By Invitation Only

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Mary O'Donnell (Penn State University: No City, No State), Gargi Adhikari (Holland Brook School/Readington Township Schools: Whitehouse Station, NJ)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Vick (Northwestern University)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Carnegie Corporation of New York released a challenge paper calling on the education field to transform teaching and learning through the elements and essentials of curriculum-based professional learning. Learn how schools and systems are helping teachers experience the instruction their students experience to help change instructional practices, leading to better student outcomes.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Explore the rationale for a challenge paper dedicated solely to the issue of curriculum-based professional learning; 2. Discover the 10 elements and three essentials of professional learning critical to effective implementation of high-quality science instructional materials; and 3. Consider implications of the roles and responsibilities for putting into action the elements of curriculum-based professional learning.

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

The Vision set forth by A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards emphasize science as the integration of practices (SEPs), content (DCIs), and big ideas (CCCs). By using all three dimensions, students are able to make sense of phenomena while learning science concepts and processes. However, this way of thinking and learning takes practice and guidance. Teachers play a pivotal role in helping their students to engage with this kind of science learning. Therefore, they must find ways to explicitly integrate and embed all three dimensions in activities, lessons, and assessments. This participatory presentation will explore how teachers can explicitly embed SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs into prompts (questions and guiding statements) to promote more integrated opportunities for student sense-making. By generating prompts that include SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs, teachers can guide students to think in a more three-dimensional way and gain the skills to do so outside of the classroom. Attendees will identify strategies for posing integrated prompts, consider the benefits of multi-dimensional prompts for students, practice asking and improving prompts, and apply these strategies to use in their own classroom context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Creating prompts (questions and guiding statements) that explicitly promote the three dimensions can drive more integrated, equitable student learning

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

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)

Phenomenon-driven assessments can be aligned to standards and engaging to students. This session will answer the question, “How can a 3D assessment engage students’ interest and identity while promoting high-quality science learning?” We call this “5-dimensional” assessment. We will present several examples of phenomenon-driven assessments in grades 5-12 and deconstruct them. What makes them engaging? How does a 3D task unfold over several questions? Where are the big science ideas? Then, we will analyze the student work that 5-dimensional assessments can generate in order to see what 3D learning can result from aligned tasks. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to construct a 3D task, investigate student interests, and give meaningful feedback to students that goes beyond “right and wrong” multiple-choice questions. The final part of the presentation will offer examples of tools participants can use to adapt their own assessments by 1) finding meaningful phenomena, 2) connecting the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs, and 3) writing prompts that integrate all dimensions.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to design meaningful, interest & identity driven 3D assessments for secondary students

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

One of the most important factors for ensuring that all students experience science education that prepares them for future success is access to high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials, especially critical for our nation’s Black, Latinx, multilingual, and low-income students. EdReports and NextGenScience provide evaluations of instructional materials to help identify these kinds of high-quality materials. The organizations co-developed the Critical Features of Instructional Materials Design resource to illustrate and provide unified definitions of features that ensure instructional materials can help students meet or exceed today’s science standards. The features described in this document are based on approaches to science learning and assessment described in A Framework for K–12 Science Education and subsequent research. This session leverages key features and illustrations to engage educators and developers in a conversation about the features and what they look like in materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will develop an understanding of the importance of high quality materials for supporting students and teachers and discuss how to utilize the critical curriculum features for improving development and selection of curriculum materials.

SPEAKERS:
Jenny Sarna (Director, NextGenScience), Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Fort Collins, CO)

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)

The session will give teachers an opportunity to participate in the same sort of rich and meaningful learning experiences that are called for by the NGSS. Such learning places the focus squarely on the nature of instruction. It is rooted in ongoing, active experiences that will prompt teachers to expand their content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and expand their beliefs about what is possible inside the classroom. The presenter will guide the participants in a series of focused, small-group demonstration activities that are structured like a typical ADI investigation, allowing teachers to experience instruction as students do.

TAKEAWAYS:
• How to use this instructional model, or way of teaching, to give students an opportunity to learn how to use the DCIs, CCs, and SEPs to make sense of natural phenomena.

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

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)

Since 2015, EdReports has published more than 900 free reviews of K-12 instructional materials including nearly 70 reviews of K-8 science programs. Most recently, EdReports completed a listening and learning tour to hear directly from the field about what’s needed to conduct rigorous reviews of high school science materials. Findings point toward inequities not only in the selection and use of quality curricula, but also a lack of support for educators to make the instructional shifts necessary. This session will open with research on the challenges educators face in finding quality materials, detail how the mission and vision of EdReports aims to address those challenges, and share the findings that have guided high school review tool development. Participants will engage in large group, small group, and pair share conversations to reflect on their own classroom materials and adoption practices, and discuss strategies for navigating the challenges involved with high school science instructional materials. Educators will also learn about opportunities to engage as an EdReports reviewer in upcoming reviews, which includes NGSS training, an extended learning community, and a paid stipend for participation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the expansion into high school science and develop an understanding of the tool development process, characteristics of alignment to the NGSS and usability, and how EdReports supports educators through smart adoption processes and opportunities to participate in educator-led review teams.

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

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)

The session will give teachers an opportunity to participate in the same sort of rich and meaningful learning experiences that are called for by the NGSS. Such learning places the focus squarely on the nature of instruction. It is rooted in ongoing, active experiences that will prompt teachers to expand their content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and expand their beliefs about what is possible inside the classroom. The presenter will guide the participants in a series of focused, small-group demonstration activities that are structured like a typical day’s lesson, allowing teachers to experience instruction as students do. The session will give teachers an opportunity to participate in the same sort of rich and meaningful learning experiences that are called for by the NGSS. Such learning places the focus squarely on the nature of instruction. It is rooted in ongoing, active experiences that will prompt teachers to expand their content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and expand their beliefs about what is possible inside the classroom. The presenter will guide the participants in a series of focused, small-group demonstration activities that are structured like a typical day’s lesson, allowing teachers to experience instruction as students do.

TAKEAWAYS:
• How to make in-person and remote learnings experience more meaningful, relevant, and equitable for students.

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

Our master teacher video case studies are used to facilitate discussion about the science practices of Asking Questions and Modeling with inservice and preservice teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Using classroom video as a focus of discussion can provide teachers with an avenue for substantive conversations about their teaching practice; 2. Our case studies present real classroom settings where the teachers are having their students work on the practice of questioning and/ or modeling; and 3. Participants will view the videos and reflect on how the teachers are facilitating the use of science practices in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
David Henry (SUNY Buffalo State College: Buffalo, NY), Alayla Ende (University at Buffalo, SUNY: Buffalo, NY), Lisa Brosnick (SUNY Buffalo State College: Buffalo, NY), Alan Baczkiewicz (Sweet Home Middle School: Amherst, NY)

Obtaining food to meet our energy and matter needs is a basic requirement of humans and food also defines our culture. This presentation will share how to use elements of the three dimensions of the NGSS and Framework to engage students in making sense of phenomena and problems related to food. Strategies for how to use driving question boards, lesson level learning targets, and engage all learners will be shared. Specific attention will be given for how to align assessments that challenge students to apply their understandings. Participants will engage in a morsel of a storyline on producing the perfect apple. In this storyline, students notice and wonder about different varieties of apples and are challenged to explain why it took 30 years for the Honeycrisp apple to be available to consumers. Students ask questions for how perfect apples are mass produced, how nutrients and environmental factors affect the quality of fruit, and how to attain the right balance of sweet-tart flavor. This storyline weaves together scientific concepts such as meiosis and mitosis, pedigrees and probability, plant structure and function, nutrient cycles, the role of photosynthesis in producing food, and how plants use cellular respiration to survive the winter.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engage in conversations for how to use the three dimensions of the NGSS and the NRC Framework, storylines, driving questions, formative and summative assessments, and hands-on activities to learn science and engineering skills while making sense of one of our most basic needs – FOOD.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Embry Mohr (Olympia High School: Stanford, IL)

Unpacking the 3-D NGSS while at the same time making science instruction engaging to students is a challenge faced by science teachers across the nation. With skillful use of phenomena-based instruction, science teachers engage students by converting what the teacher planned to teach into what the students want to learn. Culturally relevant, intellectually accessible and thought-provoking phenomena enable students to make engaging connections between the required curricula content and real-life scenarios and applications. Rather than recalling discrete facts, students apply new information and use transferable problem-solving skills to explain a natural or man-made phenomenon. Phenomenon-based science encourages students to ask questions, discover connections, and design models to make sense of what they observe. This session provides participating teachers opportunities to experience lessons in the same manner as students will. They examine a phenomenon and then ask questions, collaborate with partners and design models, and discuss digital tools that can be used to engage students in phenomenon-based learning. Teachers learn how to use questioning techniques and academic dialogue to spike discontent in the students' understanding of the phenomena, thereby, driving students to use science practices to further explore their curiosities

TAKEAWAYS:
Help teachers to develop and deploy thought-provoking phenomena that will promote student engagement, comprehension, and achievement in the sciences by transforming what the teacher planned to teach into what the students are eager to learn.

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