Explore the use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) a freshwater fish at the forefront of biomedical research and easily maintained in a classroom aquarium, to spark ALL students’ curiosity and scientific engagement with real-life science experiences through multiple-learning modalities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning how zebrafish and low-budget pet store supplies can be used to engage diverse learners in multimodal (visual, kinesthetic) real-life science learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Vinita Hajeri (The University of Texas at Dallas: Richardson, TX)

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)

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)

Data from exams over the last several years has revealed what we maybe already knew. Students have misconceptions about Biology content. This session will illuminate what those misconceptions are and what data tells us about what the students really think.

TAKEAWAYS:
The main takeaway from this session will be how to meet student misconceptions head-on and help guide students away from their confusion and towards correct knowledge.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Neesemann (Bay Ridge Prep: Brooklyn, NY), Catherine Walsh (College Board: Alachua, FL)

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: MiniOne Systems

Bring real-world conservation to biology students to analyze DNA profiles from confiscated ivory tusks. Fits with Environmental Science and the Africa Storyline.

SPEAKERS:
Sherri Andrews (Retired Science Teacher: , NC)

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

There’s a break-in at the lab. Your students become forensic scientists as they walk into a crime scene. Analyze samples for blood and then catch the criminal with DNA fingerprinting. This exciting workshop will include ways to incorporate biotechnology and gel electrophoresis into your classroom.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Introduce students to the relationship between solution concentration and light absorption through hands-on experimentation.

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

Discover BIOZONE WORLD - a new platform bringing all our digital resources together for easy access and delivery. Incorporating BIOZONE’s eBooks with our rich collection of presentation slides, 3D models & curated videos, it provides powerful options for delivering your high school science programs.

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Engage students in authentic research through Genes in Space: the experimental design competition that launches experiments to the International Space Station. Learn about free educational resources, including lesson plans, classroom activities, explainer videos, and biotechnology equipment loans.

SPEAKERS:
Katy Martin (miniPCR: Cambridge, MA)

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

The persistence of laboratory incidents injurious to high school students demonstrates the need for work towards implementing strong safety cultures in our school science labs. Please join us to learn about simple things you can do to make the laboratory a safer environment for your students.

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Be the geneticist overseeing screening and interpreting the genotypes of hemoglobinopathies for at risk newborns.

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

Sponsoring Company: Edvotek

Explore the science of candy colors! We will extract food dyes from candy and separate them using agarose gel electrophoresis and paper chromatography. By separating the different colors, students learn about complicated mixtures, charges on molecules, and how science relates to everyday life.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Learn how collecting carbon exchange data from plant leaves can help you correct students’ most common misconceptions about respiration and photosynthesis.

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Link physical science concepts like circuits and charged particles to the essential biotech method gel electrophoresis. Build a reusable gel electrophoresis system with the Bandit STEM Electrophoresis Kit, and use it to separate colorful dyes. Also add the A to STEAM with creative pipetting art!

SPEAKERS:
Katy Martin (miniPCR: Cambridge, MA)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Scientific literacy is vital to economic and public health and security. How can we respond to forces that undermine public understanding and trust in science. We will then explore online resources and individualized teaching strategies that can overcome these challenges in our classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Levine (Science Writer and Producer: Concord, MA)

Sponsoring Company: Flinn Scientific

Seeing is believing! Flinn Scientific presents a variety of easy to perform and exciting chemistry and physical science demonstrations. Come see Flinn’s new demonstrations and some of your old favorites—all guaranteed to make your science classroom come alive. Handouts provided for all.

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Learn how physical models can be used to introduce your students to the field of cancer immunotherapy and CRISPR-engineered T-cells.

Want to make phenomena come alive for your students? Well use live animals for your phenomena! In this session, Samuel Pruitt will show how to use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) teaching strategy and an array of live reptiles as phenomena to teach biology and environmental science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) and live animals in biology and environmental science phenomena can provide critical to learning and can be motivational to students. This session will blend the CER teaching strategy with the interest that comes from using live reptiles in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Samuel Pruitt (Biology/Environmental Science Teacher: , GA)

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)

test SCST 1.1 Engaging 1st- and 2nd-Year College Students with Science and Engineering Near-space experiments (NSEs) using high-altitude ballooning are offered to engage 1st- and 2nd-year college students to foster learning through science and engineering practices. NSEs are student-generated to build off students’ curiosities, perspectives, expressions, and sense of discovery. SCST 1.2 Fostering the Information Literacy of Community College Anatomy & Physiology Students Many students experience difficulty locating, evaluating, using, and communicating reliable information. Strategies to foster information literacy among A&P students will be presented. Students demonstrated an increased ability to evaluate claims and improved self-perception of critical thinking. SCST 1.3 Developing Literacy in the Science Classroom: Strategies that Transcend Grade Levels Literacy strategies that foster speaking, writing, reading, and listening engage students in the content, identify misconceptions, and optimize teachers’ instructional time. College science students identified Carousel and ABC brainstorming as their favorite literacy activities.

SPEAKERS:
Derrick Nero (University of Nebraska Omaha: Omaha, NE), Renee Clary (Mississippi State University: Mississippi State, MS), Cheston Saunders (Southeastern Community College: Whiteville, NC)

Beyond Earth, cosmic radiation is a substantial challenge to astronaut health. Biomedical research is critical to success of NASA’s Artemis, and unraveling the genetic riddles of aging and disease. In this session, participants explore radiation biology through NASA research and hands-on activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
To offer participants resources and strategies for developing radiation biology units that integrate hands-on NASA education activities and cutting-edge scientific research, with particular attention to benefits for Earth-based medicine as well as optional connections to the humanities.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Weiss (Educator Professional Development Specialist)

Using "Exploring Animal Behavior in Laboratory and Field, 2nd edition," several hands-on activities will be explored: data collection using cricket observations, the prisoner's dilemma, and how to read primary literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session would provide educators with ideas of how to teach general animal behavior/ecology topics that are adaptive to different learning environments and levels of students.

SPEAKERS:
Heather Zimbler-DeLorenzo (Associate Professor of Biology: Mableton, GA)

Worms excite everyone! They are cheap, easy to get, and can be the phenomenon to drive learning on a host of topics. Come play with worms and see how they can stimulate learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will experience a series of activities that will help them use earthworms as phenomena in elementary science. For each activity, we will discuss how to move from the specifics of worms into sensemaking around more general concepts that the activities illustrate.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Wheeler-Toppen (Author/ Staff Development: Atlanta, GA)

Sponsoring Company: MiniOne Systems

Using the MiniOne System, develop an understanding of forensic science and gel electrophoresis while investigating the mystery of who killed Dr. Ward.

SPEAKERS:
Kathy Mirakovits (Kalamazoo Valley Community College: Kalamazoo, MI)

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Wondering how to teach your students about enzymes? Leave the liver behind and bring complex concepts to life with hands-on experiments. Vernier biology expert Colleen McDaniel will walk you through an inquiry-based experiment that explores the different variables that affect catalase.

SPEAKERS:
Colleen McDaniel (Vernier Science Education: Beaverton, OR)

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)