Identify common fossils of the Middle Devonian in a hands-on investigation. Work with Petoskey stones and other fossils to make inferences about the past and learn how to teach this with elementary students. Curriculum handouts and fossil kits will be provided to the first 30 participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to use the fossil curriculum with intermediate elementary students. Teachers will get to explore Devonian fossils of the Traverse Group and learn how to analyze data to make inferences about past environments. Teachers will receive materials to use with intermediate elementary students.

SPEAKERS:
Kayce Wills (Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary School: Leonardtown, MD), Laura Schneider (St. Mary's College of Maryland: Saint Mary's City, MD)

With your phone camera and filters we provide, you'll make images at different wavelengths and combine them in JS9, just as astronomers do. Then, with NASA files, you'll create astrophotos expressing your interests and aesthetics. This activity works at many levels, from STEM fun to serious science.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn how to process multi-wavelength image sets to create color images from NASA and your own devices. This leads to a deeper understanding of how the spectacular JWST images were made, and prepares the participant with a classroom activity that is fun, rich and economical.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Kaiser (Stamford High School: Stamford, CT), Vincent Urbanowski (Academy of Information Technology & Engineering: Stamford, CT)

Discover interdisciplinary games and simulations that help younger students explore connections between themselves and the environment, including natural resource use, pollution and climate. Presented activities build skills in scientific inquiry, data analysis and critical thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will increase their understanding of basic human ecological concepts and best practices for introducing these concepts in their interdisciplinary elementary classrooms using 3D science instruction for a variety of learning styles.

SPEAKERS:
Julie Travaglini (Allegheny Land Trust: Sewickley, PA)

Beyond Earth, cosmic radiation is a substantial challenge to astronaut health. Biomedical research is critical to success of NASA’s Artemis, and unraveling the genetic riddles of aging and disease. In this session, participants explore radiation biology through NASA research and hands-on activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
To offer participants resources and strategies for developing radiation biology units that integrate hands-on NASA education activities and cutting-edge scientific research, with particular attention to benefits for Earth-based medicine as well as optional connections to the humanities.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Weiss (Educator Professional Development Specialist)

Tired of planet projects and scale model solar systems? Rubin Observatory’s solar system lesson offers a means for students to analyze data using a three-dimensional approach to learn about the orbital dynamics and interactions of small solar system bodies and the formation of the solar system.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to access and use free interactive data-based online investigations and support materials designed to support NGSS teaching and learning, as well as teaching and assessment strategies that support inclusive techniques for building student data literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
Justine Schaen (NSF's NOIRLab: Tucson, AZ), Ardis Herrold (Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Tucson, AZ)

Rocketry is a learning pathway - not an "event". Join Dr. Cassondra Zielinski as she takes you through the process of space-settlement design in a K-5 school. This session concentrates on designing a space settlement using paper and Lego through the SDG Sensor Kits. This is session 1 of 3.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session participants will understand how to combine NGSS, Mathematics, Art, and Technology by using a hands-on approach through space settlement design, creative lesson planning, and student interest. Participants will implement their own ideas into new lessons just like the K-5 students.

SPEAKERS:
Cassondra Zielinski (Mountain View Elementary School: Marietta, GA)

Connect the human impact of trash pollution to engineering design. Get your students thinking critically and creatively as they collaborate in real-world problem solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
Connecting the human impact of single-use plastics and its effect on aquatic ecosystems.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA), Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Voorhees, NJ)

Get ready for the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. See how learning activities about the Earth, Moon and Sun provide three-dimensional learning experiences that connect to these events that will be more spectacular than the 2017 eclipse.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have a better understanding of what is meant by three-dimensional learning, see how 3D learning can lead to knowing what causes lunar phases and eclipses, and be prepared to enjoy the solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR)

A multidisciplinary and open-ended investigation that incorporates absolute and relative dating techniques, anomalies, historical context, volcanoes, solar proton events, energy cycles, Earth systems, terrestrial events, and supernovas by analyzing 430 years of Earth history from 1562 to 1992.

TAKEAWAYS:
In constructing knowledge, there is no definitive answer, only plausible conclusions based on constructing, analyzing, and comparing data and research from multiple disciplines. This investigation provides a better understanding of the scientific process of developing models and defending results.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

Use web-based image and analysis software to examine and compare the Cartwheel Galaxy determine the sources of the ultra- and in optical and X-ray bands, which can help determine the sources of the ultra- and hyperluminous X-rays (U/HLXs) in this galaxy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Astrophysicists use light in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to determine the nature of an object. Web-based software will be used, the same tools used by scientists. This software can be used by students to do their own investigations in astronomy with real data sets.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Perry (Lewiston High School: Lewiston, ME)

Design a multi day STEM project that incorporates wind energy. Participants would learn how to do a unit that incorporates a virtual lab as well as physically building wind turbine blades to generate energy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with a multi-day (3+week) ready to use engineering design process unit on wind energy.

SPEAKERS:
Heidi Webster (Teacher: Michigantown, IN), Allison Clegg (7th Grade Science Teacher)

Participants will investigate relationships between variables such as barometric pressure and precipitation, using data from a wide range of geographical stations in the United States. Selected stations represent sites with contrasting latitudes, altitudes, proximity to water bodies, and other elements, in order to best study the effect of these variables on weather and climate. The session will analyze data to look for patterns of change over time and to investigate regional patterns and region-specific effects of climate change. Data from Los Angeles & San Diego weather stations will also be included. The graphing tool is a freely accessible webpage that works on laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets. An internet connection at the session would additionally allow for participants to see a live demonstration as well as explore their own investigation questions. http://uanyc.science/pwc

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session attendees will learn to analyze and interpret weather and climate data using a custom designed graphing tool that simplifies visualizing and analyzing data on time scales of hours, days and weeks (weather) to decades and centuries (climate).

SPEAKERS:
Rachelle Travis (P.S. 288 The Shirley Tanyhill: Brooklyn, NY)

Come learn about Data Puzzles, a free resource co-designed by climate scientists and instructional specialists from the University of Colorado Boulder that combine authentic data with Ambitious Science Teaching instructional practices to help students make sense of phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore authentic, contemporary data through Data Puzzles resources that frame data analysis for use in middle and high school classrooms with the Ambitious Science Teaching framework and leave prepared to implement these 2-3 day sensemaking tasks in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Griffith (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, VT)

Harness the power of technology with student designed solutions for a changing climate.

TAKEAWAYS:
Use technology to expose students to coding and engineering design solutions for severe weather.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA), Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Voorhees, NJ)

Through hands on activities using real-world data, take students on a time-travelling adventure to discover the history of Earth – from natural hazards, including earthquakes and volcanoes, to the discovery of plate tectonics and feedbacks in the Earth’s systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
By looking into the past and present, we can begin to predict our future. The International Ocean Discovery Program creates educational resources that enable students to use real data collected by scientists investigating global concerns and explore parts of our world usually hidden to them.

SPEAKERS:
Sharon Cooper (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: Palisades, NY), Ed Robeck (American Geosciences Institute: Alexandria, VA), Lindsay Mossa (American Geosciences Institute: Alexandria, MD), Lauren Brase (American Geosciences Institute: , IL), Maya Pincus (Columbia University / U.S. Science Support Program: Palisades, NY), Sequoyah McGee (American Geosciences Institute: Alexandria, VA), Carol Cotterill (U.S. Science Support Program: Palisades, NY)

Learn about the new NASA Next Gen STEM activity Sparking Participation with Real-world Experiences (SPARX), launching in school year 23-24. Explore this exciting opportunity and experience hands-on lessons from the SPARX portfolio - Priority Packing for the Moon.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with an understanding of what resources will be necessary on a mission to the Moon, a knowledge of NASA SPARX, and an activity to ignite students' interest in STEM through space exploration resources.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Sebastian (Education Coordinator), Martha Lopez (Education Coordinator: Houston, TX)

Engage students in learning about extreme heat and the heat island effect through interaction with maps highlighting environmental and demographic indicators. Data interpretation activities will prompt students to identify vulnerable populations and examine strategies for addressing extreme heat.

TAKEAWAYS:
Extreme heat is relevant to everyone and can be used as an anchoring phenomenon to engage all learners. Depending on where they live, people experience extreme heat differently. Attendees will experience how maps can be used to teach about extreme heat through an environmental justice lens.

SPEAKERS:
Emma Refvem (Durham Public Schools: Durham, NC)

Construct a photon intensity image of a supernova remnant using NASA X-ray data from Chandra and convert the image into a public release image with this STEAM activity. This introduction to imaging and image analysis involves analysis, constructing models, interpretation, and computational thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Photons of electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths are collected by telescopes and processed using computers. Scientists use image analysis software to analyze the data and construct unique models of the data, including stars and galaxies, while maintaining the integrity of the underlying data.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

The study of trace fossils is an exciting way to explore the past. Join the Wade Institute for Science Education and Amherst College’s Beneski Museum in an inquiry-based session to guide your students through the application of the SEPs in creating and interpreting their own dinosaur stories.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session participants will gain experience with using the phenomenon of dinosaur tracks and trace fossils as a powerful tool for student engagement, and leave the session with guidelines for creating track stories, and using those track stories to expand their student’s use of the SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Allison Pagliaro (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Alfred Venne (Museum Educator: Amherst, MA), Kathryn Atkins (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA)

Teachers may have a range of comfort with various disciplinary core ideas in ESS1. To engage students in figuring out these abstract ideas we have developed a unit to support 3D teaching and learning related to stars and exoplanets. This unit has been field-tested across NYC high schools and evidence has shown that the modeling activities, data analysis and simulations utilized in a unit can empower students to feel like space scientists and argue from evidence about which exoplanet is most likely to be habitable. Using a phenomena-driven 3D unit for providing access to students who may have been previously disengaged in STEM is essential for equity. Participants will have an opportunity to immerse in an activity from this high quality unit with an NGSS badge after EQuIP review, explore how the unit addresses some of the 3D learning goals for space science (HS-ESS1), and discuss how to make this content personally relevant to students in diverse settings.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to access, use, and adapt a free HS Earth & Space Science unit - currently the only HS ESS unit with an official NGSS badge - to attend to student interest and relevance, and to support argumentation.

SPEAKERS:
Charles Link (DeWitt Clinton High School: Bronx, NY)

Are you an elementary teacher trying to make more time for science? You are not alone. One of the biggest barriers in elementary science is time. Join us as we address this through science integration. Explore using your ELA, ELD, History… standards to create rich science experiences for students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through experiencing an integrated arc of learning, participants will leave this session understanding why other subjects should be integrated with their science lessons and how to lean on other content standards to create integrated standard based lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Wright (Hayward Unified School District: Hayward, CA), Channon Jackson (Alameda County Office of Education: Hayward, CA)

Join the author of the Once Upon A Science Book series to try out a hands-on lesson on ocean garbage patches and the Coriolis Effect. You'll also learn strategies that will help you build literacy while teaching any science topic.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be introduced to the literacy learning cycle format, in which hands-on work precedes meaningful reading and writing activities. You will see how this system works by participating in a lesson and come away with practical strategies for your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Wheeler-Toppen (Author/ Staff Development: Atlanta, GA)

This project was funded by a National Science Foundation grant to expose high school students to geoscience within their required science curriculum. A collateral benefit is integrating key concepts in other sciences. In Biology, natural selection requires eons (“deep time”) to create Earth’s biodiversity. In project-based learning using fossil-bearing rocks of multiple ages, students experience deep time concretely. A barrier to hands-on fossil study is the expense of specimens good enough for university students to systematically learn fossil taxa. However, imperfect samples can connect anyone to deep time. Ironically, some such samples are simply dumped when teachers return from professional development field trips. This presentation reveals a path to making use of such ordinary material by 1) circling fossils in ink, 2) creating a picture guide from circled fossils, 3) building a PBL unit uniting those fossils with a biodiversity-though-time graphic known as a Tree of Life diagram.

TAKEAWAYS:
Might students better master evolution standards, especially extinction and adaptation, by encountering fossils through "deep time"? Teacher-collected samples, with fossils circled in ink, a picture guide made from the set, and a detailed Tree of Life diagram form foundations for PBL exploration.

SPEAKERS:
Katty Mobasher (Professor of Geology and GIS: , GA), Adrianna Rajkumar (Lecturer), Bill Witherspoon (geologist/educator: Decatur, GA)

This session introduces participants to NASA resources including a closer look at STEMonstrations which are STEM demonstrations filmed in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station and taught by astronauts. Each of these videos includes a corresponding Classroom Connection lesson plan which is ready for educators to immediately implement in their classrooms. This session focuses on the Moment of Inertia STEMonstration where participants watch the Moment of Inertia STEMonstration video and participate in the Moment of Inertia Classroom Connection lab investigation. Participants alter chip cans using household materials to explore how mass distribution affects ease of rotation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will become familiar with STEMonstrations and be able to integrate these videos and corresponding Classroom Connection lesson plans into their classrooms. participants will leave this session with hands-on, ready-to-go STEM lesson plans including student activities and worksheets.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Hooks (Education Project Manager), Lynn Dotson (NASA Office of STEM Engagement-GoH: Kennedy Space Center, FL)

In this workshop, we introduce and explore applications of virtual and augmented reality (VR) learning resources as tools to help students connect with a dataset, incorporate accessible placed-based learning into classrooms, and communicate the nature of science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience and learn about three different application models of virtual and augmented reality in educational settings through examples and participate in a facilitated discussion on the practical application of VR in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Griffith (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, VT), Daniela Pennycook (Communication Specialist and Program Integrator: Boulder, CO)

As Earth’s climate warms, the heat and humidity are rising, with major consequences for ecosystems. NASA scientists are tracking heat stress that can warn us of harmful conditions. Explore interactive inquiry-based lessons and participate in a heat island experiment.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA provides free earth science resources and engaging interactive climate change lessons.

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

The sand session returns! Sand is ubiquitous, unique, and addresses physical science, earth/environmental science, art, history . . . and more! Free sand/resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Sand contains clues to weathering/erosion, transportation, and more! Free classroom samples and online resources make classroom sand activities fun and easy with identified NGSS PEs, DCIs, CCCs, and SEPS. ABC charts organize students’ incoming knowledge and documents progression in learning.

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

Experience phenomenon based, stoylined curriculum in high school biology! Use an agent based model, in the form of a table top game, to generate evidence to answer questions about predator prey interactions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to use a computational model to generate evidence to answer questions about about predator prey interactions.

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

Engage in a variety of activities, collect information and resources, and network with elementary-level leaders. Discover new ideas and materials that you can use next week.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will network with other elementary-level educators of science and leaders to discover and engage in activities that will expand their knowledge and be usable in all aspects of their work.

Engage in a variety of activities, collect information and resources, and network with middle-level leaders. Discover new ideas and materials that you can use next week.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will network with other middle-level science educators and leaders to discover and engage in activities that will expand their knowledge and be usable in all aspects of their work.

Identify elements in the spectra of supernova remnants to determine the properties of collapsed and exploded stars using web-based NASA X-ray data and image analysis tools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Js9 web-based software can be used to analyze NASA data sets to determine the type of supernova and provides students with real opportunities to do astronomical research.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Perry (Lewiston High School: Lewiston, ME)

This session introduces participants to NASA resources including a closer look at STEMonstrations which are STEM demonstrations filmed in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station and taught by astronauts. Each of these videos includes a corresponding Classroom Connection lesson plan which is ready for educators to immediately implement in their classrooms. This session focuses on the Engineering Design Process STEMonstration where participants will watch the Engineering Design Process STEMonstration video and participate in the corresponding Classroom Connection activity. Other engineering design activities will be introduced and discussed as extensions to this introductory lesson.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will become familiar with STEMonstrations and be able to integrate these videos and corresponding Classroom Connections into their classrooms. Participants will leave this session with hands-on, ready-to-go STEM lesson plans including student activities and worksheets.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Hooks (Education Project Manager), Lynn Dotson (NASA Office of STEM Engagement-GoH: Kennedy Space Center, FL)

Two upcoming eclipses cross the US: annular October 14 2023 and total April 8 2024. This workshop teaches the why, how and where of eclipses, demonstrates safe solar viewing techniques & citizen science projects. Weather permitting, we will view the Sun. Each teacher receives 25 eclipse glasses free

TAKEAWAYS:
The solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024 will cover much of the nation. Safe observing techniques are critical. Only during the relatively brief totality can you observe the amazing and ghostly corona, and only then can you look at the Sun without eye protection

SPEAKERS:
Patricia Reiff (Rice University: Houston, TX)

NGSS fossil exploration that will teach intermediate elementary educators how to equitably use fossils of the Chesapeake Group to look for patterns and analyze and interpret historical science data to understand past environments. The first 30 participants will receive free classroom fossil kits.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore fossil samples from the Chesapeake in a hands-on investigation to understand past life and past environment in this region. Teachers will receive materials to use with intermediate elementary students.

SPEAKERS:
Kayce Wills (Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary School: Leonardtown, MD), Laura Schneider (St. Mary's College of Maryland: Saint Mary's City, MD)

This interactive session will explore scaffolded, NGSS aligned, three-dimensional Earth science resources for all students including multilingual learners. The My NASA Data Literacy Cubes support data literacy using authentic data from scientific research.

TAKEAWAYS:
Implementation strategies for a flexible resource which can be used with multiple Earth System Science DCIs, support numerous science and engineering practices related to questions, evidence, models and data, and CCCs for patterns, scale, proportion and quantity, and stability and change.

SPEAKERS:
Desiray Wilson (Science Systems and Applications, Inc.: Hampton, VA), Natalie Macke (Pascack Hills High School: Montvale, NJ), Angela Rizzi (NASA Langley Research Center/ADNET: No City, No State)

Engage multilingual learners with human ecology activities scaffolded for different levels of English proficiency. Participate in hands-on lessons (simulations and group problem solving) that promote 3D learning while building language skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn strategies to adapt science activities for the middle school classroom to be more inclusive for English language learners. Shared activities explore “Human Impacts on Earth’s Systems” and “Natural Resources” (ESS3).

SPEAKERS:
Abby Watkins (Population Connection: Washington, DC)

Projections are that by 2050, there may be more plastic in our oceans than fish, leading to calls for a worldwide treaty restricting plastics. In this session, participants will explore new remote-sensing capabilities for monitoring microplastics from space and relevant STE[A]M+G educator resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
To offer participants resources and strategies for developing a STE[A]M+G Earth science unit that integrates problem-based learning (PBL), hands-on NASA student design challenges and cross-curricular material.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Weiss (Educator Professional Development Specialist)

Learn background information and hands-on activities for students to apply the science of the oceans and electricity generation as they learn about the many types of marine hydrokinetics technology.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how the energy of moving water can be harnessed and converted into electricity in many ways, including technologies for harnessing the energy in ocean tides, waves, and currents.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Swan (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA)

Come see how you can help your elementary students not only understand the science content but how the people behind the science do their work! This session will be hands-on and provide strategies, examples, and historical short stories to help students understand how science works.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with resources and examples to teach nature of science (what science is and how science works) they can use right away with their students.

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

Teachers will hear about the EPA Gulf Guardian Award winning curriculum that teaches students about climate change. A Classroom Course in Community Resilience uses scientific problem-based learning to promote environmental stewardship.

TAKEAWAYS:
The human effect on the climate is evident in many ways, and today's students will be future leaders. Our program equips teachers with lessons that are easily implemented into their existing coursework and empowers students to think outside the box and creatively solve climate-related issues.

SPEAKERS:
Samantha Capers (USM Marine Education Center: No City, No State)

Use STEM web-based analysis software and real data to determine the rate of a supernova remnant expansion and its uniformity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Js9 web-based software provides students with real opportunities to do astronomical research.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Perry (Lewiston High School: Lewiston, ME)

With the catalog of known exoplanets growing, NASA scientists are searching these worlds for signatures of life as we do (and do not) know it. In this session, participants learn through hands-on activities about NASA astrobiology missions that attempt to answer the age-old question: are we alone?

TAKEAWAYS:
To offer participants resources and strategies for developing an astrobiology [life sciences] unit that integrates hands-on NASA education activities, cutting-edge scientific research, and differing worldviews [cosmologies] that combine science, culture, art and storytelling.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Weiss (Educator Professional Development Specialist)

NSF’s NOIRLab’s Teen Astronomy Café – To Go! program brings the excitement of scientific discovery to students by providing them with an opportunity to explore real astronomical data using Python Notebooks. Join us as we unpack all educator resources and try to break the solar system!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore the Teen Astronomy Café – To Go! activities complimentary of the US-ELTP science themes and designed to support the NGSS. They will gain confidence to help students understand and simulate astronomical phenomena as they develop critical thinking and data literacy skills.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Sparks (NSF's NOIRLab), Justine Schaen (NSF's NOIRLab: Tucson, AZ)

Practice Morrow and Zawaski’s 5E Sky Time lessons for understanding a day, the seasons and a year, through an NGSS aligned movement and motion model.

TAKEAWAYS:
The workshop reconnects participants/students with the astronomical meaning of the day, year, and seasons.

SPEAKERS:
Coral Clark (SETI Institute: Mountain View, CA), Pamela Harman (SETI Institute: Mountain View, CA)

Quantum education in middle school science education is a very novel initiative. Responding to the recent call of the National Quantum Initiative Act (2018) to accelerate quantum research and development, IQ-PARC aims to bridge the gap between developing quantum technologies and public interest and knowledge in quantum. Towards this end, IQ-PARC would like to introduce and apply a quantum-infused curriculum unit. Attendees will be encouraged to explore the concepts of quantum randomness and random number generator to create a particular artwork via quantum lab data collection. Also, they will be given a unit package including five distinct lesson plans and a pre-post assessment tool beginning with an archaeology challenge and ending with a quantum artwork activity. All materials were revised and updated by taking in-service middle school teachers' feedback and suggestions during and after the Teachers’ Quantum Workshop, organized by the IQ-PARC team in Summer 2022.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will explore that quantum is not an intimidating subject to learn and teach; it is possible to link existing and/or newly released middle school state standards with basic quantum concepts, and STEM-based activities make quantum integrable into middle school science education.

SPEAKERS:
Zeynep Akdemir (Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN)

This workshop is hosted by educators from the NASA/SETI Astronomy Activation Ambassadors program showcasing hands-on activities with inexpensive materials that explore the EM Spectrum, construct explanatory and CER models of phenomena, and illustrate real-world applications in space science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take with them hands-on activities and 3D resources that can be used immediately regarding the electromagnetic spectrum, infrared vs. visible light, telescopes, and more! Attendees will participate in learning by doing the activities, with connections to astronomy research highlighted

SPEAKERS:
Laura Solomons (Columbus High School: Columbus, GA), Marcella Linahan (The Westminster Schools: Atlanta, GA), Heather Guiendon (Teacher), Alec Johnson (Morgan County Schools: No City, No State)

Have you ever wonder why minerals come in so many different shapes and color? Using nanoscience concepts, come experience how a mineral's internal atomic arrangement contribute to its properties through a fun hands-on activity involving simple materials without an electron microscope!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teaching abstract concepts, such as matter at the atomic scale, can be difficult to get across to our students. Learn to use common household objects to help our students make sense of mineral properties using nanoscience ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cathy Xiong (Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Secondary School for Arts and Technology: Long Island City, NY), Yishan Lee (PS/MS 219)

Come join the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) in exploring how heliophysics, or 'Sun science,' can effectively serve as a model for teaching systems science to K12 students. This session includes hands-on learning activities, NASA printed materials, and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
The Sun gives us light, heat, food and more. It creates patterns on Earth and causes climate change. It is the source of space weather. Studies of the Sun offers a glimpse into the universe. The solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024 are opportunities to learn more about Sun-Earth systems science.

SPEAKERS:
Christina Milotte (Education Specialist), Carolyn Ng (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/ADNET Systems, Inc.)

The sky belongs to everyone - including middle-school age youth. Learn how to join the Youth Astronomy Network (YouthAstroNet) of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, where your students can tell their own star stories using images they capture from real robotic telescopes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn YouthAstroNet’s strategies for engaging students from culturally diverse backgrounds in accessible, relevant and meaningful exploration of their place in the cosmos and find out how they can join the YouthAstroNet online community, supported by the National Science Foundation

SPEAKERS:
Erika Wright (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA), Mary Dussault (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA)