2023 Atlanta National Conference

March 22-25, 2023

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Rooms and times subject to change.
9 results
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Use NASA’s Universe of Learning integrated STEM Learning and Literacy Program (UoL) and its network of informal education partners to learn about the universe.

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Poster Share.pdf
Science Olympiad 2023 Brochure.pdf
The National Science Olympiad
The National Science Olympiad 2023 Informational Brochure
UoL NASA NSO Poster.pdf

STRAND: Technology and Media

Show Details

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)

Handling extinction and adaptation: Project Based Learning with low-cost fossils

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
PosterCan Biology Teachers Use Low-Cost Fossils for Evolution Adaptation PBL
From the abstract:In High School Biology, providing hands-on connections to Earth’s biodiversity can be challenging. But project-based learning (PBL) using fossil-bearing rocks of multiple ages gives students a concrete experience. They can touch and inspect adaptation and evolution over the mind-boggling time spans of Earth’s existence. The expense and relative rarity of anatomically complete fossils is an obstacle even to universities, when their goal is to systematically teach fossil identif

STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

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)

Cognitively-Based Design Principles for more Effective Science Diagrams

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Research to Practice

Show Details

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: Travel to a Distant Planet to Study Biomes & Energy Resources

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Curriculum and Assessment

Show Details

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)

Using Pavement Design to teach Math and Science

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

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)

Beat the Heat Island: Using Sensors to Explore Extreme Heat at Your School

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Technology and Media

Show Details

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)

Climate Change, The Board Game: Teaching climate change and the carbon cycle through an interactive game

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

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)

Molecular and Mineral Modeling with Origami

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: No Strand

Show Details

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)

Diatoms tell the story: a student study of lake sediment layers by interpreting diatom data

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Student Learning and Inclusion

Show Details

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)

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