Designed by award-winning science educator, author, and Michigan Teacher of the Year Gary Abud, Jr. in partnership with PBS, this session will focus on instructional strategies, high impact core teaching practices, and amazing learning resources about the Great Lakes from Detroit Public Television's award-winning show Great Lakes Now. In this session, you'll learn how to help your students explore the Great Lakes like never before and engage in productive discussions, engineering challenges, and intriguing investigations that they'll never forget. From fatbergs to watersheds to invasive species, biodiversity, climate change, and much more, you'll see how the Great Lakes makes for a GREAT way to teach myriad science concepts and engage students in the science and engineering practices of the NGSS no matter where they are learning, because the blended learning activities can go with you anywhere!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to explore the Great Lakes with your students while incorporating multimedia, cognitive science, and student discourse.

SPEAKERS:
SANDRA SVOBODA (Program Director, Great Lakes Now: , MI), Gary Abud Jr (Nourish the Future - Education Projects, LLC: Columbus, OH)

Soils are vital to sustaining life. What makes this natural resource so special? Join us for an active session that digs into numerous soil science concepts and vetted teaching resources connected to the geosciences, biology, chemistry, and physics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Soils are the foundation upon which life exists on Earth. The life that teems below ground supports the life above ground. Understanding the ecosystem services provided by soils requires cross-disciplinary thinking and reveals how vital soils are to our existence.

SPEAKERS:
Missy Holzer (Chatham High School: Chatham, LA)

Let’s look at air quality at your location with data gathered by Purple Air sensors. Contribute to the study of aerosols in the US. Bring computer/electronic device.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to access air quality data from citizen scientist sensors and satellite data and analyze air quality in your local area.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Czajkowski (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH), Jessica Taylor (NASA Langley Research Center: Hampton, VA), Sara Mierzwiak (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH), Janet Struble (: Toledo, OH)

Explore how to use the air sensors to demonstrate the dangers of vaping to students. Participants will see how to measure air quality around the mist expelled out of vapers in a closed system testing system, made from simple materials, in which non-nicotine vape juice is expelled.

TAKEAWAYS:
Air quality, measured in several areas such as particulate matter and AQI, can be used to show that the ingredients in vaping reduce air quality for not only the vaper, but people around them. Students will also learn how to read and analyze graphical data.

SPEAKERS:
Courtney Behrle (BioNetwork: Greenville, NC)

Experience an anchoring phenomenon lesson designed to engage students in a local climate impact. Reflect on how local community problems can be leveraged to engage students in understanding large-scale, shared global issues, like climate change, to increase relevance and agency for youth.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anchoring student learning in local phenomena and problems can tap into students’ interest and perceived relevance of science learning to their life and community. A storyline based on local problems also position students to for meaningful activities for future learning and taking action now.

SPEAKERS:
Lindsey Mohan (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Audrey Mohan (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Enya Granados (Life Science Teacher: , GA)

Play a new free online science game - Wake: Tales from the Aqualab. Take on ocean-based ecosystem missions, and engage in experimentation, modeling, and argumentation around middle school life sciences content. Use a submarine to explore a kelp forest! Travel to the arctic to find a missing whale!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn ways to implement Wake in your classroom - including associated curriculum and supplemental materials. The full game can cover 10+ classes, with over 35 jobs of increasing complexity, and a fun story. Learn about our research on game-based supports for student learning of science practices.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Scianna (University of Wisconsin Madison)

Engage with My NASA Data lessons as a model student to make sense of weather and climate phenomena while discovering the strengths and limitations of a conceptual model used to describe the complex energy transfer in our Earth system.

TAKEAWAYS:
Develop a better understanding of Earth’s energy budget by connecting weather and climate phenomena to a conceptual model developed by NASA from satellite-based observations. This is an example of how students may evaluate a model to engage in data literacy and employ systems thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Rizzi (NASA Langley Research Center/ADNET: No City, No State), Natalie Macke (Pascack Hills High School: Montvale, NJ)

In this workshop, participants will apply conceptual maps of photosynthesis and cellular respiration to simple algal assays. Collected assay data will be used to evidence real-time carbon cycling within the organism as well as serving as a model for ecological interplay between these processes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Walk through how students can measure and learn about photosynthesis, cellular respiration and the carbon cycle in the same hands-on lab.

SPEAKERS:
Audra Brown Ward (Upper School Biology Teacher: , GA)

Conduct an activity that can be used to introduce students to the concept of energy justice and receive a scorecard that can be used to evaluate stories that highlight our current and future energy system and its impacts on people and communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about energy justice and use an evaluation scorecard as one strategy to enhance education about clean energy technologies while promoting literacy, systems thinking and critical thinking skills among learners.

SPEAKERS:
Dana Haine (UNC Institute for the Environment: Chapel Hill, NC)

Model how environmental health investigators work to discover the cause of an outbreak of encephalitis. Experience hands-on, minds-on, NGSS practice-based lessons related to One Health – the connections between human, animal, and environmental health.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about hands-on, minds-on, NGSS practice-based lessons related to One Health – the connections between human, animal, and environmental health. Engage in three-dimensional activities that focus on the science practices of analyzing data and constructing explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Dina Markowitz (University of Rochester: Rochester, NY), Lisa Brosnick (SUNY Buffalo State College: Buffalo, NY)

Learn how to integrate the engineering design process and environmental education to engage students in this unit designed for upper elementary students! Participants will complete the Ocean Cleanup Challenge from the perspective of a student and learn about the Trashion Fashion Challenge.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will learn how to increase student awareness of ocean and land pollution through hands-on STEM challenges. They will also learn how to connect relevant, real world topics that matter to promote student voice.

SPEAKERS:
Meghan Marrero (Mercy University, Dobbs Ferry Campus: No City, No State), Johanna Vasquez (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY), Terri Agravat (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY)

A hands on simulation based on probabilities from scientific literature is used to investigate the effect of community structure on the prevalence of infected ticks. This anchoring phenomenon is extended to explore population ecology, trophic cascades, biodiversity, and the dilution effect.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with a set of lessons that teach many core concepts in ecology using a modeling approach. The hands on simulation will be supplemented by computer models that allow students to explore population growth curves and more complex community relationships.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Carroll (Yorktown High School: Arlington, VA), Michael Zito (Yorktown High School: Arlington, VA)

Empower our students to be solutionary thinkers with “think local, act global” as an important theme in student centered instruction. Create engaging 3D, phenomenon-based opportunities through a social justice lens and harness local and global community partnerships to deepen student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Create a solutionary approach to lesson planning connecting local and global environmental issues in California and Africa, while enhancing SEL. Using the 3D5E DO-KNOW-THINK Learning Sequence, teachers create STEAM-centered lessons for engagement, interdisciplinary active learning, and empathy.

SPEAKERS:
Marie Gorman (STEM 4 Real: San Francisco, CA), Jacqueline Lafitte (Teacher: Hayward, CA), Leena Bakshi (STEM4Real: No City, No State)

Join this hands-on workshop to explore phenomenon-based outdoor learning with (free) Eco-Engineering Challenges and Schoolyard Investigations, using a toolkit of research-informed easy-to-implement instructional strategies that promote equitable and inclusive student engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with instructional strategies and teaching resources they can implement immediately to create a more relevant, equitable and inclusive learning environment for phenomenon-based environmental and outdoor learning.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Miles (Villa Rica High School: Villa Rica, GA), Patricia Morgan (Georgia State University: Atlanta, GA), Karan Wood (Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia (EEA): Acworth, GA)

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)

Protecting Whales is one of two new freely available units in the Smithsonian Science for Computational Thinking series. Learn about integrating computational thinking into your elementary STEM classroom using both hands-on and high-tech resources by using this specific third grade unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to integrate computational thinking into the upper elementary STEM classroom using a problem-driven approach. Learn how to access everything needed to implement the 3rd grade Protecting Whales unit.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Rogers (Smithsonian Science Education Center: Washington, DC), Sarah Glassman (Smithsonian Science Education Center: Washington, DC)

Compare surface temperature data collected by students between urban & rural areas studying the phenomenon of urban heat islands. Get involved in the summer in a Google classroom and receive equipment.

TAKEAWAYS:
The importance of collecting surface temperature data to study “heat islands” within communities and ways to interpret the ground-truthing & satellite data.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Mierzwiak (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH), Kevin Czajkowski (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH), Jessica Taylor (NASA Langley Research Center: Hampton, VA), Janet Struble (: Toledo, OH)

Are you looking for climate change lessons that provide strategies to engage high school students? Activity-filled lessons will explore natural cycles, proxies, and ways to minimize human impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore activities that offer strategies to demonstrate how and why Earth’s climate has changed over time

SPEAKERS:
Kathleen Brooks (CREC: No City, No State), Karin Jakubowski (eesmarts: No City, No State)

How often have you performed a simple water test as a lab and thought - is there more to this? How else can I get students to relate to the importance of the water they utilize everyday? Learn how to incorporate case studies and reading into this common lab activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to set up a simple water test for testing nutrient levels in the water but then expand concepts on the quality of water by exploring the digital platform H2KNOW.

SPEAKERS:
Julie Reynolds (Teacher: Chicago, IL)

Overview of thermoset vs thermoplastic polymers and hands-on activities to be done in the classroom, including predictive design, calculations, and environmental impact discussion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Ways to categorize, work with, and recycle polymers with design and engineering challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Scott Spohler (Global Impact STEM Academy: Springfield, OH), Briana Richardson (Washington High School: Washington Court House, OH)

Botany principals presented in unusual, indigenous myths of photosynthesis, mycorrhizal fungi, pollination, decomposers, seed diversity, forest ecology, etc. Discover elements of what makes story an effective educational tool and generate successful interdisciplinary experiences supporting science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover the essential elements of story and understand what makes story such an effective educational tool. Learn from indigenous myths to build the meaning of botanical/scientific concepts in the context of narrative, imagery, characterization and sensory elements.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Strauss (Author/ Storyteller: , OR)

BRIDGES is a new initiative through the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office, Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory to bridge the awareness and learning gaps for rural and urban communities as well as students from underrepresented groups. In this session, we will introduce our four new educational case studies in bioenergy that place students in collaborative and decision-making roles. Through the cases, students learn how bioenergy is important in our lives and is also being used to solve real environmental and economic challenges. Students will also discover career options for both non-technical and technical skills that can be used in the government, national laboratories, as well as private industry. Scientific practice skills such as developing and using models and obtaining, analyzing and interpreting data are featured in the cases.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be introduced to four newly developed case study curricular resources that feature cutting edge science in sustainable aviation fuel, waste to energy, plastics upcycling, and biofuel feedstocks. After working one of the case studies, they will leave prepared to use it in the classroom

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Jackson (Precollege and Early Workforce Development Manager: , ID), Kelly Sturner (Argonne National Labaratory: Lemont, IL)

The lived experiences and narratives of Black heritage and African American Gullah-Geechee are used as engaging phenomena in inquiry lessons using the 5E model. The scientific practices are used to explore biology data cards created in a National Science Foundation funded project.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging in inquiry and scientific practices using the cultural resources of Black heritage facilitate engagement in the NGSS three dimensions of STEM. Attendees receive free resources created from this project. Connections to Common Core and equitable classroom practices will be made.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Quinlan (Howard University)

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)

Learn about Educating for Environmental Change, a free Indiana University program that helps educators teach the science and policy of climate change and participate in an exemplar ice core activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science teachers have stated that standards like the NGSS are a principal reason for teaching climate change in their classroom. This workshop will engage participating teachers in hands-on, exemplar climate change activities that align with the NGSS and emphasize science practices.

SPEAKERS:
Adam Scribner (Indiana University Bloomington: Bloomington, IN)

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)

Butterflies, birds, bees, bats, & books blend as topics and tools for teaching engaging outdoor lessons. Get hands on animal artifacts & rethink the student science journal. Interwoven throughout, suggestions for appropriate children’s literature will include books from NSTA Kids, the Outstanding Sc

TAKEAWAYS:
The main take away will be cost effective, hands on, content specific strategies for teaching appropriate NGSS standards outdoors or with materials gathered from the outdoors. integration of children's literature and strategies for science journals/notebooks will accompany each teaching strategy.

SPEAKERS:
Steve Rich (Science Author/Consultant: Atlanta, GA)

In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore an Elementary Grades Environmental Literacy learning module on the Eastern Oyster using stereo microscopes, smartphone lenses, the camera+ app, and iNaturalist to examine internal and external structures and how they support the species' survival.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science teachers will experiment with technologies and pedagogies that foster student engagement in scientific inquiry grounded in localized phenomena and environmental literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Green (University of Maryland, College Park: College Park, MD), John Frederick (Maryland Sea Grant: College Park, MD), Angela Stoltz (Asst. Clinical Faculty)

Investigate the spread of tick-borne diseases in humans and animals. Experience hands-on, minds-on, NGSS practice-based lessons related to One Health – the connections between human, animal, and environmental health.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about hands-on, minds-on, NGSS practice-based lessons related to One Health – the connections between human, animal, and environmental health. Engage in three-dimensional activities that focus on the science practices of analyzing data and constructing explanations.

SPEAKERS:
Dina Markowitz (University of Rochester: Rochester, NY), Lisa Brosnick (SUNY Buffalo State College: Buffalo, NY)

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)

Engage in hands-on activities (problem-solving challenges, simulations and modeling) that use 3D learning to explore key ecological topics in Biology and Environmental Science courses (including AP) – population trends, climate change, land use, biodiversity, and ecosystem health.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn ways to guide students’ inquiry around key environmental challenges, using hands-on simulations and modeling activities that employ 3D learning in an inclusive classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Grams (Education Program Associate: Washington, DC), Barbara Huth (Online Learning Manager: Washington, DC)

In this unit, learn about fermentation and ethanol production, what enzyme action can do, and how co-products from ethanol are valuable in their own right.

TAKEAWAYS:
Nourish the Future is a national education initiative developed by science teachers for science teachers to connect students to modern agriculture and provide sound science based resources that meet teacher and student needs in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Leanne Thele (Perryville High School: , MO), Tiska Rodgers (Clarkton High School: Clarkton, MO)

Explore how excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes water more acidic through hands-on activities from the free 5E lesson plans in middleschoolchemistry.com.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers practice using grade-appropriate explanations of the interactions of atoms and molecules to help students better understand the causes of the phenomena they observe and its connection to the problem of ocean acidification.

SPEAKERS:
James Kessler (American Chemical Society: Washington, DC)

Participants will learn strategies for implementing Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences in their classrooms. Strategies include how to build relationships with community partners, finding local spaces to use to conduct investigations, and how to engage students in field-based investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have a “front row seat” and get hands-on experience with the resources needed to implement a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience. Participants will walk away with specific strategies for building partnerships and gaining resources to support their instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Alexis Tharpe (ODU Research Foundation TCEP: Norfolk, VA 23508, VA), Venicia Ferrell (Research Assistant Professor: Norfolk, VA)

Will I ever use this outside of the classroom? When students engage in integrated real-world math activities, they make deeper connections, gain a stronger understanding of academic concepts, and see the concepts as a whole. Teachers in grade bands will collaborate on an integrated garden activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be provided with lesson plans, student work, and anecdotes to initiate discussions about what this activity could look like in their classrooms. At the end of the session, participants will see how integrated math learning projects, like the one described here, connect students.

SPEAKERS:
Sandra Miles (Graduate Student: Logan, UT), Michelle Parslow (Student)

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)

Join the Wade Institute and their partners to explore STEM Challenges developed for MA STEM Week. Participate in inquiry-based investigations using the engineering design process. Receive the curriculum packets. Challenges include: Extreme Zoo Makeover, Survivor Island and Storm City USA.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience using the Engineering Design Process and inquiry investigations to develop engineering challenges for their students and receive curriculum packets for 3 Challenges developed for Massachusetts' STEM week.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Stronach (Lloyd Center for the Environment: Dartmouth, MA), Kathryn Atkins (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Sandra Ryack-Bell (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA)

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)

Through the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s community science program, students go into the field to collect and contribute data to ongoing research on climate-related ecosystem change, building a foundation for understanding of variability. Come experience this data literacy strategy in action.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. A strategy that leverages student experiences collecting community science data to build confidence in working with and interpreting larger community science datasets. 2. Familiarity and confidence using CODAP, free educational software designed to support data learning.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Auclair (Gulf of Maine Research Institute: Portland, ME), Robin Lea (Gulf of Maine Research Institute: No City, No State)

You are using models in your science classroom, but are your students MODELING to make sense of systems and phenomena? Come to this hands-on session to learn more about modeling as a sensemaking practice and how to integrate meaningful modeling experiences into your science classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away from this session with a deeper understanding of modeling as a sensemaking practice, having engaged with multiple models and with ideas about how to integrate more modeling in their own classrooms, support discourse, and formatively assess students’ modeling practice.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Saenz (Researcher: , ME), Alison Miller (Bowdoin College: Brunswick, ME)

Oil spills, climate change and other environmental disasters significantly impact our ecosystems. How can visual data from these events be quantified to make informed, scientific conclusions? Come experience how deep-sea photos help scientists analyze ecological effects of these disasters.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how they can incorporate the STEM-integrated module Under the Sea: A Deep-Sea Ecosystem Challenge, into their science classroom to promote visual literacy within the context of ecology and the interdependence of living things. Attendees will receive access to the curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Sabrina Grossman (CEISMC, Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta, GA), Jayma Koval (CEISMC/ Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta, GA)

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)

How can science learning experiences be designed to support reciprocal and caring understandings of the natural world and human-nature relationships? Come find out with us!

TAKEAWAYS:
Human-nature relationships are culturally rooted and embedded in approaches to science learning. Supporting reciprocal and caring human-nature relationships leads to socio-ecologically just and thriving systems, and aligns with NGSS 3D learning.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison (Educator and Learning Scientist: Seattle, WA), Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

New science curricula use effective pedagogy to provide young people opportunities to explore the prevalence and impacts of plastics, learn about emerging work on sustainable bioplastics, and plan authentic projects to help mitigate environmental impacts in their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to use this new peer-reviewed curriculum to engage youth in environmental science and civic engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Martin Smith (University of California, Davis: Davis, CA)

Schoolyards offer endless opportunities to engage students in three-dimensional learning within environmental education contexts. The teachers leading this workshop have direct access to a stream that served as the focus of the activities being shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
The activities and information in this workshop have been tested and will allow hands-on engagement by the participants while they learn ways to involve their own community and develop meaningful partnerships.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Hawig (Carrollton City Schools: Carrollton, GA), Brent Gilles (University of West Georgia: Carrollton, GA), Ann Catherine Cox (Carrollton Elementary School: Carrollton, GA), Stacey Britton (University of West Georgia: Carrollton, GA)

Moths play key roles in food webs, as pests, and as nocturnal pollinators. The MothEd Project invites students and teachers to investigate moths in local places by building blacklight traps, developing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing moth data in collaboration with others using a web platform.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will prepare to engage students in science investigations of moth ecology by building blacklight traps, developing research questions/hypotheses, collecting/analyzing data from local habitats, and using technology-enhanced curricular materials to foster collaboration & agency among students

SPEAKERS:
Peter White (Associate Professor: No City, No State), Brian Keas (Research Associate)

Models are an essential tool used by scientists to study natural phenomena. Learn how climate hindcasting helps build powerful models for projecting future climate trends.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the history and evolution of climate modeling while examining evidence that supports their reliability for predicting future climate patterns.

SPEAKERS:
Cari Herndon (National Center for Science Education: No City, No State), Lin Andrews (National Center for Science Education: Oakland, CA)

Learn about Conserve It or List It, an exciting series of inquiry investigations driven by student questions that you can use to teach environmental and life science. You will participate in one of the investigations, receive the project guidelines, and get strategies for classroom implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Conserve It or List It is an exciting way to engage students in environmental and life science through inquiry-based lessons driven by phenomena and student questions, with the goal of helping students invest in science and bringing the outdoors into classroom instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Allison Pagliaro (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Sandra Ryack-Bell (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Rachel Stronach (Lloyd Center for the Environment: Dartmouth, MA)

What does scientific observation look like? How do students get there? Through GMRI’s Nature Note framework, students connect what they see with what they know to become curious observers. Join us to explore how this model can be adapted to support scientific observation in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with strategies, writing frames, student work samples, rubrics, and ideas to help students make connections between background knowledge and their local environmental and ecological observations.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Bursk (Science Instruction Specialist: , ME)

A skyrocketing global population is making us rethink how we feed people. Traditional protein sources are unequally distributed and can have devastating effects. We will be investigating how insects could help us feed the world in a more equitable and sustainable way. Bring your appetite!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how traditional ways of farming protein (poultry and cattle) negatively affect the ecological communities and explore how insects could help rectify this problem.

SPEAKERS:
Courtney Ologbosele (Teacher), Curtis Martin (Teacher)

Ever wondered what microorganisms might be hiding in a plant? Probably not! But we'll show you how to translate real high-level research into a highly engaging lab your students will remember and enjoy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a lab protocol to isolate plant endophytes with their students

SPEAKERS:
Sloan Almehmi (Student), Katie Busch (The University of Alabama at Birmingham: Birimingham, AL)

People learn better when they are having fun. This session will use Project WET’s guide—Climate, Water and Resilience—to effectively teach about local and global climate change using fun, hands-on, interactive lessons for middle and high school educators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will feel more comfortable teaching about climate change using fun, hands-on activities such as the ones demonstrated in this session.

SPEAKERS:
Julia Beck (Project Wet Foundation: Bozeman, MT)

Join in collecting GLOBE data partnered with NASA resources to study the solar eclipses. Join Google classroom. Equipment will be provided. There is something for each grade level.

TAKEAWAYS:
Contribute data to a citizen science database used by scientists and students to study the effects of eclipses on the atmosphere

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Czajkowski (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH), Jessica Taylor (NASA Langley Research Center: Hampton, VA), Janet Struble (: Toledo, OH)