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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Learn how Ohio 4-H and the Ohio Academy of Science have partnered to offer the a free STEM entrepreneurial program for junior high and high school students. Educators will participate in activities that will showcase student-centered learning experiences that allows them to explore entrepreneurship in the formal classroom, home-school classroom or 4-H SPIN Club. The curriculum teaches students how to commercialize solutions to problems by developing a STEM Commercialization Plan or STEM Business Plan. The goal of the program is to create a culture of innovation. This is accomplished by focusing on the practical application of STEM and related fields and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset and the critical thinking skills students will need in the future.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will provide the tools needed to expand student participation in STEM by connecting classroom educators to the broad community of 4-H officers, leaders and facilitators.

SPEAKERS:
Angela McMurry (The Ohio Academy of Science: Dublin, OH), Mark Light (The Ohio State University: Columbus, OH)

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 (Jennifer Swanson Books: No City, No State)

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 Brick Masters virtual summer camp was designed to create challenge-based lessons to teach STEAM concepts and the eight science and engineering practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees of this program will be able to: 1. develop a virtual experiential STEAM learning experience for youth; and 2. identify, explain, and use knowledge and skills of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics to create a successful program.

SPEAKERS:
Whitney Thames (UF/IFAS Extension Miami-Dade: Hialeah, FL)

Present culturally relevant inquiry-based teaching practices to engage all students in science learning. The interactive session will define what it means to be a culturally relevant practitioner, and how to use inquiry-based teaching practices in their science classroom. The participants will be engaged using scenarios and identification lessons that are culturally relevant inquiry-based.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to define inquiry-based learning as culturally responsive/relevant teaching and identify characteristics of cultural competency in science teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Rochelle Darville (West St. John High School: Edgard, LA)