Looking for more in your partnerships with edtech providers? Join InnerOrbit and Wicomico Science Leaders as we unpack our partnership providing sensemaking supports for science educators. We aim to provide the inspiration and structures to shape the landscape of edtech and district partnerships.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave this session with a replicable structure of partnership between a Technology Provider and District to move the needle on Sensemaking in High School. Additionally, lessons learned will be shared to give attendees a strong foundation to build upon in their future partnerships.

SPEAKERS:
Hemalatha Bhaskaran (Wicomico County Public Schools: Salisbury, MD)

In this session we will look at how engaging students in the practice of Developing and Using Models over the course of a unit can be used for different purposes. Participants will experience building a consensus model and reflect on how building a class consensus model is an important step in ensuring that all members of the learning community can contribute to the knowledge building and that ALL students have access to the ideas the class agrees moves the understanding forward. We will also highlight how models are a powerful way to uncover new questions students may have, requiring students to dig for a deeper understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Developing and using scientific models allows all students to be integral members of the knowledge-building community.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Journey through protein folding and its implications for human disease in this hands-on engaging investigation of the Amino Acid Starter Kit. Empower your students to make connections between amino acid sequences, final protein shapes and the effect a "simple" mutation can have on a human life.

SPEAKERS:
Dan Williams (Teacher: Shelter Island, NY)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

In this workshop, participants dive into a 2nd grade module on Matter. Using the six steps of the Engineering Design Process, participants will ask, imagine, plan and test a solution to the real-world problem: How can you design and build a shelter that provides protection from rain?

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

High quality instructional materials are essential for equitable access to science, but materials are only the start of the instructional journey! Examine the importance of YOUR role as a teacher in leveraging NGSS-designed curriculum to inspire your students to figure out phenomena.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Teachers will be introduced to the four elements of the anchoring phenomenon routine from OpenSciEd for Middle School. Teachers will experience how an anchoring phenomenon can motivate students to explore & explain real-world phenomena, & develop strategies for creating a driving question board.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC), Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Ready for a dissection that is cutting edge? With this “real” classroom autopsy, revitalize your mammalian structure and function lesson to 3-dimensional instruction while addressing important standards. Participants dissect a Carolina’s Perfect Solution® pig by modeling the protocols of a professio

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau (Retired Educator: National City, MI)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Asking questions and defining problems provides students with an authentic and meaningful entry point into science and engineering. Experience a puzzling chemistry phenomenon and learn how to elicit, organize, and revisit students’ questions so that students feel ownership over their own learning.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Marmolejo (Activate Learning: Greenwich, CT)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

In this workshop, participants are introduced to a 5th grade module on Earth Systems to uncover a new process for developing models in science and see how the communication of ideas through models and sketches increases opportunities for student engagement.

Sponsoring Company: Bozemanscience.com, Inc

Paul Andersen will demonstrate how to use targeted mini-lessons to explicitly teach the concepts (CCCs) and practices (SEPs) of the NGSS. You will learn the main elements of an effective science mini-lesson and be provided examples of mini-lessons to deliver to your students. For grades K-12.

Sponsoring Company: PEER Physics

Are you passionate about engaging students in rich discourse and looking for strategies, norms, and protocols that can support this work? Join us for an interactive workshop to explore effective small-group and whole-class discourse techniques. Participants receive consensus building protocols.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie Otero (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Explore the teacher’s side and experience the student side of our IDE. While engaged in an OSE lesson we'll explore the Teacher Edition’s and its structure while also experiencing the different features that students have available to use in their interactive student edition.

SPEAKERS:
Jen Gutierrez (IntegratedSTEMk12, LLC: Chandler, AZ)

Experience two novel instructional routines supporting the integration of NGSS Crosscutting Concepts; learn how these routines can be used to foster belonging in science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will come away with a deeper understanding of how to use the CCCs to foster belonging in science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Joy Otibu (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY), Andrea Sau (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY)

How can we provide access to learning to ensure students can succeed in today’s learning experience? We will look at the practice of scaffolding instruction in science and use classroom examples that can be transferred into your classroom. Q&A to follow.

TAKEAWAYS:
The practical use of instructional scaffolds and the supporting strategies to increase access to student learning in science.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Longenberger (Washington County Public Schools: Hagerstown, MD)

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 (The University of Toledo: Toledo, OH)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

In this workshop, participant explore parts of a 4th grade module on Energy to see how hands-on experiences and other modes of discovery enable students to build knowledge and gather personally meaningful evidence to support their scientific explanations.

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

This session will introduce teachers to physical models of DNA base-pairs that highlight the epigenetic modification of DNA and its impact on gene expression.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Herman (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Students can drive their learning through hands-on activities integrated with digital and print resources. Learn how using Smithsonian Science for the Classroom engages students with science and engineering practices and promotes scientific literacy for all students. Take home materials available.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC), Melissa Rogers (Smithsonian Science Education Center: Washington, DC)

Sponsoring Company: The National WWII Museum

When students investigations began with a real story from history, with true situations and high stakes, science learning can be everything we want it to be. Learn about using our free activities to teach science the NGSS way, and integrating science. literacy, and social studies.

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

The NGSS calls for a shift from knowing to doing. This includes analyzing real-world data and using that analysis to create models. Join us as we talk about tangible classroom strategies that meaningfully improve students' skills with data and receive the award-winning game, CHARTY PARTY!

SPEAKERS:
Julianna Jimenez (Stile Education: Los Angeles, CA), Hailey Vogel (Head of Teaching and Learning: Los Angeles, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Phenomenon Science Education

We will explore what phenomena are through hands-on activities specific to your grade band. We will look at examples and non examples of phenomena and use criteria to figure out the differences.

SPEAKERS:
Joshua Smith (Phenomenon Science Education: Amherst, MA)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Engage in a PRIME lesson to see modeling scaffolds that support student discussions and literacy strategies in the context of science. Experience incorporating academic language in written responses and oral discourse in conjunction with investigations using an interactive word wall.

Sponsoring Company: TCI

Join TCI in this interactive session to learn how to integrate language skills while guiding students in developing their science knowledge.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Thomas (TCI: Mountain View, CA)

Join us to learn how to introduce the practices of modeling and scientific argumentation at the beginning of the school year by using phenomenon-based instruction. We will share how our Biology PLC helped students to define a model for life that could be used to determine if a virus is living .

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomena can serve as a way to introduce and build skills in the science practices. Students will develop a model based on one organism and use that model to construct an argument about whether a virus is living.

SPEAKERS:
Crystal McDowell (Greenbrier High School: Evans, GA)

Stories from Chemical Insights Research Institute’s “research to impact” process will be shared from their work on a variety of emerging technologies and topics such as 3D printing emissions, an economical approach to improving indoor air quality during wildfire smoke events, and more.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discuss how “research to impact” is or might be used in their schools and collaborate to create their own research to impact story they can share to engage students in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Cristi Bell-Huff (Research Manager), Holley Henderson (Chemical Insights Research Institute: Marietta, GA)

It is a challenge to help students not only figure out science ideas, but how to work together and support each other. This panel of classroom teachers will explore how co-constructed community agreements, returned to throughout the year, can help students participate in a scientific community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will understand how community agreements are used in OpenSciEd and other high school classrooms to support collective and equitable sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Patton (Denver Public Schools), Joe Kremer (Denver Public Schools: No City, No State), Samantha Pinter (Norwalk Public Schools: Norwalk, CT)

Learn how to engage your students with the rich phenomena around the mismatch between our human body physiology and our modern environment, using a free, EQuIP-reviewed unit designed for HS NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will develop a vision for how to use engineering practices to teach genetics and epigenetics while creating a more engaging and inclusive classroom environment for all learners

SPEAKERS:
Joy Otibu (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY), Andrea Sau (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY)

Come experience how leveraging complex culturally relevant societal challenges as phenomena in 3D teaching and learning supports student motivation and engagement. Learn how the BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model develops student agency within and beyond the classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and leverages complex societal issues as anchoring phenomena/problems, culminating tasks, and performance assessments in 3D units of instruction to motivate students and develop agency in addressing these issues.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Explore how to engage students in computational thinking using a newly developed, freely available simulation designed to address high school performance expectations in life science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to promote the science and engineering practice of computational thinking in the high school biology classroom. Participants will be introduced to a freely accessible computer simulation based on a real-world phenomenon designed to address PEs in biology.

SPEAKERS:
Maia Binding (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Ben Koo (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Wendy Jackson (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Why is science discourse important? How does it impact improving equity in a science classroom? How do teachers implement this strategy? Learn the answers to these and other questions as you explore engaging (STCMS) lessons from the Smithsonian. Leave with resource materials.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Students' lived experience of brain disorders can strengthen lessons for Middle and High School science standards on structure/function. Validation of students as personal or cultural lived experience experts sets a foundation for their future learning, that is critical to achieve classroom equity.

SPEAKERS:
Rebekah Corlew (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD), Carlo Quintanilla (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD), Diana Andriola (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD)

Sponsoring Company: Nourish the Future

Become a leader in exploring solutions with students on issues affecting sustainability, climate, environment, and food production. Test solutions to real-world problems facing food production today with 4 inquiry-based lessons in biotechnology, water/soil quality, renewable fuels and biodiversity.

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Using the storyline approach, a logical sequence of lessons motivated by students’ questions arising from their interactions with phenomena, we’ll navigate through the OSE model using the five routines to help students achieve the objectives and actively work through the sense-making process.

SPEAKERS:
Jen Gutierrez (IntegratedSTEMk12, LLC: Chandler, AZ)

What does engagement look like in a physics classroom? Movement, noise, and fun! Learn about how you can include all students in your physics classroom. Take home a sample lesson plan on 1-D kinematics and learn more about project-based learning, cross-curricular lessons, and real-world designing.

TAKEAWAYS:
Make physics accessible to all learners by encouraging curiosity, creativity, and promoting equity, inclusion, and engagement through an exploratory instructional strategy.

SPEAKERS:
Tita Anderson Lovell (Paul Duke STEM High School: Norcross, GA)

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)

A major evolution misconception is that organisms on a phylogenetic tree are progressing towards the ultimate goal of being bigger, better, and faster. Using convergent evolution as an anchoring phenomenon, learn how to inoculate your students against this misunderstanding with a 5E storyline.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to help students using a misconception-based approach. By looking at a variety of species, teachers will leave with evidence-based examples of evolution in action. Major areas of focus are artificial selection, domestication, natural selection, and convergent evolution.

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

Looking to increase engagement and leverage student curiosity? Sensemaking frames the inquiry process from the student’s point of view and puts them in charge of their own learning. Find out how this process can increase your teaching effectiveness and fundamentally change how your students learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with an understanding of sensemaking as a practice, its place in the 3 dimensions of Next Gen Science Standards, and insights gained from experiencing hands-on, minds-on sensemaking of phenomena from the student point of view.

SPEAKERS:
Mariel Kolker (Morristown High School: Morristown, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

How do crosscutting concepts link the ideas and practices of science across different domains and over time? We will show you practical examples to see how crosscutting concepts provide a foundation for student sensemaking of phenomena and problems. Leave with classroom resources.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: Propello

In this workshop, Propello's team of NGSS curriculum experts will provide an overview of the cross-cutting concepts, how they help students make sense of science phenomenon, and share tips and techniques for embedding cross-cutting practice into all of your science lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Justice Ejike (Educator), Lisa Thayne (Lead Program Manager, Science: Murfreesboro, TN), Julie Waid (Propello: Austin, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers

Capture high school chemistry students’ interest by inviting them into a phenomenon-based curriculum! Perform a periodic table card sort and learn how to build an understanding of whether it is possible to turn a copper penny into gold. Presented by Living by Chemistry author, Dr. Angelica Stacy.

SPEAKERS:
Angelica Stacy (University of California, Berkeley: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Experience a novel approach to Earth science. This pedagogy uses a “systems” approach for plate tectonics, astronomy, natural resources, geology, and paleoclimatology. There will be several take-home activities and ideas to implement or augment your existing Earth science curricula.

SPEAKERS:
Gary Curts (Activate Learning: Greenwich, CT)

Find out how to use explore-before-explain learning to flip the traditional teaching script and promote long-lasting understanding in physical science.

TAKEAWAYS:
How you do it—ready-to-teach lessons that use an explore-before-explain sequence to provide an experience that meet the Next Generation Science Standards and make interdisciplinary connections to the Common Core State Standards.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick Brown (Fort Zumwalt School District R-II: O'Fallon, MO)

Experience how the new BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model creates learning experiences that motivate students with significant, real world phenomena and problems! Learn how AIL anchors cycles of inquiry and sensemaking, culminating in student explanations/design solutions!

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and leverages authentic phenomena/problems to anchor cycles of inquiry and sensemaking. This approach provides instructional coherence from students’ perspective, equitable access, and motivation for ALL learners.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

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)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Nurture students’ curiosity! Investigate methods used by scientists to estimate population sizes. Learn how students can use a terrestrial model to observe how pill bugs respond to habitat degradation. Use inquiry to develop experiments to observe the habitat preference of Bess beetles and milliped

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

How do we engage students to ask questions and develop evidence-based explanations? In this hands-on activity from the Lab-Aids EDC Earth Science program, discourse occurs authentically as you role-play a geologist testing various site extractions for molybdenum, a valuable mineral.

(Providing all 3 presenters) Making sense of the world as part of a classroom community requires a classroom culture where all students feel like they belong and it is safe to participate, share their ideas, disagree, and productively struggle together. Participants in this session gain strategies and resources for developing and supporting the ongoing use of classroom norms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom norms create a culture of equitable science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Edel Maeder (Rochester City School District: Rochester, NY), Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Bremen, GA), Kristen Moorhead (PLI, LLC: Mesa, AZ)

Are you a secondary teacher looking for resources for your classroom? Join this team of educators in sharing their experiences of tools and routines designed to support students' sensemaking.

Students Teaching Students
Students can learn so much by teaching each other. Give them a challenging conceptual question that they can debate after choosing initial answers (with cards or free software). Ask the question again when debate is done, and students will likely have all arrived at the correct answer!

Integrating Anchor Phenomena as Engagement and Assessment
Phenomena are an essential element to science teaching. But, we often do not refer back to them in our unit! Come see how a biology and chemistry teacher not only use them as anchors, but also incorporate them as part of an end of unit assessment!

SPEAKERS:
Karen Cianciulli (Physics Teacher: Asheville, NC), Erin Springthorpe (Gwinnett Online Campus: Lawrenceville, GA), Jennifer Barnes (Gwinnett Online Campus: Lawrenceville, GA)

Join these middle school educators as they share strategies to support students in modeling their ideas in the classroom.

Model Your Anchor Phenomenon Early and Often: A Strategy for Sensemaking
1. Have students make an initial model based on prior knowledge and assumptions about the natural world. *Predict. Wonder. Be wrong!* 2. Dedicate time for students to continually revise their models as they acquire more evidence and content understanding. 3. Watch the lightbulb turn on!

Read Alouds: Developing Literacy and Thinking Skills in Science
Read-alouds are a valuable strategy for introducing nonfiction text, articles, and current events to students that can also promote deeper understanding, higher-level thinking, and increased engagement. Learn how to prepare and implement read-alouds in your science class.

Flippity: A go to versatile tool to increase engagement
Flippity can "easily turn Google™ spreadsheets into flashcards and other cool stuff." This session will highlight three go to interactives to increase student engagement with one another and with content. Consider bringing a device to practice creating one or two of these cool things. Hacking the Secret Garden with 3D eLearning Experiences Elementary preservice teachers and students hack the science of school gardens and digitally present details of garden-based phenomena that meets NGSS 3D learning.

SPEAKERS:
Allison Wise (American Community School of Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Jeff Thomas (University of Southern Indiana: Evansville, IN)

Explore how to use food and cooking to invite students to connect science to their everyday lives and be curious. This session includes hands-on activities and discussions to emphasize how participants can incorporate resources into their own teaching to support their current curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with ready-to-use strategies and resources to incorporate food and cooking into the science classroom. These strategies and resources are differentiated so they can be used for different types of classrooms and availability to resources as well as teaching styles.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Strangfeld (Harvard University: Cambridge, MA)

Sponsoring Company: School Specialty - FOSS

Students need to experience and make sense of relevant science phenomena that connect to and define standards—a challenging task for teachers. Learn strategies for providing direct experience with phenomena, guiding students to constructing explanations, and developing models with the FOSS program.

SPEAKERS:
FOSS Project Staff (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Brian Campbell (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

Explore the use of sensemaking strategies to help students understand how selective gene expression works. Come experience a model lesson from a new Lab-Aids' program: Science and Global Issues: Biology, developed by SEPUP. This hands-on workshop will also show a connection to genetic engineering.

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

How do hydrothermal vent communities survive without sunlight? Dive into the deep with us and investigate how these ecosystems thrive in the absence of light using a student sensemaking approach and activity. We’ll also share resources that make it easier than ever to connect to ocean exploration.

SPEAKERS:
Suraida Nanez-James (Education Specialist), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Bekkah Lampe (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD)

Sponsoring Company: National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Students' lived experience of brain disorders can strengthen lessons for Middle and High School science standards on structure/function. Validation of students as personal or cultural lived experience experts sets a foundation for their future learning, that is critical to achieve classroom equity.

SPEAKERS:
Rebekah Corlew (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD), Carlo Quintanilla (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD), Diana Andriola (NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Bethesda, MD)

Explore a new online, teacher-developed STEM curriculum focused on sustainability. Through the storyline of a virtual study tour of Germany, students explore sustainability from multiple perspectives with the goal of empowering students to apply STEM to sustainability in their own communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Germany is a leader in innovative STEM solutions to critical global sustainability issues related to food production, waste management, renewable energy, climate change, and ecosystem management. Lessons from Germany can inspire student-led local action.

SPEAKERS:
Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ)

Have you wondered how to teach the Nature of Science in an engaging way? Do you know that there are free accessible websites to help. Come see how a few simple activities that allow students to access the other dimension of the NGSS standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Come away with free resources of Nature of Science activities. In addition learn the backed research principles that make this dimension of NGSS vital for scientific literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Mulligan (Bridgeport Public School: Bridgeport, NE)

This session highlights the importance of argumentation surrounding explaining meaningful phenomena and their centrality to a 3-D learning approach. The session will equip teachers to implement such learning experiences in their classes.

TAKEAWAYS:
The importance of argumentation around meaningful phenomena and how to implement learning experiences that engage students in argumentation around phenomena in the service of sense-making and learning DCIs, SEPs, and CCs.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Hutner (The University of Alabama: Austin, TX)

Experience how embedding literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in 3D teaching and learning promotes sensemaking and science understanding for ALL learners! Learn how the BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model embeds literacy supports throughout cycles of inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and embeds literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in conjunction with science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to promote students in figuring out key science ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Immerse yourself in classroom-ready lessons that create the need to engage in Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking to build science ideas needed to explain phenomena (and maybe solve a problem or two).

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging students in the practice of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking can create and foster wider interests in STEM fields

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Engage in an exploration of the unique chemical and physical properties of water and the phospholipid bilayer that separates cells from their surrounding environment.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (Blue Valley High/Middle School: Randolph, KS)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

Learning Sequences to drive phenomena through a unit is one way to help students understand the content. In this model activity from a new Lab-Aids program: Science and Global Issues: Biology, developed by SEPUP, you will use data to investigate how abiotic factors and species diversity are related.

This is session #4 in the PL Committee CCCs Pathway and is designed to support K-12. The crosscutting concepts provide a consistent language for student communication. When teachers’ assessment prompts are designed with the crosscutting concepts, the focus of student thinking can be directed to different aspects of the phenomenon or, the system being investigated. Patterns may be used as evidence to support explanations or arguments for the causes of a phenomenon. Participants will explore the progression of Crosscutting Concepts throughout a student’s K-12 career. They will consider phenomenon and discuss several appropriate prompts that bring different CCCs to the forefront (patterns, scale, systems). Participants will engage with the process of developing assessment prompts which use the Crosscutting Concepts to initiate student sensemaking responses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participant will leave with resources that guide their development and use of Crosscutting Concepts to focus student sensemaking on assessments. These can be integrated with assessments prompts which are aligned to Science and Engineering Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Leah Litz (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium: No City, No State), Christopher Soldat (Grant Wood Area Education Agency: Cedar Rapids, IA)

You made the learning three dimensional in your classroom; now it's time to do the same for your grading.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Ways to help students focus on learning more than gradesl 2. Systems of efficient grading that make meaningful feedback possible; and 3. Tips to have students participate in telling their learning story.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Kiser (Pullman High School: Pullman, WA), Johanna Brown (Washington State OSPI)

This session explores how technology-based instruction can give students more choice in figuring out how to solve problems and make sense of the world and voice in deciding what counts as knowing in science, math, and engineering.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session helps teachers enable students to (1) design and carry out investigations, share ideas, justify evidence, and provide feedback to others, (2) reach a consensus about what counts as acceptable or high-quality work, (3) see technology as a useful tool in sense-making.

SPEAKERS:
Victor Sampson (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX)

Learn about environmental DNA (eDNA) by analyzing unknown samples against a database of DNA barcode sequences. This evidence will be used to justify whether one of the collected samples belonged to a Bigfoot. A variety of practical applications for eDNA will also be explored.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore and appreciate the importance of evidence to the scientific process by taking a deep dive into an NGSS storyline sequence developed to help students understand that science must be substantiated by multiple lines of evidence to be accepted by the scientific community.

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

Learn about the scope and sequence of a model-based Earth science-integrated biology course and how our phenomenon-question-model framework is used to develop a set of models to explore the history of life on Earth and human impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore one way to develop a coherent year-long curriculum that integrates Earth science standards into biology.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Passmore (University of California, Davis: Davis, CA)

Sponsoring Company: School Specialty - FOSS

Investigate phenomena and experience how students collect data, engage in sensemaking discussions, and construct explanations in FOSS lessons. Experience strategies that build student agency and promote scientific thinking and discussion by using science notebooks.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Campbell (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), FOSS Project Staff (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Bozemanscience.com, Inc

Paul Andersen will model best practices of science instruction including: modeling instruction, argument-driven inquiry, phenomenon-based instruction, and the SEPs contained in the NGSS. Special consideration will be given to the CCCs as a thematic and practical lens to drive scientific inquiry.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Experience the pedagogy of OpenSciEd for middle school by engaging in a model lesson from the new Carolina Certified Version. Teachers will experience the four elements of the anchoring phenomenon routine. Teachers will experience how the anchoring phenomenon routine motivates students.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC), Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: PEER Physics

Join us for an interactive workshop to explore how science practices can be used to build a more inclusive and engaging learning environment. Participants will explore the PEER Physics Learning Cycle and gain access to a phenomenon-driven Waves unit for high school physics and physical science.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie Otero (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

Learn strategies for introducing CER writing and strengthening students’ CER writing skills through scaffolded training, peer feedback, teacher feedback, and revision. Rubrics, task templates, and sample tasks will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies for training their students to effectively write CER responses, how to best format practice tasks, and how to provide feedback on responses.

SPEAKERS:
Steve Kuninsky (Science Teacher/Instructional Coach: Lawrenceville, GA)

Integration of the critical aspects of the three dimensions in NGSS is meant to drive and equip teachers to promote real science in students’ daily lives. These pillars of the three-dimensional learning delineated in each standard of the NGSS provide effective strategies that address important focus areas that positively impact Urban Science Education. How can we ensure that quality science education is being promoted in all school settings, especially urban ones? An asset-based pedagogical approach focuses on the strengths, interests, and connections to students’ prior knowledge in a culturally responsive way. Science educators constantly seek resources and strategies to promote successful science education. Challenges that are faced in urban educational settings such as overcrowding, limited resources, and equity in the distribution of the resources have negatively impacted science education directly. In many cases, urban science teachers constantly engage in the mitigation of these

SPEAKERS:
Acacia McKenna (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

Use a DQB to make phenomena meaningfully connected to science content. Pro-tips and exemplary DQB walkthrough – an experienced trainer will guide development of a sample DQB, using a model lesson from our middle school program that looks at the effects of an introduced species on an ecosystem.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

With the transition to 3-D learning and NGSS, is there still a place for dissections in the classroom? The answer is yes! As you dissect a frog, we will demonstrate how to integrate the 3 dimensions of learning while highlighting adaptations and the relationship between structure and function.

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau (Retired Educator: National City, MI)

Sponsoring Company: The National WWII Museum

When you use real problems and stories from history to begin investigations, STEM naturally happens. Starting with problem-solving your students will naturally engage in the science and engineering practices while learning about history, and practicing disciplinary literacy

Sponsoring Company: Studies Weekly

Learn how to use phenomenon and inquiry to promote equitable talk and provide accessible entry points for all students during science class by using lesson design techniques such as concept building, student-driven inquiry, neutral prompting, localized vocabulary introduction, and processing time.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Chamberlain (Studies Weekly: Orem, UT)

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Teaching has always been challenging, and a pandemic has only exacerbated the struggles of educators and widened pre-existing gaps. Join us for our session to discuss how teachers can leverage cross-curricular strategies to increase participation, engagement, and outcomes in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Julianna Jimenez (Stile Education: Los Angeles, CA), Hailey Vogel (Head of Teaching and Learning: Los Angeles, CA)

Sponsoring Company: TCI

In this hands-on session, we’ll conduct a Bring Science Alive! investigation that gets students engaged in explaining phenomena and solving problems like real-world scientists and engineers.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Thomas (TCI: Mountain View, CA)

This session will introduce NSTA's phenomenon-driven, three-dimensional instructional materials designed for high school classrooms. These lessons and units provide opportunities for all students to engage in science learning meaningful to them.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon-driven, three-dimensional lessons and units provide students opportunities to actively try to figure out how the world works or design solutions to problems (sensemaking).

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Join us on a deep dive into STEM comics — from webcomics to graphic novels, and how to effectively incorporate comics into an existing curriculum to teach content and the importance of sequence in science.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to effectively integrate comics and graphic novels into a STEM classroom and get students making their own to express what they know.

SPEAKERS:
Shari Brady (Kaleideum: Winston-Salem, NC), Matt Brady (Atkins High School: Winston-Salem, NC)

In this session, the teachers will start out by receiving a detailed explanation of what makes an effective infographic for the classroom. We will then work through several examples of high-quality infographics and how they can be used in the classroom. When the session is over the teacher should leave with multiple lesson ideas and a better understanding of infographics in the classroom and how their addition to the classroom can increase student understanding and engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
The teacher will leave with a better understanding of infographics and how to use them as a tool within the classroom curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Rob Lamb (Pattonville High School: Maryland Heights, MO)

Find out how to modify your current instruction to better communicate the true nature and process of science using tools from the Understanding Science website. Help students recognize science as a dynamic, exciting, creative, and intensely human endeavor!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use two resources from the Understanding Science project: an interactive journaling tool to document the process of science and stories that make the nature and process of science explicit, both of which address NGSS SEPs and reflect NSTA’s 2020 position statement.

SPEAKERS:
Betsy Barent (Lincoln Public Schools: No City, No State), Anastasia Thanukos (University of California Museum of Paleontology: Berkeley, CA)

Describing, producing, and brainstorming the creative concept of Explainer Sheets as a way to engage all students and assess their understanding of the science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Bring the freedom of creativity into the everyday science lesson!

SPEAKERS:
Matt Brady (Atkins High School: Winston-Salem, NC)

Starting with a 3D learning target will ensure you build a lesson that includes a strong connection between Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Cross-Cutting Concepts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will create 3D learning targets and outline lessons that guide students through sense making instruction as they explore scientific content.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Suarez (Northwest ISD: Fort Worth, TX), Courtney Toht (Northwest ISD: Fort Worth, TX)

Research Experiences for STEM Educators & Teachers (RESET) is dedicated to improving STEM education across the nation. This presentation is for middle/high school educators who want to experience real-world research & learn about how to translate that into effective curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
There are two main outcomes of this presentation. First, the audience will leave with information about AEOP programs, specifically RESET, and second, the audience will receive information about how to become involved with the AEOP RESET program.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Moore (Tennessee Tech: Cookeville, TN), Jennifer Meadows (Tennessee Tech: Cookeville, TN), Christine Girtain (Toms River High School South: Toms River, NJ)

How do we prepare our youth of today to become tomorrow’s future leaders and decision makers? In this presentation, we will explore a Marine Science course designed to instruct students through experiential learning in our changing world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a Marine Science course designed to instruct students through experiential learning in our changing world.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Dushay (High School Science Teacher)

Help bridge representation gaps by giving students the opportunity to see themselves and their cultures reflected in STEM. We'll share standards-aligned stories from history to incorporate into your lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain a better sense of why inclusive representation matters; 2. consider how STEM is a human achievement, built by people of all backgrounds; 3. learn about historic figures that are not taught in traditional settings to get started in creating a more inclusive, diverse STEM picture

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

Have you ever thought how do I teach the concept of Redshift and Blueshift of what's going on in the galaxy in an engaging way? Come see a classic game of red light green light used to help students make sense of how these two concepts are both related and help explain the Big Bang Theory.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have a ready to use game for their classroom that will get students up and moving on a concept that can be difficult for students to visualize.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Mulligan (Bridgeport Public School: Bridgeport, NE)

Three High School Committee members will share effective strategies to establish a sensemaking culture on the high school classroom based on the Framework for K-12 Science education and the vision of NGSS. Attendees will engage in reflection and discussion focused on applying these strategies to their context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies to begin to lay a foundation for a sensemaking culture in your High School classes!

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Bahr (Harvard Public Schools: Harvard, NE), Wendy Binder (Program Director, STEM Professional Learning: Arlington, VA)

This session will introduce participants to the instructional routines and tools (developed by The Next Generation Science Storylines Project at Nothwestern University) used to create and enact phenomenon-based storylines. Using instructional routines helps support students as they work to explain a phenomenon, by uncovering the science ideas and crosscutting concepts through use of the science and engineering practices found in the Next Generation Science Standards. The session will also introduce participants to Storyline Tools which evaluate lessons for the presence and strength of these routines in existing instructional materials. We will provide all 3 presenters for this speed sharing session.

TAKEAWAYS:
Instructional routines used in storylines provide a coherent path from students’ questions about a phenomenon, to the explanation or model of that phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Holly Hereau (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Join High School educators to learn about student collaboration, using website interactives, and engaging students with authentic data.

How science really works: Enhancing instruction with the Science Flowchart interactive
Find out how to modify your current instruction to better communicate the dynamic process of science using an interactive tool from the Understanding Science website. Help students recognize science as a dynamic, exciting, creative, and intensely human endeavor!

Saving the Night with Citizen Science
Provide students with the power of citizen science as they make scientific observations and analyze data to increase awareness worldwide about the impact of light pollution using NSF’s NOIRLab’s Globe at Night program. Students engage with authentic data to propose solutions to light pollution.

We are All in this Together - Collaboration is Key
In this session, we will focus on the importance of student collaboration and how to incorporate student collaboration through sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Betsy Barent (Lincoln Public Schools: No City, No State), Anastasia Thanukos (University of California Museum of Paleontology: Berkeley, CA), Robert Sparks (NSF's NOIRLab), Justine Schaen (NSF's NOIRLab: Tucson, AZ), Elissa Blount (Vidalia High School: Vidalia, GA)

Come discover how free, NSF-funded tools from The Concord Consortium can engage your students in data analysis and systems thinking, with a special emphasis on Science Practices. Bring a device to this interactive session and get free resources!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain knowledge and experience in using free, research-based technology resources for data exploration and for diagramming and analysis of complex systems.

SPEAKERS:
Chad Dorsey (The Concord Consortium: Concord, MA)

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

How do you scaffold students towards sensemaking? Explore strategies of how you can help students leverage DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs to make sense of novel phenomena. Participants will break into groups to analyze scaffolds for their own grade/content, discuss their wonderings, and explore resources.

SPEAKERS:
Erin Cooke (Customer Success Manager)

The effects of a Storyline approach was used in a High School biology class. A storyline focusing on the concept of ecosystem homeostasis was presented to students and compared to a traditional teaching approach. Results indicated that student content knowledge and attitudes improved.

TAKEAWAYS:
Storylines are effective teaching tool to help student learn science content through the lens of Science & Engineering Practices and Crosscutting Concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Shane Cullian (Whitewater High School: Whitewater, WI), John Graves (Montana State University: Bozeman, MT)

Our High School Committee Poster will highlight the ways HS educators are creating a classroom culture grounded in Sensemaking for grades 9-12.

TAKEAWAYS:
What you can do tomorrow to flip your classroom so the HS student is the knower.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Bahr (Harvard Public Schools: Harvard, NE)

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)

Get ready for the NGSS with ways to sequence instruction that promote long-lasting understanding for your students by using a simple yet powerful sensemaking approach: Explore-Before-Explain.

TAKEAWAYS:
Develop knowledge of important planning considerations covers becoming an “explore-before-explain” teacher and designing lessons that use the assets all students bring to learning science through inquiry-based approaches.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick Brown (Fort Zumwalt School District R-II: O'Fallon, MO)

Gene expression is a key topic in the AP Biology curriculum that can be difficult for students to investigate and explore. In this lesson, students are introduced to RNA sequencing and are able to analyze NASA data to create hypotheses of how space impacts biological functions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be guided through the process of analyzing RNA sequencing data using the GeneLab platform so they can use this tool to teach gene expression in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Bliss (Teacher)

How can you bring sensemaking to life in your classroom? Explore how to create deep connections within your classroom community between students and to the science ideas while working purposefully together to make lasting meaning while investigating phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
By exploring a few common examples and considering a specific aspect of their own learning environments, participants will explore how to pull all the pieces of their science teaching practice together to engage students in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Passmore (University of California, Davis: Davis, CA)

Explore the fundamental nature of particles with hands-on activities and real experiences based on the research of the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

TAKEAWAYS:
Investigating concepts from the micro and macro environments is better when students can investigate the content through hands-on activities and real-world experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Chad Ronish (Science Education Specialist: Lead, SD)

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

During this session you’ll build a scaffolded, NGSS-aligned assessments to use with your classroom, school, or district! We'll investigate building prior grade level assessments, cover common misconceptions around sensemaking, and best practices for scaffolding assessments for MS students.

Engagement in scientific sense-making necessitates rich classroom discourse. We will explore strategies for students to present their ideas, engage in reasoned argumentation, refine their ideas, and reach shared conclusions. Walk away with many ready-to-use resources!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will examine common teacher-talk patterns, plan goals for conversations, and explore creating a classroom environment in which students openly share ideas, clarify understandings, and draw conclusions to deepen their learning experience.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Fine (Instructional Coach: Managua, TX)

Matter, forces, and energy are three powerful lenses to make sense of phenomena. We will use examples from the forthcoming free and open-source OpenSciEd High School physics course, which also incorporates earth and space science, to show how we can scaffold the development of student thinking using these lenses across the year. Participants will receive an overview of the course and the matter-energy-forces (M-E-F) conceptual framework. Participants will also explore examples of phenomena that students will explain through these different lenses. Examples will include (1) deep mantle convection, (2) vehicle collisions, (3) meteors, (4) microwaves, and ionizing radiation.

TAKEAWAYS:
A framework for reasoning about changes in the matter, energy and forces in a system helps students develop the mechanisms underlying explanations of diverse phenomena including deep mantle convection, vehicle collisions, meteors, microwaves and ionizing radiation.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO), Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Kate Henson (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

During this session participants will learn practical strategies for developing, implementing, and differentiating three-dimensional assessments. Participants will develop an understanding of three-dimensional assessments by engaging in activities to support discussion around how and why three-dimensional assessment tasks and instructional tasks share many similarities. We will discuss how a three-dimensional assessment task attends to access and equity using differentiation strategies already embedded into the task. Participants will also gain experience evaluating student learning across the three dimensions using authentic student work samples. We will also use these examples to discuss strategies and tips for developing success criteria for grading that allows for interrater reliability.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will gain a stronger understanding of how to use three-dimensional assessments to evaluate student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Bremen, GA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

During this session you’ll build an NGSS Benchmark or common assessment from our database of 10,000+ NGSS Assessment items! We'll look at the types of questions best used for these summative assessments and take workshop time to build an assessment you can use immediately

SPEAKERS:
Erin Cooke (Customer Success Manager)

Learn how all students benefit from inventing using U.S. Patent and Trademark Office free resources. Walk away with a classroom invention challenge focused on real-world problem-solving addressing science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. Resources will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how invention education engages students in real-world problem solving and is a transdisciplinary approach to learning. They will gain an understanding that STEM does not exist in isolation and that collaboration and critical thinking become essential along with content.

SPEAKERS:
Reginald Duncan (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Alexandria, VA), Jorge Valdes (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Alexandria, VA), Kathy Hoppe (STEMisED, Inc: No City, No State)

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)

Modeling integrates scientific practices, cross cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. In this workshop you will construct a model of a favorite anchoring phenomenon, and use the model to develop a 3D, modeling-based unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session attendees will learn how to engage their students in modeling, and use a systems-thinking framework to construct a modeling-based unit

SPEAKERS:
Steve Bennett (Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI)

In this session participants will explore STEMTeachingTools.org — a suite of accessible, resource-rich tools for guiding instruction, assessment, and curriculum in the science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
STEM Teaching Tools is a freely-available collection of research-practice briefs that contain recommendations and strategies for implementing the vision of the Framework and NGSS. They can be used for educator professional learning, both individually and in professional learning communities.

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

Join NSTA Professional Learning Facilitators for informal conversations about science teaching and learning. Bring questions and ideas to explore and discuss — no topic is too big or too small! Let’s work together to make science learning engaging, important, and accessible to all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
We’ll draw on the expertise of NSTA professional learning facilitators and educators in the room to answer questions, provide research-based feedback, and share resources to help you continue to shift your practice toward three-dimensional teaching and learning.

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

How does sensemaking change our approach to science teaching and learning in the middle and high school classroom? Explore a sensemaking simulation and sensemaking criteria for questioning. Educators will experience a small group analysis, take-home resources, and an opportunity for Q&A!

SPEAKERS:
Erin Cooke (Customer Success Manager)