The Berry College STEMTeach program serves to support STEM-savvy students as they pursue the teaching profession through programming and mentorship opportunities with master teachers in local (K-12) schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
By working with the next generation of teachers, master teachers have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the teaching profession.

SPEAKERS:
Robert Bice (Berry College: Mount Berry, GA), Blake Baxter (Science Teacher: Mount Berry, GA)

Teacher enthusiasm for any subject can really drive the enthusiasm of all stakeholders in a child’s education. It’s crucial to share and build the love of science in your community, and it can be done through communication. Pictures and student work can sell what you do and gain parent support.

TAKEAWAYS:
Every Science classroom has many stakeholders - students, parents, admins, and more. Frequent and varied communication of the great things you do is the key to increasing enthusiasm for your class, and this board shares some successful strategies for communicating. Build support for what you do!

SPEAKERS:
Rama Sreekantham (Paragon Prep School: Austin, TX)

NMLSTA is the ONLY science teacher association devoted to meeting the unique needs of middle school science educators. Members of the NMLSTA Board of Directors will be on hand to share a variety of information about the organization.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn about NMLSTA activities during this conference, specifically our Share-a-Thon, and throughout the year, including various awards available to our members

SPEAKERS:
Mary Lou Lipscomb (National Middle Level Science Teachers Association: Naperville, IL)

For 90% of Earth history, there was no fire. Fire made humanity and civilization. Now fire so endangers us that we must repower without flame. Energy system transitions make history. What can we learn from past transitions? What does the future hold? Can we reframe how we talk about climate change?

TAKEAWAYS:
In climate change education efforts, we should talk more about fire as it’s both the root cause of modern climate change and was effectively nonexistent for the first 90% of Earth history. This reframing helps people see the issue in a new light, and has the potential to engage broader audiences.

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)

Introducing students to real-world engineering problems is a key component to engaging them in the science classroom. In this project, students solve the problem of saving pets from a hot car. Many students are aware of this issue and would have many ideas on how this could be achieved. This projects gives them the tools to help solve such a problem by building a model and finding a solution. Participants in this session will get to build the model themselves to see how information from sensors (input) can determine what should be done (output) through simple lines of code. No coding or engineering experience is needed, just imagination and logical thinking. Projects like these can expose students to STEM Careers. The exposure to coding and engineering design can also get them interested in doing more in the STEM field.

TAKEAWAYS:
Solve a real-world problem with coding and engineering design - no prior experience needed.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA)

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA), Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Ellicott City, MD)

Paper is so commonly used for drawing and writing but it is amazingly versatile and easy to use for making 3-dimensional projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
You do not need fancy equipment to do STEM and hands on activities.

SPEAKERS:
Godwyn Morris (Dazzling Discoveries / Skill Mill NYC: New York, NY)

Water is the major force in shaping our planet. Students use simple models to measure water outwash and soil erosion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Simple models show students how plants and plant residue play major roles in preventing water runoff and soil erosion.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Cunningham (Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN)

Make molecular and mineral crystal models using very simple units of origami. Then work as an individual or a group to bond the units together to make inexpensive & amazing molecular models for chemistry and minerals for earth science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will create basic paper origami models that easily demonstrate mineral crystal structure, hardness, bond strength, & Cleavage/Fracture. Each person creates a unit, then groups bond units together to form crystals. Chemistry bonding modeling is also part of this session.

SPEAKERS:
David Ebersole (Greece Athena Middle School: Rochester, NY)

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Don Haas (The Paleontological Research Institution)