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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ), Donna Governor (University of North Georgia: Dahlonega, GA), Kathy Biernat (Zanilu Educational Services, LLC: No City, No State)

Go behind the scenes of a crash-test center and use award-winning videos, paper car crashes, and egg drop cushions to teach motion and energy. Everything free at classroom.iihs.org.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use inquiry-based, NGSS-focused activities and video-supported engineering design experiences integrating STEM concepts with vehicle crashworthiness and crash avoidance technologies to promote students' safer decision-making when riding in or driving a vehicle.

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

Picture books often pique a child’s interest in a STEM topic, igniting their interest in learning more about it. Once they’re ready to dig deeper, how do they find books to let them do so? The difference between STEM picture books and longer-form ones isn’t just the number of words. How can teachers help students transition from reading books where so much of the information is in the illustrations to ones where the text carries most of the content. For many students, this involves learning a new skill set. And what about older students who aren’t quite ready yet to tackle a longer book? How do they find STEM picture books that are appropriate for their age and reading level? In this talk, we’ll gives examples of two books on the same topic. First, we’ll pair picture books for younger and older readers. Second, we connect picture books with related long-form books. Either way, this gives students a way to continue their curiosity.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to transition students from reading picture books to longer-form books.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Wallmark (Author: Ringoes, NJ), Jennifer Swanson (Author/Teacher: Jacksonville, FL)