Identify common fossils of the Middle Devonian in a hands-on investigation. Work with Petoskey stones and other fossils to make inferences about the past and learn how to teach this with elementary students. Curriculum handouts and fossil kits will be provided to the first 30 participants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to use the fossil curriculum with intermediate elementary students. Teachers will get to explore Devonian fossils of the Traverse Group and learn how to analyze data to make inferences about past environments. Teachers will receive materials to use with intermediate elementary students.

SPEAKERS:
Kayce Wills (Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary School: Leonardtown, MD), Laura Schneider (Father Andrew White School: Leonardtown, MD)

"PV=NRT" is nearly 200 years old! However, the ideal gas law has remained a relevant tool that's helped us progress from Sterling Engines to Solar Panel Cars. How? Engineering. Come be a student in an engineering project based physics/ physical science class.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will have hands-on opportunity to experience engineered based lesson (mini unit). Teachers will come away with an example scope and sequence, example projects with directions, materials guidelines, and rubrics.

SPEAKERS:
Briana Clarke (Park Day School: Oakland, CA)

The design of scaffolds can support or take away opportunities for student sensemaking. We will identify scaffolds already built into high quality curriculum, like OpenSciEd, and analyze teacher designed scaffolds to determine if they support or undermine sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Before high quality curriculum, teachers had to aggressively scaffold materials. Teachers will see how the materials support sensemaking without major redesign. They will consider how additional scaffolds may support or undermine student sensemaking elevating the deep expertise of teachers

SPEAKERS:
Hillary Paul Metcalf (Boston College: Stanford, CA), Nicole Ruttan (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Ji-Sun Ham (School Support Specialist: Chestnut Hill, MA)

Do you ever wish your lesson engaged everyone in the class? The readers, the mathematicians, the engineers and writers will all love these STEM and literacy lessons! In this session, you will learn how to mix and mingle - with read aloud books and STEM challenges, of course!

TAKEAWAYS:
When you leave this session, you will have a better idea of how incorporate literacy with STEM. I’ll be sharing STEM challenges that you can link to children’s books that you probably already have in your classroom! You’ll also learn some tips on how to create your own read aloud STEM challenges!

SPEAKERS:
Emily Gentile (STEM Teacher: Parker, CO)

Come learn how to carefully unpack elements of the Crosscutting Concepts to support the development and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment using this brand-new version of the NSTA Quick-Reference Guide to the Three Dimensions. The “purple book” is now better than ever.

TAKEAWAYS:
A deeper understanding of the Crosscutting Concepts and how a well-designed reference guide can make it easier to unpack the three dimensions for work in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard (Discovery Education: Silver Spring, MD)

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)

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Experience Simulation Curriculum’s award-winning Starry Night Curriculum featuring classroom-ready, standards-based, interactive lesson plans. Covers grades K-4, 5-8 and 9-12 with engaging simulations, jaw-dropping interactions, activities and comprehensive teacher support resources!

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Join us as we use Simulation Curriculum’s Layered Earth to investigate Geology including Plate Tectonics and Meteorology including Weather & Climate using our amazing interactive Earth simulator to engage and excite students!

Sponsoring Company: Lyricos Learning LLC

We are a STEM+Arts streaming platform that gets used in the classroom to teach hands-on projects via our standards aligned videos. During this session we will plan on hosting a hands-on project for the teachers to make while following along with the video. Example - they can make a DNA bracelet.

SPEAKERS:
Devina Bhojwani (Lyricos Learning LLC: No City, No State)

NextGen TIME is a free suite of tools and processes that supports districts in preparing to evaluate instructional materials for quality and design for NGSS. This collaborative process helps you plan for next steps including customization to improve student outcomes and effective implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how NextGen TIME supports the evaluation of current instructional materials to strengthen their design for NGSS and how NextGen TIME tools and processes can serve as critical components of curriculum-based professional learning. You’ll walk away with free access to NextGen TIME resources.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Opening a lab is a daunting process. Learn about how Fairport developed a vision, wrote a horizontally and vertically aligned curriculum, and utilized intentional decision making to design the Elementary STEAM Lab experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with recommendations for creating STEAM Labs in their districts based on the blueprint that Fairport used to launch Labs that incorporate the NGSS Engineering Design standards, Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards, and a focus on social-emotional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Travis Wood (Fairport Central School District: No City, No State), Kristin Larsen (Honeoye Falls- Lima CSD: Honeoye Falls, NY)

Science notebooks can be a powerful tool for students to capture their thinking and chart growth in learning. But, how can notebooks be assessed to help students grow in their science and engineering practices? Proficiency rubrics will be shared to allow teachers and students to assess notebooks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session with 4 different proficiency scales to assess student notebooks through the science and engineering practices. While notebooks should not be assessed as “right and wrong,” they can be used to help students grow in their science and engineering practices.

SPEAKERS:
Chelsie Byram (Central Rivers Area Education Agency: Cedar Falls, IA), Mandie Sanderman (Central Rivers Area Education Agency: Cedar Falls, IA)

In this interactive session, we share important lessons learned through our work with states, educators, and developers to support equitable systems of science assessment. These lessons can help us develop better 3D assessment tasks, processes, and systems that lead to better outcomes for learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three dimensional assessment design is tricky - come join us to discuss how we can take a systems approach and develop better 3D assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Van Horne (Concolor Research: Orlando, FL)

This session will introduce participants to a NSTA lesson designed to introduce high school students to cutting edge research on Artificial Intelligence. The lesson is designed around the critical aspects of sensemaking: students experience a phenomenon, engage in science and engineering practices and share ideas and to build and/or apply disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts needed to explain how or why the phenomenon occurs. Sensemaking is in the vision of A Framework for K-12 Science Education - “the doing of science and engineering is highlighted as a strategy that can capture students’ interest in science and motivate their continued study.” (A Framework for K-12 Science Education, pp 42-43). NSTA lessons and units provide opportunities for all students to engage in science learning that is meaningful to them

TAKEAWAYS:
The JHU Wavelength lesson introduced in the session provides opportunities for high school students to learn about cutting edge science research, figure out science ideas related to artificial intellligence, and consider how it could benefit their community.

SPEAKERS:
Rama Chellappa (Bloomberg Distinguished Professor: Baltimore, MD), Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Rama Chellappa (Johns Hopkins University: Baltimore, MD)

We have developed a flexible, equitable assessment strategy that can be applied to all levels, grades and courses, that keeps students engaged and accountable. Even better, it can be scaled: used by an individual or by an entire district. We call this the Learning Progression Model.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand how learning progressions are used to assess student learning, provide descriptive feedback, set goals, evaluate teaching, and report out achievement.

SPEAKERS:
Elise Naramore (Pascack Hills High School: Montvale, NJ)

Use NASA’s Universe of Learning (UoL) multiwavelength image sets of star formation regions, protostars, red giants, white dwarfs, planetary nebulas, neutron stars, pulsars, supernovas, and black holes to investigate stellar evolution, as physical properties and brightness of stars change over time.

TAKEAWAYS:
Stars form in giant molecular clouds of gas and dust in star formation regions, and depending on their initial mass, usually follow a sequence that ends in their destruction in catastrophic collapses and explosions. Plotting their changing physical properties on the H-R diagram shows the process.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

As long as there have been CER templates, there have been students who struggle. What’s the difference between evidence and reasoning, or an explanation and an argument, exactly? Our Mi-STAR CER lesson and templates help answer these questions and they are open to all - join us to learn more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with clear and concise definitions of reasoning, explanations, and argumentation, along with a lesson plan, activities, and templates to help students define and construct all three in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Tubman (Michigan Technological University: Houghton, MI), Chris Geerer (Mi-STAR: , MI)

In this unique curriculum, called BioScann, students become science experts, interpreting data to address a real-world challenge from their expert perspective. Students share their expertise in teams where communication and collaboration are essential to finding a final class solution to the problem. By showcasing a broad array of careers that require a range of training and education, we expose students to science careers that are in high demand; a major point being that STEM is for everyone! BioScann modules are web-based and free. The workshop will showcase a 3-day module designed for grades 7-9, but additional modules that focus on plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance are under development. And are expected to be released in 2023. Evaluations of the original BioScann module indicate that students show dramatic and sustained increases in life sciences interest and career awareness and demonstrate an increased ability to read graphs and interpret complex data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engage in web-based curriculum that introduces students to a wide range of science careers. You will first experience the curriculum from the student perspective but will also be coached to deliver this free curriculum in your classroom. This curriculum is compatible with google classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Maggie Keeler (Senior Curriculum Specialist), Michelle Mischke (VP of Biotechnology Education Programs: CAmbridge, MA)

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:
Margaret Holzer (Retired: Chatham, LA)

Find out how contemporary scientists’ cutting-edge research can be shared with elementary students and linked to curriculum topics. Activities and investigations which children (ages 7 to 11) can do in the classroom to mirror cutting-edge research will be demonstrated.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn how I bet you didn’t know… articles written in language that children can understand and accompanying Teacher Guides can be used in the classroom to increase engagement with practical activities, develop enquiry skills and an appreciation of the impact of science on real life.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Trew (Primary Science Teaching Trust: Bristol, England)

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)

Experiment with and decode computational models of core science topics. Experience NSF-funded curricular materials developed to support science instruction that incorporates computational thinking and coding. The session will focus on physics but also preview the chemistry and biology tracks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn (and experience!) some of the benefits of using computational models in high school science classrooms. They will do so by exploring the “use-decode-modify” progression for using computational models, which is built into our freely accessible curricular units.

SPEAKERS:
Kristen Bjork (Education Development Center, Inc.: Waltham, MA), Victor Mateas (Education Development Center, Inc.: Waltham, MA)

COESEE - Join us to learn more about assessment of elementary science learning using elementary learning stories.

TAKEAWAYS:
Creating student learning stories can help support assessment in elementary classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Ewing (The Charles A. Dana Center: No City, No State)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Students get engaged with practical and inquiry-based engineering experiences by using the DIVE-in method. This program was developed with the New York Hall of Science. Transform your classroom into an authentic makerspace with the DIVE process. Learn how to use the design process through consensus.

SPEAKERS:
Stacey O'Connor (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Kendall Hunt

BSCS Biology: Understanding for Life is designed for the NGSS. The inquiry-based program leverages the new BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model as well as literacy and sensemaking strategies to support all learners. Join us to explore the program’s benefits and key features.

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

Flight is amazing! Even more amazing is the fact that students at any level can understand how flight works. In this session, we will share resources and strategies to teach aviation in any educational setting and how you can inspire students to pursue STEAM careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will share strategies, conduct hands-on STEAM activities, and provide a range of activities, developed by NASA, for all ages and all educational settings. Come have some fun and leave with useful resources you can use right away.

SPEAKERS:
Steve Kirsche (NASA Headquarters: No City, No State)

How can career and technical education support science learning? How can science support career and technical education? Student understanding of how science is integral to success in their chosen career pathway is critical in many CTE programs, but oftentimes these connections are overlooked.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will reflect on strategies for how to engage students in using scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts in career and technical education courses. And participants will discuss how to engage students in developing college, career, and life skills in science courses.

SPEAKERS:
Bridina Lemmer (Illinois Science Teaching Association: Jacksonville, IL), Chris Embry Mohr (Olympia High School: Stanford, IL)

Learn about free STEM educational resources including virtual reality, themed resource collections and lesson plans to increase ocean and climate literacy with your students.

TAKEAWAYS:
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries offers lessons, videos and activities that can be used in K-12 classrooms to teach students about the ocean and Great Lakes with engaging real life examples of our nation's underwater parks.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Hajduk (NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries: Monterey, CA)

Students will gain a deeper knowledge about sustainable energy generation / conservation and architectural ecology through hands-on, collaborative labs, which use on-campus student-built green roof models, a green roof section on our middle school, and ground-level on-campus solar panels.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn how to identify a key sustainable energy or ecological practice that fits your school culture. We'll show you how to design labs and select equipment that will engage the students in learning about sustainability. You'll identify learning objectives and assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ward (Science Teacher: Wallingford, PA)

Presenters will share two units in which science is integrated with ELA, math, and social studies. This session will share the process of unit creation and how incorporation with other content areas strengthens science instruction. Two units will be shared-one for kindergarten and one for 3rd grade.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to integrate multiple content standards to strength science instruction as well as leave with two examples of fully integrated elementary units. In addition to the sharing of the units, presenters will share the creation process so participants can engage in this work.

SPEAKERS:
Chelsie Byram (Central Rivers Area Education Agency: Cedar Falls, IA), Mandie Sanderman (Central Rivers Area Education Agency: Cedar Falls, IA)

Sensemaking with the three dimensions is the focal construct we want to measure in science assessments - not the phenomenon or problem or the three-dimensions. Join us for a deep dive into centering sensemaking in 3D assessment design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with examples of 3D sensemaking in assessment tasks and activities for building better assessments that elicit sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Cooper (Contextus), Katie Van Horne (Concolor Research: Orlando, FL)

A multidisciplinary and open-ended investigation that incorporates absolute and relative dating techniques, anomalies, historical context, volcanoes, solar proton events, energy cycles, Earth systems, terrestrial events, and supernovas by analyzing 430 years of Earth history from 1562 to 1992.

TAKEAWAYS:
In constructing knowledge, there is no definitive answer, only plausible conclusions based on constructing, analyzing, and comparing data and research from multiple disciplines. This investigation provides a better understanding of the scientific process of developing models and defending results.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

Use web-based image and analysis software to examine and compare the Cartwheel Galaxy determine the sources of the ultra- and in optical and X-ray bands, which can help determine the sources of the ultra- and hyperluminous X-rays (U/HLXs) in this galaxy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Astrophysicists use light in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to determine the nature of an object. Web-based software will be used, the same tools used by scientists. This software can be used by students to do their own investigations in astronomy with real data sets.

SPEAKERS:
Pamela Perry (Lewiston High School: Lewiston, ME)

Want to teach climate literacy but don’t know where to start? NOAA offers lesson plans, videos, data, webinars, and more to inform and inspire students.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to improve climate literacy and discuss climate and climate change in your classroom with free resources from NOAA.

SPEAKERS:
Frank Niepold (NOAA Climate Program Office: Silver Spring, MD)

This presentation highlights 10 unique and unusual science-based examples of solar system modeling that use simple materials and all activities stress the use of decimals, fractions, and proportions in a scalable, adaptable, and fun exploration of the planets, distance, time, density, and scale.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will view the solar system in new ways through hands-on activities addressing geologic age, light distance, object ratios, density, gravity, and travel time.

SPEAKERS:
Martin Horejsi (University of Montana: Missoula, MT)

Attendees will participate in a guided walk through the process of developing inquiries to ensure students reach mastery of critical content. This will include analyzing standard(s), participating in hands on inquiry, and using a template to create inquiries for students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand how to plan opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of critical content using methods that allow educators to easily monitor student progress toward mastery.

SPEAKERS:
Ryan Carlson (Orange County Public Schools: Orlando, FL), Desiree Siegel (Program Specialist Elementary Science: Orlando, FL), Matthew Timm (Orange County Public Schools: Orlando, FL), Kimberly Seaver (Orange County Public Schools: Orlando, FL)

Sponsoring Company: Plasma Games

It's all fun and games but does it work? Take a deep dive into the difference between gamification and game based learning and how to incorporate both into your classroom for the best outcome. Bonus: Leave with an all inclusive access code to a 3D game based platform!

Sponsoring Company: College Board

Come for an active conversation about helping introductory learners prepare for AP-level course work in STEM. We will align challenge areas identified using AP exam data with the Pre-AP Course Framework and explore instructional strategies to help students meet these challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Casdorph (College Board: Richmond, VA), Mitch Price (College Board: New York, NY)

Join the GaDOE science team to get updates on resources, professional learning, virtual communities, and other information related to the science teaching community. See what has just been released and how you can use it in your classroom tomorrow!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive updates from the Georgia Department of Education science team. Many new resources and professional learning opportunities are now available. Check out the phenomenon-based resources, including instructional deliverables, assessment tasks, literacy plans, and more.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Canepa-Redondo (Science/ESOL Program Specialist), Judith Beccaro (Georgia Department of Education: Atlanta, GA), Renee Shirley-Stevens (Science Program Specialist), Keith Crandall (Science Program Manager: No City, No State)

The purpose of this session is to explain how NGSS-aligned state assessments are developed alongside our state partners. We will use our Item Review Framework to analyze a sample item from New Meridian and ask participants to compare/contrast that with released items from their state. This comparison will provide teachers with the tools they need to review their own state assessment content and provide evidence for the changes they would like to see enacted within their state program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with a better understanding of how state-wide assessments are created and the role educators can play in influencing the direction of those assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Lazzaro (New Meridian Corporation: austin, TX)

This session will cover how the science department at our school worked with our director of collaborative curriculum to create transdisciplinary lesson plans for grades 5-8. Some of the topics covered in our units include light and perception, climate change, breadmaking, sustainability, and water.

TAKEAWAYS:
Our work shows how science can be the center of a transdisciplinary study. We wanted to connect science to real world issues and bring the world into the classroom. We are using science skills and understanding to take action in our community.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Melman (San Francisco Friends School: San Francisco, CA), Rich Oberman (San Francisco Friends School: No City, No State), Jeffrey Porter (San Francisco Friends School: San Francisco, CA), Jennifer Stuart (Director of Collaborative Curriculum: San Francisco, CA), Christine Tantoco (Science Teacher: San Francisco, CA)

This session helps participants use the tools and reports available from EdReports to select high-quality instructional materials for their classroom or school. Participants will learn how the tools evaluate for NGSS-aligned instruction and have the chance to practice evaluating sample materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with tools to help them evaluate instructional materials for NGSS-aligned instruction based on making sense of phenomena and integrating the three dimensions.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Fort Collins, CO), John-Carlos Marino (Science Lead)

Engineers around the world use system models as a go-to tool to solve problems, and your students can too. Create system models related to real-world problems and learn pedagogy for supporting students to develop and share system models. Leave with an engineer-approved 5E lesson to use tomorrow!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will understand the origin and use of system modeling as an engineering tool and be able to use student talk, whiteboarding, and system schema to implement system modeling in their classrooms. Teachers receive Mi-STAR’s OER lesson plan to introduce system models to their students.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Tubman (Michigan Technological University: Houghton, MI), Chris Geerer (Mi-STAR: , MI)

Incorporate coral reefs into your existing curriculum – biology, chemistry, climate studies, art, and more – using lesson plans, demos, activities, and multimedia from NOAA.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn what corals are, why they are important, and how to fit coral reefs ecosystems into your curriculum using free NOAA resources.

SPEAKERS:
Kayla Smith (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Silver Spring, MD), Denise Harrington (NOAA TASAA Fellow: Garibaldi, OR), Bekkah Lampe (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD)

Scared of science? Wondering how to put it ALL together? Join us as we look at how a K-6 STEAM Elementary school creates science units that are project-based and student focused, without breaking the bank or burning out!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will understand how to create unit frameworks that are informative, easy to use, and lead to quick lesson planning.

SPEAKERS:
Joe Shaughnessy (John Thomas School of Discovery Partner School: Nixa, MO), Ryan Mahn (John Thomas School of Discovery Partner School: Nixa, MO)

This program aims to dramatically increase the exposure to and consumption of locally produced honey by developing a network of apiaries and supporting curriculum for preK–12.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn about: 1. how educational apiaries can be used in an education setting; 2. the benefits of implementing curriculum related to honey production; and 3. strategies to engage migrant students in STEM education.

SPEAKERS:
Spencer Cody (Edmunds Central School District: Roscoe, SD)

Background information, teacher demonstrations, and fun, hands-on student explorations to better help you introduce K-3 students to the basic concepts of science and energy, as well as measurement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Help educators learn hands-on activities to introduce primary students to the basic concepts of science and energy using NEED's free curriculum while providing suggestions for use across the K-3 setting.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Swan (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA)

PFAS are a harmful class of widely used chemicals that can be found in everything from drinking water and crops to cosmetics and food packaging. Secondary science teachers from North Carolina used design-based thinking to develop standards-aligned activities featuring the cutting-edge research taking place to understand exposure to PFAS and to describe the biological processes behind health outcomes, such as autoimmune disease or cancer. This session will showcase how teachers adapted published scientific data for use with diverse learners to address life science standards while conveying important environmental health concepts and promoting biomedical research careers. Teachers also will receive an array of curated media resources to help them incorporate this nationally relevant topic into their instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Humans are exposed to PFAS before birth, and exposure continues throughout life due to the prevalence of these chemicals in our environment. Attendees will learn about the biomedical research taking place to understand the biology underpinning health effects and receive standards-aligned activities.

SPEAKERS:
Andromeda Crowell (Orange High School: Hillsborough, NC), Clare Matusevich (Chapel Hill High School: Chapel Hill, NC)

Participants will explore critical components of “designed for NGSS” elementary units: phenomenon, embedded ELA resources, equity, professional learning, and assessment. Participants receive one exemplar unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Place-based learning experiences that extend across a school year can have multiple benefits for elementary students. Designed-for NGSS units that elevate the brilliance of children must include new visions of phenomenon, embedded ELA resources, equity, professional learning, and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

If you're using STEMscopes (or wanna-be), this session is for you. Come see the most popular digital curriculum during this session. Discover assessment packages, streaming videos with activities, coding with app building, hands-on engineering projects, STEM teacher certification, and much more.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Spaeny (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Suzan Morris (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Susan Arnette (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX), Ashley Mathis (STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning: Houston, TX)

Sponsoring Company: ExploreLearning

This interactive session will explore a digital interface that develops models to capture students' thinking when designing and testing solutions to real-world problems. We will immerse ourselves in solving a puzzling STEM Case to develop a model and use it to optimize a solution.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Chiota (Learning Designer), Jared Jackson (Director of Production: Decatur, GA)

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)