Sponsoring Company: Beyond Labz

Built on a platform developed over 20 years, Beyond Labz creates an open-ended environment providing students the opportunity to experiment, practice, fail, discover, and learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Beyond Labz simplifies and reduces the cost and expertise needed to provide crucial laboratory experiences and practice for Secondary and Higher Ed students; 2. Attendees will learn how the labs are used for pre- and post-lab experiences, credit recovery and lab make-up, student engagement in class, and meeting NGSS standards; and 3. Basic onboarding and startup instructions will be provided for drop-in solutions, and instructions for using some of the more sophisticated features will also be described.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Woodfield (Brigham Young University: Provo, UT)

Sponsoring Company: DoD STEM

Build STEM culture through community engagement! Develop interest and awareness, leading to increased demand for STEM programming and STEM career pathway courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Learn strategies for hosting community engagement events, including family STEM nights; 2. Explore the role of partnerships in supporting engagement events; and 3. Walk away with resources to support establishing and hosting community engagement events.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Blank (Watertown City School District: Watertown, NY), Tiara Davis (Teacher: Charlotte, NC), Heather Overkamp (Portsmouth Public Schools: Portsmouth, VA), Patty Brunet (Cypress High School: Cypress, CA)

Sponsoring Company: PhD Science

Explore the five social-emotional competencies as defined by CASEL. Research instructional routines that foster these competencies and learn how to incorporate these routines in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. PhD Science was designed with the research-based understanding that social, emotional, and academic learning are interconnected multi-directionally; 2. Students’ social and emotional well-being is intimately connected to their academic success; and 3. Engaging with science content in a safe, supportive classroom helps students feel competent, significant, and successful.

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Goodner (Great Minds: Washington, DC), Victoria Soileau (Great Minds: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: DoD STEM

Hear about how DoD STEM partners with nonprofits, academia, industry, and government to work in schools and produce college- and career-ready graduates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn: 1. about the mission and vision of DoD STEM; 2. how DoD STEM programs connect schools, students, and teachers with STEM professionals and opportunities; and 3. how they can engage with DoD STEM to support and/or enrich local programming.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Leikin (National Math + Science Initiative: Dallas, TX), Rebecca Stanley (DoD STEM/RTI International: Durham, NC), Jennifer Preston (DoD STEM/RTI International: Research Triangle Park, NC), Laura Larkin (Einstein Fellow, DoD STEM: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

The new Bandit™ STEM Electrophoresis Kit brings affordable hands-on biotech and integrative STEM investigations to middle and high school classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Assemble and use a simple electrophoresis system; 2. Explore a high-quality curriculum that uses electrophoresis techniques; and 3. Affordable electrophoresis for all levels.

SPEAKERS:
Bruce Bryan (miniPCR: Cambridge, MA)

Creative writing assignments can better reach students with differing learning styles. The incorporation of creative writing exercises into introductory chemistry courses and their effects on student performance will be described.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Creative writing is an effective way to cement understanding of chemistry concepts; 2. Engaging in creative writing leads to better exam performance; and 3. Creative writing exercises increase critical-thinking skills.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti (Craven Community College: New Bern, NC)

Active learning strategies can be difficult to use in large online classes. This presentation discusses active learning strategies for group work using TAG feedback.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover that: 1. active learning can be done in a large online geoscience course; 2. TAG feedback is a great way to encourage group discussion and collaboration; and 3. active learning activities contribute to enhanced learning and engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Christa Haney (Mississippi State University: Mississippi State, MS), Renee Clary (Mississippi State University: Mississippi State, MS)

Sponsoring Company: Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc.

Use Digitalis' Nightshade NG planetarium software to target NGSS and/or TEKS at multiple age levels in various scientific disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. gain ideas about how Nightshade NG planetarium software can be used to target NGSS and/or TEKS at multiple grade levels; 2. experience how Nightshade NG planetarium software can be used to target NGSS and/or TEKS in various disciplines such as astronomy, Earth science, engineering, ecology, biology, physics, and more; and 3. learn how astronomy can be used as an anchor for interdisciplinary units.

SPEAKERS:
Karrie Berglund (Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc.: Bremerton, WA), Beau Hartweg (Tyler Junior College: Tyler, TX)

Deriving research opportunities for students directly from coursework-based questions allows more students to be involved in this high-impact practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. see examples of student-generated research; 2. learn how to engage faculty in the process of authentic research; and 3. see what students have said about the role of research in their STEM careers.

SPEAKERS:
Kerry Cheesman (Capital University: Columbus, OH)

Sponsoring Company: College Board Pre-AP Program

Explore vertical alignment of content and skills between Pre-AP and AP Chemistry, compare performance tasks in both courses, and examine how Pre-AP prepares students for advanced coursework.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore vertical alignment of content between Pre-AP and AP Chemistry, which allows students of all backgrounds to build a cognitive framework for advanced study; 2. examine how both courses elucidate conceptual understanding and build student skills in particulate reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and argumentation; and 3. analyze how models can be used to support deeper understanding and student engagement, particularly among underrepresented students and students who may not identify as "science students."

SPEAKERS:
Laura Casdorph (College Board: New York, NY), Paul Price (Trinity Valley School: Fort Worth, TX), Jamie Benigna (College Board: Detroit, MI)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

You will learn how to build and code a four-chambered heart (no coding experience required) while learning about how the heart works. This is a great project for middle and high school science and STEM students!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. You can do STEM with your science students and science with your STEM students!; 2. Apply knowledge of science to inform an engineering design (artificial heart); and 3. Combining science, coding, and engineering design helps students get to higher-order thinking skills.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens (Retired Science Teacher: Sioux Falls, SD)

Sponsoring Company: College Board Pre-AP Program

Explore vertical alignment of content and skills between Pre-AP and AP Biology, compare performance tasks in both courses, and examine how Pre-AP prepares students for advanced coursework.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will: 1. explore vertical alignment of both content and disciplinary skills between Pre-AP and AP Biology, which allows students of all backgrounds to build a strong foundation that better prepares them for continued studies in biology and other natural sciences; 2. examine how both courses utilize science practices to develop a deeper understanding of biological concepts as students engage in sensemaking activities that require modeling, data analysis using quantitative reasoning, and scientific argumentation; and 3. analyze how science practices and key instructional scaffolding can be used to support deeper understanding and student engagement, particularly among underrepresented students and students who may not identify as "science students."

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Walsh (College Board: Alachua, FL), Karen Lionberger (WestEd: San Francisco, CA), Mitch Price (College Board: New York, NY)

Museum staff and education professors will present a multi-state service-learning project. Attendees will brainstorm experiential learning partnerships for preservice teacher in their own communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn about a multi-state service-learning project completed by elementary education preservice teachers enrolled in Creative Writing and Science Methods courses (at a rural university in Texas) for a Musuem of Natural Sciences (in North Carolina), completed entirely online during the global pandemic; 2. learn about the benefits of service-learning projects for future science educators, local organizations, and local communities…including how the PSTs’ lesson plans met Next Generation Science Standards; and 3. be prompted to consider possible experiential learning partnerships for preservice teachers based on the known needs of their local community organizations. Presenters (including museum staff and university professors) will offer tips for those ideas shared.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Burrow (Stephen F. Austin State University: Nacogdoches, TX), Tonya Jeffery (University of Houston - Downtown: Houston, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

An empty field. A human corpse. Maggots and flies. Who is the victim? What happened? Can you solve the mystery? This middle and high school activity will challenge you to apply science and deductive reasoning to determine what happened!

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Forensic science is a STEM career field that combines science, math, and criminal justice concepts; 2. Understanding the natural process of decomposition can help investigators narrow in on identifying victims and causes of death; and 3. Using stories is a great way to engage students and provide context to the science/STEM they are learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens (Retired Science Teacher: Sioux Falls, SD)

Sponsoring Company: NOAA Office of Education

Join us for a demo and discussion about the NEW searchable database of 1,200+ educational resources from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

TAKEAWAYS:
1. NOAA has 1,200+ resources for educators, including lessons, videos, activities, posters, and more; 2. You can now search by grade, resource type, subject, and topic to find what you’re looking for; and 3. We have NGSS resources too! Search by DCI.

SPEAKERS:
Marissa Jones (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Washington, DC), Bekkah Lampe (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD)

Presentation of graduate research on depth of questions used by elementary teacher candidates. Participants will use results to evaluate their questions to enhance student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. get an overview of a research study and learn about resulting tools used to evaluate depth of questions in elementary science lessons; 2. learn and contribute to recommendations for preservice and inservice teachers in developing questioning techniques to promote student discourse and understand student thinking; and 3. practice developing and refining questions in science.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Lima (The University of Texas at San Antonio: San Antonio, TX), Liz McMillan (The University of Texas at San Antonio: San Antonio, TX)

Infographics are an excellent way to engage students in communicating science to the public. Ideas can change quickly when misinformation appears in a community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will: 1. learn how infographics can be incorporated into science classes to teach communication skills; 2. see examples of student-generated graphics; and 3. see feedback from students and learn why they think this exercise is an important part of their training.

SPEAKERS:
Kerry Cheesman (Capital University: Columbus, OH)

A virtual reality chemistry activity was evaluated as a supplement to laboratory instruction for first-year college chemistry classes.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Virtual reality offers an engaging and kinesthetic way to supplement lab-based instruction; 2. The virtual environment can evaluate student lab performance on a level that can't be duplicated in a laboratory setting; and 3. VR offers an effective source of remediation for students lagging in laboratory skills.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Carpenetti (Craven Community College: New Bern, NC), Vy Tran (Craven Community College: New Bern, NC)

Explore gendered stereotypes within STEM/science education that influence unconscious biases and strategies to mitigate them, focusing on gaps in female student participation.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Identify societal cues that can increase implicit biases and the effects they can have on minoritized students in science/STEM education; 2. Learn practical skills to address his/her own implicit biases in the classroom decision-making; and 3. Learn reflective and introspective strategies to mitigate unconscious bias.

SPEAKERS:
Uchenna Emenaha (University of Houston: Houston, TX)