Join education staff from Tellus Science Museum to see fossils that call Georgia home and discuss how to incorporate place-based geoscience education with elementary science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will see how a science museum has worked to improve its own geoscience education using a place-based approach and how similar processes can be applied to education practice in classrooms or other localities.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Eisla (Tellus Science Museum: No City, No State)

Students at Ransom Everglades Middle School in Coconut Grove, Florida conducted research using iButton Thermochrons. Students used the iButtons to record heat and humidity data around campus. They then analyzed the data to determine why certain areas were warmer than others.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how this project allowed students to collect data, analyze that data, and ultimately present their research as citizen scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Robin Escobedo (Ransom Everglades School: Coconut Grove, FL)

NASA’s Astrophysics UoL network of partnerships provide STEM educators programs, from exoplanet searches to image analysis of supernovas and galaxies to implement programs specific to individual audiences - and provides a wide variety of supporting webinars, tutorials, activities and investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA’s UoL team connects the public and learners to data, discoveries, and experts from NASA’s Astrophysics missions. The team of scientists, engineers, and educators have direct connections to these missions, and provide a range of projects and interactive activities for any educational setting.

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

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

Students in K-12 science classrooms don’t think about diagrams the same way adults do, and can be easily “overloaded.” Research in cognition gives us tools to make science diagrams that more effectively support learning. Surprise: often, students learn more without features like arrows and colors!

TAKEAWAYS:
Effective diagrams direct student attention to the most important information and relationships while minimizing cognitive load. Strategies for doing so include tree structures, explicit cues for implicit information, replacing realistic photos with illustrations, and use of the proximity principle.

SPEAKERS:
Audrey Rabi Whitaker (Academy for Young Writers: Brooklyn, NY)

Planet Lamron is a new way to teach biomes and renewable energy in environmental science. Using climate graphs from an earlier mission to the distant earthlike planet, students will determine the biomes present. From there, students will decide where to colonize and how to set up energy plants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Conference attendees will learn to use Planet Lamron to teach the concepts of biomes and renewable energy in environmental science. Students will learn to interpret climate graphs, make decisions about where to colonize based on biome, and how/where to set up renewable energy plants.

SPEAKERS:
Victoria Myers (Teacher: Alpharetta, GA)

Learn about an interdisciplinary research project that studied how atmospheric dust affects climate change. A team of educators collaborated with researchers to develop hands-on activities targeted at upper elementary through high school students that highlight science concepts from this project.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how a team of educators collaborated with paleoclimate researchers to develop activities targeted at upper elementary through high school students that explore how atmospheric dust affects climate change, highlighting how climate is influenced by complex interactions within the Earth system.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rummel (UCAR Center for Science Education: Boulder, CO)

Water is the major force in shaping our planet. Students use simple models to measure water outwash and soil erosion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Simple models show students how plants and plant residue play major roles in preventing water runoff and soil erosion.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Cunningham (Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN)

In this project, teachers collaborated with Engineering professors in research on climate models and pavement distress. The teachers then translate that experience to inform PBL style class projects, with the goal of increasing student engagement and generating interest in career pathways.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn one way teachers may reach beyond traditional classroom walls to inspire students in fields relating to research, engineering, physics, and construction.

SPEAKERS:
Forest Shober (Physics Teacher)

Explore different handheld sensors that can be used to engage students in outdoor data collection. Students examine conditions across campus and consider implications during extreme heat events, then use evidence from data and maps to argue for school-based solutions to extreme heat.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain ideas for using environmental sensors and data visualization tools to explore microclimates across your school’s campus. These ready-to-implement, authentic hands-on investigations prime students for learning about the heat island effect and the various solutions to address extreme heat.

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

How do we add physical science emphasis to Earth Science curriculum? Weather and Climate with ADI Gas intro lab Students will use the ideal gas law Pv=nrT in their Earth science lessons Students will explore basic Chemistry in their exploration of the atmosphere Molecular models activity Gas Properties lab Water and Oceans Density Ph labs Salinity labs Geology with ADI Students will study wave theory as it applies to earthquakes and tectonics plates Wave on a string Minerals with an emphasis on the atom and radioactivity Space and Astronomy with ADI Students will look at motion in three dimensions and learn how to calculate azimuth and simple orbital mechanics Students will study the periodic table in conjunction with the cosmic forces that created them Gravity Forces lab Gravity and orbits lab Blackbody Spectrum analysis Introduction to Quantum Chemistry

TAKEAWAYS:
We will review activities, lessons, and experiments that will help enhance your Earth Science class and prepare your student for middle school or high school physical science.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Gardiner (Kittredge Magnet School for High Achievers: Atlanta, GA)

Learn about a great hands-on tissue paper hot air balloon STEM activity that can be done indoors year-round! Join Dr. Yemothy to learn about this easy and affordable activity that ALL students can accomplish. Leave having seen an example an gained an understanding of the activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Knowledge of how to do the activity, ways to vary it, and understanding what is needed to do with students along with digital access to the hot air balloon STEM activity.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Yemothy (K-8 STEM Educator & Trainer)

Modeling the multiple natural and human-initiated factors that impact global climate change can be daunting! A geoscientist and science educator will share a beta version of a climate change board game that is being developed as part of a National Science Foundation grant.

TAKEAWAYS:
This game provides students with a simulation of the causes and effects of factors that impact global climate. Participants will engage with the game and have an opportunity to provide feedback on the game elements. The game will eventually be offered as a free download.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rearden (The University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Knoxville, TN)

Make molecular and mineral crystal models using very simple units of origami. Then work as an individual or a group to bond the units together to make inexpensive & amazing molecular models for chemistry and minerals for earth science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will create basic paper origami models that easily demonstrate mineral crystal structure, hardness, bond strength, & Cleavage/Fracture. Each person creates a unit, then groups bond units together to form crystals. Chemistry bonding modeling is also part of this session.

SPEAKERS:
David Ebersole (Greece Athena Middle School: Rochester, NY)

Scaffolded unit of study— lake samples from local reservoir collected to find diatoms & classify them by shape. Students compare findings to research studies of lake sediment cores to infer how diatom biodiversity has changed in similar lakes over time to infer human influence on diatom habitat.

TAKEAWAYS:
Poster describes science & engineering processes applied by students as they attempted to answer the question—“How can diatom fossils tell us how humans have changed the land over time?”.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Telford (Salem Community High School: Salem, IL)