Learn how to use guiding phenomena to increase student engagement and inquiry. The guiding phenomenon of Sickle Cell will be demonstrated for Biology and Mangrove Forests for Environmental Science.

TAKEAWAYS:
From this session, attendees will learn how to use guiding phenomena to develop units that engage students and increase inquiry.

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

Students from Anna-Jonesboro High School and Marion High School worked together to complete a field study on tardigrades and biodiversity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students felt more driven to succeed in their scientific research when working with peers from another school.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Richbourg (Anna Jonesboro Community High School)

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:
TThe 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)

Climate change can affect us all differently but it is still the biggest threat to humanity on our planet. Learn how engaging in STEM projects can elevate student voices and hope for the future through climate action.

TAKEAWAYS:
Get ideas of how to incorporate STEM projects while teaching Climate Change and Environmental Science.

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

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)

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)

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)

At arrival participants would receive a green or grey colored paper. They would then be prompted with the question, How would environmental changes impact the population of both green and grey colored insects? After brainstorming they would read and view some graphics on the poster of the “Impacts of Industrialization,” looking at how scientists have long studied how environmental changes impact organisms over time. Then, educators would participate in an online simulation, they would play as a bird and eat the moths in the simulation. Participants would then debrief their observations, hopefully finding that dark forest environment represented what the environment was during and after the Industrial Revolution. The light colored trees became dark and bare, due to the harmful effects of the pollution; this made the lighter colored moths harder to see and therefore gave them an advantage to survive. Poster facilitators would them help educators brainstorm other SS/Science connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will find unique ways that they can incorporate their science and social studies lessons more frequently and naturally.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Petersen (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ), Judith Lozoya (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ)

Applying design thinking, students, educators, and community members collaborate to solve issues facing our community.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Encourage your students to engage in community partnerships to promote student learning; 2. Provide strategies to increase scientific literacy through socio-scientific issues; and 3. Facilitate an inclusive culture through student agency.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Joslyn (Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow: No City, No State)

Grasses are important to biodiversity, geography, and human culture. Their diversity includes rice, corn, wheat, sugar cane, bamboo and more, and they cover much of Earth’s surface. Explore grasses on Earth@Home, a free online interactive resource for learning about the history of Earth and i

TAKEAWAYS:
Grasses play critical roles in our everyday lives, in landscapes, and in global ecosystems. Grasses on Earth@Home provides information on the diversity, evolution, and role of grasses in human society to assist educators in weaving information about these important plants into their courses.

SPEAKERS:
Don Haas (The Paleontological Research Institution)