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)

Participants will learn strategies and receive numerous resources that increase students’ scientific literacy. The hands-on approach has participants engaged in the activities, games, and more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn new strategies for incorporating scientific literacy into their lessons; and 2. receive numerous activities, templates, games, and other resources to help with doing this. These resources can be used “as is” or modified to allow for differentiation based on the needs of the learners. Strategies and resources will include ones effective with ELL and EC students.

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

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

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

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

Participants will use a graphic organizer to record their thinking as I describe a unit I taught in which students in grades 9-12 explored issues related to artificial intelligence. Students crafted op-Eds advocating for what we should do in our community about emerging technologies like driverless cars and facial recognition. As I describe the unit, I will highlight how I (1) kicked off the unit with a phenomenon that raised questions about convenience, safety, security, equity, and justice; (2) layered on texts and encouraged students to grapple with multiple perspectives on AI-related issues; (3) used routines and mentor texts to support students in crafting claims and connecting evidence to their claims; and (4) engaged students in processes of revision. Then, participants will work in self-selected groups to explore science/technology/society text sets on topics like lab grown meat and space debris. As they explore the text set, they will engage with a classroom routine to develop a compelling, debatable, defensible, and nuanced claim. Participants will share what they discovered as they explored the text set and wrote claims in their group and will reflect on how these text sets and routines might become part of their classroom practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about freely available text sets and classroom routines developed by teachers for supporting civically engaged argument writing about science and technology issues in society.

SPEAKERS:
John Smith (Chester A Arthur School: Philadelphia, PA)

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)

“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)

We live in a data-driven world, and our students will be working in a data-driven workforce. Therefore, it is critical that our Pre-K-12 students learn foundational data literacy skills. However, currently these skills are too often only taught in upper-level classes. All students need these skills and all students, down to our little Pre-Kers, can work with and make sense of science data. Let’s make sure data is an equalizer, rather than another divider in our educational system and society! Join us as we explore what perception and learning science tell us about how our brains process data. We will experience research-based strategies and freely available resources to build science knowledge and self-efficacy through data. Finally, we will explore ways to adapt our existing curriculum activities and data visualizations to help our students more equitably access science. Through hands-on activities and group discussions, participants will leave more empowered to leverage data and data visualizations into their science content in purposeful ways for all learners. Working with and learning science from data fosters critical thinking skills, lifelong interests in science, and facilitates learners’ overall 21st century skills. Let’s set all of our students up for success!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will identify how data literacy is a critical aspect of science literacy in the 21st century for all students and ways to adjust existing curriculum to leverage data as entry points into science inquiry, sensemaking, and knowledge for all learners to see themselves in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, Rutgers University: Princeton, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

Attendees will explore disease modeling through the use of real (virtual) ZOMBIES!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. This session will explore disease-spread modeling using fictional zombies; 2. Attendees will also see how using Hollywood themes combined with actual STEM careers can be a fun way to engage students in learning science and STEM; and 3. Attendees will find out about free science and STEM lessons from Texas Instruments.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens (Retired Science Teacher: Sioux Falls, SD)

Hexagonal Thinking ensures the learning environment features a high degree of student engagement by providing a framework for academic discussion where all students participate. Participants will collaborate with colleagues to experience Hexagonal Thinking using science and math content vocabulary and visuals that will then be used to synthesize information into a piece of critical writing.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn a strategy for making thinking, learning and content connections visible in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Yates (Aledo ISD: Aledo, TX), Miranda Rosenhoover (Aledo ISD: Aledo, TX)

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)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Explore several intervention strategies to help struggling students in STEM, moving beyond differentiation and scaffolding. Learn other proven intervention techniques and discover how to modify traditional outreach to connect with students so that they gain greater understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore several intervention strategies to help struggling students in STEM.

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

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

An empty field. A human corpse. Maggots and flies. Who is the victim? What happened? Can you solve the mystery? This middle and high school activity will challenge you to apply science and deductive reasoning to determine what happened!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Forensic science is a STEM career field that combines science, math, and criminal justice concepts; 2. Understanding the natural process of decomposition can help investigators narrow in on identifying victims and causes of death; and 3. Using stories is a great way to engage students and provide context to the science/STEM they are learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens (Retired Science Teacher: Sioux Falls, SD)

We can examine natural phenomena and address wicked problems using the scientific process. The smallpox virus emerged approximately 10,000 years ago, and the virus's global spread devastated civilizations. Thanks to the scientific thinking of a Buddhist nun, a milkmaid, and Edward Jenner, smallpox was declared eradicated in 1979 by the World Health Organization. To support the understanding of the nature of science in the NGSS (Appendix H), session participants will engage in activities that demonstrate how science is used to answer questions about the natural world through a process that is consistent, observational, natural, predictable, tentative, and testable. Additionally, participants will examine various media sources to learn how to identify scientific misinformation and the tactics used to make misinformation appear credible. The National Center for Science Education supports science teachers through free professional development and curriculum to recognize and address science misconceptions using the three dimensions of the NGSS. Resources: https://ncse.ngo/supporting-teachers/classroom-resources

TAKEAWAYS:
This session introduces participants to a basic understanding of the scientific process, how our knowledge of the natural world evolves with new evidence, and that science cannot answer questions that do not pertain to natural processes. Attendees will take a deep dive into an NGSS storyline sequence developed to help students understand that science is an ongoing process that must be supported by multiple lines of evidence to be accepted by the scientific community.

SPEAKERS:
Lin Andrews (National Center for Science Education: Oakland, CA), DeeDee Wright (Colorado State University: Fort Collins, CO), Cari Herndon (National Center for Science Education: No City, No State), Ayesha Alirahi (Science Teacher), Blake Touchet (National Center for Science Education: Oakland, CA)

Building on workshops facilitated by Gholdy Muhammad during the 2020-2021 academic year, STEM teachers will explore how historically responsive literacy can be extended to science teaching and learning. The AJEDII Model considers how accessibility, justice, equity, diversity and identity shape pedagogy. Participants will review the framework, develop units aligned to current student learning standards, and explore resources developed by facilitators for a range of instructional modes and situations. When COVID-19 hit our schools, STEM educators took on the task of processing and fighting misinformation, teaching and training students, parents, colleagues and other adults in their community about a wide range of technical terms and implementing novel pedagogical technologies and techniques like never before. The imagined worlds of science fiction were being realized but the ending still has not been determined and has certainly not been predictable. Unfortunately, the pandemic that became most clear in 2020 was exacerbated by social problems that could no longer be ignored. Participants will leave the session with materials for designing instruction for virtual (asynchronous or synchronous) and face-to-face learning based on facilitators’ experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
STEM educators will apply Muhammad's (2020) historically responsive framework to secondary STEM education in learning design

SPEAKERS:
Joy Barnes-Johnson (Princeton High School: Princeton, NJ), Shefali Mehta (Princeton High School: Princeton, NJ), Mridula Bajaj (Mount Laurel Schools: Mount Laurel, NJ)

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)

NEED’s Science of Energy stations provide a hands-on approach to experimenting with objects used in student’s daily lives while incorporating scientific processing skills such as making observations, measuring, recording results, compare and contrast, categorize, make predictions, analyze and graph results, and draw conclusions. Workshop participants will rotate through six stations just as their students would in the classroom or OST Program, to learn about the different forms of energy and energy transformations using objects such as a toy car, apple, yo-yo, compass, bouncy ball, glow stick, etc. Using the same materials, the station guides can be easily differentiated for elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels. Each station includes a "What's Happening" article that provides additional informational text on the energy transformation that took place at the station and ties to more real-life examples for further visualization and understanding. The station guides have been correlated to each state’s individual science and math standards, as well as effectively support Next Generation Science Standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Workshop participants will engage in hands-on experiments just as their students would, using items we encounter in our daily lives that demonstrate energy forms and their transformations and applications to real-life examples for further visualization and understanding.

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

We are naturally curious, prone to ask why? How? What? Unfortunately, somewhere along the way students lose the trust in their voices to ask questions of and from data. But data are what we use to do science and it permeates all aspects of society today. What should we do? Stop teaching the vocabulary of science and data first, and instead leverage classroom-ready strategies to empower students to lead with their innate curiosity to practice critical 21st century data literacy skills and master the science content. Join us to explore connections between our science content, inquiry-based activities, and data skills. We will experience research-based strategies and freely available resources for integrating phenomenon-based and local data into our science instruction to promote science literacy and student empowerment. We will participate in activities ourselves and reflect on approaches for how to bring these into our classrooms. Participants will leave more empowered to integrate data into their science content in purposeful ways to better help students do and communicate science. Working with and learning science from data fosters critical thinking skills, lifelong interests in science, and facilitates learners’ overall self-identity as a scientist. Let’s set all of our students up for success!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will identify how data literacy is a critical aspect of science literacy in the 21st century, how students can do a lot more with data than we often think or presume from their science vocabulary alone, and how to leverage existing strategies to authentically integrate data into 6-12 science instruction to teach their science content and increase literacy simultaneously.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, Rutgers University: Princeton, NJ)

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)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

If you're using STEMscopes (or wanna-be), this session is for you. Come see examples of the EXCITING and NEW ASPECTS to the most popular digital science curriculum during this showcase. Discover program enhancements, Google integration, streaming, coding, engineering, and much more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about STEMscopes' various components and programs by experienced users in a hands-on setting.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Kenneth Heydrick (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Amanda McGee (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Bobby Barron (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Jacque Garcia (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Tammy Motley (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Engage in a variety of activities, collect information and resources, and network with middle level leaders. Discover new ideas and materials that you can use next week.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will network with other middle level science educators and leaders to discover and engage in activities that will expand their knowledge and be usable in all aspects of their work.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Lou Lipscomb (National Middle Level Science Teachers Association: Naperville, IL), Alison Betz Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0), Carey Dieleman (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ), Cynthia Crockett (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA), Suzanne Cunningham (Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN), Katy Garvey (The Source for Learning, Inc.: Reston, VA), Nicole Green (Animalearn: Jenkintown, PA), Joseph Michaelis (University of Illinois Chicago: Chicago, IL), Kim Nagle (Brooks Middle School: Bolingbrook, IL), Cori Nelson (Winfield School District 34: Winfield, IL), Anne Farley Schoeffler (Seton Catholic School: Hudson, OH), Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR), Alison Betz Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0), Corydon Strawser (Lake Nona Middle School: Orlando, FL), Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA), Barbara Phillips-Bredlow (Northeast Nodaway School District: Ravenwood, MO), Dawn Konieczny (Brooks Middle School: Bolingbrook, IL), Erin Towns (Edward Little High School: Auburn, ME)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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 (The Help Group: State College, PA), Gargi Adhikari (Holland Brook School: Whitehouse Station, NJ)

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)

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)

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)

Academic discourse is a vital part of promoting student sensemaking. Learn how discourse can be used to promote equity and access in the science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use discussion strategies in the classroom to move student thinking forward, use talk as a formative assessment, and build a classroom culture that promotes student discussion.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Cheryl Knight (Orland Junior High School: Orland Park, IL)

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)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Are you looking for an engaging and innovative way to get your students to understand not only the meaning of a word, but how it fits into the bigger picture? Put on your thinking cap and join us as we use vocabulary to take students on a learning adventure! Experience ways to zoom in and zoom out of science content using a variety of differentiated strategies and structures. Take these ideas straight back to your classroom for immediate use. Great for intervention!

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore intervention strategies to help struggling students in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Jacque Garcia (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Identifying problems, and complaining about them, is a talent many might claim. Identifying a problem and creating a solution is much less common but remains a core scientific principle needed to help students change the world. Finding a solution, however, is not enough; there must be an implementation plan as well. Scientific literacy teaches students to pinpoint and explore problems, but they must also take civic action--beginning in their own backyards. This session will introduce primary source-based inquiry learning tools by PBS NewsHour Classroom and Indiana University’s Center on Representative Government to help teachers meet this need. The workshop will consist of two NGSS-aligned activities on the connection between the environment and civic action.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to engage students in identifying environmental phenomena in their own backyards and how to take action to address it.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Osborn (Indiana University Bloomington: Bloomington, IN), Victoria Pasquantonio (PBS NewsHour: Arlington, VA)

The Universe of Learning partnerships provides STEM educators tools, from exoplanet searches and robotic telescopes to image analysis, to implement programs specific to individual audiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA’s UoL STEM program partnerships provide a wide range of free materials, projects and interactive activities that can easily be incorporated into any educational setting.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

In this self-directed session, you will be able to: Interact with educators in face-to-face poster presentations; Watch short video submissions from educators around the world; and Participate in hands-on/minds-on, takeaway learning experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science education occurs everywhere on this planet. We can get ideas and best practices from collegues around the world.

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

Escape-room activities offer promise for fun and function in developing social problem-solving skills. Participants will learn implementation and design strategies for their own ER environments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how escape rooms help to engage students in dynamic learning environments and how to begin developing up your own activities.

SPEAKERS:
Joy Barnes-Johnson (Princeton High School: Princeton, NJ), Mridula Bajaj (Mount Laurel Schools: Mount Laurel, NJ), Shefali Mehta (Princeton High School: Princeton, NJ)

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the work of Kurt Vonnegut who argued that stories have shapes that can be graphed. They will explore different ways of graphing simple stories and how this technique can be used at all grade levels to introduce data visualization. Participants will also see examples of story graphs from different perspectives and discuss how this can be used as a tool to teach students about data representation and interpretation. Following the introduction, participants will engage in a story graphing activity, creating a graph of their own story and sharing it with another participant. We will then reflect on this experience and discuss how the activity can be used in the context of social emotional learning with both students and educators. Participants will then explore story graphing and data visualization resources and discuss how they might use these resources to address specific STEM topics or to integrate multiple content areas such as math, science, and art in their classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to introduce graphing and data visualization using stories and how this strategy can be used in connection with social emotional learning to engage and empower educators and students.

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

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)

Toshiba America Foundation wants to work together with teachers who are looking for a better way to engage the community in STEM. Participants will hear from educators that have won money for their school and communities to implement STEM action projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how they can receive cash awards and acknowledge for STEM action projects.

SPEAKERS:
John Anderson (Toshiba America Foundation: New York, NY)

Explore the use of primary sources to support three-dimensional science learning during an interactive presentation of examples, resources, and ideas for your own lesson plan.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn what primary sources are in science, why primary sources support acquisition of science literacy skills, and how to integrate primary sources into science and STEM lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ), Donna Governor (University of North Georgia: Dahlonega, GA), Kathy Biernat (Educational Consultant: Franklin, WI)

It takes time and intentionality to build a community of learners who trust each other, respect differing perspectives, share ideas freely, and seek feedback from their peers. This session explores a variety of strategies that can be easily implemented to build this culture and community from day one. Strategies that foster this type of connection, collaboration, and camaraderie will be discussed using examples and tips to implement in the classroom, starting with some fresh ideas for getting to know students and helping them get to know their classmates. Many of these ideas combine strategies we already know and add a collaborative and inclusive spin to them. Allowing for multiple types of student interaction is important to ensure all voices are heard and valued, not just the loud and proud. Including time for students to process independently, in small groups, and in the large group is important to developing an inclusive community. A variety of strategies will be shared to support these levels of interaction in the classroom, making student thinking visible in individual, small group, and whole group displays.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers can elevate their practices to include all students and develop a classroom culture that invites student interaction, increases student engagement, and fosters equitable experiences on a daily basis.

SPEAKERS:
Beth Pesnell (Kansas State University: Manhattan, KS)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

If you're using STEMscopes (or wanna-be), this session is for you. Come see examples of the EXCITING and NEW ASPECTS to the most popular digital science curriculum during this showcase. Discover program enhancements, Google integration, streaming, coding, engineering, and much more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about STEMscopes' various components and programs by experienced users in a hands-on setting.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Kenneth Heydrick (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Amanda McGee (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Bobby Barron (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Jacque Garcia (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Tammy Motley (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Guide your students to compose elements of graphic novels inspired by the graphic novel version of Naturalist and Black Birder Christian Cooper’s It’s a Bird.

TAKEAWAYS:
Comics and graphic novels can engage diverse learners to understand the nature of STEM and encourage them to craft their own stories, with interdisciplinary thinking across science, social studies, history, math, and language arts.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Liu (E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation: Durham, NC)

Culturally relevant pedagogy embodies a professional, political, cultural, ethnical, and ideological disposition that supersedes mundane teaching acts; it is centered in fundamental beliefs about teaching, learning, students, their families, and their communities, and an unyielding commitment to see student success become less rhetoric and more of a reality. This session will aid in building awareness and sensitivity to the culture-based genius that students bring to the classroom using science inquiry strategies. Emphasis will be placed on a model for the inclusion of culturally relevant content that accommodates student backgrounds and methods of learning. In this session, we will exhibit how to identify the key characteristics of culturally responsive lessons. Attendees will acquire lesson design methods that employ cultural competence and effective communication. Attendees will use collaborate boards during the presentation to respond and interact. Activities to exhibit how students identify with what they know in the classroom will be utilized to help educators make connections and apply this information when planning lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Building awareness and sensitivity to the culture-based genius that students bring to the classroom using science inquiry strategies. Emphasis will be placed on a model for the inclusion of culturally relevant content that accommodates student backgrounds and methods of learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Haynes (Baker High School: Baker, LA), Jennifer Norwood (Instructional Support Specialist), Tara Hollins (Exceptional Student Services Educator: Zachary, LA)

Marshall Escamilla, one of the co-hosts of the freely-available Tumble Science Podcast for Kids, will share some of the basics of creating a podcast with your class. Classroom podcasts are a great way for students to share their learning with the broader community, and can be used both as assessment and communication tools--and it's a lot easier to do than you'd think. Beginning with a brief description of what features make Tumble free and accessible, Marshall will walk educators through all the thing they'll need to consider when creating a podcast. We'll start by asking questions like: -Who is the intended audience for this podcast? -What is the overall topic for it? -How many episodes do we want to create, and how often do we want to release them? Then we'll move on to some of the technical elements. What are the requirements for creating a podcast studio in your classroom? What equipment do you need to buy? What software do students need to have access to? how do you ensure that students can have access to what they need in order to be successful? Finally, we will discuss some of the basic skills teachers will need to ensure student success: knowledge of best audio recording practices, and how to use a few easily-accessible software tools to make students' work sound its best.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees at this ession will learn the very basics of how to create a classroom podcast from a professional podcaster.

SPEAKERS:
Marshall Escamilla (Tumble Media Production: Greenfield, MA)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Arts integration is a holistic approach that enables students to access the curriculum while developing scientific skills needed for the twenty-first century, including creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participate in science activities that integrate storytelling, drama, poetry, music, visual arts, and creative movement.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Chiasson (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

In this panel discussion, we will discuss the ways that audio content like podcasts can be used in the classroom to increase student engagement. This discussion between several leaders in the field of audio education will share some of the ways that teachers can and should use audio content to enhance science learning at all grade levels.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to include audio in their lesson plans in ways that are effective, engaging, and inclusive.

SPEAKERS:
Marshall Escamilla (Tumble Media Production: Greenfield, MA)

Michigan Disciplinary Literacy and Science Leaders have developed 10 Essentials for Disciplinary Literacy and we are supporting teachers in learning about them and using them in their classrooms. We will share these 10 essentials with all participants and provide a copy of them. Then, we work collaboratively to identify opportunities in participants' lessons where they are already using these disciplinary literacy opportunities and where they might adapt their lesson to more successfully include an essential.

TAKEAWAYS:
NGSS-aligned science learning can leverage the disciplinary literacy essentials.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network: No City, No State), Wendi Vogel (Kent Intermediate School District: Grand Rapids, MI)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

If you're using STEMscopes (or wanna-be), this session is for you. Come see examples of the EXCITING and NEW ASPECTS to the most popular digital science curriculum during this showcase. Discover program enhancements, Google integration, streaming, coding, engineering, and much more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about STEMscopes' various components and programs by experienced users in a hands-on setting.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Kenneth Heydrick (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Amanda McGee (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Bobby Barron (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Jacque Garcia (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Tammy Motley (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Turn any multiple-choice review into an exciting escape! Learn to create digital and in-person escapes to help keep students interested, engaged, and motivated.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn tips for designing escape boxes, plus how to add riddles, puzzles, games, and small prizes. The digital escape uses Google Forms, and the physical escape uses lockable boxes with resettable combination locks. Links to a customizable digital and physical escape will be available to attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Beck (Davidson County High School: Lexington, NC)