The 2023 NSELA Leadership Summit will center around the multidimensional system drivers at the heart of the theme  "Science Education Leadership- A Systems Approach.”

*Private function by invitation only

SPEAKERS:
Renata Casiel (Meetings Manager: Arlington, VA)

Join us to design a prototype for a classroom task using our new Task Design Workbook. We will highlight key elements of 3D assessment design (i.e. problematizing phenomena, centering sense-making, and accessibility features). These high-leverage components of task development prepare you to adapt & design assessments that center your students and engage them in 3D sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Van Horne (Concolor Research: Orlando, FL), Aneesha Badrinarayan (Learning Policy Institute: Washington, DC), Sara Cooper (Contextus), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

Come join us to see how OpenSciEd’s materials can help you reveal your students’ brilliance. The first full day of the professional learning institute (PLI) will simultaneously prepare you to teach the first unit in the OpenSciEd middle school program and provide the support you need to advance your practice so that learning is both driven by student questions and leads to the foundational science learning they need to be successful. To do this, this session will put teachers in the student’s seat so they can feel what it's like to be a student whose thoughts and questions are valued in the drive to figure out puzzling phenomena. We actually do science together with the facilitator acting as the "teacher" and then dig in to help you see the coherence across the program and the details in the first units you will be teaching.

The follow-up sessions you can attend throughout the conference will dig deeper into phenomena-based learning and provide practical strategies for implementing OpenSciEd in your classroom.

• Unpack WHY phenomena-based learning is so important and HOW to make it a reality in your classroom
• Takeaway grading strategies to support 3D learning while avoiding teacher burnout
• Gain tools for planning discussions and getting your students talking

SPEAKERS:
Erika Palys (Educator), Thomas Clayton (K-5 STEAM Specialist: Berkeley Heights, NJ)

Shifting from traditional professional learning 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 three-dimensional, phenomenon-driven science learning we expect them to provide their students and are supported over time as they take on new practices in their classrooms. It means leaders apply a systems approach to professional learning. This approach is grounded in high-quality instructional materials and the instructional model, routines, and practices consistent with the design of the materials. The Carnegie Corporation of New York report, The Elements, 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 curricula enacted by teachers prepared to use the materials. In this session, you’ll immerse yourself in the Elements and consider strategies for applying them to your plans for professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jim Short (Carnegie Corporation of New York: New York, NY), Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Lindsey Mohan (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO)

Come join us to see how OpenSciEd’s materials can help you build science learning experiences anchored in compelling phenomena and in important community and global problems. This professional learning institute (PLI) will simultaneously prepare you to teach the first unit in the OpenSciEd biology course and provide the support you need to advance your practice so that learning is both driven by student questions and helps them develop proficiency with targeted three-dimensional science standards in life sciences and Earth and space science. To achieve this goal, this session will put teachers in “student hat” so they can feel what it’s like to be a student whose thoughts and questions help drive learning forward in the unit. We actually do science together with the facilitator acting as teacher and reflect on coherence in the unit by unpacking the storyline for the unit. We will open up and explore the structure of units for all three courses of OpenSciEd–biology, chemistry, and physics–and discuss the routines and resources to promote equitable science learning in high school. Follow-up sessions you can attend throughout the conference will dig deeper into other courses in OpenSciEd and provide practical strategies for implementing OpenSciEd in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

What is an approach that science educators can use to create assessment tasks that support instructional practice and students’ three-dimensional learning?
 
Assessment tasks for NGSS classrooms are different from the typical tasks that require students to just recall what they know. With three-dimensional tasks, the expectation is that students will use and apply the three dimensions of science proficiency together to make sense of compelling phenomena and solve complex problems. This course is designed to introduce participants to the Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) design approach that can be used to design 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 students. Importantly, it should provide insight into how students are building toward an NGSS performance expectation or bundle of performance expectations.
 
Participants will learn the NGSA approach for designing 3-dimensional tasks for classroom use that will help their students build toward the NGSS performance expectations. This course is ideal for those who want to learn a systematic process for how to create tasks that can be used over again across classes and years. Each step of the process provides an opportunity for learning that will increase your knowledge for three-dimensional instruction and assessment. While we will focus on middle grades, the approach is applicable for K-12 science instruction.

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

The Consortium for Open Equitable Science Education in Elementary (COESEE) is creating open education science learning experiences that more flexibly use time, while re-envisioning critical components of phenomenon, embedded ELA resources, equity, professional learning, and assessment. Elementary science learning demands the investigation of phenomena across time - weeks and months, not days -to use data and first-hand experience to see patterns, trends, and eventually build concepts. Our place-based Weather and Climate units in kindergarten and third grade require the collection, documentation, and analysis of weather data over many months to 1. observe patterns in the data, and 2. ask and answer highly-relevant questions about those patterns that can only be investigated over time. We will share one of our place-based, multiple-month units and unpack the ways exemplar units help to redefine elementary science learning experiences to elevate the brilliance of students and strengths of teachers. Participants will engage with materials developers and diverse and accomplished elementary science scholars and have an immersive experience wearing both their teacher and student hats.

Each session in this PLI strand will elevate Recommendations from the NASEM consensus report “Science and Engineering in Preschool through Elementary Grades: The Brilliance of Children and Strengths of Educators (2022).

SPEAKERS:
Shelly LeDoux (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX), Carla Zembal-Saul (Penn State: University Park, PA), Heidi Carlone (Vanderbilt University Peabody College: Nashville, TN), Miranda Fitzgerald , Tia Madkins (Notre Dame Center for STEM Education: Notre Dame, IN), Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network), Mike Ryan (The Learning Standard (retired Georgia Tech): Atlanta, GA), Molly Ewing (The Charles A. Dana Center: No City, No State)

Understanding the three dimensions of teaching and learning science is the first step toward implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and other state standards based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education. This course is designed to provide educators an opportunity to apply that understanding to take another big step forward in implementation —engaging students in the science and engineering practices (SEPs). Through immersion in high-quality instructional materials, classroom video and vignettes, participants will gain strategies including the use of scaffolds, discipline-specific questions, and teacher-moves to support students’ productive struggle in the SEPs. Additionally, educators will deepen their knowledge of how the SEPs work together and with the other dimensions (disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts) to make sense of the world and solve problems.

Participants will experience a deep-dive into one of four targeted SEPs during the face-to-face national conference setting: developing and using models; planning and carrying out investigations; using mathematics and computational thinking; or  engaging in argument from evidence. Watch for an email within five days of registration with directions for submitting your top two SEP choices.

See below for follow-up professional learning opportunities around the science and engineering practices that are included with this short course registration.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Edel Maeder (Rochester City School District: Rochester, NY), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Join us at the Georgia World Congress Center for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA Atlanta23! We’ll keep it casual—meet new colleagues and greet returning friends while enjoying beverages and small bites and a photo opportunity with keynote speaker—NASA Astronaut, Dr. Megan McArthur. The event is complimentary and open to all registered conference attendees. Immediately following the reception, McArthur will share her thrilling experiences while working on the International Space Station in an inspirational fireside chat facilitated by NASA’s K-12 Education Advisor Cindy Hasselbring.

Join NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur as she shares her passion for science and the experiments she conducted during her stay on the International Space Station. McArthur will be joined by NASA’s K-12 Education Advisor Cindy Hasselbring for an inspirational fireside chat. They will discuss McArthur’s thrilling experiences during more than 200 days in space, lessons learned, NASA's return to the moon through the Artemis program, and much more.