Hurricanes, flash floods, and wildfires. Climate change brings more extreme weather, and the results can be catastrophic to our communities. As the weather becomes more severe, there is an increased need for shelters that can be easily transported and assembled to provide relief shelter for families who have been displaced from their homes. In this session, attendees will engage in an authentic STEM inquiry implemented in third and fourth-grade classrooms. The inquiry was designed so that students would be able to explore homelessness caused by natural disasters and design a tiny house prototype for a family in need. Participants will learn about planning and implementing a place-based and integrated STEM inquiry during this session. A major focus will be on planning and sensemaking as students learn through authentic opportunities and real-world mathematics and science. The presenter will share experiences using the Design Thinking Framework and place-based methodology as a guide for implementing and designing integrated STEM inquiries. In addition, the presenter will give specific strategies for developing problem statements to engage students in empathetic responses within STEM inquiries. The presenter will also share specific strategies for developing empathy during STEM inquiries for elementary-aged students. Participants will have the opportunity to experience key parts of the inquiry and view student examples.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Engage participants in NGSS-based engineering design challenge where participants are required to design a solution for homelessness caused by natural disasters (hurricane, floods, wildfire); 2. Learn the role of empathy in authentic STEM inquiries by using Design Thinking principles; and 3. Outline possible place-based strategies for implementing STEM inquiries in upper elementary classrooms that engage all learners in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Williams (Isidore Newman School: Belle Chasse, LA)

Explore EiE’s curriculum design principles for inclusivity and NSTA’s sensemaking pillars as tools to evaluate curricula for inclusivity and equity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with a framework for evaluating curricula with equity and inclusivity in mind.

SPEAKERS:
Diana Christopherson (Museum of Science, Boston: Seal Beach, 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 (Fulton County Public Schools: College Park, GA)

Wander your way through 30 different STEM stations to learn about resources, lessons, and teaching strategies to incorporate more STEM into your school and classroom. This farmer's market–type event brings together educators, authors, researchers, and leaders in early childhood through fifth-grade STEM education. Leave with a mindful of great ideas and be inspired!

TAKEAWAYS:
Pick up great ideas and be inspired during this farmer's market–type event.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Bird (The NEED Project: Crest Hill, IL), Heather Pacheco-Guffrey (Bridgewater State University: Bridgewater, MA), Lauren Burrow (Stephen F. Austin State University: Nacogdoches, TX), Susan Erickson (Country School: Maynard, MA), Sara Nelson (Iowa State University: Ames, IA), Constance Beecher (Iowa State University: Ames, IA), Elizabeth Dethloff (Robert R. Shaw Center for STEAM: Katy, TX), Christine Preston (The University of Sydney: Hornsby, Australia), Catherine Scott (Coastal Carolina University: Raleigh, NC), Kristin Cook (Bellarmine University: Louisville, KY), Richard Cox, Jr. (Atrium Health: Rock Hill, SC), Annette Venegas (retired: Gig Harbor, WA), Juliette Guarino Berg (The Town School: Forest Hills, NY), Katie Morrison (University Child Development School: Seattle, WA), Wendi Laurence (Education Specialist: Park City, UT), Katrina Kmak (Park City Library: Park City, UT), Brittnie Hecht (Park City Library: Park City, UT), Diana Lockwood (Author & Executive Director: Milford, CT), Godwyn Morris (Dazzling Discoveries / Skill Mill NYC: New York, NY), Bridget Miller (University of South Carolina: Columbia, SC), Christie Martin (University of South Carolina: Columbia, SC), Rebecca Kurson (Collegiate School: New York, NY), Cori Nelson (Winfield School District 34: Hinckley, IL), Shelly Counsell (Self Employed Consultant: Buffalo, NY), Belle Akers (Convent & Stuart Hall's Schools of the Sacred Heart: San Francisco, CA), Kathleen Tate (American Public University System: Lakeway, TX), Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Seattle, WA), Beth Pesnell (Kansas State University: Manhattan, KS), Bill Burton (Tatnall School: Wilmington, DE), Barbara Bromley (Hazelwood Elementary School: Kingston, WA), Kim Stilwell (BIOZONE Corp.: Naples, FL), Nancy McIntyre (Robotics Education & Competition Foundation: San Jose, CA), Shari Haug (: Elmhurst, IL), Jane Savatski (Janet Berry Elementary School: Menasha, WI), Katrina Pavlik (Deputy Executive Director: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Mitchell Rosenberg (Kinderlab Robotics, Inc.: Waltham, MA), Tiffany Leones (Digital Promise: San Jose, CA), Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA), Danielle Scharen (Horizon Research, Inc.: Durham, NC), Frances Hamilton (The University of Alabama in Huntsville: Taft, TN), Jennifer Williams (Isidore Newman School: Belle Chasse, LA), Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV)

During the pandemic, STEM leaders took on the challenge of connecting PK-5 students with each other in inclusive community events that focused on expanding access to STEM learning. The Student Design Guild (SDG) is a program bringing students and families together in a Covid-safe environment. SDG had three goals in mind: continue to provide STEM outreach for elementary students, provide a sense of community at a time when schools looked different and new, and provide ways for students to make sense of the pandemic. The SDG united students through a common need and engaged them in STEM learning. Through the design thinking process (a human-centered problem-solving process) and STEM stations, the guild developed opportunities for students that included designing, creating, building, iterating and sharing, all to lay a foundation for developing essential skills necessary for secondary education / work-force readiness. Participants will -learn how to design their own district/school-based Student Design Guild -have access to a model for creating a streamlined district-wide program that expands access and participation in STEM learning view design thinking as a STEM practice -view design thinking as a STEM practice -receive a district-wide student design challenge and a variety of turn-key STEM Stations

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about one district's model for creating district-wide programming that expands access and participation in STEM learning and understand how that model can be adapted to fit the needs of the user. Understand how to use the design thinking process as a STEM practice and receive a rubric for using design thinking. Have access to a district-wide design challenge and a variety of turn-key STEM Stations for students.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Brohm (Innovation Center of St. Vrain Valley Schools: Longmont, CO), Colin Rickman (Innovation Lab Coordinator: Longmont, CO)

Learn how to assist educators in facilitating purposeful STEM clubs for elementary girls, focusing on strategies promoting female student achievement, confidence, and interest in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Strategies to establish and facilitate STEM clubs that are fun, develop collaboration, actively combat stereotypes, and provide students with female role models in the STEM community; 2. An exploration of options for club formats and in-class applications, possible equity protocols, as well as a discussion of potential barriers and possible solutions for educators; and 3. Tools and resources for further research and strategies.

SPEAKERS:
David Rosengrant (University of South Florida St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg, FL), Nicole Caltabellotta (Mt. Vernon Elementary: Saint Petersburg, FL)

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)

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)

Participants will begin in the role of a student as the instructor models how picture books are often used ineffectively in the sequence of a 5Es lesson. This will be followed by a presentation of when and how different types of picture books are most effectively integrated into an NGSS-aligned lesson plan. Participants will play a game to apply what they have just learned by identifying where within a lesson specific picture book examples (both fiction and nonfiction) would be most effectively integrated. Next, participants will be introduced to picture book questioning “cheat sheets” for each of the seven crosscutting concepts. These sheets are filled with question examples and stems for each of the CCC. The instructor will model how to use these “cheat sheets” to prepare for and conduct a read aloud that emphasizes a specific CCC. Then, participants will be invited to choose a picture book from one of over 100 3-5 NGSS-aligned books found throughout the room in seven CCC “stations” and to use the “cheat sheet” to prepare for their own read aloud. Participants will then “Pair and Share” a portion of their read alouds. Finally, the instructor will briefly discuss how to use CCC graphic organizers (a link to organizers will be shared) to encourage students to independently identify CCCs in picture books. The session will wrap up with a final Q&A. Note: Specific examples of picture books that promote diversity will be discussed as well as the importance of representation in children’s literature. Methodologies demonstrated are based on research by Dr. Yen Verhoeven of Qi Learning (used with permission) and the text “Sharing Books Talking Science” by Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through instructor modeling and active participation, participants will learn when they should (and shouldn't!) include picture books in their 3-5NGSS lesson plans well as how to use picture books to explore each of the seven crosscutting concepts with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Starr (StarrMatica)

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 (self: Shawnee Mission, KS)

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 (self: Shawnee Mission, KS)

In this session, authors Dr. JoAnne Vasquez and Michael Comer describe the step-by-step thinking that defines the key elements in a STEM unit and share examples of how those elements can work together to support the implementation of STEM in the K–2 classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
This practical session provides teachers with a model template to help them create their own STEM learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Comer (Consultant: Worcester, MA)

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: Vancouver, WA)

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)

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)

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: Passaic, NJ), Sarah Sterling-Laldee (New Jersey Department of Education: Belleville, NJ), Ashley Delgado-D'Amore (Lord Stirling Community School: New Brunswick, NJ), Grace Lugo (Boston College OEI: Wellesley, MA)

Participants will begin in the role of a student as the instructor models how picture books are often used ineffectively in the sequence of a 5Es lesson. This will be followed by a presentation of when and how different types of picture books are most effectively integrated into an NGSS-aligned lesson plan. Participants will play a game to apply what they have just learned by identifying where within a lesson specific picture book examples (both fiction and nonfiction) would be most effectively integrated. Next, participants will be introduced to picture book questioning “cheat sheets” for each of the seven crosscutting concepts. These sheets are filled with question examples and stems for each of the CCC. The instructor will model how to use these “cheat sheets” to prepare for and conduct a read aloud that emphasizes a specific CCC. Then, participants will be invited to choose a picture book from one of over 100 K-2 NGSS-aligned books found throughout the room in seven CCC “stations” and to use the “cheat sheet” to prepare for their own read aloud. Participants will then “Pair and Share” a portion of their read alouds. Finally, the instructor will briefly discuss how to use CCC graphic organizers (a link to organizers will be shared) to encourage students to independently identify CCCs in picture books. The session will wrap up with a final Q&A. Note: Specific examples of picture books that promote diversity will be discussed as well as the importance of representation in children’s literature. Methodologies demonstrated are based on research by Dr. Yen Verhoeven of Qi Learning (used with permission) and the text “Sharing Books Talking Science” by Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through instructor modeling and active participation, participants will learn when they should (and shouldn't!) include picture books in their NGSS lesson plans well as how to use picture books to explore each of the seven crosscutting concepts with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Starr (StarrMatica)

Participants will begin by playing a game in which they discover the research regarding the impact of effective science instruction in elementary school on students’ future STEM career choices. Research on the importance of diversity and representation in children’s literature will also be included. Next, participants will be introduced to a picture book questioning “cheat sheet” for the science and engineering practices. This sheet is filled with question examples and stems for each of the S&EPs. The instructor will model how to use this “cheat sheet” to prepare for and conduct a read aloud that emphasizes specific S&EPs. Then, participants will be invited to choose a picture book from one of over 100 K-5 NGSS STEM Career focused picture books found throughout the room in six grade level “stations” that have been aligned to NGSS performance expectations. Participants will be asked to use the “cheat sheet” to prepare for their own read aloud. Participants will then “Pair and Share” a portion of their read alouds. Finally, the instructor will briefly discuss how to use S&EP graphic organizers (a link to organizers will be shared) to encourage students to independently identify S&EPs in picture books. The session will wrap up with a final Q&A.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through instructor modeling and active participation, participants will learn how to develop read aloud questions that effectively highlight the science and engineering practices in texts that feature STEM Careers.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Starr (StarrMatica)

Live-streaming wildlife cams give students an intimate, 24/7 look into the amazing and diverse world of animals, allowing teachers to engage all students in inquiry-based and phenomena-based learning as nature unfolds in real-time, with no script, and with unknown outcomes. Wildlife cams can encourage questioning and curiosity, can build connections to wildlife and the environment, and are intrinsically interesting to teachers and students alike. While the NGSS Standards posit that students need to learn science by doing science, teachers often struggle to support learners in developing science practices and understanding Nature of Science (NOS). We will share ideas for teaching science in ways that are culturally relevant by combining three key pedagogical frameworks—science inquiry, NOS, and culturally responsive teaching (CRT)—while harnessing the excitement and fun of wildlife cams. By using CRT and free cams that bring wildlife into the classroom, we can broaden the participation of historically underrepresented youth in science and amplify the science learning benefits of connecting with nature. Teachers we’ve worked with report that cams engaged students who might otherwise have few opportunities to be immersed in nature, including those in urban settings, with mobility challenges, and in remote learning environments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover a variety of wildlife cams and explore how they can be used to support culturally responsive teaching and build scientific observation skills.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Schaeffer (Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY)

Participants will learn how to engage young children in STEM-focused project-based learning that encourages them to make sense of everyday phenomena. Through an inquiry-based interdisciplinary approach, even our youngest learners can pose their own questions, develop models, and plan their own investigations. During this presentation, participants will view an example early childhood STEM-focused project-based learning experience where young children are engaging in sensemaking of an everyday phenomenon. They will also explore the elements of project-based learning including how to launch a unit, engage young children in research using a variety of mediums and through field work, and organize a public exhibit of learning with their school community. Participants will brainstorm potential everyday phenomena for projects and plan activities where young children can engage in hands-on sensemaking. All attendees will leave this session with the tools they need to confidently lead an inquiry-based, STEM project that is developmentally-appropriate for young children.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to utilize use everyday phenomena as the focus for STEM-focused project-based learning.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan Kurada (Sonoma County Office of Education: Rohnert Park, CA)

Discover how citizen science and inquiry can shape the STEM leaders of our future! Participating in citizen science provides a unique and accessible way to facilitate student science investigations and STEM learning. Students engaged in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's citizen-science projects have been asking and answering their own questions about birds for more than a decade, conducting original experiments and observational studies. Questions range from “why do the kinds of birds we see change during the year?” to “why aren’t we seeing more birds at our school and what can we do to get more to visit?” By engaging in citizen science and investigations, students become scientists and meet NGSS Standards while exercising social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. They make observations, generate their own questions, collect data, and get access to online datasets they can query. Along the way, they collaborate with peers, learn to communicate effectively, engage in arguments from evidence, and reflect on successes and challenges. These hands-on science experiences give all students authentic opportunities to build life-long skills while meeting science standards, especially those related to developing students’ science process skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore free resources to scaffold citizen-science-inspired inquiry projects and discover how outdoor learning and inquiry projects can support social and emotional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Schaeffer (Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY)