School: Naples, FL)

Come learn about simple, applicable strategies to support your students' executive function skills in the science classroom, with an emphasis on project planning, organization, flexible thinking, and time management.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will identify the educational impact of the 11 main executive functions, as well as learn concrete strategies for supporting their students in both general and special education settings.

SPEAKERS:
Krista Northcutt (New Way Academy: Phoenix, AZ)

As a high school Engineering teacher, I'm passionate about the effects project-based learning can have on students' ability to engage with classroom material. I don't believe that hands-on STEM work needs to be limited to the science classroom and want to share a project that has been done in a freshman History class and could be adapted to incorporate other topics. Using online 3D modeling software, a 3D printer, and a wind generator, students studying the Wright brothers drew their own historically significant airfoils (like The Spirit of St. Louis and the Enola Gay), 3D printed them, and tested them. Students learned airfoil terminology, like camber and chord, and used airfoil ratios to create their scale models. While testing, we discussed the variations of the wings and why engineers might value payload capacity over speed based on the plane's use. My hope is that this presentation can encourage teachers to bring STEM concepts into other curricular departments as a way to demonstrate the types of connections students can make when they're working hands-on. This presentation will detail the steps of the project, materials needed, and highlight the challenges and lessons we've learned over the four years we've run this unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see an example of how a STEM teacher brought project based learning into a freshman History class and how that project has evolved and expanded over four years. We will present the curriculum and materials needed for this week-long project for others to employ at their own schools.

SPEAKERS:
Abigail Mills (Woodberry Forest School: Woodberry Forest, VA)

How can grading better represent students’ 3-D learning? This workshop will take a specific focus on grading phenomenon-driven curricula that do not have typical worksheets.

TAKEAWAYS:
Standards-based grading and careful selection of student work aligned to lesson-level PEs for feedback can help make 3-D learning more meaningful for students.

SPEAKERS:
Kerri Wingert (Good Question Research: Boulder, CO)

Small group instruction belongs in science too! Learn how to create and use formative assessments to support differentiated small group instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to support all students through differentiated small group instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Luthi (Gwinnett County Public Schools: Suwanee, GA)

It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of what students are interested in beyond the walls of the classroom. By keeping up with pop culture and current events you gain a window to the world that a child sees. The trick is to capture that interest and use it to communicate academic content through a lens that stays with them. In this session we’ll see some effective tools that keep the message fresh and effective.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using pop culture interests can be more fun and engaging than putting a character on a worksheet.

SPEAKERS:
John Hawkins (Oak Hill School: Nashville, TN)

Learn how to overcome the apathy of teenagers, understand their motivations for not asking questions, and get them to be curious again!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away multiple strategies to implement in their classroom to spark the curiosity of teens they teach.

SPEAKERS:
Jamye Carr (Cedar Ridge High School: Hillsborough, NC)

The storyline approach supports a classroom culture that promotes equity and belonging. As teachers who have transitioned from a traditional approach to the Illinois Storylines, we have implemented a variety of practices to meet the needs of every student in the class. Also further supporting NGSS principles, storylines give students the opportunity to engage in science practices as intended. In our session we will discuss strategies for modifying the Illinois Storyline curriculum for students with a variety of unique needs. Participants will be provided with a platform to discuss their classroom dynamic, examples of modified instruction, and the opportunity to practice tailoring the storylining curriculum to meet the needs of their students. We will have the audience actively participating in small and large group discussions on how modifications can be created for a set of storyline activities. Finally all of our modified materials will be shared in a google team drive, which includes over 175 educators currently contributing modified materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to recognize and remove barriers that students often face to increase engagement in NGSS storylines

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Pavic (Glenbrook South High School: Glenview, IL), Julia Navarro (Wheeling High School: Wheeling, IL), Madeline Thomas (Glenbrook South High School: Glenview, IL)

A partnership between University Prep Science and Math High school and the Detroit Zoological Society is providing students with opportunities to explore careers in zoology and conservation. Hands-on learning in the classroom with highly qualified teachers is complemented with regular visits to the Detroit Zoo, local green spaces, and the Belle Isle Aquarium, where students participate in facilitated programming, collect data for individual projects, and engage with content area experts. Over the four years in the Zoology Pathway program, students build their conceptual understanding of science skills through authentic learning experiences and explore topics of their personal interest in depth. This program has the potential to support students from groups who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields, including life sciences, and provide them an advantage as they pursue post-secondary opportunities and future careers with an already established professional network.

TAKEAWAYS:
Partnerships between schools and informal science organizations can support underrepresented students in pursuing post-secondary STEM opportunities. Pairing informal and formal science learning can build interest in STEM content, especially for students who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields. Co-collaboration of learning experiences leads to more robust, long-term partnerships.

SPEAKERS:
Claire Lannoye-Hall (Detroit Zoological Society: Royal Oak, MI)

This study explored how Project MISE, an inquiry-based professional development, impacted the instructional practices of science teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Inquiry-based instructional practices

SPEAKERS:
Emily Jackson-Osagie (Southern University and A&M College: Baton Rouge, LA)

Ideas and concrete strategies for building collaborative, generative partnerships with community groups, nonprofits, preK–12 schools, museums, and community colleges in order to transform the STEM ecosystem and preservice teachers' futures will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. hear from different partners about the generative ways we have collaborated to increase diversity in our STEM teacher preparation program; 2. engage in discussion and planning next steps for reaching out to a potential collaborative partner; and 3. learn about the ways in which preservice STEM Noyce Scholars have strengthened their STEM Identity and have been prepared to design culturally sustaining curricula and classrooms that integrate sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Sydney Worthen-Jenkins (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Nicole Hebert (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Bonnie Maur (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT), Kristin Rainville (Sacred Heart University: Fairfield, CT)

Wander your way through 30 different STEM stations to learn about resources, lessons, and teaching strategies to incorporate more STEM into your school and classroom. This farmer's market–type event brings together educators, authors, researchers, and leaders in early childhood through fifth-grade STEM education. Leave with a mindful of great ideas and be inspired!

TAKEAWAYS:
Pick up great ideas and be inspired during this farmer's market–type event.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Bird (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA), Heather Pacheco-Guffrey (Bridgewater State University: Bridgewater, MA), Lauren Burrow (Stephen F. Austin State University: Nacogdoches, TX), Susan Erickson (Country School: Weston, MA), Sara Nelson (Iowa State University: Ames, IA), Constance Beecher (Iowa State University: Ames, IA), Elizabeth Dethloff (Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM: Katy, TX), Christine Preston (The University of Sydney: Sydney, 0), Catherine Scott (Coastal Carolina University: Conway, SC), Kristin Cook (Bellarmine University: Louisville, KY), Richard Cox, Jr. (Atrium Health), Annette Venegas (Kent School District: Kent, WA), Juliette Guarino Berg (The Town School: New York, NY), Katie Morrison (University Child Development School: Seattle, WA), Wendi Laurence (Education Specialist: Park City, UT), Katrina Kmak (Park City Library: Park City, UT), Brittnie Hecht (Park City Library: Park City, UT), Diana Lockwood (Author & Executive Director), Godwyn Morris (Dazzling Discoveries / Skill Mill NYC: New York, NY), Bridget Miller (University of South Carolina: Columbia, SC), Christie Martin (University of South Carolina: Columbia, SC), Rebecca Kurson (Collegiate School: New York, NY), Cori Nelson (Winfield School District 34: Winfield, IL), Shelly Counsell (Self Employed Consultant), Belle Akers (Convent & Stuart Hall's Schools of the Sacred Heart: San Francisco, CA), Kathleen Tate (American Public University System: Charles Town, WV), Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR), Beth Pesnell (Kansas State University: Manhattan, KS), Bill Burton (Tatnall School: Wilmington, DE), Barbara Bromley (Hazelwood Elementary School: Lynnwood, WA), Kim Stilwell (BIOZONE Corp.: Parker, CO), Nancy McIntyre (Robotics Education & Competition Foundation: Greenville, TX), Shari Haug (Science Olympiad: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Jane Savatski (Janet Berry Elementary School: Appleton, WI), Katrina Pavlik (Deputy Executive Director: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Mitchell Rosenberg (Kinderlab Robotics, Inc.: Waltham, MA), Tiffany Leones (Digital Promise: Washington, DC), Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA), Danielle Scharen (North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC), Frances Hamilton (The University of Alabama in Huntsville: Huntsville, AL), Jennifer Williams (Isidore Newman School: New Orleans, LA), Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV)

In this session, participants will be given an overview of the Food Allergy Storyline, a High School Unit that addresses LS1.A and LS3.A. The anchoring phenomenon for the unit is something familiar yet still mysterious to this generation of students - bans on certain foods in their cafeterias and classrooms. Students will probably be able to connect the bans to food allergies but might not be able to explain why a person has food allergies. The first day of the unit allows students to consider what they do and don't know about food allergies and what they want to find out. This gives them a reason for investigating the biological mechanism behind food allergies and intolerances. In doing so, they will make sense of Disciplinary Core Ideas related to genetics and genomics.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Food Allergy Storyline provides an opportunity for students to make sense of Disciplinary Core Ideas related to genetics and genomics.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Informal science can be found every day in the world around us. Visit exhibitors at the Share-a-thon to learn about many of those incredible examples.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Kutsch (National Science Teaching Association, eCYBERMISSION)

See how tools developed within OpenSciEd units can support students’ progression of and engagement in SEPs and CCCs across a variety of unit contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical tools such as graphic organizers, general rubrics, and self- and peer-assessments that can be used to support students in incrementally building SEPs and CCCs in a variety of units.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Gail Housman (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Informal science learning opportunities can be so much more than a trip to the zoo or museum. The resources available at informal learning organizations can greatly strengthen or supplement those at formal learning institutions. Collaboration is key to achieving such results. In many cases, those partnerships are strengthened through the creation of formalized teams or committees. Quite often, that’s where the struggle begins. Frequently, teams are not structured to react quickly to changes and they don’t mature in a manner that provides stability as they age. Whether starting from scratch or reenergizing an existing team, it’s important to recruit members with the right skills and resources, engage them effectively and layout a structure that allows them to succeed… even during times when you can’t be there to lead them. The guidance discussed in this session will provide attendees with successful tips and K-12 examples that they can take with them as they improve informal science in their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Tips on building teams from scratch, reorganizing existing teams and laying the path for continued success.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Kutsch (National Science Teaching Association, eCYBERMISSION)

The provided instructional unit will elicit students’ prior knowledge, as well as foster their individual and collective understandings of the human body.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be encouraged to utilize facet-based assessments and classroom argumentation throughout lessons framed with the 5E instructional model.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Herrera, Ph.D. (Whitney Elementary School: No City, No State)

Ongoing findings from NSF Project: #1950232. Graduate students at an HBCU complete a 14-month accelerated pathway that leads to both a masters degree in biology and teacher certification while being supported with a $20,000.00 scholarship. Project offers unique professional development opportunities and academic interventions that aim to enhance teacher conceptual understanding and efficacy to teach challenging and controversial scientific and environmental topics such as climate change and evolution. Paper presentation will first focus on comparing teacher profiles of the project participants versus the average state graduate of traditional teacher preparation programs. Initially, project data on beginning teacher demographics and diversity will be compared to state and national averages. Here we will show project utility in recruiting diverse candidates into high school science teaching positions. Next, the session will present findings on GPA, and discipline specific content hours at the graduate and undergraduate level along with performance on licensure exams to compare aptitude in biological concepts in project participants vs other beginning teachers. This will demonstrate project impact on recruiting, training and producing science educators with strong content backgrounds. Prior research has shown that in general students that had high school teachers that were had strong content knowledge and high levels of efficacy positively impacted future STEM career and academic success (Adelman, 1999). Lastly, paper presentation will share results on a pre/post assessment of educator efficacy of teaching perceived controversial scientific topics such as evolution, climate change and vaccines. Project participants were pretested upon starting their academic program and post-tested upon completion. These results are compared to a control group of recent graduates from a secondary science traditional teacher preparation program. Findings show impact of program participation on growth of efficacy to teach controversial topics and project utility compared to traditional teacher preparation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session participants will: 1. Develop an understanding on how to recruit diverse individuals into the profession of secondary science teaching 2. Understand the complexity of the STEM pipeline in regards to K-16 teaching and eventual student career and academic pursuits 3. Appreciate the need for scholarships, incentives, pay and ongoing professional for secondary science educators 4. Understand how content knowledge, academic preparation and experiences associated with research and professional development impact teacher effectiveness and student achievement 5. Realize the importance of teacher efficacy and the need for training at both the in-service and pre-service levels to foster its growth.

SPEAKERS:
Timothy Goodale (Elizabeth City State University: Elizabeth City, NC)

This session is intended to discuss the importance of formative assessment as a tool for guiding students and helping all students to make progress. A variety of formative assessment tools will be explored. Most importantly, the use of individual feedback on formative assessments will be demonstrated and we will discuss how this leads to improved metacognition and critical thinking skills for students. Attendees will see sample student work on formative assessments and accompanying sample teacher feedback. They will practice making comments of there own, in addition to discussing logistical concerns with the practice of individualized feedback.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session is intended to discuss the importance of formative assessment as a tool for guiding students and helping all students to make progress.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Maguire (Virginia Tech: Blacksburg, VA)

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. participate in a discussion on defining STEM based professional development; 2. have an opportunity to view strategies that supports inquiry in science and 3. be able to view research and data that supports the impact of STEM based professional development on achievement.

SPEAKERS:
Takisha Gastile (University of Houston-Clear Lake: Houston, TX)

Let's discuss the expansion and availability of geospatial data (arcGIS, EJScreen, CalAdapt) to examine environmental justice issues in their own community and create climate resilience action plans for an authentic audience (city council, school district, state lawmakers).

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore strategies for using geospatial data to examine, interpret, and act on place-based environmental justice issues in their communities.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Metzger-Carter (Sonoma Academy: Santa Rosa, CA)

The presenters share a collaborative initiative focused on increasing preservice science teachers' level of global competence and global science teaching efficacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
The attendees will take away ideas for adjusting science teacher preparation programs in a manner that prepares preservice teachers to foster students' sensemaking at a global level.

SPEAKERS:
Gayle Buck (Indiana University Bloomington: Bloomington, IN), Valarie Akerson (Indiana University Bloomington: Bloomington, IN), Vesna Dimitrieska (Coordinator, Global Education Initiatives: Bloomington, IN)

How many teacher comments on student work are left unread? Or, even if they are read, how useful are they to the student? Can the student positively internalize the feedback and use it to improve their work? Chances are the answer is no! But it doesn’t have to be this way! During this session, participants will learn more effective strategies for giving actionable feedback and methods to help their students utilize feedback to improve their work. First we’ll learn how to ask questions in student feedback and how differently questions are internalized by the student. For example, consider the difference between, “I don’t understand what you mean here,” and “Can you explain in more detail what you meant in this statement?” Then we’ll discover how to make sure teachers' feedback is read and used by students to improve their work. By making self reflection a formalized step in the learning process, teachers provide students opportunities to practice this important skill! Participants will receive a worksheet with feedback tips and tricks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Several methods that can be applied immediately in the classroom, providing feedback encouraging students to be self reflective of their own work.

SPEAKERS:
Regina Borriello (Clifton High School: Edison, NJ)

Misconceptions are both worrisome and problematic to STEM educators because students continue to build knowledge on their current understanding, negatively impacting their learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will be provided with a framework to deconstruct, reconstruct, and construct (D.R.C. Model) the teaching and learning experience in the STEM classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Jackson-Osagie (Southern University and A&M College: Baton Rouge, LA), Catherine Alexander (Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University: Baton Rouge, LA)

Hispanic students are a growing minority in school systems. However, the number of Hispanic students earning certificates and degrees in STEM fields at the post-secondary level is far below that of other students. To address this problem, Hispanic students and their families need to be introduced to STEM subjects (including hands-on activities) and STEM professionals (including professors and students majoring in STEM fields) beginning in elementary school. This communication and relationship building needs to continue in both middle school and high school. It then culminates with dual enrollment classes, mentorships, and internships at the community college level. In this presentation, you will be introduced to the RHiTA (recruiting Hispanics to achieve) program at Walters State Community College and the Hispanic STEM engagement pipeline. You will hear about the successes and the failures of this program and the plans for the future. You will be given tips and advice to create a similar program at your college.

TAKEAWAYS:
Develop and implement a pipeline from elementary school to community college in STEM subjects to engage Hispanic students.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Moore (Walters State Community College: Morristown, TN), Elesha Goodfriend (Walters State Community College: Morristown, TN)

This session will focus on how educators can support students to change their mindset in relation to the “labels" used to classify their science courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be able to: 1. understand the impact that labels used to classify science courses—such as regular, honors, or AP—can have in the academic performance of high school students; learn simple strategies that can be implemented in the classroom to help students changing their mindset in regards of the courses that they are taking; and 3. learn how these strategies can contribute to foster a more positive attitude and a more productive culture of learning in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Ileana Bermudez Luna (University of South Florida: Tampa, FL)

Explore connections between inquiry, project-based learning (PBL), and social-emotional learning (SEL) through a new essential practices guide. Learn strategies that build SEL skills, making PBL accessible to all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
In order to make project-based learning accessible for all students, the development of social-emotional skills must be intentionally planned and explicitly taught.

SPEAKERS:
Kristana Rogers (DoD STEM/RTI International: Research Triangle Park, NC)

This session is designed to help teachers deepen their understanding of the effective and practical strategies needed to facilitate a successful science fair competition or symposium in either a face-to-face or hybrid environment. Participants will be provided with a variety of instructional strategies and free curriculum materials to ensure that all students have access to a social learning platform that will encourage opportunities to collaborate with peers and mentors through intentional planning. The instructional strategies used in this presentation will promote student engagement, differentiation, and scientific understanding to help form a more inclusive learning environment within the classroom and within the district community.

TAKEAWAYS:
--Participants will experience a variety of impactful instructional strategies that promote authentic scientific research and presentation to promote access to equitable future opportunities for students regarding college and/or career endeavors

SPEAKERS:
Angela McMurry (The Ohio Academy of Science: Dublin, OH)

A cross-disciplinary team of teachers, subject matter experts, and curriculum developers have designed resources and materials to facilitate teaching students about the use of animals in scientific research in the United States, as well as Russell and Burch’s 3 Rs principles of replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use. The materials, which are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, are geared toward high school science students. The modules can be taught separately or in combination, giving educators flexibility to choose specific content areas to share and explore with their students. During the session, we will present two learning plans: one that introduces students to the 3 Rs principles and how animals are used in scientific research, and another that covers the 3 Rs principles in more depth. We will share information, including teaching plans, learning materials, and performance assessment tasks associated with the curriculum, with session attendees.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the content and activities covered in two lesson plans focused on the use of animals in scientific research in the United States and the 3 Rs principles. Sample lesson plans and associated learning materials, including presentations, articles, and worksheets, will be shared with attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Pam Osenkowski (National Anti-Vivisection Society - BioLEAP: Chicago, IL)

Science teachers at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in Chicago Public Schools have worked with Northwestern University’s CT-STEM department to develop computational thinking in science units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. The goal is for students to understand and apply computational thinking practices in their science classrooms to help make sense of phenomena or problems, analyze data, use models and develop explanations. Units, built by teachers, are designed to cover core science concepts in physics, chemistry, and biology. This program allows teachers to work with CT-STEM members to develop new simulations or other CT activities that work best in the unit. This was developed based on teacher need, when simulations didn’t exist to address the big ideas. Integration of NetLogo models, SageModeler, NetTango, and other data analysis activities are used to help students make real world connections. These tools allow students to learn and apply basic computer science ideas and skills as well as the 3-D of NGSS. Developed unit topics include: stoichiometry, climate change, gas laws, and energy. These units are available for public use and can be easily modified on the CT-STEM platform for teachers to use.

TAKEAWAYS:
Overview of how teachers integrated Computational Thinking into science units and how to access units for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science

SPEAKERS:
Carole Namowicz (Lindblom Math and Science Academy: Chicago, IL), Lauren Levites (Lindblom Math and Science Academy: Chicago, IL)

Want to know what the students actually know, but don't want to spend all of your time grading? Adjust your assessment questions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to adapt "typical" assessment questions into more meaningful questions in order to better understand what the students know without the endless hours of grading.

SPEAKERS:
Meredith Diehl (Northview High School: Sylvania, OH)

I plan to show examples of narrated, evolving images. I plan to show images of neuranatomy. I plan to show the results of a student performance using visual-based teaching. I plan to discuss other tips for effective teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Why students learn more in less time by viewing narrated, evolving images than by reading a textbook.

SPEAKERS:
Sheldon Margulies, M.D. (Fascinating Education: Silver Spring, MD)

During the pandemic, STEM leaders took on the challenge of connecting PK-5 students with each other in inclusive community events that focused on expanding access to STEM learning. The Student Design Guild (SDG) is a program bringing students and families together in a Covid-safe environment. SDG had three goals in mind: continue to provide STEM outreach for elementary students, provide a sense of community at a time when schools looked different and new, and provide ways for students to make sense of the pandemic. The SDG united students through a common need and engaged them in STEM learning. Through the design thinking process (a human-centered problem-solving process) and STEM stations, the guild developed opportunities for students that included designing, creating, building, iterating and sharing, all to lay a foundation for developing essential skills necessary for secondary education / work-force readiness. Participants will -learn how to design their own district/school-based Student Design Guild -have access to a model for creating a streamlined district-wide program that expands access and participation in STEM learning view design thinking as a STEM practice -view design thinking as a STEM practice -receive a district-wide student design challenge and a variety of turn-key STEM Stations

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about one district's model for creating district-wide programming that expands access and participation in STEM learning and understand how that model can be adapted to fit the needs of the user. Understand how to use the design thinking process as a STEM practice and receive a rubric for using design thinking. Have access to a district-wide design challenge and a variety of turn-key STEM Stations for students.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Brohm (Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools: Longmont, CO), Colin Rickman (Innovation Lab Coordinator: Longmont, CO)

A team of high school teachers and university researchers presents a process of their collaboration and learning about teaching multilingual students using an NGSS-focused curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design and carry out effective and positive collaboration centered around a specific goal (e.g., establishing a clear structure of work cycle) and several key principles for teaching emergent multilingual students that were developed through the collaboration (e.g., multimodality).

SPEAKERS:
Minjung Ryu (University of Illinois Chicago: Chicago, IL), Laura Decker (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL), Anna Kordek (Science Teacher), Maks Malec (Highschool Physics Teacher: , IL)

In this presentation we will start with an existing basic physical science lesson that uses disciplinary core ideas on electricity, the engineering practice of making a model by constructing a basic electrical circuit, and the cross-cutting concept of cause and effect (closing the circuit starts current flow and turns on the light). We will then modify it using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so it is more accessible, especially for students with disabilities. UDL encourages multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement for presenting and receiving content and information related to the lesson and gives students several ways to acquire the lesson knowledge, Multiple means of expression allows the students several choices in how they can “show what they know” and multiple means of engagement offers learners offers appropriate challenges to get students interested and motivated. Planning or modifying lessons using UDL not only makes lessons more accessible, but it also makes lessons more engaging for all students in inclusive classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
1) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) encourages multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement for presenting and receiving content and information related to the lesson. Use of UDL makes lessons more engaging for all students. 2) Applying UDL (Universal Design for Learning) will make the lesson more accessible, especially for students with special needs. 3) You may start with a lesson you already have. It is not necessary to develop a lesson from scratch when using UDL.

SPEAKERS:
Mary O'Donnell (Penn State University), Gargi Adhikari (Holland Brook School/Readington Township Schools: Whitehouse Station, NJ)

Learn how to assist educators in facilitating purposeful STEM clubs for elementary girls, focusing on strategies promoting female student achievement, confidence, and interest in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Strategies to establish and facilitate STEM clubs that are fun, develop collaboration, actively combat stereotypes, and provide students with female role models in the STEM community; 2. An exploration of options for club formats and in-class applications, possible equity protocols, as well as a discussion of potential barriers and possible solutions for educators; and 3. Tools and resources for further research and strategies.

SPEAKERS:
David Rosengrant (University of South Florida St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg, FL), Nicole Caltabellotta (Mt. Vernon Elementary: St. Petersburg, FL)

In this session participants are introduced to the lesson Why is a covered planet a healthy planet? In this lesson, students use a digital tool to analyze large data sets available from NASA Earth Observations to identify spatial and temporal patterns that can help support (or refute) the claim that tilling the land in spring (Northern Hemisphere) causes an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere and the growing crops causes the amount to decrease in summer. This lesson is based on ideas presented in the film Kiss the Ground.

TAKEAWAYS:
Why is a Covered Planet a Healthy Planet? provides students with an opportunity to analyze large data sets in order to support or refute a claim about the effect tilling the land in the spring has on carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Energy is the second largest expenditure in American schools. Managing energy use in a school setting is difficult without having students, faculty, and staff engaged and actively participating in a management program. This presentation will serve as the steppingstone for how to conduct one’s own educational energy audit in their classroom and school building. The hands-on investigations turn the school building into a living laboratory to explore energy efficiency, monitor energy use, and decide on the best behavioral changes based on data collected. The lessons introduce students to the concepts of energy, energy consumption, economic and environmental effects of the energy industry and its consumers, and the difference between conservation and efficiency. Activities encourage the development of cooperative learning, math, science, comparison and contrast, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. By engaging students in an energy management program, you have hundreds of enthusiastic mini energy managers ready to help identify things like broken water fountains, leaky doors or windows, inappropriate lighting use, vampire loads, and unwanted temperature variations within their own building. Students take ownership of their school and take better care of it while leading their peers to be conscientious users of energy. They learn these skills to bring back to their home and community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn hands-on activities that introduce students to the ways in which we use energy in the home and at school while helping teach students to take ownership and lead their peers to be conscientious users of energy.

SPEAKERS:
Cori Nelson (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA), Sharon Bird (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA)

Although group projects have been shown to increase learning and cooperation, bullying can sneak into student peer evaluations. Examples and alternatives to ghosting presented.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science classrooms are a great place for group projects to enhance learning, but students may unwittingly be ghosted from their group, ultimately making them seem like they are not a team player. We as teachers must be diligent against bullying/ghosting.

SPEAKERS:
Diane Huelskamp (Wright State University-Lake Campus: Celina, OH)

Resources and strategies to support P–12 and postsecondary students in STEM classrooms who have invisible illnesses/ health-impairment disabilities will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will get an overview of resources and strategies that address the need for safe and equitable learning environments for P–12 and postsecondary students with invisible disabilities/ health-impairment illnesses in STEM classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Grim-Hunter (Chicago State University: Chicago, IL)

Using STEM education to move a science department from failure to distinction in two academic years is possible. Artifacts used will be shared in addition to research-based strategies that were employed during the process, from failure to a science distinction. STEM education is vital for the success of all students. STEM instruction allows the teacher to make learning connected and more relevant. This presentation will be focused on a teacher’s standpoint and an administrator’s lens. Strategies used mainly focused on employing higher-order thinking skills for both students and teachers. As a Science Department, we were “In it to win”. Teacher standpoint. The foundation of instruction of the department was based on the inquiry approach method that involved ESL and Special education faculty support during all planning sessions. Well-structured PLCs were vital vertically and horizontally. From the lens of an administrator Setting high expectations for PLCs and department meeting is critical. The approach must always be “It’s not another department meeting”: Instructional mechanics were self-checked by using Swivl, and frequent casual ‘I Noticed’ walkthroughs improved instruction. BOY Goal setting for student performance must be strategically tied to all major assessments. Creating a culture of student-centered learning and instructional guidance for teachers is the cohesive force that paves the road to success.

TAKEAWAYS:
STEM education is vital for the success of all students. STEM instruction allows the teacher to make learning connected and more relevant. This presentation will be focused on a classroom teacher’s standpoint and from an administrator’s lens how the road to success can be paved strategically.

SPEAKERS:
Jean Langevine (Galveston ISD: Galveston, TX)

Sagan said that when kids are young, they cannot stop asking questions. By high school, they stop asking. This needs to change.

TAKEAWAYS:
Ways we can help students learn and retain science concepts, critical-thinking skills, and inquisitiveness using alternative approaches to teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Juan Bacigalupi (Eagle Hill School: Hardwick, MA)

Older science magazines (from the early 1900’s) are replete with articles and photos of unusual inventions and ideas which can be transformed into case studies that elicit active discussions in science classrooms. Magazines like Popular Science and Science and Invention often had articles on proposed scientific inventions, their ‘technology of the future’, that were never successfully produced. We use their proposals as the basis for mini-case studies in physics classes. Ideas like rocket mail, houses powered by radium, and jumping over Niagara Falls in the family sedan were all proposed in the first half of the 20th century. Determining whether or not the proposals were scientifically viable makes for engaging physics activities. In addition, students can look at aspects other than the pure science: the proposed idea might be scientifically feasible, but would it be prohibitively expensive or damage the environment or the users? Additionally, students can explore how historically the ideas might have made sense (e.g. a radium house in 1900 would have been thought of differently than it is now). In this talk we will give participants ideas of where to find free articles, work through several case studies, and give examples of many others.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn ways to implement case studies based on historical scientific innovations.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Brown (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg: Greensburg, PA)

This session will present attendees with an up-to-date literature review, as well as original research, regarding administrators knowledge and acceptance of evolution and evolution education law. After discussing the research, a virtual library of general resources will be shared with attendees that they bring back to their school and district administrators. Additionally, attendees will learn how to locate or create resources to add to this virtual library that are specific to their state standards, specific content areas, and local communities. The goal is that attendees will return to their schools and districts and be better able to participate directly or indirectly in Instructional Leadership Team roles in their communities in order to promote high quality science instruction for their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about our current understanding of administrators' knowledge of evolution and evolution education law and walk away with a virtual toolbox of resources that can be shared with building and district level administrators to better support quality science instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Blake Touchet (National Center for Science Education: Oakland, CA)

Engage students, families, and the community in STEAM through Family STEAM Nights in order to equitably build understanding and interest in STEAM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to create, recruit, and implement a Family STEAM Night to engage students, families, and the community in STEAM.

SPEAKERS:
McKenna Serowka (Lake Zurich High School: Lake Zurich, IL)

Come learn about a free CS curriculum for teachers with Carnegie Mellon University's CS Academy: Creative and Exiting Tools for STEM Classrooms Using Python.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to create your accounts and the different types of Python courses available, all free of charge. You can use the curriculum immediately upon account creation for small projects or entire classes.

SPEAKERS:
Sofia De Jesus (Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA)

Too many students fall for disinformation. Learning facts is not enough. New research shows students need more critical-thinking skills, and supplemental curriculum helps.

TAKEAWAYS:
Critical-thinking curriculum is available to help “inoculate” students against disinformation and science denial.

SPEAKERS:
David Hundsness (Critical Thinking Project: PACIFICA, CA)

Learn about strategies and tools to guide preservice teachers to understand how to provide meaningful experiences for ALL students, including those with special needs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to support their preservice teachers as they learn how to meet the individual needs of students.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Brooks (University of Central Florida: Orlando, FL)

We will introduce our recently published NSTA book containing a collection of units and resources to help teachers engage students in three-dimensional learning through model-based inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how model-based inquiry supports three-dimensional sensemaking across the arc of a unit of instruction in biology classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Campbell (University of Connecticut: Storrs Mansfield, CT)

Inspiration to Fruition provides any educator with a game plan on how to take an idea and available resources and create a project that enhances the student experience and skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. A template for designing a grassroots STEM or PBL project; 2. Top 10 tips on how to make managing the project actually manageable; and 3. Proof that trusting one's intuition to build a project based on an inspirational event can bring to fruition an amazing experience for students.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Hartings (Indian Hill Middle School: CINCINNATI, OH), Jessica Brown (Teacher: cincinnati, OH)

Professional learning opportunities for elementary science teachers are scarce but crucial for all elementary teachers to meet the goals of the NGSS. We argue that schools and districts should leverage the routines teachers are already doing for professional learning. In a study of three districts, we found opportunities for learning about science content, teaching, the NGSS, and instructional leadership. This may not happen in all spaces: there are likely more opportunities if teacher learning is centered alongside administrative function. This presentation will focus on how facilitation for curriculum adoption routines supported particular kinds of teacher learning, through leaning into contentious moments and using tools to mediate perspectives and develop teachers’ knowledge. We will also pose a key dilemma which emerged from our focal districts around membership selection: hand-selecting committee members leveraged their instructional expertise and ensured the selection of high-quality curriculum materials but limited both representation and opportunities for less expert elementary science teachers to learn about teaching science within the routine. We will then facilitate a discussion focused on strategies for supporting teacher learning, including around critical issues of equity which were mostly absent from our data collection, and strategies for managing the key dilemma of membership selection.

TAKEAWAYS:
Committees for adopting new science curricula are an example of an often untapped opportunity for teacher learning; leaning into points of contention and leveraging tools to mediate committee deliberations contribute to teacher learning.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Seeber (University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, MI), Christa Haverly (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

This session focuses on improved outcomes for students’ written science explanations when including data description prompts and instructional facilitation to adapt the CER framework.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about the importance of a preliminary step of incorporating data descriptions when utilizing the CER framework to guide students’ written explanations and reasoning of data visualization.

SPEAKERS:
Andrea Drewes (Rider University: Lawrenceville, NJ)

While receiving less media exposure than climate change or plastic waste, air pollution is a substantial environmental challenge of the 21st century. The World Health Organization estimates that about seven million premature deaths globally can be attributed to outdoor and household air pollution. Many education organizations and guidelines, including the NSTA and NGSS, emphasize understanding, monitoring, and mitigating human impacts on the environment as a key competency for middle school students. While science education research is still working to identify the association between environmental knowledge, attitudes, and environmentally responsible behaviors, scholarly literature suggests that increasing knowledge of environmental issues is a critical first step towards fostering environmental concern and changes to actions. In this session, educators will learn how to implement a sequence of lessons and activities to explore air pollution sources, how polluted air impacts human health, and strategies to tackle this pressing challenge. The session will cover implementing a scientific inquiry lesson around investigating local sources of air pollution, identifying global trends using online databases, and applying concepts to a Mystery Town activity. These lessons are aligned with NGSS standards for Middle School Earth science and support a broad vision to prepare environmentally and scientifically literate citizens.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators who attend this presentation will explore a lesson and activity sequence, congruent with 5e and the NGSS, that introduces students to the science ideas encompassing air quality such as factors and sources of pollution, and associations with adverse human health effects.

SPEAKERS:
Benjamin Janney (Texas A&M University: College Station, TX)

A grading system based on total points does not accurately reflect the level of student understanding of science content. Students who demonstrate that they understand half of the content should not earn a failing score. Nor should students earn arbitrary points for doing non-science content related things. Student scores should reflect what a student understands and not how well the student can play the game we call school. We teachers are encouraged to do standards based grading, but not everyone knows how or where to start or even if it is worth putting forth the effort to make the change. Participants will be led through my journey in becoming a teacher who uses standards based grading. The struggles in changing my mindset about grades and the way I grade will be presented as well as the benefits of having a better understanding of what the students actually know, having student grades more accurately reflect what they know, having fewer students fail among other things. Basic strategies for assessing level of understanding will also be presented. Time will be given for questions and answers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be given strategies about changing their view of scoring students by the total number of points they got correct verses the student's level of understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Meredith Diehl (Northview High School: Sylvania, OH)

Explore the many ways dinosaurs and paleontology can be integrated into STEM curricula to attract all learners. Resources and collaboration ideas will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with a plethora of hands-on ideas and resources (including children's literature) relating to dinosaurs, paleontology, and community resources to help inspire all learners in their contexts.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Pangan (Butler University: Indianapolis, IN), Becky Wolfe (The Children's Museum of Indianapolis: Indianapolis, IN)

This presentation reviews students researching and presenting on past ADI events in science through the creation of scientist avatars.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. This session highlights the use of a classroom-tested assignment where students are asked to create a personal avatar where they are pretending to be the actual scientist; and 2. The assignment works well to show actual ADI events that explain how science changes over time.

SPEAKERS:
William Sumrall (The University of Mississippi: University, MS)

This session will introduce participants to Our Beautiful Planet,  a collection of classroom-ready films and lesson plans that highlight the science and engineering practices scientists use to explain the phenomenon of climate change. The collection of over 10 lessons brings Sensemaking to environmental science by cultivating student curiosity with engaging and eye-popping phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Our Beautiful Planet is a series of compelling 5-7 minute science films and lessons highlighting the cutting-edge research that climate scientists are doing to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Computer science CAN be integrated into high school science classes. Here are some ideas from the STEMcoding Project!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will work on three "STEMcoding" activities on: 1. climate change with connection to spreadsheets; 2. orbital motion for Earth science; and 3. the first of the "physics of video games" activities.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Orban (The Ohio State University at Marion: Marion, OH)

As educators shift their teaching practice to align with the Framework for K-12 Science and the NGSS, they face various challenges and barriers. One pressing challenge is how to align their new approach to teaching and learning with existing assessment and grading systems. In this session, we will present provide examples of 3D assessments and associated scoring guidance. Participants will review student work for these sample assessments and identify evidence of understanding. They will collaborate with others in the session and determine how they would give grades based on set criteria. The second part of the session will highlight different approaches to grading based on local grading expectations (e.g., standards-based grading, daily grade requirements, or 100 point-based systems). Participants will leave the session with approaches to assessment and grading that support student sensemaking and honor the diverse resources students bring to the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with approaches to assessment and grading that support student sensemaking and honor the diverse resources students bring to the classroom.

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

Explore how to use phenomena to generate student questions that allow for further investigation to support student sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to effectively use phenomena to allow for authentic student questioning and how to use those questions to increase student engagement and sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Vick (Northwestern University)

Self-paced classrooms are a means to run a STEM class where the teacher becomes a facilitator of learning to their students. A self-paced classroom is one where the students will engage with the class material at a rate that is appropriate for them. Assignments are rated into different categories worth different point values so that students can make a choice each day in how they want to approach their learning. This kind of environment encourages development of executive functioning skills, cooperative learning skills, and other soft skills necessary to be successful as a 21st century learner, scientist, or engineer. It also meets the needs of both the highest and the lowest functioning learners. In this session, we will learn in more detail about self-paced classrooms, how to implement them, and how to develop different types of activities and locate resources that work well for this kind of environment, including interactive digital notebooks, pixel art, EdPuzzles, digital crossword puzzles, lab experiments, digital and live escape rooms, and more! Join me as we learn how we can make equity for all enjoyable for all the students.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to use various computer programs, specifically in the Google Suite, to create an equitable classroom environment.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Stewart-Miranda (Greater Lowell Technical High School: Tyngsboro, MA)

Robotics activities can be an engaging and innovative way to help students learn core science concepts, while also introducing engineering design and computer programming. In this session, participants will learn about three robotics activities that help students engage with physical science concepts. Educators will hear about: (1) an activity involving speed and acceleration. Through a combination of activities students explored and calculated speed. After walking and running at intervals, students built vehicles to show speed and acceleration, ultimately graphing data to compare constant speed and acceleration; (2) ways in which students applied knowledge and skills learned during a PLTW Design and Modeling class as they designed and built a prototype toy for use in therapy with children with Cerebral Palsy or other disabilities; (3) how students used robots to explain a concept from a light and sound unit to peers and students from younger grades. Students selected one of the concepts from a light and sound unit, made a display, built a robot, and prepared a presentation to explain their concept and how it works in the world outside our classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how using robotics activities in science and engineering classes can support and enhance students’ learning of physical science concepts, while also engaging students in problem solving and engineering design processes.

SPEAKERS:
Richard Shroyer (Logos Lab School: Richmond, IN), Tiauna Washington (Hibberd Intermediate School: Richmond, IN), Debra Bernstein (TERC: Cambridge, MA), McCall Emerick (Acmetonia Elementary School: Cheswick, PA)

Techniques such as CRISPR, mitochondrial transfer, and mRNA therapeutics have opened up new possibilities for genetic manipulation, bringing new possibilities to energize the biology curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will explore the specifics of how these powerful genetic engineering techniques work and discuss ways to incorporate them into the curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Kenneth Miller (Brown University: Providence, RI)

Do the test questions you use adequately reflect your students’ true understanding of science? We’ll share guidelines for writing effective questions that don’t leave any of your students out and will help you determine whether your students are making sense of phenomena they are investigating - do their ideas match science ideas of the NGSS? Using a research-based “citizen science” approach, teachers can volunteer their favorite items and help improve our existing MOSART questions. Crucial item characteristics will be measured and reported, such as difficulty, effectiveness, gender, and racial/ethnic bias. Write new questions or revise ones you already have to address how well students make sense of elements outlined in the NGSS DCIs. The following is a question that is too difficult for middle school students: Matter is made of tiny bits called atoms. What is between the helium atoms in a balloon? a)Tiny particles that bind atoms together. b)A chemical substance that attaches helium atoms together. c)Nothing; the helium atoms touch each other on all sides. d)Nothing, just empty space. e)Air. How would you revise this item? We’ll have “practice” opportunities to look at assessment questions that are difficult or biased and discuss possible revisions with other educators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Write assessment questions to address item characteristics of difficulty, effectiveness, gender, and racial/ethnic bias

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Crockett (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA), Philip Sadler (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA)

Have you read great articles in the NSTA journals that changed or added to the ways you and your students do science for the better? You could inspire other educators across the country in the same way by sharing your teaching ideas, activities or lessons as an NSTA journal author!

TAKEAWAYS:
Tips on how to prepare and submit your manuscript for publication in NSTA's journals.

SPEAKERS:
Peter Lindeman (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Elizabeth Barrett-Zahn (National Science Teaching Association)

Come start your winning application for the Shell Science Teaching Award, or the Shell Urban Science Educators Development Award. We'll walk through the application step by step and you'll be able to begin your application or nomination form live.

TAKEAWAYS:
Collaborate with past winners and judges to learn how to start your winning application for the Shell Teaching Awards. We'll walk through the application step by step and you'll be able to begin your application or nomination form live.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Melissa Collins (John P. Freeman Optional School: Memphis, TN)

The use of inclusive STEAM pedagogy is the forefront of using NRC Framework, Hill’s model, and 21st Century skill in unison for generating a sustainable STEAM curriculum. In this presentation, a demonstration of how to utilize these frameworks into creating project-based learning units that showcase diversity and the embodiment of students seeing diversity in the STEAM careers. The NRC framework will include SEPs for developing and using a model, planning and caring for an investigation, and using mathematical and computational thinking and CCCs of cause and effect, structure and function, and energy and matter. The use of the NRC framework with sensemaking (phenomena, science and engineering practices, student ideas, and science ideas) was the basis for developing a hurricane unit for 6th grade and macromolecule unit for 8th grade. Both of these units are grounded in these frameworks and the 5 C’s (communication, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, citizenship) and the Hill’s model for cultural and historical education (CRE). All these frameworks are woven together on the Hill model lesson plan template to create hands-on PBL for the students. This presentation will give both STE(A)M and science teachers ideas on how to create a curriculum that incorporates more inclusivity and diversity while showcasing the work of my students.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to create a lesson that incorporates the 5 C's, CRE, SEPs, CCCs, and sense making into a lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Jenniffer Stetler (Chamblee Middle School: Chamblee, GA)

Enjoy conversation about our research lesson collaboration with the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center EYES (Educators and Youth Enjoy Science) teacher research experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Authentic teacher research experiences can catalyze students' career interest, authentic classroom inquiry, curriculum development, and relevant professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Steven Rogg (Notre Dame College Prep: Niles, IL), Pamela Wagner (George Westinghouse College Prep: Chicago, IL)

In this session, we will look at current research on the purpose and method of formative assessment. We will then pair the research with student work samples to examine different methods of providing meaningful and actionable feedback to encourage student growth. We will also reflect on our assessment practices through the lens of creating equitable classrooms to ensure that all of our students learn at their potential. This session’s formative assessment focus will also extend to designing science storylines with an emphasis on universal design for learning. We will highlight tools that all students can use in order to have access to content. We will examine opportunities for incorporating social-emotional learning in meaningful ways as we strive to encourage all students to think like scientists. We will culminate the session with a discussion on intentionally cultivating student agency. Join this interactive session to elevate how you are using formative assessment to drive student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical classroom strategies for elevating the importance of formative assessment and meaningful feedback to foster student inclusive science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Jones (Illinois State University: Normal, IL)

Join us for a chance to learn more about  NSTA-administered competitions and awards from NSTA staff and past participants. NSTA-administered competitions include NSTA Teacher Awards, the Army Educational Outreach Program, Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge, and Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision competitions. This engaging hour will include discussion and tips on how to engage K–12 students in project-based learning opportunities that are no cost to participate.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Engage with educators that have participated in NSTA-administered competitions and awards; 2. Learn more about opportunities to engage students in project-based learning; and 3. Share best practices and tips to foster inquiry-based learning and showcase ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Acacia McKenna (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

In this workshop we will demonstrate for teachers how easy it is to form lasting, interactive partnerships with corporations, nonprofits, and local community organizations and discuss how these partnerships create a community of STEM learning that allows students to connect their learning with the real world. We will model a variety of direct connections between classroom science concepts and corporate processes and bring awareness to the power of establishing successful connections between organizational systems and careers. Field-based, first hand experiences in forming partnerships will be shared in an open discussion that helps educators identify the numerous benefits for both learners and partners that are brought by incorporating potential partners within the classroom. We will provide a systems-based approach for how to research potential partners, develop effective relationships, and reduce potential feelings of uncertainty on behalf of both the educator(s) and the non educator(s). Additionally, we will explore the power of perspectives as we highlight how non educators learn the value of their shared time, experience, and knowledge with students. We will look at tried and true, interactive presentations made by corporate, nonprofit, and community partners and discuss the importance of student feedback that is later provided to the partners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to establish meaningful corporate and nonprofit partnership opportunities, the benefits of partnering, and the natural connections that exist between a variety of science concepts and corporate systems that promote student engagement and real world learning.

SPEAKERS:
Debby Nelson (Rotolo Middle School: Batavia, IL), Elizabeth Kaleta (John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School: Aurora, IL)

An introduction for teachers to free standards-based lessons focused on scientific breakthroughs and the positive role of science in our lives provided by #ScienceSaves.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Teachers will become familiar with free resources to teach how science has benefited human outcomes with lessons, including teacher notes with curriculum standards, student response sheets, rubrics, and lesson plans; 2. Lessons include a variety of topics from handwashing to CRISPR, and several are cross-curricular with Language Arts and Math; and 3. Various activities have students plot data, research topics such as medical inventions, design experiments, and design lifesaving inventions.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0)

Participants will be given a chance to experience what their students might encounter in this eesmarts digital activity based in an escape room format. Clues must be gathered and puzzles solved using science knowledge to successfully complete the challenge. The format provokes high student interest and engagement due to its game-like nature. The use of technology lends itself well to remote learning but can also be seamlessly translated to enhance in-person learning. The focus of the content in this particular activity involves the transformation of energy and its impact on the environment. Participants will be actively engaged throughout the presentation by experiencing the escape room. They will be provided with a digital toolbox to help them create an interactive slide of their own. This escape room is a companion to the eesmarts K-12 curriculum, an energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy learning initiative funded by the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund. Select digital resources will be provided to participants. The complete eesmarts program is free and available to all Connecticut educators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience and explore ideas to enhance in-person learning through competitive activities and gamification using and adapting a digital escape room format with an energy focus or their existing curriculum.

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

Participants will begin in the role of a student as the instructor models how picture books are often used ineffectively in the sequence of a 5Es lesson. This will be followed by a presentation of when and how different types of picture books are most effectively integrated into an NGSS-aligned lesson plan. Participants will play a game to apply what they have just learned by identifying where within a lesson specific picture book examples (both fiction and nonfiction) would be most effectively integrated. Next, participants will be introduced to picture book questioning “cheat sheets” for each of the seven crosscutting concepts. These sheets are filled with question examples and stems for each of the CCC. The instructor will model how to use these “cheat sheets” to prepare for and conduct a read aloud that emphasizes a specific CCC. Then, participants will be invited to choose a picture book from one of over 100 3-5 NGSS-aligned books found throughout the room in seven CCC “stations” and to use the “cheat sheet” to prepare for their own read aloud. Participants will then “Pair and Share” a portion of their read alouds. Finally, the instructor will briefly discuss how to use CCC graphic organizers (a link to organizers will be shared) to encourage students to independently identify CCCs in picture books. The session will wrap up with a final Q&A. Note: Specific examples of picture books that promote diversity will be discussed as well as the importance of representation in children’s literature. Methodologies demonstrated are based on research by Dr. Yen Verhoeven of Qi Learning (used with permission) and the text “Sharing Books Talking Science” by Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through instructor modeling and active participation, participants will learn when they should (and shouldn't!) include picture books in their 3-5NGSS lesson plans well as how to use picture books to explore each of the seven crosscutting concepts with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Starr (STEM Specialist: Clinton, IA)

Let's explore creative storylines for integrating up-to-date, research-driven Earth and space science into high school physics courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Earth and space science storylines provide engaging avenues for students to learn fundamental physics core ideas and reinforce understandings of both crosscutting concepts and science and engineering practices; 2. Most of the classical physics curriculum originated within fields of Earth and space science, so aspects of geophysics integrate naturally within a modern high school physics curriculum; and 3. For most high schools, aligning a high school curriculum with the NGSS requires the addition of a substantial amount of Earth and space science, and integrating relevant geophysical content into a high school course can help do this.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession (Washington University in St. Louis: Saint Louis, MO)

It has been common practice to move around units in science curricula based on teacher licensure, teacher preference, or state standards. However, the shifts in three-dimensional science learning supporting equitable science education emphasize the need for coherence intentionally helping students build the three dimensions, step by step, over time. We will describe a scope and sequence developed for the OpensciEd middle school program where each unit builds on the prior knowledge and experiences of all students to build increasing sophistication in all three dimensions, as they progress from unit to unit and grade to grade. We describe the strategies used to bundle performance expectations in a unit and for constructing progressions that build the elements of disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices (SEPs) coherently across the program. We describe how these instructional materials support teachers and students in connecting with and extending what students have figured out in prior units to build increasing sophistication with ideas and practices across the program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn strategies for developing and adapting unit to unit connections that support students in building each of the three dimensions coherently over time.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Reiser (Learning Sciences, SESP, Northwestern University), Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

Empathic engineering design can help develop students’ cultural competence as well as inform the design of more useful innovations for people with limb differences.

TAKEAWAYS:
School-based activities that are oriented toward improving community members’ lives can simultaneously support the development of students’ cultural competence and integrated STEM literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Meabh Kelly (University of Connecticut: Storrs Mansfield, CT), Brittany Klimowicz (NYC iSchool: New York, NY)

Presentation outlines four project based learning units related to a central theme, what do we need to survive and thrive. The first unit is a Forces and motion unit where the culminating project is to design an object to protect a valuable object from the force of a collision. The second unit explores waves through the context of music. Students think about the role of culture and music in thriving and then learn about how waves work through designing their own instruments from recycled materials. The energy unit focuses on sustainable energy, conservation of energy as well as mirrors and optics as students build either their own solar collectors or their own solar ovens and finally students study projectiles through writing their own bow and arrow user safety manual. Participants will leave with ready to use Project based units. Participants will have time to brainstorm modifications to one unit of choice to make it applicable to their personal teaching style and setting.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with ready to use PBL Physics units as well as have time to modify those units to make them their own.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Plowman (Millennium High School: Santa Monica, CA)

Science denial, anti-intellectualism, and conspiracy theories have long, sordid histories. Today, rampant science denialism threatens personal and public health, economic sustainability, and prosperity. Globally, it poses existential threats to humanity. How has the situation deteriorated so far? How can so many people deny, not only the reality of climate change - a slow-moving and invisible enemy - but also the reality of a global pandemic and the effectiveness of simple protective/preventive strategies? The explanation is straightforward. Widespread scientific illiteracy enables moneyed and/or politically powerful interests to manipulate a credulous public in ways that undermine understanding of science and generate distrust of the scientific community. Campaigns often waged on unregulated social media are disturbingly effective. When disinformation, willful ignorance, and belligerence strike, who's on call? Right now, almost nobody ... and that's a problem for all of us who, as science educators, understand and value the role of science in general, and STEM topics and approaches more specifically. We will then explore a variety of online resources and discuss individualized teaching strategies that educators can deploy to overcome these challenges in our classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
This workshop will briefly review the history, driving forces behind, and current status of science denialism, to clarify what we are up against. We will then explore online resources and individualized teaching strategies that can overcome these challenges in our classrooms. No single "magic bullet" (or magic YouTube video) can rescue us. We need a full-court press by all of us in education, focusing on cultivating in our students a true understanding of the nature of science, appreciation for the value of expertise in STEM fields, and a willingness to engage on a personal level with disturbingly cult-like beliefs.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Levine (Science Writer and Producer: Concord, MA)

The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) provides teachers with free and downloadable resources for an entire unit of instruction, including a variety of assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. The units created by the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) contain a variety of assessments, including online games, video questions, data analysis, puzzles, and formal assessments. The formal assessments include student response sheets and rubrics; 2. the TIES units can be easily downloaded for free and are focused on NGSS and state standards for evolution; and 3. the TIES units can be presented to a whole class or in small groups, or can be assigned to individual students. They can be teacher-guided or student-guided.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0)

Do you impact your school and community with STEM? If you teach K–12, come learn how to apply to win up to $15K through this teacher competition.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to apply for the Shell-sponsored teacher competition and two Shell-sponsored teacher awards.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Ruth Ruud (Cleveland State University: Cleveland, OH)

In this session we will look somewhat in-depth at what it takes to teach science students in the outdoors, how digital tools can facilitate that learning, and how to connect that learning to a variety of the NGSS and the 3 dimensions of science instruction. We will first look at creating a learning space for students in the outdoors, namely what spaces can be used, and how to make sure students are learning and safe in the outdoors. We will then focus on how to teach and manage students while outside in a variety of outdoor learning environments, hopefully helping them to connect with nature and inspire stewardship for nature in ALL places. As we look at some examples of lessons and ideas that can be used while teaching in the outdoors we will also point out the ways that this type of teaching and learning connect with NGSS and the 3 dimensions of science instruction. We will also look at how digital tools can be used to facilitate this outdoor learning, whether it is face-to-face learning, hybrid learning, or fully online learning. This session will hopefully be able to be conducted outside and in a very hands-on way.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will take a look at using outdoor learning spaces for your students, namely how to find spaces and build a great outdoor learning environment, how to teach and manage students safely while outside, and what digital tools can be used to facilitate that learning.

SPEAKERS:
David Joy (Weber School District: Ogden, UT)

Science inquiry is a powerful process and learning environment that embraces exploration and sense-making, as students question phenomena and explore real world science/STEM. Inquiry is an “attitude” that seeks understanding and continually questions how our natural world works. Student achievement, engagement, and sense-making of phenomena, increase when students are taught in an instructional environment that embraces inquiry, where students are encouraged to ask questions, gather evidence, seek answers, and formulate explanations. Speaker will discuss the many varied ways that inquiry manifests itself in the elementary STEM classroom, including ways to increase participation of ELL’s. She will actively engage participants, as she shares strategies and lesson ideas that promote inquiry, and as she demonstrates effective questioning, modeling how to guide students in their own questioning and explorations, as they gather data, formulate their explanations, and draw conclusions. Speaker will emphasize the importance of ‘testing’ the ‘known’, as well as the ‘unknown’, so students can validate their processes and thinking. Creating environments of inclusivity, collaboration, cooperation, and sharing of ideas will be emphasized. Participants will embrace the power that inquiry offers: content, strategies, process, engagement, and the desire to ask, answer, and understand scientific phenomena. This session will help teachers establish effective classroom practices, guiding students in understanding the ways scientists think and study our natural world, as teachers nurture students’ sustained curiosity and love of science/STEM. Handouts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create STEM classroom environments that fully embrace and create the inquiry process: emphasizing explorations, the formulation of questions to guide student inquiry and their understanding of scientific phenomena, the importance of collaborative sense-making and assuring the inclusivity of ALL students, the importance of assisting ELL’s with language accessibility, and the fulfillment of learner curiosity as part of the sense-making process and as a trajectory for guiding their continual learning.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Knoell (Educational and Technology Consultant: Prairie Village, KS)

Student understanding of how science and STEM ideas and concepts are applied within their chosen career pathway is a critical component of many Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, but for a variety of reasons these connections are often overlooked. Some states even provide CTE courses and Career Pathway standards that seem to go against the three-dimensional and student-centered learning grain. Yet, to truly meet the vision of the K-12 Framework, students in CTE and Vocational Education pathways should also be provided opportunities to engage in three-dimensional sensemaking in the context of their CTE course. In this session, we explore explicit connections between three-dimensional science learning and Agricultural, Food and Natural Resources as just one example of how three-dimensional student learning and sensemaking can be incorporated into CTE. We then explore how similar strategies can be utilized in other pathways with the goal of bridging the gap between science learning and practical application for students in CTE.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies for integrating scientific sensemaking into CTE courses to support their students' mastery of the scientific concepts they will apply in those fields.

SPEAKERS:
Bridina Lemmer (Illinois Science Teaching Association: Jacksonville, IL), Chris Embry Mohr (Olympia High School: Stanford, IL)

Think Tank to Shark Tank: Engineer to Entrepreneur is a free, ten-session project-based curriculum developed from a summer camp for middle school students. In the camp and curriculum, students work through developing a solution to a pain point (problem) they or loved ones interact with in life. Students develop a unique solution using the engineering design process, create a prototype, identify their potential customers, develop a business model and marketing strategy to present to local business leaders to provide guidance and support on market and opportunity realization. A facilitator or teacher may implement the curriculum in either a one-week experience with morning and afternoon sessions, a two-week experience, a ten-week after-school extra-curricular, or educators can choose elements to implement within a course throughout the academic year. The summer day camp, still in operation, runs for six hours a day for a five-day week with a break for lunch. Faculty use the curriculum to teach pre-service teachers in primary, middle, and high school to demonstrate the integration of engineering and entrepreneurship design principles into the classroom. During this interactive session, participants will gain access to this curriculum, and methods of integration into a pre-service teacher education course or program.

TAKEAWAYS:
During this interactive session, participants will gain access to this curriculum, and methods of integration into a pre-service teacher education course or program.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Plaster (The University of Akron: Akron, OH)

Arguing from evidence can be an integral part of the knowledge-building work students do as part of any three dimensional science learning, as students make sense of their findings and use them to develop and evaluate competing models and explanations. But how do we help students grow in sophistication in this practice over time? This presentation will provide an overview of the learning progression, tasks, and scaffolding used to help students refine and assess their arguments in the OpenSciEd middle school program, focus is on the support and growth embedded within a 7th grade chemistry unit. Participants will have opportunities to analyze curriculum supports, students’ written work, and video of discussions of students engaged in this practice using classroom artifacts from implementations of the OpenSciEd Bath Bomb unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn what the practice of arguing from evidence can look like in middle school classrooms, tools that can support scaffolding practice, and how teachers can use it to assess where students are at in their sense-making.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Brian Reiser (Learning Sciences, SESP, Northwestern University)

An understanding of the structure of our educational system will allow us to better navigate this system in ways which promote social justice in the science classroom. Consequently, this session will start with a discussion of accountability reform initiatives (such as high-stakes testing) and the impact those mandates have had on science education. Thus, the first part of the session will focus on the interplay between reform initiatives and equity by examining how mandates worked to widen the achievement gap. The NGSS challenges states to make changes to their curricula and bring the focus back to science. We will then move to a discussion regarding how we can use the vision embodied in the NRC Framework to promote quality teaching practices in the science classroom and bring the focus to science instruction. Here we examine equity-driven practices that can work to promote social justice in the science classroom. Participants will identify components within the NCR Framework which promote equity by engaging all learners—specifically historically marginalized students—in the learning process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Accountability mandates such as high-stakes testing are working to funnel time and resources away from science instruction, however, 3D learning and inclusive practices can mitigate the effects of those mandates by promoting sound pedagogical practices.

SPEAKERS:
Klodia Saad (Dearborn Public Schools: Dearborn, MI)

Using CCCs can help organize and focus learning in a variety of settings. Out of necessity, we taught teachers to think deeply about connections to content and practices within the context of something they observed that was interesting to them while they were working from home. Examples learners chose that were relevant to them helped to connect personal experiences and interests with ordinary spaces and their science learning, and thus supported equitable engagement. Making these connections allowed teachers to recognize a multitude of science ideas and practices that could be connected to science standards at their instructional level, therefore developing new ideas. We refined this process and recognized that its flexibility can be taken back to the classroom and used settings that are seemingly science content deserts, to help students begin to see science in places they never thought of before. This session will take participants through this process and have them apply these ideas first to the setting of the conference and then to their own teaching situations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leveraging CCCs to connect students’ observations of ordinary, relevant contexts provides more equitable opportunities to deeply engage with DCIs and SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Ana Houseal (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY), Clare Gunshenan (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY)

Explore the NSTA website with us! NSTA provides high-quality digital resources and opportunities—all within a professional community—that support professional learning and classroom instruction. NSTA staff will be available to answer questions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will become knowledgeable about the plethora of digital resources available on NSTA’s website and will learn how to add them to their library.

SPEAKERS:
Flavio Mendez (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Recursion is a challenging topic for some students. In this session, we’ll present a blended approach to introducing recursion, wherein a textual description of natural phenomena is presented in an easy-to-understand, attractive, and informative graphic format. Fundamental rules of production systems are also presented, all in a format specifically targeted to high school students. Students generally gain mastery of this topic within a few weeks through this approach, achieving both a deep understanding of the concepts and a rewarding sense of accomplishment. As a bonus, they usually enjoy the topic and appreciate the opportunity this approach gives them to be creative.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to enable students to be creative while learning about recursion

SPEAKERS:
David Ben-Yaakov (Educator: Allen, TX)

Join us as we share our experience in developing and piloting our Women in STEM Mentorship Program (WSMP), a year-long mentorship program that pairs high school juniors and seniors who identify as female with female college STEM faculty to build relationships and positively impact the social development and academic achievement of participating young women as they consider pursuing a STEM field at College of DuPage. In this presentation, we will be discussing the creation, implementation, and piloting of a mentorship program focused on attracting high school students, who identify as female, to the STEM fields. Eight high school juniors and seniors participated in the Women in STEM Mentorship Program. Mentees were paired with STEM faculty who teach at a community college. In addition to this, we will be discussing our findings and the changes that we will be making to future cohorts. We hope to hear directly from some of our mentees and mentors, who will share their experience. Finally, we will share what we believe makes our program different from other STEM mentorship programs and provide examples of how we created the program that you can take with you should you wish to start your own.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how community college STEM faculty can work to support potential incoming underrepresented students through a mentorship and networking program. We hope to have mentors and mentees available to share their experience.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Spaniol (College of DuPage: Glen Ellyn, IL)

We are living in an Age of Misinformation. Developing the capabilities to evaluate scientific information is a key goal of scientific literacy. Moreover, “obtaining, evaluating and communicating information” is a core practice of NGSS. The NGSS standards, however, were developed a decade ago before misinformation became so pervasive and were not developed to address this threat. Much of this misinformation is scientific. Therefore, this session will present a set of ideas and materials about how to address this challenge. These have emerged from a report developed at Stanford University drawing on the expertise of an international group of science educators, scientists and psychologists entitled “Science Education in an Age of Misinformation”. In this session, we will present the main arguments and recommendations of the report. Using a set of practical, web-based classroom examples, participants will work in small groups to trial and discuss the suggested teaching approaches and materials we have developed. Opportunities will be provided for feedback, questions and discussion in a final plenary. What we will present will empower teachers of science with ways they can support their students to avoid being misled by the purveyors of misinformation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn what are the challenges posed by misinformation and what they can do to help science education address this challenge using practical examples of exercises and ionnovative teaching materials.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Pimentel (Stanford University: Stanford, CA)

Get your students talking in ways that increase student understanding and literacy in science! Come learn about why academic dialogue is so important. Explore current and effective strategies to encourage and improve academic dialogue in the science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand why academic dialogue is important to scientific literacy and explore ways to encourage and improve academic dialogue in the science classroom through the use of current and effective strategies resulting in higher student engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Erica Baker (Kentucky Department of Education: Frankfort, KY)