CDC staff will provide a tour of CDC’s publicly available STEM resources for teachers. The session will feature the newly released CDC NERD Academy curriculum, which uses real-world COVID-19 data and scenarios to teach foundational science, math, and critical thinking skills. These lesson plans, activities, and videos are designed to include everything a STEM teacher needs, even without previous knowledge of public health. CDC staff will illustrate how Module 2: How does disease spread? can be used to teach students about the science behind prevention strategies. Attendees will also meet a diverse group of fictional characters and real CDC staff to help introduce some public health STEM careers. By session’s end, attendees will have practiced how to use one of CDC’s ready-to-go STEM resources, gained insight on how to create lessons using real CDC data and scenarios from journal articles, and gathered ideas on how to get students interested in public health careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use public health examples to illustrate key STEM concepts and skills and to introduce students to STEM careers in public health.

SPEAKERS:
Juliana Azeredo (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Atlanta, GA)

Need FREE grant funds for STEAM education, but don't know where to start? This session unpacks the science of grant writing in 12 steps to acquire resources, materials and supplies.

TAKEAWAYS:
From this session, educators will be able to: •Describe grant types and grant funders •Illustrate 12-step grant writing process •Identify sources of grant funding

SPEAKERS:
Bejanae Kareem (STEM & Grant Specialist: Jonesboro, GA)

Discover CERTL’s proven inquiry-based approach that aims to increase teacher effectiveness. Dynamic scenarios with embedded lab activities deliver content in a real-world context that spark student-led discussions. Participants will experience a hands-on student inquiry and receive takeaways.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be provided inquiry-based learning scenarios and embedded lab activities that will allow them to deliver content in a real-world context that develops students’ critical thinking skills.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Russell (The Center of Excellence for Research, Teaching and Learning: No City, No State), Stan Hill (Wake Forest School of Medicine: Winston Salem, NC)

Join us in this workshop to explore ways to review a beloved lesson and give it a 3D upgrade. Shifting to 3-dimensional teaching can seem like an insurmountable challenge. Teachers may wonder, aren’t I already teaching 3-dimensionally? Can’t I take a lesson and make it 3D? In some cases, yes, give that lesson an upgrade! In this workshop, we will explore how to identify if a lesson is 3-dimensional, if it can be tweaked to be 3-dimensional, or if it needs to be completely re-worked. Then, we will examine ways to incorporate 3-dimensional learning and teaching practices into an existing lesson. Finally, educators will be provided time to apply these strategies to a lesson of their own that they bring, or select from a group of provided lessons. By the end, educators will have the skills to make changes in their own teaching practice and take home a ready-to-implement 3D lesson.

TAKEAWAYS:
Research shows that teachers struggle transitioning to 3-dimensional teaching (Smith, 2020). One step that can help teachers begin to make the shift is to adapt familiar lessons. In this session, teachers will walk away with a beloved lesson they have upgraded to a 3D masterpiece.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Hunter (Clemson University: Clemson, SC), Jennifer Bateman (Clemson University), Meredith Schwendemann (Clemson University)

NGSS storylines will provide the backdrop for a highly constructive, interactive session where attendees experience the power of questioning to drive connected lessons, deepen student thinking, and provide significant learning for all students. This session targets PK-8 teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session attendees will leave with a vade mecum (go ahead and google it, you WANT this!) that will support implementation of transdisciplinary design processes. Takeaways include: Storyline development tools and teacher-constructed model of design processes for use in the classroom and more!

SPEAKERS:
Bridget Miller (University of South Carolina: Columbia, SC), Ashley Gess (University of South Carolina: No City, No State)