Resources and strategies to support P–12 and postsecondary students in STEM classrooms who have invisible illnesses/ health-impairment disabilities will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will get an overview of resources and strategies that address the need for safe and equitable learning environments for P–12 and postsecondary students with invisible disabilities/ health-impairment illnesses in STEM classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Grim-Hunter (Chicago State University: Chicago, IL)

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)

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)

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 (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Ithaca, NY)

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)

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)