As a K-5 English Learner Teacher, I work with all grades, and for the last five years I've been helping students reach NGSS Performance Expectations through inductive, hands-on science lessons. I’m also a Science Methods Professor at North Central College, where I coach pre-service teachers in how to create and teach NGSS-aligned, three-dimensional science lessons. In this session, teachers will experience several hands-on mini-lessons and explore the meaning of inductive learning in science. Teachers will inductively discover how circuits work and engineer solutions for erosion. We’ll also use digital microscopes to explore the needs of plants and the structure and function living things, so please bring a device with a USB port if you can. Throughout the session, I’ll showcase digital portfolio examples from my K-5 students over the last 5 years. Elementary teachers are often intimidated by teaching and assessing the ambitious performance expectations of the NGSS, especially given the limited class time available for science instruction. Incorporating experiential science lessons with reading, writing, and speaking allows cross-curricular connections with ELA. Teachers will see many examples of digital notebooks used with English Learners and special education students for ongoing performance assessment of both Science and ELA standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Inductive, and inclusive hands-on science experiences and the use of digital portfolios lead to deeper learning as well as ELA & Math connections for K-5 students.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Eaton (Cowlishaw Elementary School: Naperville, IL)

To effectively engage audience members, I will balance their readiness to learn, cognitive load, and stimulating activities. Using real-world examples, I will demonstrate the power of STEM in elementary classrooms to grow all learners and provide necessary 21st-century skills. Often STEM is an enrichment offered to high-achiever but struggling learners have even more to gain from STEM including confidence and leadership. I will focus on practical application, but valuable references and data will be included to support my practices. I will begin the session with a survey to identify the needs and perceptions of participants regarding STEM integration. Based on input, I will share research-based strategies, classroom integration examples, or dispel misconceptions. I will include an interactive STEM activity using index cards and paper clips to provide a STEM lesson model and demonstrate the ease of integrating STEM with simple, classroom supplies. Participants will leave the session with a better understanding of the benefits of STEM in K-5 classrooms and feel more comfortable integrating STEM into their own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will understand the value of STEM integration beyond the four letters of the acronym, including the benefits of productive struggle of high achievers and how the grit of struggling learners are paramount in the success of STEM challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Erika Neuman (University of Texas at San Antonio: No City, No State)

Participants will use sensemaking and the engineering design process to solve a real world food production problem in a small scale format. This lesson introduces the Food Delivery Challenge, in which participants must design a gravity feeder to carry food (chicken feed) to twelve hungry chickens for over 24 hours. To accomplish the task students must design and build a model of an efficient gravity feeder using the materials available to them. The scenario presented to the class: One of the feeders in your uncle’s barn has broken down, and a new one will not arrive until next month. You must create a gravity feeder to satisfy 12 chickens for 24 hours consistently to ensure the health of your flock. Participants will research, design, build and test their design before presenting to the group for feedback, Participants will then use the feedback to redesign for an improved feeder.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Use the engineering design process to collaborate, design and build a gravitational feeder system that will feed 10 pounds of feed over a 24 hour period. 2. Present your design plan, and final product to the class for feedback. 3. Provide feedback to the design team for design improvement.

SPEAKERS:
Leah LaCrosse (McCormick Junior High School: Huron, OH), Heather Bryan (Nourish the Future - Education Projects, LLC: Columbus, 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)

Come learn how you can make your STEM lessons more accessible for all students by making a few simple changes to your instructional sequence. During this session you will experience an engaging hands-on lesson that models what this structure can look like in a real classroom. We will also discuss the research behind allowing students to experience concepts before introducing students to new vocabulary terms and how this can give all students an entry point into learning STEM content.

TAKEAWAYS:
Sequence matters! When we allow students to experience concepts before we introduce scientific and academic vocabulary, we give all students an entry point into STEM content.

SPEAKERS:
Lee Jimenez (3rd Grade: , OH), Leslie Silbernagel (Northern Kentucky University: Highland Heights, KY)

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)