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)

Sponsoring Company: Legends of Learning

Attendees will learn how employing game-based learning (GBL) engages and develops all learners. Understand how games empower students, develop critical thinking skills, provide instant feedback (and more) to develop content mastery as well as social-emotional learning. Game-Based Learning: encourages players to take risks without fear of failure, provides instant feedback that takes advantage of the richest teachable moments, creates individualized experiences through student agency, develops 21st century skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, allows students to experience that actions have ramifications, and invites all students to engage, providing expanded opportunities for equitable learning. Attendees will experience examples of each of these benefits, discuss how they could apply to their own classrooms, and will learn about the research that supports them. Attendees will collaborate with each other as they explore and discuss concepts during the session. They will also investigate how to apply game-based learning to creating experiences that address their own learning objectives.

TAKEAWAYS:
Apply game-based learning to make a difference to your students.

SPEAKERS:
Janet Pittock (director: , CA)

To effectively engage audience members, I will balance their readiness to learn, cognitive load, and stimulating activities. Using real-world examples, I will demonstrate the power of STEM in elementary classrooms to grow all learners and provide necessary 21st-century skills. Often STEM is an enrichment offered to high-achiever but struggling learners have even more to gain from STEM including confidence and leadership. I will focus on practical application, but valuable references and data will be included to support my practices. I will begin the session with a survey to identify the needs and perceptions of participants regarding STEM integration. Based on input, I will share research-based strategies, classroom integration examples, or dispel misconceptions. I will include an interactive STEM activity using index cards and paper clips to provide a STEM lesson model and demonstrate the ease of integrating STEM with simple, classroom supplies. Participants will leave the session with a better understanding of the benefits of STEM in K-5 classrooms and feel more comfortable integrating STEM into their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will understand the value of STEM integration beyond the four letters of the acronym, including the benefits of productive struggle of high achievers and how the grit of struggling learners are paramount in the success of STEM challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Erika Neuman (Bulverde Creek Elementary School: San Antonio, TX)

The basic physical science principles of gravitational force and air resistance are explored as students design, build, test, and evaluate parachutes. K-W-L charts are used to assess students’ knowledge of the engineering design process and the scientific method. The book, “Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot” by Margot Theis Ravin, is read to students and they discuss whether the pilot acted like an engineer as he wanted to share sweets with children during the Berlin Airlift. The students are presented with a problem, getting food and water to islanders whose homes and roads have been damaged by hurricanes. Simple materials such as paper napkins, paper towels, crocheting thread, and paper clips are used to build the parachutes. The students use the five ‘E’s’: engagement, exploration, explanation, evaluation, and elaboration as they compare their various parachute models. Students learn that air contains particles, and it is these particles that place forces on bodies moving in the air and counteract the force of gravity. Students use math in the analysis of their models. Students learn that models representing parachutes can be designed in many ways and may behave differently when tested. Students learn the many ways engineering and science are used to explore and explain nature and are employed in manufacturing and technology processes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Student groups learn that the engineering design process and the scientific method are circular processes as they design, build, test, and evaluate a parachute model then improve it.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Cunningham (Purdue University: West Lafayette, 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: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Literacy strategies—such as analyzing, discussing, and summarizing—can be utilized while reading science-based articles, authentic science research, journals, and textbooks. The use of these strategies provides a cross-curricular bridge that not only increases understanding but also increases a student's ability to think critically. Our professionally trained STEM coaches know what it takes to effectively integrate literacy and writing into the science content. Using a constructivist approach, participants will experience hands-on learning that will give them a greater understanding of literacy in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Work in a collaborative group to understand the importance of a constructivist approach.

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

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)

Using real-world phenomena asks students to puzzle out answers to problems that occur in their day-to-day lives. It encourages students to enter into sensemaking using their own prior knowledge and tools. One of the best tools to make sense of a phenomenon is math. Learn from CCSS Math and NGSS specialists about using mathematical thinking to promote scientific literacy. This session includes a focus on student agency, sensemaking, and supporting connections between the STEM classroom and real-world phenomena. The presenters will map CCSS Mathematics and NGSS connections while providing strategies for increasing agency and sensemaking in the classroom. Questions we will consider include: How do we support all students in becoming mathematical thinkers? How do we promote agency by providing students with authentic, engaging opportunities to collect, analyze, and interpret real-world data? How can phenomena and questioning techniques support mathematical thinking?  Come explore new possibilities of what high-quality sensemaking with math can look like for all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will take away strategies to integrate mathematical thinking into student sensemaking about scientific phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Alanna Mertens (DePaul University STEM Center: Chicago, IL)

During this session, I will provide participants with black card stock, needles, string, graph paper and tape. We will start by creating the artwork as this will fuel the discussion later. I will walk participants through the steps using a guided slideshow with pictures. They will be given multiple options and allowed to experiment with their selections. I will give them time to work at their tables to create their art and walk around to help. The discussion portion will happen after the art creation. I will ask the groups to share their art with their table. The valuable portion of the session is when we will brainstorm the modifications that can be done to help all students access this activity. I will ask groups to discuss and share out as I create a list. I will add any modifications not already mentioned. Next, I would like the groups to discuss how this can be used in their classes, including the modifications they would need to suit their students. As a take away, participants will have a note taking sheet, access to the slideshow (includes examples and instructions), list of supplies needed and where to purchase, their beautiful artwork, and valuable discussions.

TAKEAWAYS:
In addition to the art work, participants will leave with ideas, templates and modifications for a variety of students.

SPEAKERS:
Terri Serey (Orange Grove Middle School: Hacienda Heights, 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)

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)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Teaching students to reason and problem solve is the cornerstone of quality math instruction. This session will highlight several engaging strategies such as Three Reads, Numberless Word Problems, and more that will provide multiple entry points for all students to engage in the math and ignite a passion for problem solving in your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore several reasoning routines such as Three Act Tasks, Three Reads, and Numberless Word Problems.

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Improving STEM instruction for students with disabilities is a national need. Come explore one project's work to support coaches and teachers to do just that!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the free tools and resources being developed to support teachers and coaches.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Hallett-Njuguna (University of Central Florida: Orlando, FL)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) is a way for students to explain observed phenomena in a scientific way, allowing students to use observations, data, and critical reasoning. CER is an acclaimed and highly successful instructional strategy that is changing how students understand concepts and write explanations for phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understand the benefits of using the CER Framework.

SPEAKERS:
Tammy Motley (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

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)

This is an inquiry-based hands-on NASA STEM lesson based on a free storybook The Mystery at Willow Creek. All participants can learn from this experience regardless of level. The STEM activities incorporate cooperative learning and exploration. The session activity is versatile and can be used as a standalone or incorporated into complex units. The participants will receive 4 mystery samples. They will use their senses and pH paper to identify the samples with “pollution” and the one that is water. The PowerPoint will include the videos and activities including the tips and pointers and will be made available to all participants. The teacher’s guide is available online at no cost on http://www.globe.gov/web/elementary-globe. The teacher’s guide includes the free storybooks, activities, material lists, Instructional strategies, assessments, and cross-curricular implementation. Session Overview: 10 min- STEM Engagement strategies: Getting Organized 5 min- The Importance of Fresh Water 10 min- Introduce “Discoveries at Willow Creek” storybook 20 min- Activity: “Water Detectives Activity” –Using our senses 10 min – Reporting out -Why we are collecting water data? 5 min- Q and A

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA Elementary GLOBE has free storybooks with three or more STEM Activities each integrating the Core Standards with the Science standards. The materials are translated into 5 languages. Exploring the environment with a field experience ( Water Walk) will engage students in real-world culturally relevant problem-solving.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Kohler (NASA Glenn Research Center: Cleveland, OH)

A challenge that STEM education presents to educators is how to stay current in an ever-evolving field to accurately represent and engage their students with new topics, activities, and careers. Too often STEM teachers become locked-in on a set of topics, activities, and careers because of the resources and opportunities to which they have access. After-school programs, and their ability to foster partnerships within a school’s larger STEM ecosystem, are one mechanism to open up STEM programs within schools to new topics, activities, and careers while offering avenues for professional growth and learning for the classroom teacher. By introducing the Science Olympiad program and the strategies used by our school participants for over three decades to build partnerships, connect to their STEM ecosystem, and expand learning we intend to help attendees draw parallels to their STEM ecosystems and their after-school programs. Building off of this information, attendees will analyze and discuss ways their STEM ecosystem can contribute to their STEM program, develop approaches for asking ecosystem members for support, and recognize opportunities to grow their STEM program through after-school programs. The session will close with a discussion of attendees’ specific challenges and issues ensuring attendees leave with actionable solutions.

TAKEAWAYS:
The big takeaway from this session will attendees examining their STEM ecosystem to identify potential partners who align with their programming and can support student learning.

SPEAKERS:
John Loehr (Science Olympiad: Oakbrook Terrace, IL)

In this session, attendees will extend their understanding of learning design for the NGSS specifically focused on developing scientific literacy in the elementary grades. Participants will learn about selecting instructional phenomena and/or problems that can effectively anchor student learning experiences and create authentic needs for students to engage deeply with other content areas to make sense of phenomena and design solutions to problems, thus supporting meaningful integration of science with other STEM and content areas. Attendees will explore ways to design for elementary learning that meets at the intersection of three-dimensional standards, phenomena/problem driven learning, sensemaking, and integration. Participants will also be connected to a variety of Open Education Resources (OERs) and other freely available resources that support integrated elementary learning design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how anchoring learning in phenomena and problems and leveraging integrated content as sensemaking resources for students supports scientific literacy development in grades K-5.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberley Astle (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Using the data from Part 1 of this session, we will apply our learning to an engineering design challenge and share additional CER tips. You’ll see the connection between lesson design, inquiry-based instruction, and application of learning with ONE activity that requires minimal preparation but elicits lots of participation! Attendance to Part 1 is recommended but not required. Takeaways: Understand the benefits of using the CER Framework as it applies to engineering.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understand the benefits of using the CER Framework as it applies to engineering.

SPEAKERS:
Tammy Motley (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Educators have a mandate to provide quality science/STEM instruction for ALL students, but making instruction accessible to every student presents enormous challenges. In order to teach students with broad ranging abilities and experiences, differentiating science/STEM instruction is imperative. We must differentiate instruction to accommodate the differences in readiness and background knowledge, fluency and facility with English, differences in learning styles, and the broad range of student interests that comprise our schools. Accessibility, inclusivity, and collaboration must be assured for special needs and ELL learners, whose instructional needs can definitely be accommodated with effective differentiation strategies and resources. When teachers differentiate, they enhance learning, creating environments where instruction and assessment are matched to student abilities and needs. Differentiation is an approach involving numerous strategies, while students all access the same curriculum. Content, process, and products can all be differentiated. Students who lack experience and background knowledge can have targeted instruction, to provide hands-on explorations and build knowledge. Likewise, gifted students can extend and expand their science/STEM experiences, keeping them challenged and interested. Presenter will offer strategies and exploration ideas, tiered assignments that increase levels of complexity, instructional grouping and collaboration techniques, and suggest a variety of resources, to enable teachers to advance and evaluate student learning for ALL children. Attendees will actively engage with discourse and exploration of hands-on resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Attendees will learn differentiation strategies to engage all learners actively with hands-on explorations, assuring collaboration and accessibility for ALL, incorporating collaborative explorations where students of varying abilities share the learning experience, to advance learning and deepen conceptual understanding and sense-making for all K-6 students.

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

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)

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)

Sponsoring Company: Legends of Learning

Build a catapult to launch cows, learn about impacts on trajectories and walk away with knowledge of how to bring more of this engaging gaming experience to your classroom. Research has proven how we learn best through engagement and play. While launching cows can seemingly be all play, students doing this activity need to adjust their approach in order to hit a target or defined goals. This activity is based on one of the premise of engagement, which is a fundamental concept to game-based learning, From force and motion, to the water cycle, to the conservation of energy and more, help students gain science literacy, students can explore science and engineering practices, and more easily attain subject mastery through engaging approaches like game-based learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will receive first-hand experience of what collaboration and achievement can look like through our hands-on game-based learning platform. Come ready to collaborate, compete, learn some science and math, and have a whole lot of fun!

SPEAKERS:
Sean Reidy (Legends of Learning: Washington, DC)

Dive into (equitable) three-dimensional learning and promote STEM teaching and sensemaking strategies that place equity at the center of learning, making science connections to local context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore how placing equity at the center of STEM education changed teacher attitudes about science teaching and learning, developed supportive networks for formal and informal educators to advance science education, created opportunities for teachers to design three-dimensional learning experiences, and provided equitable opportunities for students and families in an urban high-needs district.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Nunez (New Brunswick Public Schools: New Brunswick, NJ), Sarah Sterling-Laldee (Paterson Public Schools: Paterson, NJ), Ashley Delgado-D'Amore (Lord Stirling Community School: New Brunswick, NJ), Grace Lugo (New Brunswick Public Schools: New Brunswick, NJ)

Through the 2021-2022 school year, Pulaski County Special School District sought to scale inclusive STEM experiences throughout grades K-5. Considering the need for sense-making opportunities provided in an inclusive and culturally relevant environment, a new districtwide initiative was birthed- STEM is Lit! STEM is LIT! seeks to take culturally relevant literature as the framework for authentic STEM experiences through sense-making practices. The idea is simple. Find a culturally relevant and diverse piece of literature. Frame a STEM challenge experience around this piece of literature. Design authentic lesson plans and resources for teachers to implement these challenges in their schools. Organize your supplies. Support your teachers and students. By creating districtwide monthly STEM challenges for all students in grades K-5, PCSSD was able to integrate literacy with mathematical sense-making, scientific inquiry, and the engineering design process creating memories that will last a life time. In addition to monthly challenges, STEM is Lit! also became the driving bus behind the Deputy Superintendent's book club for all 4th graders throughout the district, where a special STEM challenge was added and performed at each elementary in the district. This presentation seeks to share those authentic practices that can be scaled in any district to expose broad elementary audiences to equitable STEM experiences and conversation.

TAKEAWAYS:
How can districts expand STEM experiences through culturally relevant and inclusive practices in a large-scaled initiative?

SPEAKERS:
Justin Luttrell (Pulaski County Special School District: Little Rock, AR), Alesia Smith (Pulaski County Special School District: Littel Rock, AR)

Problem centered instruction is a great way to engage students, integrate content, inspire learning, and naturally incorporate all three dimensions of the NRC Framework. However, true problem centered instruction requires a major shift in both teaching and learning, requiring the one thing teachers don't have: time--the last thing teachers need is another pedagogical strategy that disrupts their entire routine. Teachers will have the opportunity to voice their concerns and discuss some barriers of problem centered teaching and learning, while also addressing the benefits for both teachers and students. Considering the benefits, there are some immediate changes that teachers can use to help shift to a problem centered environment. Recalling that problem centered learning should be complex, meaningful, and open-ended, the four strategies are: 1) Make the Content Relatable, 2) Structure: Less is More, 3) Be a Resource, Not an Answer Key, and 4) Use a Problem to Introduce a Topic. Teachers will then have an opportunity to put the strategies to immediate use by picking a lesson or topic and work with others to transform it into a three-dimensional, problem centered lesson.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will explore four strategies that promote three-dimensional learning through the process of problem centered instruction that is complex, meaningful, and open-ended. They will discuss benefits and barriers to the problem centered approach from the perspective of both the instructor and the learner. Teachers will have an opportunity to brainstorm and work collaboratively on transforming a lesson or topic of their choice into a problem centered, reality based scenario that seamlessly integrates the Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cassandra Armstrong (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy: Aurora, IL)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Teaching students to reason and problem solve is the cornerstone of quality math instruction. This session will highlight several engaging strategies such as Three Reads, Numberless Word Problems, and more that will provide multiple entry points for all students to engage in the math and ignite a passion for problem solving in your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore several reasoning routines such as Three Act Tasks, Three Reads, and Numberless Word Problems.

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

Sponsoring Company: Storytime STEM-packs

Let’s go on a Storytime STEM adventure! Each Storytime STEM+C Adventure uses children’s literature to equitably and actively engage children in science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science activities.  Get immersed in a storybook and then program a Bee-Bot robot to complete challenges connected to the story on a colorful story-themed mat. Experience first-hand some of the tools we have developed to support young children as they think through and document their program to allow for debugging their code if Bee-Bot goes astray. As part of the session, we will engage in an engineering design challenge and uncover the important math and science concepts featured in the Storytime STEM-pack. Independent evaluator reports show that children love Storytime STEM-packs and teachers appreciate that they are standards-aligned and user friendly. If you are looking for effective materials that make learning fun and engaging for kids, come join us and check out our integrated Storytime STEM + Computer Science Adventures!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use children's literature to equitably and actively engage children in STEM+C activities.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Burgess , Kristen Rice (Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3: Homestead, PA)

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)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Learn how to make math and science come alive through humor, hip-hop, and connections. As Dajae recounts her “unplanned” journey of becoming a NASA Rocket Scientist, she will share exactly what it takes to bring a sense of culture to the classroom. Take-away her teaching strategies to create learning environments with lasting purpose and long-term impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how removing language as a barrier helped a student leverage pop culture in her STEM classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Dajae Williams (ListenUp! Education: Long Beach, CA)

Students find science difficult or non-stimulating particularly when teachers do not consider cognitive, physiological, and socio-emotional disparities in students. Research has shown that engaging the appropriate parts of the brain helps students make a long-lasting, personalized connection to scientific concepts and practices. Studies show that discipline and learning problems in our classrooms may be associated with a lack of student engagement. Engaged students are less likely to be disruptive and are more likely to retain information longer. The focus of this presentation is to equip teachers with the pedagogical skills and strategies needed to drive student engagement and achievement by recognizing and addressing physiological, cognitive, and socio-emotional disparities in students based on an understanding of how a learner’s brain works. Participating teachers will explore the impact of emotions, storytelling, culturally relevant and hands-on learning on the forebrain and consequently on student engagement and comprehension. Teachers will learn to correctly harness the learning power of the forebrain, particularly, those of the hippocampus and amygdala, by appropriately employing suitable learning strategies. These will enhance student engagement, improve learning outcomes and increase academic achievement in the sciences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn to correctly harness the learning power of the forebrain, particularly, those of the hippocampus and amygdala, by appropriately employing suitable learning strategies

SPEAKERS:
Chidi Duru (Prince George's County Public Schools: Upper Marlboro, MD)

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)

Sponsoring Company: Estes Education

Learn model rocketry basics through NGSS based content and build a FREE rocket with us!

TAKEAWAYS:
Model rocketry is your teaching companion to make engineering come to life for your students.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bayeur (Estes Industries: , United States)

Research shows many benefits of a maker-centered learning environment, however many teachers do not consider their classroom “maker classrooms” In this hands-on workshop, participants will see many different categories of making in an early years class, which allows participants to begin to reframe their view of their own classes. Through hands-on activities, participants experience a range of maker-centered learning activities which showcases how these activities can be used to develop problem solving and sensemaking for students, with built in modifications support MLL and students with special rights. Literacy development and formative assessments are also continuous threads in maker-centered learning as students learn and use language in the making process. Through observation and discussion of maker-made artifacts, and the processes leading to these artifacts, teachers can assess student understanding Furthermore, with many maker-centered activities, family and community connections are strengthened as students observe their own community, ask questions, and involve others outside of school in their making activities. Conference activities will be limited to portable, lightweight materials, with discussions and examples of different materials in action

TAKEAWAYS:
1) Discover new making opportunities to support sensemaking in your class while developing student skills in communication, collaboration as well as identifying and solving problems 2) Identify ways of integrating maker centered opportunities in your class planning, with specific attention to the early years 3) Observe different ways of bringing family’s funds of knowledge into a maker centered classroom

SPEAKERS:
Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV)

Attendees will be provided with a high-level overview of NASA’s Artemis Missions to the Moon and Mars, Next Generation Science Standards, and gain insights on how Engineering Design fits within the NGSS. This session highlights an activity from NASA’s Next Gen STEM - Moon to Mars Educator Guide titled, "Landing Humans on the Moon" (https://www.nasa.gov/stem-ed-resources/landing-humans-on-the-moon.html) which is part of a series of standards-aligned educator guides designed to help students reach their potential to join the next-generation STEM workforce and learn about sending humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The focus of the “Safe Landing on the Lunar Surface” activity engages participants to understand how a spacecraft’s engines can provide downward thrust to counteract the force of gravity not only at launch, but also during a landing to slow its descent. Utilizing the engineering design process attendees will use household materials to better understand the difficulties in landing a lander on the surface of a terrestrial body that does not have an atmosphere (no atmospheric braking, no use of parachutes, and no aerodynamic control surfaces). Participants will design, build, and improve a model of a lunar lander that can slow its descent using the downward thrust of a balloon; graph the speed with respect to elevation of a model lunar lander.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Attendee will explore NASA STEM Educator Guides that are standards-aligned and provide detailed information and resources on how to implement STEM engagement learning experiences in the classroom to help students learn about sending humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. 2. Attendees will gain hand on minds on experience with implementing NASA STEM engagement activities in their classroom. Then, using engineering design principles, attendees will mirror the process that NASA engineers follow to brainstorm a human lander design, ultimately building an actual model that they will test. 3. Participants will gain insights into the difficulties in landing a lander on the surface of a terrestrial body that does not have an atmosphere (no atmospheric braking, no use of parachutes, and no aerodynamic control surfaces).

SPEAKERS:
LaTina Taylor (NASA Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC): Flossmoor, IL)

Enter a magical world with your students where everyone becomes enchanted with STEM. This budget-friendly lesson can engage and excite your students! Cross-curricular materials provided!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. The cross-curricular unit uses common cost-effective materials, as well as STEM topics, to promote learning for all students in the classroom; 2. there are a variety of assessment tools for different student ability levels, including participation assessments, written assessments, and verbal assessments; and 3. this "station-based" lesson will keep students moving through the STEM topics, captivated by the activities, learning without knowing it is happening.

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

Butterfly Gardening Using Native Plants workshop is a very exciting educational experience! This session will guide participants through exposure to native North American plants that are host plants for butterfly caterpillars as well as nectar plants to attract adults. We will participate in an assortment of hands-on activities which include creating a "Life Cycle Plate" and singing the "Metamorphosis Song". A main focus of this session is to provide participants with strategies to enable them to create and sustain their own schoolyard habitat. A roadmap to success will be shared, along with a question and answer session for potential challenges! . Beyond the workshop, continued implementation support will be shared with a comprehensive digital data collection and email contact information provided to participants. They will also receive contact information for the North American Butterfly Association, and The Native Plant Society for their local area. Resources will be shared focusing on the importance of organic gardening in relationship to a successful butterfly garden. Finally, an assortment of grant opportunities will be shared in order to assist teachers in getting funding for their projects. Upon completion of this time together, butterfly enthusiasts will be dispatched throughout the country. Once implemented, students and parents will be captivated by the beauty of the garden, and will sustain life lessons on the vital connection we share with our environment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participates will leave with the knowledge to go back to their schools/classroom equipped with the knowledge to set up an area to attract an assortment of native butterflies.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Sale (Lillie C. Evans K-8 Center: Miami, FL)

The free NASA STEM lesson plans introduce the practice of computational thinking and include elements of a real NASA mission. NASA’s Artemis program will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, the year of the agency's last Apollo moon landing. This Educator Guide provides four standards-aligned activities to help students learn about NASA's Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the Moon and beyond. In this session, we will design and build a crew module model that will secure two 2-cm astronaut figures during a drop test. The PowerPoint will be available to all participants. The PowerPoint will include the videos and activities including the tips and pointers. Session Outline: 5 min - Welcome and Introduction to NASA Artemis Mission 10 min- STEM Engagement strategies and culturally relevant teaching 10 min- Introducing the Engineering Design Challenge 20 min- Teams Design a Crew Vehicle 10 min- Testing the Crew Vehicle 5 min- Reviewing the Resources and Q and A https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/np-2020-02-2805-hq.pdf

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA provides free educational resources that include educator guides with standards-aligned activities to help students use computational thinking while including elements of real NASA missions.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Kohler (NASA Glenn Research Center: Cleveland, OH)

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)