Ticket Price:

• $75 earlybird
• $100 advance

If you have not yet registered for the conference, you may purchase tickets when you register online.

Please note that if you are already registered for the conference and wish to purchase this ticket, click the "add to cart" button above.

Assessment tasks for NGSS classrooms are different from the typical tasks that require students to recall what they know. A Framework for K–12 Science Education and the NGSS call for assessment tasks that ask students to use and apply the three dimensions of science proficiency: disciplinary core ideas, scientific and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. With three-dimensional tasks, the expectation is that students will use and apply the three dimensions of science proficiency together to make sense of phenomena or solve problems.

In this session, we focus on designing three-dimensional assessment tasks for classroom use with an emphasis on assessment for teaching and learning. A good assessment task should provide actionable information of value to teachers and their students. Importantly, it should provide insight into how students are building toward an NGSS performance expectation.

How can we use performance expectations to construct assessment tasks that can be used during instruction? Participants will learn an approach for designing three-dimensional assessment tasks and explore how to use them formatively in classrooms to help students build toward the performance expectations.

Participants will also be able to preorder our assessment book Creating and Using Instructionally Supportive Assessments in NGSS Classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn: 1. what is meant by three-dimensional assessment; 2. how to design classroom-based assessment tasks aligned with the NGSS; and 3. how to make use of formative assessment tasks to support instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Krajcik (CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI), Christopher Harris (WestEd)

By Invitation Only

Shifting from traditional professional development to curriculum-based professional learning is a simple concept but complex to design and execute well. At its core, it means teachers experience the same kind of inquiry-based learning we expect them to provide their students. Learn more about a Carnegie Corporation of New York report, The Elements, which identifies a core set of research-based actions, approaches, and enabling conditions that effective schools and systems have put in place to reinforce and amplify the power of high-quality curriculum and skillful teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Examine beliefs and assumptions regarding the relationship between high-quality instructional materials, curriculum-based professional learning and student success 2. Gain understanding of the foundation for The Elements, a challenge paper from Carnegie Corporation of New York 3. Learn from science practitioners whose successful curriculum implementation efforts are grounded in the elements and essentials.

SPEAKERS:
Jim Short (Carnegie Corporation of New York: New York, NY)

Ticket Price:

• $75 earlybird
• $100 advance

If you have not yet registered for the conference, you may purchase tickets when you register online.

Please note that if you are already registered for the conference and wish to purchase this ticket, click the "add to cart" button above.

This workshop is designed for instructional coaches and leaders who want to support their teachers in making the instructional shifts required by three-dimensional science standards. Participants will receive NSTA’s suite of instructional coaching tools and gain experience using the protocols and providing feedback.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Become familiar with a suite of instructional coaching tools and protocols; 2. Gain experience using the instructional coaching tools and protocols; and 3. Identify ways to use the tools to provide feedback to teachers and document growth over time.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

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)

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines are a tool that can be used to design learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners (CAST, 2018). Instructional designers and teachers can use these principles to create learning environments that reduce barriers to access for all students, while keeping in mind the learning goals of the lesson. The three guiding principles of UDL are engagement, representation, and action and expression. In this session educators will be provided with examples of these principles in action in sample materials from OpenSciEd and classroom videos. In these examples, participating will identify how the materials have been purposefully designed with multiple avenues for engagement, representation, and action and expression. Additionally, they will identify the built-in supports for teachers to highlight student assets and to address potential barriers to learning for their local student population. Teachers will utilize a tool to help them analyze their own lessons to identify goals, potential barriers, and ways to use the UDL Principles to remove barriers and create flexible paths to learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will utilize a tool to help them analyze their own lessons to identify goals, potential barriers, and ways to use the UDL Principles to remove barriers and create flexible paths to learning.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

After learning about computational thinking, participants will apply the framework to determine where students engage in computational thinking within the activity. Participants will engage in activities where students engineer as part of the investigations. Participants will be able to use a pre-programmed microcontroller (loaned by the presenters) to experience 3 different short investigations each tied to a different phenomenon. 1) Does angle matter? How does the angle of the collector affect how warm it is? Using the microcontroller and lamps participants will collect data to build a model that explains why the tilt of the Earth creates different seasons. 2) Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque. When working in a greenhouse, different materials can be used to cover the greenhouse. Which is the best material for your area? Using the light level sensor on the microcontroller, participants test different materials to recommend their uses when designing a greenhouse. 3) Making an alarm - using the microcontroller accelerometer sensor, participants arm an alarm and see how the accelerometer works in three dimensions. Participants will be provided printed copies of the lesson plans and how to engage students with using the microcontrollers. Note that no knowledge of coding or any equipment brought is necessary to participate in this workshop.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn (1) Microcontrollers are small computers that come with several integrated sensors. Their functionality makes them useful for both investigations and engineering projects. Some of the basic functionality of different microcontrollers (2) One definition of computation thinking is how to use computers to solve problems. Computational thinking activities that connect students to everyday phenomena. The development of algorithms or the decomposition of problems into simple steps are just two examples of processes associated with computation thinking. It is a powerful problem-solving technique that is used in the modern world (3) How engineering tasks provide opportunities for student sensemaking

SPEAKERS:
Susan German (Hallsville Middle School: Hallsville, MO), G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS)

Sponsoring Company: SAE International

Attendees will explore different methods and student & teacher resources for enhancing real-world STEM skills with meaning-making literature. Using AWIM's award-winning STEM curriculum and complementary comic & children's books as examples, teachers will engage in discussions and hands-on activities they can facilitate in their classrooms. This workshop will also address how diverse representation in storytelling can foster more accessible & impactful STEM learning for all students. Participants will receive a free AWIM book.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn methods and resources for incorporating age-appropriate literature into hands-on STEM activities.

SPEAKERS:
Bonnie Thibodeau (SAE International: Warrendale, PA)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Interact with PhD Science® module to discover the benefits of engaging in activities that deepen conceptual understanding before introducing terminology to students.

TAKEAWAYS:
PhD Science is rooted in the belief that complex scientific language and vocabulary terms are not a prerequisite for conceptual science understanding, but rather a product of it.

SPEAKERS:
Ranell Blue (Great Minds: Washington, DC), Isaac Stauffer (Great Minds: Washington, DC)

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)

For years, research on the language of classrooms explored how the way we say things impacts students’ sense of belonging. This session uses the NSTA Teacher Tip Tuesday—The Meaning Beyond The Words: How Language, Race, and Culture Impact Science Teaching and Learning web seminar to consider how we signal to students that we value their ideas and how they communicate those ideas in the science classroom and what we can do as educators to help ensure our students know they belong in the classroom and can do science. Participants will learn about opportunities to continue the learning after the session ends through NSTA’s new Professional Learning Units.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Become aware of how we signal (or don’t signal) to students their ideas and how they communicate their ideas are valued in the science classroom; and 2. Learn strategies to support students in building on their ideas and each other's ideas to move toward building deep conceptual understanding of big ideas in science (disciplinary core ideas).

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

We live in a data-driven world, and our students will be working in a data-driven workforce. Therefore, it is critical that our Pre-K-12 students learn foundational data literacy skills. However, currently these skills are too often only taught in upper-level classes. All students need these skills and all students, down to our little Pre-Kers, can work with and make sense of science data. Let’s make sure data is an equalizer, rather than another divider in our educational system and society! Join us as we explore what perception and learning science tell us about how our brains process data. We will experience research-based strategies and freely available resources to build science knowledge and self-efficacy through data. Finally, we will explore ways to adapt our existing curriculum activities and data visualizations to help our students more equitably access science. Through hands-on activities and group discussions, participants will leave more empowered to leverage data and data visualizations into their science content in purposeful ways for all learners. Working with and learning science from data fosters critical thinking skills, lifelong interests in science, and facilitates learners’ overall 21st century skills. Let’s set all of our students up for success!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will identify how data literacy is a critical aspect of science literacy in the 21st century for all students and ways to adjust existing curriculum to leverage data as entry points into science inquiry, sensemaking, and knowledge for all learners to see themselves in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, LLC: No City, No State)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a model lesson from OpenSciEd for Middle School and see how the new Carolina Certified Edition makes these high-quality instructional materials even better!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Experience the pedagogy of OpenSciEd through a model lesson; 2. Learn ways to encourage equitable classroom discourse; and 3. Create a Driving Question Board to explore real-world phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

How are you engaging all students in critical skills to ensure they are ready for the future of work? What does the classroom feel, sound, and look like when students are making sense of their world and solving real-world problems? Join the alumni from the 2021 Northrop Grumman Foundation Teachers Academy as they share the ways they have transformed their schools/classrooms to align with the reality of work as experienced alongside engineers, technologists, and scientists.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies to integrate workforce skills aligned with the vision of the K–12 Framework.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Kenning (Spring Creek Middle School: Providence, UT), Anthony Carter (Middle River Middle School: Middle River, MD), Yevgeny Pevzner (Kearns Junior High School: Salt Lake City, UT), Leilani O'Dell (Roscomare Road Elementary School: No City, No State)

Hexagonal Thinking ensures the learning environment features a high degree of student engagement by providing a framework for academic discussion where all students participate. Participants will collaborate with colleagues to experience Hexagonal Thinking using science and math content vocabulary and visuals that will then be used to synthesize information into a piece of critical writing.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn a strategy for making thinking, learning and content connections visible in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Yates (Aledo ISD: Aledo, TX), Miranda Rosenhoover (Aledo ISD: Aledo, TX)

This session is an introduction to a new approach to STEM instruction called Argument-Driven Engineering (ADE). ADE is an instructional approach that gives students an opportunity to learn to use core concepts and processes form science, engineering, and mathematics to figure out solutions to a meaningful and authentic problem that will help make the world a better place. This instructional approach also gives students an opportunity to develop disciplinary literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) because they must obtain information, share and critique potential solutions through talk, and communicate what they figured out and how they know the solution is acceptable through writing. In this session, participants will examine the potential benefits and challenges associated with embedding engineering design into science classrooms and learn how the ADE instructional model can help maximize the benefits and reduce the challenges. Participants will also have a chance to experience an example of an ADE design challenge that invites them to design a shipping and storage container for insulin and see examples of how students who completed this design challenge used science, engineering, and mathematics content and processes to figure out how to keep the insulin cold for long periods of time. Participants will also learn about how this new approach was developed through three years of classroom-based research by a team of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and how well ADE instructional materials are aligned with the TEKS for science, mathematics, CTE, and ELA.

TAKEAWAYS:
• How to give students an opportunity to learn how to use concepts and processes from science, engineering, and mathematics to design a solution to an authentic problem that will help make the world a better place.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Hutner (The University of Alabama: Austin, TX)

Gain experience using the NSTA Sensmaking Tool to become critical consumers of curricular materials and support creating/revising lessons for sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn how to use the NSTA Sensemaking Tool to review science lessons for the four critical aspects of sensemaking; and 2. Understand how to use the Sensemaking Tool to support creating and revising existing science lessons for sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Apply creative problem-solving skills and engineering practices to chemistry and physical science challenges with race cars and rockets. Experience how Carolina makes it easy to incorporate STEM into your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will take away hands-on experience in designing, making, and testing balloon race cars and reaction rockets.

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau (Retired Educator: National City, MI)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

During this workshop, participants will work explore cell communication using hands-on models of synapses. Participants will experience how using models to explore abstract concepts deepens student understanding and inquiry for students and provides opportunities for formative assessments of student understanding. Participants will also have opportunities to deepen and challenge their own conceptual understanding of cell communication by altering the biochemical events within the synapses. These changes will reflect what happens when synapses are disturbed by drugs, including both prescription and drugs of abuse, as well as some mental health disorders. Finally, ideas for three-dimensional summative assessments will be explored.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hands on models of synapses let students explore cell communication and the structure and function relationship of proteins and signaling molecules including toxins and drugs.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Using real-world phenomena asks students to puzzle out answers to problems that occur in their day-to-day lives. It encourages students to enter into sensemaking using their own prior knowledge and tools. One of the best tools to make sense of a phenomenon is math. Learn from CCSS Math and NGSS specialists about using mathematical thinking to promote scientific literacy. This session includes a focus on student agency, sensemaking, and supporting connections between the STEM classroom and real-world phenomena. The presenters will map CCSS Mathematics and NGSS connections while providing strategies for increasing agency and sensemaking in the classroom. Questions we will consider include: How do we support all students in becoming mathematical thinkers? How do we promote agency by providing students with authentic, engaging opportunities to collect, analyze, and interpret real-world data? How can phenomena and questioning techniques support mathematical thinking?  Come explore new possibilities of what high-quality sensemaking with math can look like for all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will take away strategies to integrate mathematical thinking into student sensemaking about scientific phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Alanna Mertens (DePaul University STEM Center: Chicago, IL)

In this session, participants will be introduced to a framework for identifying the features of a classroom culture that support equitable sensemaking. There are four main features: 1. Who is engaged in (or excluded from) classroom activity? 2. Who is treated as a "knower" in the classroom? 3. What ways of knowing are privileged in the classroom? 4. What science is practiced in the classroom? This framework is based off Kerri Wingert's Classroom Culture Investigations document and utilized as a foundational pieces of the OpenSciEd materials. Participants will unpack this framework and identify in sample pieces of student work and classroom videos examples of each one of these categories in action. They will be provided with tools and resources for self-assessing their own classroom culture including an exit ticket they can give to students to help inform the instruction. Examples of student work and instructional materials will be from the OpenScIEd instructional materials for middle school science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom culture is critical to providing equitable sensemaking opportunities for all students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

During this session, I will provide participants with black card stock, needles, string, graph paper and tape. We will start by creating the artwork as this will fuel the discussion later. I will walk participants through the steps using a guided slideshow with pictures. They will be given multiple options and allowed to experiment with their selections. I will give them time to work at their tables to create their art and walk around to help. The discussion portion will happen after the art creation. I will ask the groups to share their art with their table. The valuable portion of the session is when we will brainstorm the modifications that can be done to help all students access this activity. I will ask groups to discuss and share out as I create a list. I will add any modifications not already mentioned. Next, I would like the groups to discuss how this can be used in their classes, including the modifications they would need to suit their students. As a take away, participants will have a note taking sheet, access to the slideshow (includes examples and instructions), list of supplies needed and where to purchase, their beautiful artwork, and valuable discussions.

TAKEAWAYS:
In addition to the art work, participants will leave with ideas, templates and modifications for a variety of students.

SPEAKERS:
Terri Serey (Orange Grove Middle School: Hacienda Heights, CA)

This session by members of NSTA’s Professional Learning Committee is designed to help teachers deepen their understanding of the effective and practical strategies to facilitate academic discourse that promotes inclusive science and STEM classrooms. Participants will engage in a variety of instructional strategies to ensure that all students have access to scientific discourse, and opportunities to collaborate with peers, through intentional planning. Participants will engage in a variety of formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTS) from Page Keeley’s Uncovering Student Ideas texts, including commit and toss, pro/con pairs, structured think-pair-share, and more. In addition, we will be discussing the shift away from traditional talk patterns- like I-R-E (Initiate, Response, Evaluation) and towards Productive Talk to promote an inclusive science and STEM classroom where discourse supports student sensemaking. Finally, we will provide resources and discussion around the “lead4ward Instructional Strategies Playlist”, which provides teachers with detailed descriptions of specific, instructional strategies. Links to additional discourse resources will also be provided. The instructional strategies used in this presentation will promote student engagement, differentiation, and scientific understanding to help form a more inclusive learning environment where all students can participate in scientific discourse.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience a variety of impactful instructional strategies that promote scientific discourse to help create an inclusive STEM learning environment.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberley Astle (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA), Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association), Angela McMurry (The Ohio Academy of Science: Dublin, OH)

We are naturally curious, prone to ask why? How? What? Unfortunately, somewhere along the way students lose the trust in their voices to ask questions of and from data. But data are what we use to do science and it permeates all aspects of society today. What should we do? Stop teaching the vocabulary of science and data first, and instead leverage classroom-ready strategies to empower students to lead with their innate curiosity to practice critical 21st century data literacy skills and master the science content. Join us to explore connections between our science content, inquiry-based activities, and data skills. We will experience research-based strategies and freely available resources for integrating phenomenon-based and local data into our science instruction to promote science literacy and student empowerment. We will participate in activities ourselves and reflect on approaches for how to bring these into our classrooms. Participants will leave more empowered to integrate data into their science content in purposeful ways to better help students do and communicate science. Working with and learning science from data fosters critical thinking skills, lifelong interests in science, and facilitates learners’ overall self-identity as a scientist. Let’s set all of our students up for success!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will identify how data literacy is a critical aspect of science literacy in the 21st century, how students can do a lot more with data than we often think or presume from their science vocabulary alone, and how to leverage existing strategies to authentically integrate data into 6-12 science instruction to teach their science content and increase literacy simultaneously.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, LLC: No City, No State)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Explore a PhD Science® module to uncover how hands-on investigations allow students to develop an understanding of science concepts that apply far beyond the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
PhD Science introduces students to new concepts through engaging activities that allow them to first observe and wonder and then to investigate and deeply understand phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Ranell Blue (Great Minds: Washington, DC), Isaac Stauffer (Great Minds: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

How do crosscutting concepts link the ideas and practices of science across different domains and over time? We’ll show you practical examples to see how crosscutting concepts provide a foundation for student sensemaking of phenomena and problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Define the seven crosscutting concepts; 2. Learn strategies to incorporate crosscutting concepts into science lessons; and 3. Understand how crosscutting concepts support student sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Bridget Hughes-Binstock (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: Studies Weekly

Get an overview of how Studies Weekly Science integrates content and disciplinary science literacy. See how the print and digital components work together to support every learner. Receive free copies of the student and teacher materials and participate in a hands-on activity that demonstrates the ease of the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how Studies Weekly Science supports content and disciplinary science literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Chamberlain (Studies Weekly: Orem, UT)

Sponsoring Company: Phenomenon Science Education

In this session, we will explore what phenomena are by looking at examples and non-examples and using criteria to figure out the differences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be given criteria and guidelines that they will use to evaluate science phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Cates (Phenomenon Science Education: Amherst, MA), Joshua Smith (Phenomenon Science Education: Amherst, MA)

See how tools developed within OpenSciEd units can support students’ progression of and engagement in SEPs and CCCs across a variety of unit contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with practical tools such as graphic organizers, general rubrics, and self- and peer-assessments that can be used to support students in incrementally building SEPs and CCCs in a variety of units.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn Novak (Science Educator: Grayslake, IL), Gail Housman (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

The provided instructional unit will elicit students’ prior knowledge, as well as foster their individual and collective understandings of the human body.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be encouraged to utilize facet-based assessments and classroom argumentation throughout lessons framed with the 5E instructional model.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Herrera, Ph.D. (Whitney Elementary School: No City, No State)

This session is intended to discuss the importance of formative assessment as a tool for guiding students and helping all students to make progress. A variety of formative assessment tools will be explored. Most importantly, the use of individual feedback on formative assessments will be demonstrated and we will discuss how this leads to improved metacognition and critical thinking skills for students. Attendees will see sample student work on formative assessments and accompanying sample teacher feedback. They will practice making comments of there own, in addition to discussing logistical concerns with the practice of individualized feedback.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session is intended to discuss the importance of formative assessment as a tool for guiding students and helping all students to make progress.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Maguire (Virginia Tech: Blacksburg, VA)

This presentation reviews students researching and presenting on past ADI events in science through the creation of scientist avatars.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. This session highlights the use of a classroom-tested assignment where students are asked to create a personal avatar where they are pretending to be the actual scientist; and 2. The assignment works well to show actual ADI events that explain how science changes over time.

SPEAKERS:
William Sumrall (The University of Mississippi: University, MS)

As educators shift their teaching practice to align with the Framework for K-12 Science and the NGSS, they face various challenges and barriers. One pressing challenge is how to align their new approach to teaching and learning with existing assessment and grading systems. In this session, we will present provide examples of 3D assessments and associated scoring guidance. Participants will review student work for these sample assessments and identify evidence of understanding. They will collaborate with others in the session and determine how they would give grades based on set criteria. The second part of the session will highlight different approaches to grading based on local grading expectations (e.g., standards-based grading, daily grade requirements, or 100 point-based systems). Participants will leave the session with approaches to assessment and grading that support student sensemaking and honor the diverse resources students bring to the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with approaches to assessment and grading that support student sensemaking and honor the diverse resources students bring to the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

Changing the world sounds like a tall order. But in reality, educators play their role to help change the world every day. Join Stephen Pruitt, former science teacher and science/policy leader, for a humorous, yet important discussion about the critical role of teachers in changing the world. Dr. Pruitt will share his experiences, both personal and professional, to remind us of the power of teachers in his life and as we recover from COVID. Dr. Pruitt has long been a member of NSTA and has worked for the national importance of science education and the support of teachers. His comical storytelling and somewhat unique look at the world will engage and inspire you as we all continue the fight against ignorance.

About the Speaker
Stephen Pruitt is the sixth president of the Southern Regional Education Board in July 2018. Under his leadership, SREB has continued its work on college and career readiness, postsecondary attainment, workforce preparation, learning environment, and support of the SREB states’ policy and education leaders to improve the education systems for each student.

During his career, Dr. Pruitt has amassed education policy, assessment, and instructional background at the local, state, and national levels.

Before coming to SREB, Dr. Pruitt was Kentucky’s state commissioner of education. At the national level, he had worked closely with state agencies and educators around the country to improve policy and practice in science education. In Georgia, Dr. Pruitt began his career as a high school science teacher and subsequently served in several roles for the Georgia Department of Education. Dr. Pruitt can be reached via email, [email protected], or followed on Twitter, @DrSPruitt.

SPEAKERS:
Stephen Pruitt (Southern Regional Education Board: Atlanta, GA)

The use of inclusive STEAM pedagogy is the forefront of using NRC Framework, Hill’s model, and 21st Century skill in unison for generating a sustainable STEAM curriculum. In this presentation, a demonstration of how to utilize these frameworks into creating project-based learning units that showcase diversity and the embodiment of students seeing diversity in the STEAM careers. The NRC framework will include SEPs for developing and using a model, planning and caring for an investigation, and using mathematical and computational thinking and CCCs of cause and effect, structure and function, and energy and matter. The use of the NRC framework with sensemaking (phenomena, science and engineering practices, student ideas, and science ideas) was the basis for developing a hurricane unit for 6th grade and macromolecule unit for 8th grade. Both of these units are grounded in these frameworks and the 5 C’s (communication, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, citizenship) and the Hill’s model for cultural and historical education (CRE). All these frameworks are woven together on the Hill model lesson plan template to create hands-on PBL for the students. This presentation will give both STE(A)M and science teachers ideas on how to create a curriculum that incorporates more inclusivity and diversity while showcasing the work of my students.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to create a lesson that incorporates the 5 C's, CRE, SEPs, CCCs, and sense making into a lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Jenniffer Stetler (Chamblee Middle School: Chamblee, GA)

In this session, we will look at current research on the purpose and method of formative assessment. We will then pair the research with student work samples to examine different methods of providing meaningful and actionable feedback to encourage student growth. We will also reflect on our assessment practices through the lens of creating equitable classrooms to ensure that all of our students learn at their potential. This session’s formative assessment focus will also extend to designing science storylines with an emphasis on universal design for learning. We will highlight tools that all students can use in order to have access to content. We will examine opportunities for incorporating social-emotional learning in meaningful ways as we strive to encourage all students to think like scientists. We will culminate the session with a discussion on intentionally cultivating student agency. Join this interactive session to elevate how you are using formative assessment to drive student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with practical classroom strategies for elevating the importance of formative assessment and meaningful feedback to foster student inclusive science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Jones (Illinois State University: Normal, IL)

In this workshop we will demonstrate for teachers how easy it is to form lasting, interactive partnerships with corporations, nonprofits, and local community organizations and discuss how these partnerships create a community of STEM learning that allows students to connect their learning with the real world. We will model a variety of direct connections between classroom science concepts and corporate processes and bring awareness to the power of establishing successful connections between organizational systems and careers. Field-based, first hand experiences in forming partnerships will be shared in an open discussion that helps educators identify the numerous benefits for both learners and partners that are brought by incorporating potential partners within the classroom. We will provide a systems-based approach for how to research potential partners, develop effective relationships, and reduce potential feelings of uncertainty on behalf of both the educator(s) and the non educator(s). Additionally, we will explore the power of perspectives as we highlight how non educators learn the value of their shared time, experience, and knowledge with students. We will look at tried and true, interactive presentations made by corporate, nonprofit, and community partners and discuss the importance of student feedback that is later provided to the partners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to establish meaningful corporate and nonprofit partnership opportunities, the benefits of partnering, and the natural connections that exist between a variety of science concepts and corporate systems that promote student engagement and real world learning.

SPEAKERS:
Debby Nelson (Rotolo Middle School: Batavia, IL), Elizabeth Kaleta (John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School: Aurora, IL)

Sponsoring Company: Cereal City Science

Experience how to teach and learn across disciplines. Participate in figuring out K-2 and 3-5 science lessons designed to cross multiple literacy disciplines and build knowledge across grade levels. While figuring out phenomenon, participants develop models, talk about it, read about it, and write about it. Modeling becomes the scaffold for reading, writing and language. Learn best practices that will help students read text, produce text, and present their reasoning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students as scientists work together to discuss, read, write, and model to figure out a phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Erwin (Cereal City Science: Battle Creek, MI)

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)

Join the members of NSTA as they share how to create a classroom culture that supports equitable participation, and learn how to implement these best practices within your own classroom. A roundtable discussion will follow.

TAKEAWAYS:
Sharing of ideas on creating a classroom culture that supports equitable participation

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Holly Hereau (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

1) Don't Reinvent the "STEM Lesson" Wheel
Creating meaningful lessons takes time. Finding helpful resources shouldn't.

2) Filling the STEAM Pipeline through Scholarships / Internships
This session will provide participants with information that teachers can share with their students relating to scholarship and internship opportunities that are offered to them for pursing studies and STEAM careers.

3) STEAM Practices to Support Identity And Equity in Learning
STEAM, or integrating art with STEM, can broaden participation in science learning. We will cover a set of core STEAM practices, developed in our work with both youth and educators, that support diverse learners and contribute to the creation of equitable learning environments.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy McIntyre (Robotics Education & Competition Foundation: Greenville, TX), Perrin Teal Sullivan (University of Alaska Fairbanks: Fairbanks, AK), Jessica Strauss (Mabry Elementary School: Tampa, FL), David Rosengrant (University of South Florida St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg, FL)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

In this presentation, we will be using N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season to illustrate how teachers can use science fiction writing to engage students in cultivating authentic STEM identities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Rather than frontloading students with vocabulary terms which can sometimes be inaccessible for all learners, this presentation will illustrate the ways in which children can apply their conceptual understandings of complex scientific phenomena in novel (and fictional) ways.

SPEAKERS:
Terrance Burgess

Creating an equitable classroom requires the creation of a learning community that integrates supports for all students to succeed. Learn how to use common strategies with intentionality to build a classroom community that supports sensemaking. In this session participants will learn strategies that allow you to take your students to the next level as a community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how different strategies can be used to support ALL learners to create a community that learns together.

SPEAKERS:
Megan Elmore (Glenn Westlake Middle School: Lombard, IL), Randie Johnson (Glenn Westlake Middle School: Lombard, IL)

The objective of this workshop is to guide educators through a mock grant-writing process. We will begin the session by discussing the grant process from proposal requests to awards. We will discuss misconceptions such as tax-exempt status requirements, time constraints, deliverables, project impact, collaboration, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to go through the process by searching for grants and completing a mock proposal. They will be provided with “step by step” guides to help them design a project, clarify their project objectives, create a budget, and determine the impact for their students, schools, and community. Participants will present their proposals and provide peer-to-peer feedback during the discussion part of the session.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to write a grant proposal for a classroom project.

SPEAKERS:
Emilia Odife (Lake Mary Preparatory School: Lake Mary, FL)

Sponsoring Company: SAE International

With more states requiring computer science (CS) education for K-12 students, integrating computer science with other subject areas in a problem-based format is a practical way to expand students’ opportunities. Participants will learn about teaching “unplugged” lessons that support comprehension and application of concepts, to collaborative explorations that promote teamwork, creative problem-solving, and critical thinking. This interactive workshop will introduce AWIM’s CS curriculum series (including computational thinking, cybersecurity, and digital citizenship concepts) to demonstrate interactive methods for introducing students to basic computer programming and logic...even without computer access.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover activities, methods, and resources for facilitating effective & engaging computer science lessons independent of technology access.

SPEAKERS:
Bonnie Thibodeau (SAE International: Warrendale, PA)

Sponsoring Company: Mosa Mack Science

Not all phenomena are created equally. How you kick off your unit sets the tone for the entire unit itself. In this workshop, you’ll learn what sets apart the best phenomena and complete phenomena-based lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to choose, implement and maximize learning around the best science phenomena. You’ll also receive free access to phenomena lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Lissa Johnson (Mosa Mack Science: Fairfield, CT), Lorraine Gueye (Mosa Mack Science: Fairfield, CT)

In this workshop, participants will engage in an activity demonstrating the power of the CCCs as a tool for guiding student thinking and teacher collaboration.

TAKEAWAYS:
The CCCs can be used as a tool to reach a desired learning objective while also vertically collaborating around the grade level–specific details they encompass.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Stults (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL), Chandra James (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL), Saswati Koya (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL)

In this session, the participants will explore some lessons developed by teachers in the National Space Biomedical Research Institute-Teacher Academy Project (NSBRI-TAP). These are interactive, physical and focus on spatial disorientation and the musculoskeletal system as affected by microgravity. The teachers will engage in the activities and collect sample data as they would with students and interpret the results. These are both educational and fun as we need to desperately restore enthusiasm for science studies. The presenter has anecdotal stories from many astronauts of their physiological reaction to microgravity conditions that he will share. Teachers will be provided lesson plans and worksheets for use with their students. Sample activities: Title: IN-FLIGHT EXERCISES Grade Level: 5-8 Content Area: Life Science and Health National Science Content Standards: Standard A. Science as Inquiry (Grades 5-8 & 9-12) • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry • Understandings about scientific inquiry Standard C. Life Science (Grades 5-8) • Structure and function in living systems • Regulation and behavior Standard F. Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Grades 5-8 & 9-12) • Personal health Title: SHIFTY EYES Grade Level: 5-8 Content Area: Space/Life Science National Science Content Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes (Grades 5-8) Models Standard C. Life Science (Grades 5-8) Structure and function in living systems Regulation and behavior Diversity and adaptations of organisms Dr. Wilson also participated in two experiments on NASA’s KC-135 (Vomit Comet): 1) testing a resistance exercise machine to fly in space designed at The Cleveland Clinic and 2) an experiment where the corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) was subjected to microgravity while a control group of worms was grown by elementary students in Las Cruces, NM. He will explain and share the results of these experiments and of one flown by teachers from Miami-Dade School District in Florida involved in his Future Scientists Program.

TAKEAWAYS:
The International Space Station (ISS) is a research platform and is helping scientists develop countermeasures to the adverse effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body.

SPEAKERS:
Craig Wilson (Texas A&M University: College Station, TX)

Arguing from evidence can be an integral part of the knowledge-building work students do as part of any three dimensional science learning, as students make sense of their findings and use them to develop and evaluate competing models and explanations. But how do we help students grow in sophistication in this practice over time? This presentation will provide an overview of the learning progression, tasks, and scaffolding used to help students refine and assess their arguments in the OpenSciEd middle school program, focus is on the support and growth embedded within a 7th grade chemistry unit. Participants will have opportunities to analyze curriculum supports, students’ written work, and video of discussions of students engaged in this practice using classroom artifacts from implementations of the OpenSciEd Bath Bomb unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn what the practice of arguing from evidence can look like in middle school classrooms, tools that can support scaffolding practice, and how teachers can use it to assess where students are at in their sense-making.

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

Using CCCs can help organize and focus learning in a variety of settings. Out of necessity, we taught teachers to think deeply about connections to content and practices within the context of something they observed that was interesting to them while they were working from home. Examples learners chose that were relevant to them helped to connect personal experiences and interests with ordinary spaces and their science learning, and thus supported equitable engagement. Making these connections allowed teachers to recognize a multitude of science ideas and practices that could be connected to science standards at their instructional level, therefore developing new ideas. We refined this process and recognized that its flexibility can be taken back to the classroom and used settings that are seemingly science content deserts, to help students begin to see science in places they never thought of before. This session will take participants through this process and have them apply these ideas first to the setting of the conference and then to their own teaching situations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leveraging CCCs to connect students’ observations of ordinary, relevant contexts provides more equitable opportunities to deeply engage with DCIs and SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Ana Houseal (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY), Clare Gunshenan (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Come experience a model lesson from OpenSciEd for Middle School and see how the new Carolina Certified Edition makes these high-quality instructional materials even better!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Experience the pedagogy of OpenSciEd through a model lesson; 2. Learn ways to encourage equitable classroom discourse; and 3. Create a Driving Question Board to explore real-world phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Carnegie Corporation of New York released a challenge paper calling on the education field to transform teaching and learning through the elements and essentials of curriculum-based professional learning. Learn how schools and systems are helping teachers experience the instruction their students experience to help change instructional practices, leading to better student outcomes.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Explore the rationale for a challenge paper dedicated solely to the issue of curriculum-based professional learning; 2. Discover the 10 elements and three essentials of professional learning critical to effective implementation of high-quality science instructional materials; and 3. Consider implications of the roles and responsibilities for putting into action the elements of curriculum-based professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jim Short (Carnegie Corporation of New York: New York, NY)

The Vision set forth by A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards emphasize science as the integration of practices (SEPs), content (DCIs), and big ideas (CCCs). By using all three dimensions, students are able to make sense of phenomena while learning science concepts and processes. However, this way of thinking and learning takes practice and guidance. Teachers play a pivotal role in helping their students to engage with this kind of science learning. Therefore, they must find ways to explicitly integrate and embed all three dimensions in activities, lessons, and assessments. This participatory presentation will explore how teachers can explicitly embed SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs into prompts (questions and guiding statements) to promote more integrated opportunities for student sense-making. By generating prompts that include SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs, teachers can guide students to think in a more three-dimensional way and gain the skills to do so outside of the classroom. Attendees will identify strategies for posing integrated prompts, consider the benefits of multi-dimensional prompts for students, practice asking and improving prompts, and apply these strategies to use in their own classroom context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Creating prompts (questions and guiding statements) that explicitly promote the three dimensions can drive more integrated, equitable student learning

SPEAKERS:
Ana Houseal (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY), Clare Gunshenan (University of Wyoming: Laramie, WY)

Sponsoring Company: hand2mind

Make-It! Take-It! activities don't need to be just for STEM night. These can become part of your instruction for concept development. We'll explore an example and view it through the lens of a hands-on investigation for concept development and sensemaking. You’ll receive a sample lesson and a chance to win a STEM Make-It Take-It kit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Invite students to notice, wonder, and investigate different scientific phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Pam Caffery (hand2mind: Vernon Hills, IL)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Experience engineering design in action! Share your teacher insights as you evaluate competing design solutions for actual products. $50 Thank you gift certificate; first 20 participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Focus Group to provide feedback on competing design solutions for actual product.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Heather Ryan (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Kris Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Problem centered instruction is a great way to engage students, integrate content, inspire learning, and naturally incorporate all three dimensions of the NRC Framework. However, true problem centered instruction requires a major shift in both teaching and learning, requiring the one thing teachers don't have: time--the last thing teachers need is another pedagogical strategy that disrupts their entire routine. Teachers will have the opportunity to voice their concerns and discuss some barriers of problem centered teaching and learning, while also addressing the benefits for both teachers and students. Considering the benefits, there are some immediate changes that teachers can use to help shift to a problem centered environment. Recalling that problem centered learning should be complex, meaningful, and open-ended, the four strategies are: 1) Make the Content Relatable, 2) Structure: Less is More, 3) Be a Resource, Not an Answer Key, and 4) Use a Problem to Introduce a Topic. Teachers will then have an opportunity to put the strategies to immediate use by picking a lesson or topic and work with others to transform it into a three-dimensional, problem centered lesson.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will explore four strategies that promote three-dimensional learning through the process of problem centered instruction that is complex, meaningful, and open-ended. They will discuss benefits and barriers to the problem centered approach from the perspective of both the instructor and the learner. Teachers will have an opportunity to brainstorm and work collaboratively on transforming a lesson or topic of their choice into a problem centered, reality based scenario that seamlessly integrates the Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cassandra Armstrong (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy: Aurora, IL)

Are identifying and choosing relevant, authentic problems to put in front of your students holding you back from providing opportunities to engage your students in engineering design? In this workshop, gain insight into what makes a problem instructionally productive. We’ll also explore resources available to support you in selecting problems to put in front of your students and strategies to help students identify problems they want to pursue individually or in small groups for STEM competitions or their own interests.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore authentic problems to solve in your STEM classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: Imagine Learning/Twig

In this session, we will explore the investigative question, “How can we make something defy the effects of gravity?” This lesson is based on the phenomenon that the poles of magnets attract and repel and when arranged to repel, they cause an object to hover. We will watch and discuss a video about hoverboards before participants take on the role of scientific advisors at a movie studio to construct a model of a hoverboard needed for an upcoming movie scene. A productive discussion language routine will then be outlined and demonstrated for use with pairs or small groups in the classroom. Talk moves will further show how to expand and clarify thinking and deepen reasoning. Participants will learn how to use the collect and display language routine to help students achieve discussion goals. Participants will also learn how to listen for the use of the three dimensions for sensemaking and bridging in order to use academic scientific language.

TAKEAWAYS:
The powerful and effective approach of three-dimensional lesson design.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Borjas (Santa Rosa Academy: Menifee, CA), Patricia Pape (Imagine Learning | Twig Education: Scottsdale, AZ)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Participants will explore the structure of water molecules and how it allows life on Earth to exist. They will use the magnetic water molecules to explore the concepts of polarity and hydrogen bonding. Participants will be able to use this kit to teach adhesion, cohesion, and capillary action; surface tension; states of water; evaporation and condensation; and solubility. Finally, participants will examine how science practices can be utilized throughout the inquiry while also exploring key model literacy elements to prepare students for further learning using models.

TAKEAWAYS:
The simple structure of water defines its complex properties that can easily be explored through modeling.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: Storytime STEM-packs

Let’s go on a Storytime STEM adventure! Each Storytime STEM+C Adventure uses children’s literature to equitably and actively engage children in science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science activities.  Get immersed in a storybook and then program a Bee-Bot robot to complete challenges connected to the story on a colorful story-themed mat. Experience first-hand some of the tools we have developed to support young children as they think through and document their program to allow for debugging their code if Bee-Bot goes astray. As part of the session, we will engage in an engineering design challenge and uncover the important math and science concepts featured in the Storytime STEM-pack. Independent evaluator reports show that children love Storytime STEM-packs and teachers appreciate that they are standards-aligned and user friendly. If you are looking for effective materials that make learning fun and engaging for kids, come join us and check out our integrated Storytime STEM + Computer Science Adventures!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use children's literature to equitably and actively engage children in STEM+C activities.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Burgess , Kristen Rice (Allegheny Intermediate Unit 3: Homestead, PA)

One of the most important factors for ensuring that all students experience science education that prepares them for future success is access to high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials, especially critical for our nation’s Black, Latinx, multilingual, and low-income students. EdReports and NextGenScience provide evaluations of instructional materials to help identify these kinds of high-quality materials. The organizations co-developed the Critical Features of Instructional Materials Design resource to illustrate and provide unified definitions of features that ensure instructional materials can help students meet or exceed today’s science standards. The features described in this document are based on approaches to science learning and assessment described in A Framework for K–12 Science Education and subsequent research. This session leverages key features and illustrations to engage educators and developers in a conversation about the features and what they look like in materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will develop an understanding of the importance of high quality materials for supporting students and teachers and discuss how to utilize the critical curriculum features for improving development and selection of curriculum materials.

SPEAKERS:
Jenny Sarna (Director, NextGenScience), Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Fort Collins, CO)

Engaging in argument from evidence is often the culminating scientific practice for units focused on sensemaking. High-quality units present students with a driving question about a meaningful, complex phenomenon and engage them in a variety of practices to investigate the driving question. A significant challenge that students face in an extended unit is keeping track of the evidence they are collecting and connecting that evidence to the key scientific concepts. Over the last four years, researchers at The Learning Partnership and Northern Illinois University have been collaborating with middle school science teachers at two Chicago elementary schools to co-design tools for supporting students in developing scientific arguments. (1) The Investigation Steps chart uses the NGSS storyline structure to highlight how students will use scientific practices to conduct their investigations and then record what was figured out each day. (2) The Evidence Sorter provides a structure for organizing and weighing evidence and connecting that evidence to reasoning as a precursor to writing their argument. Prior research shows the importance of connecting evidence to key concepts throughout a unit. The tools provide a means for teachers to monitor how students are making these connections and applying those connections in their final argument.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Introduction to tools for supporting students in connecting what is learned each day to the unit goal. 2. Introduction to tools for supporting students in synthesizing evidence and connecting reasoning to develop a scientific argument. 3. Research shows the importance of connecting evidence and key concepts throughout a unit

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Morales (John W. Garvy: Chicago, IL), Randi McGee-Tekula (The Learning Partnership: Western Springs, IL), Emily Dubicki (Mozart Elementary: Chicago, IL), Anne Britt (Dr.: Dekalb, IL), Steven McGee (The Learning Partnership: Western Springs, IL)

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)

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)

This presentation will use a mixture of hands-on activities and discussion questions to engage participants in the themes from research about how science teachers stay effective during challenging times For example, through our research, we have found science teachers often have a strong desire to help their students become better people and create an equitable classroom. They describe that they have goals for their students such as being critical thinkers, problem-solvers, creative, and collaborative. Our session will work to have the participants generate the types of attributes they want in their own students. We will then demonstrate two teaching scenarios: one based on best practices in science education and the other being a teacher-centered approach. We will have participants then analyze the teaching scenarios using the goals they have to determine which has more culturally responsive teaching practices. We will also engage students in a hands-on activity using a gravity well that connects to MS-PS2-4. We will use the activity to discuss culturally responsive teaching practices in science teaching including scaffolding, effective questioning, a method to analyze teaching, and using experiences and phenomena to help students deeply engage in all three dimensions of the NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about inclusive teaching strategies that help science teachers stay effective.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Wilcox (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)

Sponsoring Company: Mosa Mack Science

Discover an NGSS resource you can use in class next week. Award-winning phenomena, mysteries, labs, and engineering—all in one teacher-friendly resource. (Common Sense Education Learning Selection 2021)

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience the excitement of Mosa Mack Science, see real student work, and walk away with free interactive lessons for your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Lissa Johnson (Mosa Mack Science: Fairfield, CT), Lorraine Gueye (Mosa Mack Science: Fairfield, CT)

Sponsoring Company: Estes Education

What does it take for a rocket to launch? Join us for this mission to see how rocket science transcends STEM and beyond.

TAKEAWAYS:
Model rocketry is an interdisciplinary tool for any classroom to provide hands-on, inquiry-based learning for all.

SPEAKERS:
Kathy Biernat (Zanilu Educational Services, LLC: 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)

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)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Participants will explore how phenomenon-driven inquiry is enhanced using rich 3D models that let students figure out answers to their own questions while engaged in science practices. First, anchor-level and lesson level storylines familiar to participants will be identified. Then questions students generate will be explored while noting instructional routines that help maintain inquiry are discussed. Models that can help students investigate cellular processes like signaling, differentiation, growth, repair, and reproduction, at the microscopic and molecular levels will be used for participants to interrogate their own conceptual models and reflect on their learning. Strategies for capturing and monitoring student learning will be shared along with suggestions for summative assessments that are three dimensional.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore how phenomenon-driven inquiry is enhanced using rich 3D models that let students figure out answers to their own questions while engaged in science practices.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Explore how NSTA’s phenomena-driven lessons/units motivate students to engage in science practices to make sense of science ideas they need to explain how or why the phenomenon occurs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understand the critical attributes of sensemaking. Strategies for intentional sequences of student interactions to provide access to participation and learning for all students. Students’ strategic use of modalities (talk, text, gestures, drawings, etc.)

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Holly Hereau (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

1) Try EarthKAM: A Real Mission for Students Using a Camera on the International Space Station (ISS); Get a Unique Perceptive of Earth and its  Features
Participants will get the nuts and bolts as to how to implement EarthKAM, a program on the ISS for students to request images of Earth.

2) A Crucial First Step: Modifying the CER Framework to Incorporate Initial Data Descriptions
Learn how including a ‘data description’ step before making a scientific claim helps students to write higher-quality scientific explanations when interpreting messy real-world datasets.

3) Applying Time Management Techniques to Assist Students in Classroom Labs/Activities
Are your students disorganized and their labs/activities are not getting completed? This session presents time management techniques to support students efficiently using time during labs/activities and assignments.

SPEAKERS:
Sally Jensen (Retired Educator: Campton, NH), Alison Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0), Andrea Drewes (Rider University: Lawrenceville, NJ)

1) Poly-density Bottles DIY for Inquiry
I will share how to create your own cool polydensity bottles and use them for student inquiry activities that relate to many topics including density, molecular properties, and solubility.

2) Investigate Stars and Galaxies Using NASA’s Universe of Learning STEM JS9 Image Analysis Tools and Data
Access NASA’s Universe of Learning image analysis tools to investigate  the chemistry, physics, mechanics and variability of stars, binary systems, supernovas, stellar cores, and galaxies.

3) Explore El Niño and La Nina the relationship between Ocean and Atmosphere that affects the warming of the ocean waters
Materials will help teachers present the topic of El Nino and La Nino in the classroom. They will gain insight into the atmospheric and oceanic processes behind the El Nino and La Nino Phenomena with hands-on exploration

SPEAKERS:
Diane Ripollone (Cardinal Gibbons High School: Raleigh, NC), Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

1) Building an Inquiry-based STEAM Class & Curriculum
The methodology for building and piloting a middle school inquiry STEAM elective class with emphasis in Social Emotional Learning, Mentoring, and Goal-Setting will be discussed.

2) Reciprocal Teaching in the Inquiry-Based Science Classroom
The methodology for building and piloting a middle school inquiry STEAM elective class with emphasis in Social Emotional Learning, Mentoring, and Goal-Setting will be discussed.

3) 3D printed models for sense making in science
Using 3D printed models to reinforce observational skills that connect simple to complex structure concept, making science visible and accessible to all students, thus facilitating the sense making process.

SPEAKERS:
Marjorie Miles Dozier (Polk County Public Schools: Bartow, FL), Annamarie Vandrevala (Deer Path Middle School - District 67)

Sponsoring Company: Estes Education

Learn model rocketry basics through NGSS based content and build a FREE rocket with us!

TAKEAWAYS:
Model rocketry is your teaching companion to make engineering come to life for your students.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bayeur (Estes Industries: , United States)

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)

Participants will learn about the framework for computational thinking and then learn to apply it to science inquiry investigations using Block Coding (used with students in elementary and middle school in many jurisdictions) and how it can be used to improve the conduct of science investigations (and be more like the investigations conducted by scientists).   Participants will apply the computational thinking framework to creating/modifying/using simple programs (either using a free online programming tool OR with a simple, inexpensive microcontroller that will be loaned by the presenters) that can be used in science inquiry investigations either for conducting the investigation (e.g., a random number generator) or for collecting data (e.g., a counter and a timer). Investigations where these can be used will be discussed and demonstrated. The use of the microcontrollers and/or a free online programming tool to develop a simple measurement tool provides participants (and their students) an opportunity to experience a simulated situation a scientist or engineer would face as they use computing tools to develop automated measuring responses.   Finally, as an example of what is known as “physical computing”, participants will learn to build (and will build if time allows) a physical interface (to use with a computer or Chromebook) that allows them to interact with a program they have either written or downloaded.   Participants will be provided printed copies of example lesson plans and instruction sheets on how to engage students with using the Scratch program and the microcontrollers). Note that no knowledge of coding or any equipment is necessary to participate in this workshop. 

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how computational thinking (applied to simple block coding examples and simple micro-controllers) can be used in science classrooms to help students conduct better inquiry investigations and better experience “authentic” science practices.

SPEAKERS:
G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS), Susan German (Hallsville Middle School: Hallsville, MO)

Join us as we explore how NSTA’s three-dimensional resources can be utilized to enhance your teaching. Walk away with effective strategies for science teaching and learning and hear from educators as they provide tips for using these resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Hear from classroom teachers about how they are using NSTA Press publications; 2. Learn how to use NSTA resources to shift your practice ; 3. Leave with top-notch teaching tips and innovative lesson plan ideas that promote imaginative learning and student engagement; and 4. Leave with strategies to use in your classroom to promote student engagement in science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Anne Royce (Shippensburg University: Shippensburg, PA), Wendy Binder (Program Director, STEM Professional Learning: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Participants will assess their biggest challenge areas with respect to student misconceptions about chromosome structure and function, including mitosis. Traditional wet labs like planaria, fruit fly genetics, and C-fern growth will be used to contextualize the hands-on models’ utility throughout the school year. Next, foam puzzle chromosomes will be introduced and used to model a round of DNA replication in the cell cycle, resulting in 4 chromosomes. The processes of mitosis and meiosis will be modeled and compared, to invite inquiry about why the processes are different. Whole chromosomes will be related with molecular chromosome details to illustrate how DNA is wound into a chromosome structure. Nucleosome models will further highlight the wrapping of DNA around histone proteins to compact the genome for replication. Participants will be asked to share how they teach about genetic variation in their classes. Following a discussion of their challenges, we will model variation first using the puzzle chromosomes to generate “crossing over” events and next by using the molecular-detailed expanded chromosomes. Finally, inheritance of Hemoglobin will be highlighted and modeled and Punnett squares models will be enhanced through using the foam models. Throughout the activities, participants will be invited to engage in self-reflection and collaborative discussion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hands-on experiences with multiple representations of chromosomes reveals student thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Expectations on deeper learning and more rigor in our curriculums have led to increased demands on our students. As we collectively shifted from paper to digital, our access to tools improved but has our instruction kept pace? How do we prevent our curriculum from becoming simply a digital pencil with disconnected simulations and activities that fail to embrace high-quality scientific practices? In this session, we will examine how digital science journals can be used as a means for evidence collection and reflection on student learning. Together, we will focus on how students collect and analyze evidence in a variety of meaningful ways. Examples of primary sources will showcase how students can observe and categorize similarities to help answer a driving question. We will also examine best practices around using simulations to drive student inquiry. An emphasis on exploring data, from organization to manipulation will also be highlighted. Finally, we will showcase how AR and VR can be effectively used in the classroom to allow students to think and act like real scientists along with open-sourced 3D prints. Join me for an engaging session!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be able to design educational opportunities focused on evidence collection and reflection to provide scientific arguments and explanations to a phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Mike Jones (Illinois State University: Normal, IL)

Learning through place-based, student-centered, teacher-facilitated STEM inquiry increases student engagement in and ownership of learning and promotes student growth in science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Using a unit plan I developed for exploring local microclimates, participants will engage in activities and discussion of techniques for cultivating students as collaborators in the learning process. The unit is designed to encourage growth in asking questions, designing and conducting investigations, collecting data, making sense of data, communicating findings, and identifying local problems and designing solutions to a student-identified problem. Participants will use NASA infrared images of surface temperatures captured during an ISS mission to observe the urban heat island phenomenon. They will explore Google Earth to spark questions about surface heating that can be answered through investigation of the local neighborhood or school campus. Given a list of equipment that students used during the unit, participants will collaboratively design an investigation to collect place-based data. Discussion includes extension activities that facilitate student understanding of surface heating and cooling. Discussion also includes how revision and reflection can be used to monitor individual student growth and promote ownership of learning by students. Emphasis is on facilitation techniques.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning through place-based, student-centered, teacher-facilitated STEM inquiry increases student engagement in and ownership of learning and promotes student growth in science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ)

The free NASA STEM lesson plans introduce the practice of computational thinking and include elements of a real NASA mission. NASA’s Artemis program will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, the year of the agency's last Apollo moon landing. This Educator Guide provides four standards-aligned activities to help students learn about NASA's Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the Moon and beyond. In this session, we will design and build a crew module model that will secure two 2-cm astronaut figures during a drop test. The PowerPoint will be available to all participants. The PowerPoint will include the videos and activities including the tips and pointers. Session Outline: 5 min - Welcome and Introduction to NASA Artemis Mission 10 min- STEM Engagement strategies and culturally relevant teaching 10 min- Introducing the Engineering Design Challenge 20 min- Teams Design a Crew Vehicle 10 min- Testing the Crew Vehicle 5 min- Reviewing the Resources and Q and A https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/np-2020-02-2805-hq.pdf

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA provides free educational resources that include educator guides with standards-aligned activities to help students use computational thinking while including elements of real NASA missions.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Kohler (NASA Glenn Research Center: Cleveland, OH)

The exploration of the intersection of science and technology at the turn of the 20th century through present times is examined in this session by beginning with the case study of Typhoid Mary and ending with how Integrative STEM has impacted all areas of COVID-19 Participants use the radio function of the MICROBITs, a computer program called infection models to examine how contagious diseases are spread across a population. After considering how Typhoid was tracked at the time Mary Mallon was an asymptomatic cook, participants first try the simulation without any "vaccinated" participants. Then, participants come up with a method(s) for preventing the radio signal from teaching their MICROBIT and participate in the scenario a second time. Data is collected each round and participants solve which one was patient zero.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engage in a simulation that integrates technology (micro:bits), historical studies, and sense making activities around a current event topic.

SPEAKERS:
Susan German (Hallsville Middle School: Hallsville, MO), G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS), Christine Anne Royce (Shippensburg University: Shippensburg, PA), Beverly DeVore-Wedding (Nebraska Indian Community College: Meeker, CO)

Did you know that every U.S. aircraft flying today, and every U.S. air traffic control facility, uses NASA-developed technology in some way? Participants in this session will gain insights into how NASA Aeronautics work to make aviation truly sustainable by reducing delays and environmental impacts, transforming aviation efficiency and safety, while reducing noise, fuel use, harmful emissions, and ultimately transform the way we fly. NASA’s X-57 Maxwell is an experimental aircraft designed to test operating multiple electric motors for use in turning propellers – an idea known as “distributed electric propulsion.” This session highlights an activity from NASA’s “X-57 Electric Airplane: STEM Learning Module” (https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/stem/X57 ) part of a series of Educator Guides with lessons and activities to help students learn about NASA’s X-57 Maxwell and the science behind electric propulsion. This session will focus on the “X-57 Maxwell: Circuits Activity Guide” that engages participants to build a light-up paper helicopter by creating a “parallel circuit” that uses copper foil tape, two LED lights, and a battery. This session’s goals are to demonstrate that an all-electric airplane is more efficient, quieter, and more environmentally friendly. Session participants will understand that knowledge gained from the X-57 Maxwell research will help engineers design future electric-powered aircraft for everything from urban air mobility to moving passengers and cargo between nearby cities.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Attendees will explore NASA STEM Educator Guides that are standards-aligned and provide detailed information and resources on how to implement NASA STEM engagement learning experiences in the classroom. 2. Hands-on minds-on experience with implementing a NASA STEM activity in their classroom that encourages students to create a parallel circuit on a paper helicopter as an introduction to circuitry and propulsion. 3. Attendees will gain insights into how NASA’s X-57 Maxwell all-electric airplane is more efficient, quieter, and more environmentally friendly while gaining a better understanding of the STEM concepts of energy transfer, and the physical science of pressure and aerodynamics.

SPEAKERS:
LaTina Taylor (NASA Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC): Flossmoor, IL)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Promising idea or a recipe for disaster? Beta-test a new app that pairs with 3DMD’s physical models. $50 Thank you gift certificate; first 20 participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Focus Group to provide feedback on a new augmented reality smartphone app.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Kris Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Kim Parfitt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI), Heather Ryan (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Complex biological phenomena, such as how the body heals, how trait variations can be both inherited and influenced by the environment, and how organisms’ body structures can change over millions of years require explanations that connect components, interactions, and mechanisms working across multiple levels (at multiple scales). Traditionally, instructional materials have fragmented these complexities for students by starting instruction with the smallest components of the system or the simplest mechanism first (cells, genotypes, mitosis, or natural selection). In this session, we will show a different approach in which students explore the most directly observable levels and most complex aspects of these phenomena first in service of creating more authentic and accessible opportunities to leverage students’ own experiences and questions. These experiences and questions then lead to developing complex science ideas over time. Participants will explore the anchoring phenomena from three OpenSciEd middle school life science units to see how students’ prior experiences and ideas can be used to generate thoughtful questions about the mechanisms involved that will lead students to uncovering the smaller components, interactions, and mechanisms in the related systems through subsequent investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore examples of three life science units that use accessible entry points to support students in making sense of complex biological phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Gail Housman (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Dawn Novak (Science Educator: Grayslake, IL)