Improve inclusive classroom dynamics between teachers, families, and students by reflecting on disability model perspectives, identifying barriers to collaboration, and determining effective avenues of communication.

TAKEAWAYS:
The triangle of inclusion presents pathways that can be used by administrators and teachers to recognize and overcome barriers faced within the inclusive classroom and includes strategies such as early open communications, student advocacy, professional learning opportunities, and mentorships.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Wack (East Penn School District: Emmaus, PA)

The storyline approach supports a classroom culture that promotes equity and belonging. As teachers who have transitioned from a traditional approach to the Illinois Storylines, we have implemented a variety of practices to meet the needs of every student in the class. Also further supporting NGSS principles, storylines give students the opportunity to engage in science practices as intended. In our session we will discuss strategies for modifying the Illinois Storyline curriculum for students with a variety of unique needs. Participants will be provided with a platform to discuss their classroom dynamic, examples of modified instruction, and the opportunity to practice tailoring the storylining curriculum to meet the needs of their students. We will have the audience actively participating in small and large group discussions on how modifications can be created for a set of storyline activities. Finally all of our modified materials will be shared in a google team drive, which includes over 175 educators currently contributing modified materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to recognize and remove barriers that students often face to increase engagement in NGSS storylines

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Pavic (Glenbrook South High School: Glenview, IL), Julia Navarro (Wheeling High School: Wheeling, IL), Madeline Thomas (Glenbrook South High School: Glenview, IL)

A partnership between University Prep Science and Math High school and the Detroit Zoological Society is providing students with opportunities to explore careers in zoology and conservation. Hands-on learning in the classroom with highly qualified teachers is complemented with regular visits to the Detroit Zoo, local green spaces, and the Belle Isle Aquarium, where students participate in facilitated programming, collect data for individual projects, and engage with content area experts. Over the four years in the Zoology Pathway program, students build their conceptual understanding of science skills through authentic learning experiences and explore topics of their personal interest in depth. This program has the potential to support students from groups who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields, including life sciences, and provide them an advantage as they pursue post-secondary opportunities and future careers with an already established professional network.

TAKEAWAYS:
Partnerships between schools and informal science organizations can support underrepresented students in pursuing post-secondary STEM opportunities. Pairing informal and formal science learning can build interest in STEM content, especially for students who are historically underrepresented in STEM fields. Co-collaboration of learning experiences leads to more robust, long-term partnerships.

SPEAKERS:
Claire Lannoye-Hall (Detroit Zoological Society: Royal Oak, MI)

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)

A team of high school teachers and university researchers presents a process of their collaboration and learning about teaching multilingual students using an NGSS-focused curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to design and carry out effective and positive collaboration centered around a specific goal (e.g., establishing a clear structure of work cycle) and several key principles for teaching emergent multilingual students that were developed through the collaboration (e.g., multimodality).

SPEAKERS:
Minjung Ryu (University of Illinois Chicago: Chicago, IL), Laura Decker (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL), Anna Kordek (Science Teacher), Maks Malec (Highschool Physics Teacher: , IL)

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)

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)

I would like to present an overview of an interdisciplinary curriculum titled Indigenous Foods, which I developed for the Natural History Museum of Utah in partnership with the nonprofit Utah Diné Bikéyah. Weaving together indigenous knowledge, Utah history, archaeological findings, plant biology, and nutritional data, this curriculum shares the importance of indigenous food sovereignty through the story of a tiny, highly nutritious superfood called the Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii). Over the past 5-10 years, University of Utah researchers, Lisbeth Lauderback (archaeologist) and Bruce Pavlik (botanist), have pieced together evidence from stone tool starch granules, plant genetics, and historical accounts to show that the Four Corners potato is the earliest known domesticated plant in the Western United States. Currently, these same researchers are working closely with Utah Tribes to reincorporate the Four Corners potato into indigenous communities with the hopes of restoring community health and traditional practices. In summary, this curriculum aims to show the importance of including different ways of knowing in science education, as well as to inspire others to learn about the incredible indigenous knowledge that exists within their own communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Weaving together indigenous food sovereignty, archaeological findings, and plant biology, this curriculum overview offers examples for how to include indigenous knowledge in science education.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Walker (Waterford School: Sandy, UT)