This is the first session in the PL Committee CCCs Pathway and is designed to support K-12. This session is an opportunity for members of the Professional Learning Committee to recruit and connect with fellow NSTA members. Attendees will be introduced to topics included in the pathway, highlighting how CCCs are used as tools in service of DCIs and SEPs, student sensemaking, and assessment of CCCs to guide further instruction. Using the Framework progression documents and STEM Teaching Tool #41, attendees will have the opportunity to collaborate with fellow participants to uncover vertical progressions of CCCs and leave with tools to use in the classroom to elicit student sensemaking. The PL Committee will utilize research from Jeffery Nordine and Okhee Lee’s book, Crosscutting Concepts: Strengthening Science and Engineering Learning, to ignite the call to action for realizing the power of CCCs.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session is a call to action for realizing the power of CCCs. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with members of NSTA’s PL Committee, gain an overview of the connected sessions included in the pathway, and leave with an invitation to further understandings of sensemaking and CCCs.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Bremen, GA), Kimberley Astle (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA), Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association), Holly Baldwin (Instructional Support Specialist: No City, No State), Christopher Soldat (Grant Wood Area Education Agency: Cedar Rapids, IA), Leah Litz (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium: No City, No State)

Students do best with applied hands-on experiential learning. The ‘After Dark’ theme of this workshop is intended to provide tangible resources for educators to take abstract concepts from their curriculum and make them accessible to students with glow in the dark, phosphorescent activities to take.

TAKEAWAYS:
Data collection and interpretation is an essential skill that hits-home the concepts students find in their textbooks. ‘After-Dark’ makes a miniature lab-course out of many of the bio/chem/phys/eng principles in ways which are memorable/relatable taking advantage of STEM tools for data collection.

SPEAKERS:
Will Collins (BioInnovation Dir: Halifax, NS, NB)

The Framework and NGSS called for phenomena-based 3D learning experiences for all students. Unpack WHY this is important and HOW to make it a reality in your classroom. Take away phenomena and storylines to try in your classroom and strategies for making every student look forward to your class

TAKEAWAYS:
The shift to phenomena-based 3D learning brings the student to the center of the learning and uses their life experiences and approaches to sensemaking to drive the learning.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, 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: Chestnut Hill, MA), Nicole Ruttan (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Ji-Sun Ham (School Support Specialist: Chestnut Hill, MA)

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)

Review data analysis/collecting techniques to help students young and old to learn the relationships between types of data and analysis of it.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about "orders of variables" and how understanding these can help their students to better engage in making and interpreting graphs.

SPEAKERS:
G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS)

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)

Grading that supports student sensemaking doesn't have to keep you at school all night. Learn approaches to grading that prioritize 3D sensemaking and utilize technology, collaboration, and existing resources so you have can your evenings back.

TAKEAWAYS:
The process of giving feedback and assigning grades is easier when there are strong materials and assessments to build from and technology can help make it faster without decreasing effectiveness for students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

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)

Starting with eliciting students' initial ideas, experience a responsive teaching sense-making structure to take students through a process of developing conceptual understanding of core disciplinary ideas in science using NSTA's highly Uncovering Student Ideas in Science Formative Assessment Probes

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to transition from diagnostic probes to formative assessment and responsive teaching by taking students through a sense-making structure to change or further develop their initial ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Page Keeley (NSTA Past President: No City, No State)

Engage in active exploration of primary source materials that support sensemaking in middle level science and STEM. Leave with a plan for incorporating primary sources into your own lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Primary sources can be used to: (1) present phenomena, (2) engage students in science and engineering practices, (3) identify crosscutting concepts, (4) reinforce disciplinary core ideas, and (4) address equity through leveled resources and shared experience.

SPEAKERS:
Kathy Biernat (Zanilu Educational Services, LLC: No City, No State), Donna Governor (University of North Georgia: Dahlonega, GA), Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ)

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)

This is session #2 in the PL Committee CCCs Pathway and is designed to support K-12. Attendees will explore the Framework progression documents to understand what is appropriate for their grade level. They will learn about and engage in hands-on activities paired with talk strategies and protocols that focus classroom talk on making sense of observations and data using the Crosscutting Concepts. Attendees will have the chance to talk with fellow participants about how they might use these strategies and tools in their classroom or role and how they can be differentiated to be used at different grade levels. Participants will leave with a virtual toolbox of resources they can take home and apply right away in their sphere.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with discussion strategies and tools they can implement right away in classrooms to support student discourse and sensemaking anchored in the Crosscutting Concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association), Leah Litz (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium: No City, No State), Kimberley Astle (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA)

Did you know that you can launch units in your science class by engaging students in the analysis of historical primary sources? Join us for this hands-on workshop, where we’ll investigate free, digitized resources to see how they can reveal phenomena linked to the content you teach.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to engage students at the start of a unit by exploring phenomena embedded in historical primary source documents. The strategies discussed will develop the critical thinking and sensemaking strategies of students.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Apfeldorf (Library of Congress: Washington, DC), Jacqueline Katz (Science Teacher)

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)

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)

Three-dimensional science instruction puts students at the center of the learning. In this session, we will share how educators statewide engaged in a three-part book study featuring Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices. The three courses are organized around the Investigating, Sensemaking, and Critiquing Practices. Educators explore and demonstrate through a Plan-Do-Study-Act how the Science and Engineering Practices are interwoven in their instruction, focusing on small shifts at a time. Opportunities for collaboration and reflection with other science educators help further individual implementation. We will share strategies, examples, and teacher experiences for engaging and supporting students in sensemaking discussions, developing, using and revising models, and making claims and explanations. In shifting to 3D learning, quick strategies will be shared that build toward more complex classroom shifts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will access teacher professional learning resources including implementing a Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle, embedding instructional coaching, and providing a collaborative space to share classroom practice.

SPEAKERS:
Hope Garton Brown (Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency: Pocahontas, IA), Christopher Soldat (Grant Wood Area Education Agency: Cedar Rapids, IA), Beverly Berns (Keystone Area Education Agency: Elkader, 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)

Have you wondered how to develop capacity and support teachers around the shifts in the Framework and the NGSS? This session will dive into how one teacher discovered the NGSS, moved from novice to apologist and works with teachers to continue to realize the vision of the Framework for Science Ed.

TAKEAWAYS:
This will largely focus on how to support teachers from a leadership perspective to help students engage in all three dimensions of the NGSS. How can we talk with and work with teachers to help them make shifts while developing the needed capacity and not devalue their expertise.

SPEAKERS:
Spencer Martin (Kansas City Kansas Public Schools: Kansas City, KS)

This session will describe the Science Curriculum Adaptation Project for Special Educators, in which science specialists and special educators adapted an NGSS badge unit for students with moderate to severe disabilities. We outline the program structure and share examples of adaptations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about the structure of a program designed to support special education teachers in using the high quality “Garbage” unit with their students, discuss the UDL framework as a part of this work, and see examples of adaptations that can be used with students with moderate to severe disabilities.

SPEAKERS:
Casandra Gonzalez (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Malden, MA)

Participants will investigate relationships between variables such as barometric pressure and precipitation, using data from a wide range of geographical stations in the United States. Selected stations represent sites with contrasting latitudes, altitudes, proximity to water bodies, and other elements, in order to best study the effect of these variables on weather and climate. The session will analyze data to look for patterns of change over time and to investigate regional patterns and region-specific effects of climate change. Data from Los Angeles & San Diego weather stations will also be included. The graphing tool is a freely accessible webpage that works on laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets. An internet connection at the session would additionally allow for participants to see a live demonstration as well as explore their own investigation questions. http://uanyc.science/pwc

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session attendees will learn to analyze and interpret weather and climate data using a custom designed graphing tool that simplifies visualizing and analyzing data on time scales of hours, days and weeks (weather) to decades and centuries (climate).

SPEAKERS:
Rachelle Travis (P.S. 288 The Shirley Tanyhill: Brooklyn, NY)

Play a new free online science game - Wake: Tales from the Aqualab. Take on ocean-based ecosystem missions, and engage in experimentation, modeling, and argumentation around middle school life sciences content. Use a submarine to explore a kelp forest! Travel to the arctic to find a missing whale!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn ways to implement Wake in your classroom - including associated curriculum and supplemental materials. The full game can cover 10+ classes, with over 35 jobs of increasing complexity, and a fun story. Learn about our research on game-based supports for student learning of science practices.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Scianna (University of Wisconsin Madison)

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), Judie Beccaro (Georgia Department of Education: Atlanta, GA), Renee Shirley-Stevens (Science Program Specialist), Keith Crandall (Science Program Manager: No City, No State)

Real-world problems often cannot be satisfactorily addressed by individual disciplines (or subjects). Enrich students’ learning by engaging them in a summative task requiring integration of concepts and skills from various subjects, through a close collaboration with one or more subject teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will use a modified Understanding by Design (UbD) template to develop an interdisciplinary learning experience that provides opportunities for students to integrate knowledge from various subjects (or disciplines) to create new understandings.

SPEAKERS:
May Jean Cheah (STEM Educator)

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)

Join this session to explore effective and practical student discourse strategies that promote inclusive and productive classroom discourse. In this session, you will have the opportunity to engage in a few strategies as a learner to better equip you with implementing these with your students!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of shifts in classroom talk patterns, like moving away from the I-R-E talk pattern and towards Productive Talk. Attendees will engage with practical and effective discourse strategies that promote inclusive and productive classroom discourse.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association)

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)

Educators are tasked with preparing students to engage in a world with an increasingly changing climate. Join us to see how climate science is connected to multiple K-12 content areas and view OER planning guides that support content teachers to anchor learning around climate literacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will take away planning tools and resources for connecting climate science to non-science K-12 content areas and receive guidance for working with non-science peers to anchor instruction around the idea that humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts.

SPEAKERS:
Lori Henrickson (Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA)

This session will take teachers behind the scenes of 3D Science to learn firsthand how phenomena draws every student into the scientific learning process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will experience as students how a phenomenon serves as a bridge connecting cultural differences, science strands, and sense making strategies.

SPEAKERS:
Candice Taylor (Marietta Middle School: Marietta, GA), Keisha Kirkpatrick (Marietta High School: Marietta, GA)

The session uses embodied performances to support students’ science engagement. This interdisciplinary approach creates opportunities for multimodal literacies (e.g., body movement, oral/written texts, sound/music) that students can use to construct & communicate science knowledge & identities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use theatre practices (i.e., adaptation, embodiment, affirming ideas, & representing transformation) to support their students’ learning of science ideas, concepts, practices, & development of science identities in elementary/middle school classrooms via science theatre.

SPEAKERS:
Maria Rosario (Teacher: Chicago, IL), Stephanie Spezza (Graduate student), Jaegen Ellison (Teaching Artist/Educator), Miguel Melchor (DeWitt Clinton Elementary School: Chicago, IL), Rebecca Kotler (Postdoctoral Research Associate)

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)

Looking to help your students reflect both as an individual and as a learning community as they make sense of the world around them? In this session, participants will explore tools and techniques that provide opportunities for students to develop their social and emotional skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore all of the tools and techniques that are provided in OpenSciEd units that allow students to improve their social-emotional learning skills as they reflect on community agreements, class discussions, and working as a team.

SPEAKERS:
Thomas Clayton (K-5 STEAM Specialist: Berkeley Heights, NJ)

This session will provide resources for real life research and curriculum building opportunities in STEM. Come experience the passion of a veteran science educator who is continually finding new ways to enhance her own learning and wants to share her success with you!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with resources and ideas on how to synergize their own professional practices by participating in hands on research and learning opportunities that will provide them the tools to successfully introduce real- life STEM concepts into their own teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Camie Walker (Weber School District, Ogden, Utah: No City, No State)

This session is designed to support instructional leaders and teachers in considering what the key shifts called for in the NGSS and Framework look like in classrooms. Our team developed an observation tool through our work observing and coaching 76 schools adopting OpenSciEd. The observation tool identifies what to look for in classrooms around rigor, teacher’s responses to student ideas, students’ responses to each other’s ideas, vocabulary, key instructional moves, and student sensemaking. Attendees will unpack the tool and then use it with classroom videos to understand the focal areas. Next, we will examine examples of how schools have used the tool, including classroom observations, to guide PLC discussions, and to facilitate individual teacher reflections. Finally, participants will have an opportunity to plan how they might adapt and use the tool in their own contexts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away an observation tool that is designed to focus observers on the actions of teachers and students that indicate rigorous student sensemaking. Attendees will practice using the tool and consider how to use the tool in their context.

SPEAKERS:
Renee Affolter (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Benjamin Lowell (New York University: New York, NY), Hillary Paul Metcalf (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA)

Problematizing phenomena requires that tasks pose productive uncertainties related to a phenomenon or problem explicitly to students. During this interactive session, participants will analyze various assessments and artifacts for how problematizing is an integral part of the assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage with well problematized assessment scenarios and will have access to these assessments for future use.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Sara Cooper (Contextus)

Practice hands-on strategies for engaging students with scientific notebooks, letters, photos, drawings and more! These free online resources elevate the stories behind scientific endeavor, highlighting scientific practices, the nature of science, and connections between science and society.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to access millions of free digitized primary sources and practice hands-on strategies for using them to promote critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of real-world scientific practices, the nature of science, and connections between science and society.

SPEAKERS:
Jacqueline Katz (Science Teacher), Michael Apfeldorf (Library of Congress: Washington, DC)

NGSS SEP 8 requires students to read like scientists. Develop questions and learn strategies to support student understanding of how to read like scientists.

TAKEAWAYS:
Part of scientific literacy is being able to access science news articles. Learn strategies to use in the classroom to support your students to read like scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Janel McPhillips (Calvert County Public Schools: Prince Frederick, MD)

Students bring amazing intellectual resources to make sense of natural phenomena. Come learn how to notice and leverage them in your teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Culturally responsive education supports student sensemaking and learning in science. Inclusive science strategies help teachers learn to see students’ sense-making resources. These methods help us create and adapt curriculum that is equitable and justice centered.

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

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.

Students take ownership while working in the cycle of Obtain, Evaluate, and Communicate Information. Teachers are a facilitator, a helpful guide to support students in their sensemaking journey. While students are working independently or in groups, they may get to points where they need the support of their teacher. However, how can students get the teacher’s attention without causing a disturbance? By using everyday items like popsicle sticks, construction paper or plastic cups, this strategy called Red Light, Green Light is a way students can non-verbally communicate with their teacher about where they are at in their sensemaking journey and if they need help. A variation to this strategy is adding a yellow light. This low-risk strategy can be used by all students including students who are multilingual learners and/or students with disabilities. Teachers benefit by providing a method to informally assess their students; thus, providing immediate feedback and support.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about an informal formative assessment strategy to quickly gauge their students’ confidence level during the sensemaking process.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Canepa-Redondo (Science/ESOL Program Specialist)

Join middle school educators as they share strategies for supporting students to develop questions, writing of lab reports, and the development of time management skills.

A better way to do middle school lab reports
One challenge that we face as science teachers is the dreaded lab report. How do we teach the scientific method with such diverse classes, without it being too overwhelming? I have a strategy that has worked well with middle school students to introduce lab reports, and I will share the template.

Time Management Techniques for the Science Classroom
Are your students disorganized with labs/activities not getting completed? Do you find that sensemaking activities are taking more time than expected? This session presents time management techniques to support students efficiently using class time.

Effectively Engage Students in the SEP Asking Questions with the Question Formulation Technique
Participants will engage in an effective instructional strategy, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), to help students develop explanatory questions to investigate phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Kyla Corelli (Atlanta International School: Atlanta, GA), Alison Seymour (Science Teacher: Winchester, 0), Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association)

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)

This session will feature a combination of presentation and interactive activities to provide classroom teachers with immediate feasible and practical implementation strategies to support all learners in their general education science classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave this session with research-based and practical pedagogies of how they can support all learners, including students with disabilities in their general education science classrooms in their very next lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Madden (The College of New Jersey: Ewing, NJ), Dina Secchiaroli (Professional Learning Specialist: No City, No State), Sami Kahn (Princeton University: Princeton, NJ), Jonté Taylor (Penn State: University Park, PA), Lacey Huffling (Georgia Southern University: Statesboro, GA), Michele Koomen (Research Professor: No City, No State)

Why do many students struggle with data? We will explore strategies for finding high quality datasets and discuss different approaches of building data skills by integrating real-time data into our teaching. Data as our instructional hook can result in changes for all of our students' data skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Review ways to leverage real-world data -- including personalized or daily data -- to enhance all students’ ability to access and make sense of data as parts of our instructional practices and/or adjust the curriculum you have.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, LLC: No City, No State)

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)

This poster presents in-progress research and literature associated with teacher questioning as it impacts science practices and ambitious science teaching.

TAKEAWAYS:
Literature-based recommendations of qualities that lead to strong questions teachers may use during classroom discourse.

SPEAKERS:
Liz McMillan (The University of Texas at San Antonio: San Antonio, TX)

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)

Discussion is how a classroom community makes sense of what it is investigating. But for that to happen, students need to actually be talking. Learn strategies for planning discussions, ensuring equitable access, and teacher moves to guide the conversation. It's time to get your students talking!

TAKEAWAYS:
Discussion is the way that a classroom community makes sense of what it is investigating, and there are tools and approaches that teachers can use to ensure that all students have access to this sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

By presenting students with science concepts and then assisting them with designing inquiry labs and models, students develop better mental models of how science theories and concepts operate.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to design student led inquiry projects that allow students to create conceptually correct mental models of how different science theories work. Computer simulations and physical models provide students with actual experience manipulating variables to see the results.

SPEAKERS:
Carolyn Mohr (University Center of Lake County: Grayslake, IL), Tina Harris (Bedford North Lawrence High School: Bedford, IN)

A key aspect of the vision in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards is how to develop assessments to advance equity. In this session, participants will use an equity framework developed to analyze three-dimensional assessment task

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will use an equity framework that has been developed to support (re)designing assessment tasks to ensure accessibility by all students. Participants will use this equity framework to analyze example assessments for alignment.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

This session will be about the importance of Observation as the first scientific skill that we can impart to our students; without it you cannot complete the rest of the practices. Observation can help our multilingual learners and diverse learners feel like they have a place in certain sciences that seemed inaccessible before due to language barriers. Certain teacher moves will be discussed that will strengthen observations as well as activities that the teachers will be able to recreate in their classroom to do the prep work for such a strong foundational skill. Activities will include: drawing, gallery walks, whole group/small group observation discussions. While this proposal requires me to have target grade range; I believe that this session would be great for all grade levels.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies to get their students to more easily make observations in their learning which will support the rest of the Science and Engineering Practices. Teaching moves that can be employed right away to reach all skill levels; in fact, show your diverse learners excelling!

SPEAKERS:
Margaret Morton (Lozano Elementary: Chicago, IL)

This session will introduce teachers to a variety of note-booking techniques that will increase student engagement and excitement for learning. Students will take pride in their notebooks and therefore increase the level of effort they put into their work.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will provide teachers and administrators with various strategies to differentiate learning for English Language Learners, Special Education Students, and General Education Students and accurately assess student learning through note-booking. By using our notebook format students will d

SPEAKERS:
Darren Wells (Mather Elementary School: Dorchester, MA), Karen Ziminski (EMK Academy for Health Careers: Boston, MA)

Join members of NSTA’s Professional Learning Committee to explore effective strategies and resources that focus on helping students make sense of data using the Crosscutting Concepts. In this session, you will have the opportunity to engage with the strategies and consider how to implement them with

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with sensemaking strategies for engaging students in the Science and Engineering Practice of Analyzing and Interpreting Data, through the lens of the Crosscutting Concept of Patterns, that can immediately be implemented with students!

SPEAKERS:
Kimberley Astle (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA), Rebecca Garelli (Arizona Science Teachers Association)

You’ve probably heard a lot about using storylines, but actually implementing them usually leads to unexpected challenges. Based upon our classroom experience with storyline units, we share insights and practical principles whether you plan to create, adopt, or adapt storylines for your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Implementing storylines involves either creating your own units or adopting/adapting existing units. Regardless of the approach to implementation, keeping the principles of coherent instruction in mind will help to realize the potential of storyline units in practice.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Like (Iowa Department of Education: No City, No State)

The study of trace fossils is an exciting way to explore the past. Join the Wade Institute for Science Education and Amherst College’s Beneski Museum in an inquiry-based session to guide your students through the application of the SEPs in creating and interpreting their own dinosaur stories.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session participants will gain experience with using the phenomenon of dinosaur tracks and trace fossils as a powerful tool for student engagement, and leave the session with guidelines for creating track stories, and using those track stories to expand their student’s use of the SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Allison Pagliaro (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA), Alfred Venne (Museum Educator: Amherst, MA), Kathryn Atkins (Wade Institute for Science Education: Quincy, MA)

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.

Still confused about the basics of the NGSS? Need a refresher about what it is and why it matters? Come learn from the experts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with a basic understanding of the structures of the Next Generation Science Standards and how they inform 3-dimensional standards and 3-dimensional science teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Karin Klein (Museum of Science and Industry: Chicago, IL)

Learn how to select phenomena that matter to students and leverage students' questions to create a student-driven storyline. Participants will learn the design principles for adapting existing curriculum that honor students’ identities, voices, and ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn two key aspects of designing equitable learning experiences for NGSS instruction: 1) making phenomena matter by considering community issues and student identities; 2) leveraging students’ diverse ideas and questions to drive instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Nelly Tsai (University of California, Irvine: No City, No State)

Facilitating classroom discussions that are student-centered and advance students’ thinking is challenging. Initial ideas, building understanding, and consensus discussions are three types of discussions that can be used to help draw out student ideas and support their sensemaking. These three types of discussions serve different purposes and phases of a lesson or unit. While they share many features, because the purposes are different the roles of the student and facilitation strategies of the teacher vary across the three types. During this session, we will provide examples and tools from OpenSciEd storyline curricula, which is a high quality, free, online, open educational resource for teachers. We will look at classroom videos from three different types of discussions, consider their purposes and examine teacher moves. We will also share a discussion planning tool that considers both the purposes and moves to help plan discussions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Classroom discussions that support equitable participation require careful planning and implementation. Discussions can be organized into three discussion types with distinct goals, which can help teachers to plan supports and facilitation moves that equitably engage students in meaningful talk.

SPEAKERS:
Bruce Kamerer (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Katherine McNeill (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Benjamin Lowell (New York University: New York, NY), Renee Affolter (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA)

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)

OER can be overwhelming to teachers or districts who must adapt materials to fit local pacing guidelines. Upon the adoption of 3-dimensional standards, our district began the journey of developing instructional materials that support student sensemaking. This tool was a result of our efforts to be strategic in preserving coherence in storylines while focusing on best practices in standards-aligned instruction. In our district, more than 80% of teachers that received professional development on a lesson series using a roadmap chose to repeat the unit the following year. Teachers and instructional leaders attending this session will experience how this tool attends to the four critical attributes of sensemaking described by NSTA while promoting research-based practices. Participants will learn how to begin with OER, existing lesson plans, or phenomenon ideas to develop a series of purposefully sequenced, coherent, and standards-aligned lessons around a phenomenon.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover the intentionality behind the components of a planning roadmap that builds coherence in a series of lessons. This roadmap simplifies the process of creating or adapting storylines found in OER to local pacing guidelines. A middle and high example will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Trudy Rogers (Knox Co Schools: Knoxville, TN)

How do we teach Tier 3 science vocabulary to students with limited English (or no English) and encourage success? We will share multiple strategies for teaching Tier 3 Academic Science vocabulary, as well as modalities that incorporate visual aids, manipulatives, and kinesthetic activities to engage

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Tier 3 strategies for teaching science; 2. The inclusion of visual and kinesthetic activities to engage ALL students; and 3. Forms of assessment for ALL level of English Language Learners.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Ziminski (EMK Academy for Health Careers: Boston, MA)

When you get it right, students are engaged and making sense for themselves. Your lessons are aligned to standards and include scaffolded supports. Here's how to plan those lessons!

TAKEAWAYS:
SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs are the three legs of the stool that support a cohesive lesson. By being immersed in a sensemaking experience, participants define the most important elements and how to plan. Electronic resources are provided.

SPEAKERS:
David Jacob (Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES: Yorktown Hghts, NY), Harry Rosvally (Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES: Yorktown Heights, NY)

Engage in a mini design sprint to develop curriculum aligned exit tickets for use in your classroom. Together, we will use an equity framework and Universal Design to design exit tickets that support equitable sensemaking and 3D science learning. You will walk away with a set of exit tickets to asse

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a set of exit ticket prompts to support 3D science learning in their classrooms. These prompts can be used to gain insight into their students’ experiences to support their 3D sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Van Horne (Concolor Research: Orlando, FL), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

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)

Come learn how to use what we know about brain science to weave culturally responsive teaching and learning into science classrooms! We will explore tools to help all students become independent, successful learners who are active participants in their own learning. Resources provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers can use what we know about brain science to create culturally responsive learning environments by igniting student interest, making learning relevant to students, providing students with opportunities to actively process what they have learned, and giving them multiple chances to review.

SPEAKERS:
Janet MacNeil (Cambridge Public Schools: No City, No State)

Do your students need help generating questions about phenomena? Come learn how to use the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to help develop students ability to generate meaningful, relevant and thought provoking questions that will drive inquiry and coherence in your NGSS storyline unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will experience using the QFT to help lead their students through the process of generating, categorizing, improving, and prioritizing questions to help drive inquiry with a focus on integrating Cross Cutting Concepts and developing student ownership of learning.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bolduc (Ellington Middle School: Ellington, CT)

How can we effectively prepare the next generation of scientists when science instruction is so vastly different from actual science practice? In this session, you’ll learn how research scientists work in a lab environment and how you can transfer those practices directly to your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand 6 practices of lab researchers that differ from science instruction in most classrooms. They’ll learn how to incorporate these practices into their classroom to better prepare the next generation of scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Terra Tarango (Van Andel Education Institute: Grand Rapids, MI)

Learn how to read the 62 maps of practices, core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and performance expectations in The NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions and use them and other features of this powerful navigational tool to develop and implement curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
A careful review of the connections between elements of the three dimensions can provide a clearer understanding of science standards and important guidance in planning instructional sequences to support three-dimensional teaching and learning.

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

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)

We are developing a framework of pedagogical methods and professional learning, with an emphasis on equity, that can be leveraged to support teaching with the NGSS no matter what curriculum is being used. Come tell us what you think!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will gain a deeper understanding of high leverage pedagogical practices that directly support teaching with the NGSS, and strategies to implement some of these practices in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Karin Klein (Museum of Science and Industry: Chicago, IL)

Take a closer look at how to structure science learning units through student-driven inquiry. We will examine the components involved in designing a coherent, NGSS-aligned storyline. Teacher teams will collaborate to analyze, critique, and optimize existing storylines and corresponding phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Examine the Five Routines that work together to create a 3D learning experience through the inquiry cycle. Learn where to find existing storylines for Middle and High school sciences. Leave with templates to guide you in your storyline planning.

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

In this session teachers will come away with strategies to intentionally incorporate reading, dialogue and graphing into the classroom to assist students in becoming scientifically literate.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will include engaging examples of activities that integrate speaking, listening, and reading into the science classroom; helpful tips to reach different learning styles (visual, auditory) in the classroom; tips to promote retention of vocabulary through scaffolding

SPEAKERS:
Courtney Lewis (Katy ISD: Katy, TX), Molly Niedens (Tays Junior High School: Katy, TX)

This session will focus on how middle school teachers can strengthen the use of teacher-led and student-led questioning through the use of phenomena. Teachers can utilize scientific phenomena as a springboard to strengthen student's thinking and problem skills through the formulation of questions re

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to utilize scientific phenomena as a tool for developing students’ questioning skills throughout the teaching of any standard.

SPEAKERS:
Cheryl Robertson (University of Tennessee, Knoxvile)

Engage in an interactive panel discussion exploring the importance of English language arts skills for STEM career success, and strategies for building English language arts skills through K-12 science and engineering practices in a sensemaking model.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave the session with ideas for using K-12 science and engineering practices to enhance student acquisition of communication and media literacy skills necessary for success in STEM careers.

SPEAKERS:
Liz Martinez (Curriculum/Professional Development: Escondido, CA), Elizabeth Allan (University of Central Oklahoma: Edmond, OK), Loris Chen (Science Education Consultant: Fair Lawn, NJ)

Learn how to leverage food and cooking to encourage tinkering and sensemaking to make your secondary science curriculum engaging, meaningful, visual, and “sticky” (literally and metaphorically). Free resources (& lesson plans) included.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will walk away with a practical toolkit of ways to use food and cooking in the classroom to facilitate a supportive and purposeful environment for tinkering. Participants will discuss and reflect on how to add and remove layers of scaffolding and support to differentiate activities.

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

Want a more inclusive science classroom? Differentiate instruction and scaffold sensemaking through Interactive Science Notebooks. Take home free Google Slide templates, scaffolding examples, and a collection of summarizer activities for middle school that can be adapted to elementary/high schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore what an inclusive science classroom looks like for students with autism spectrum disorder. Learn best practices for implementing interactive notebooks to help students organize ideas, engage in science and engineering practices, and make explicit connections to NGSS crosscutting concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Adler (Westland Middle School: Bethesda, MD)

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)

The CDC Museum has produced a set of 20 free hands-on STEM Lessons centered around public health topics for middle and high school students. Attendees will review the lesson catalog and discuss how they can use them to broaden students’ understandings of public health.

TAKEAWAYS:
The CDC Museum’s STEM Lessons explore issues in public health using the engineering design process, scientific method, or public health approach to outbreak investigation. Learn more about how STEM and public health concepts can be used to improve critical thinking and communication.

SPEAKERS:
Emma Domby (Museum Visitor Experience Manager/Educator: Atlanta, GA), Trudi Ellerman (Education Director: Atlanta, GA)

Finding the time in your class schedule to reteach content can be daunting, especially with frequent absenteeism and different degrees of understanding. Learn how self-paced structures can be leveraged to create time for your students to achieve mastery of each learning target in a sustainable way.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive multiple frameworks for immediately implementing self-paced structures in their classroom. Materials include sample class schedules, pacing trackers, and lesson templates to fit students’ needs in any classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Reed (The University of Alabama: Tuscaloosa, AL)

Explore the potential of NSTA’s Professional Learning Units to support your professional learning journey.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover more about NSTA’s asynchronous professional learning opportunity

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Meaningful phenomena and authentic problems make learning experiences in science classrooms more relevant and equitable for students. Come learn what makes phenomena meaningful and problems authentic and then leave with some high-quality instructional materials that you can use in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Meaningful phenomena and authentic problems are more than a hook or an example – they drive learning and provide a context for sense-making.

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

This presentation includes a research that investigated middle school science teachers' practices in engaging students in sense making tasks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn about the practices in engaging English learners to access SEPs and develop English proficiency simultaneously.

SPEAKERS:
Edralin Pagarigan (Golden Ring Middle School: Rosedale, MD)

This session will be organized around curriculum-anchored assessment literacy. Building on the compelling evidence emerging for curriculum based professional learning (i.e, professional learning that is connected to the curriculum teachers are implementing in the classroom), this speed session will explore ways to forget the decontextualized modules that have defined assessment literacy for decades, and focus on strategies to build assessment literacy through the process of more deeply understanding curriculum implementation. This session will highlight strategies educators across the country are using to advance better assessment practices, including those related to curriculum-based assessment system analysis, student work analyses, and equitable grading practices. Note: we will organize our own set of presenters, drawn from teachers, regional science instructional leaders, and state leadership. This session is appropriate to all grade-levels.

TAKEAWAYS:
By connecting assessment literacy to what teachers are doing in the classroom, we can focus on deep functional assessment literacy, and worry less about artificial boundaries established based on assessment types and terminology

SPEAKERS:
Aneesha Badrinarayan (Learning Policy Institute: Washington, DC)

Are you a middle school teacher looking for resources for your classroom? Join these educators as they share creating units teaching metric measures, discover the Teach the Earth Portal, and hear about one educator's experience of incorporating the 5E model into their lessons.

Designing Units
Learn how to create designer units based on standard metric measures. These units will be built based on volume measurements so students will be able to make connections to liquid measurement containers that students see and use in everyday life.

5 E's Made EEEEEasy!
The 5 E Model in science education is a great tool to help promote hands-on learning. Learn what the 5 E's are and how to effectively use them in your classroom. Help students make sense of their learning and make connections to the real world with the 5 E's.

Teach the Earth: A Portal to Earth Education Resources
The National Association of Geoscience Teachers manages the Teach the Earth portal, where educators can search for online resources in the geosciences and related fields.  Instructional approaches, classroom activities, course descriptions, and sample assignments make up the many resources in TTE.

SPEAKERS:
Elaine Thurmond (Mercer University: Lithia Springs, GA), Mary Kay Bacallao (Mercer University: Atlanta, GA), Kristi Gnage (Science Teacher: St. Petersburg, FL), Christy Visaggi (Georgia State University: Atlanta, GA)

Looking for ideas to make science more accessible for your students? Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a powerful framework to increase access. Come experience a phenomenon-based lesson focused on student sensemaking, analyze it for UDL principles, and apply this to our own practice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Designing with UDL can minimize barriers around accessibility so all learners can engage in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities. Participants will identify strategies embedded in phenomenon based instruction, gain concrete strategies to support access, and apply to their own instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Renee Affolter (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA)

Come and learn more about key instructional teaching strategies 6-12 for implementation of the SEP and CCC. You will receive grade-band cards for 6-8 and 9-12.

TAKEAWAYS:
The SEP and CCC cards were developed for K-12 teachers to have a deeper understanding of the Science and Engineering Practices and the Crosscutting Concepts as well as suggestions for implementing them in classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Minna Turrell (St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency: St Clair, MI)

This is session #5 in the PL Committee CCCs Pathway and is designed to support K-12. This is the culminating session in the PL Committee CCC Pathway and is designed to support K-12. This session is an opportunity for members of the PL committee, and science educators from around the country, to connect and collaborate. Attendees will share ideas, lessons, successful strategies, and lessons learned as they have sought to support student sensemaking through the integration and use of the CCCs. Participants will leave with an extended network of colleagues along with strategies and resources they can use to expand their personal “teacher tool kit”.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with an extended group of colleagues united by the shared goal of supporting student sensemaking through three-dimensional science teaching and learning. Attendees will leave with resources and ideas that can be implemented immediately.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Baldwin (Instructional Support Specialist: No City, No State), Christopher Soldat (Grant Wood Area Education Agency: Cedar Rapids, IA), Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Bremen, GA)

Participants will learn practical strategies to build a more equitable and inclusive class culture in this LSSS aligned session. Participants will engage in an original environmental science-based anchoring phenomenon to explore proven routines that support student articulation of ideas for investigation and development of models. In particular, the session will examine the importance of leveraging student experiences and resources to drive modeling discussions which help students understand key aspects of the phenomenon. Participants will also learn strategies for moderating focused student-led discussions. These strategies include development of student norms for dialog, methods for planning student discussions and sharing of teacher and student "Talk Moves". Session materials will include references, background readings and "ready to go" classroom materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three dimensional and phenomena-based teaching routines build classroom equity and inclusion, developing clear norms together are key to helping students find their voice and productive student talk requires planning, but student and teacher tools are available.

SPEAKERS:
Steven Babcock (Louisiana State University Laboratory School: Baton Rouge, LA)

Climate change has exacerbated the urban heat island issue. Understanding the issue at different spatial scales helps us clarify the problem and identify solutions. Participants unpack the science of urban heat islands at local and regional scales, and identify solutions to reduce the impacts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Urban heat islands are studied at local and regional scales using simple instruments, and remote sensing data to view the impact over time and space. Understanding the causes and effects of urban heat islands at different scales will ensure effective solutions are implemented to reduce the impacts.

SPEAKERS:
Desiray Wilson (Science Systems and Applications, Inc.: Hampton, VA), Missy Holzer (Chatham High School: Chatham, LA)

Have you wondered how to implement that appendix H of the NGSS into classroom practice? Wait..What..there's an appendix H? Come see how to implement the Nature of Science principles into your classroom practice with a few simple activities that you can use tomorrow in your classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn what the Nature of Science principles are and how they can be implemented in the classroom. Also, this will help further attendees knowledge of pedagogy practices of using all domains of the NGSS to further help students gain science literacy skills.

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

Discover a way to support students with prior knowledge gaps, those ready for grade level instruction, and students in need of extension at the same time. We will use your existing resources in a new way rather trying to make one resource fit all of the needs in your classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will shift how they use existing resources to plan for the diverse needs of students in their science classes.

SPEAKERS:
Janel McPhillips (Calvert County Public Schools: Prince Frederick, MD)

Participants will learn strategies for implementing Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences in their classrooms. Strategies include how to build relationships with community partners, finding local spaces to use to conduct investigations, and how to engage students in field-based investigations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have a “front row seat” and get hands-on experience with the resources needed to implement a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience. Participants will walk away with specific strategies for building partnerships and gaining resources to support their instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Alexis Tharpe (ODU Research Foundation TCEP: Norfolk, VA 23508, VA), Venicia Ferrell (Research Assistant Professor: Norfolk, VA)

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)

Learn how teachers empower students in leading year-long science investigations to address community environmental challenges using computational thinking (CT). We’ll give an iWonder overview, dive deep into the iWonder questioning process, and highlight CT integration and student action projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will learn how our teachers have used computational thinking to empower students in developing and refining observation based questions into a year-long science investigation that addresses environmental challenges in their community.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Clark Uchenna (Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance: Augusta, ME), Megan McCall (Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies: No City, No State), Ian Collins (Maine Math and Science Alliance)

Hear how a K-8 district just north of Chicago with 18 schools is transforming science teaching and learning through cultivating Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), leveraging student experience surveys, and providing professional learning opportunities for-teachers-by-teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teacher leaders & students are crucial to scaling reform efforts. Participants will walk away with a detailed model for cultivating science PLCs, example student experience surveys that elevate student voice, and structures that support the offering of professional learning for teachers by teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Kafi Chase (Chute Middle School), Yang Zhang (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL), Shannon Dangerfield (Haven Middle School: Evanston, IL), Megan McDermott (8th grade science educator), Alissa Berg (Evanston Skokie School District 65)

How do you help a student who gets stuck on a critical thinking task without giving them an answer? Explore modeling prompts for scientific phenomena to dig deeper and communicate your understanding that you can implement with the students so they can produce exemplary work.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will practice using modeling prompts they can bring to their classes to support student learning while utilizing evidence statements to ensure student empowerment and consistency across the curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Erik Bullock (Grade 6 Science Teacher: Vienna, 0), Allison Wise (American Community School of Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

You are using models in your science classroom, but are your students MODELING to make sense of systems and phenomena? Come to this hands-on session to learn more about modeling as a sensemaking practice and how to integrate meaningful modeling experiences into your science classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away from this session with a deeper understanding of modeling as a sensemaking practice, having engaged with multiple models and with ideas about how to integrate more modeling in their own classrooms, support discourse, and formatively assess students’ modeling practice.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Saenz (Researcher: , ME), Alison Miller (Bowdoin College: Brunswick, ME)

Make student thinking come to life with notebooks! Increase the rigor of student work—learn new strategies for organizing content and how to use templates for any science class. Take home many current NGSS classroom examples to get you started.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. The how and why of science notebooks; 2. Engaging ALL students in science; and 3. Templates scaffold student learning for success.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Weibert (Fresno County Office of Education: Fresno, CA)

Increase your ability to use phenomena to anchor sensemaking throughout an entire unit rather than simply hook students’ interests. We will explore examples from the free OpenSciEd curriculum to show how to anchor entire units in a phenomenon and support students to make sense of the natural world.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon-based instruction is not about grabbing interest or demonstrating concepts, but rather anchoring sensemaking throughout a unit in explaining an observable event. Tools like the driving question board and progress tracker can focus student thinking on figuring out an anchoring phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Bruce Kamerer (Boston College: Chestnut Hill, MA), Ji-Sun Ham (School Support Specialist: Chestnut Hill, MA), Benjamin Lowell (New York University: New York, NY)

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.

Students love sketchnoting in science! Come learn how visual notetaking leads to deep processing and retention of content. Editable templates will be provided.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. What are sketchnotes; 2. How to use sketchnotes in science; and 3. How to greatly increase student processing.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Weibert (Fresno County Office of Education: Fresno, CA)

Join us as we explore the connection between science demonstrations and thinking routines. Discover how these two teaching tools, uncover student misconceptions, activate prior knowledge, and engage students in sensemaking by integrating literacy with science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will takeaway a series of engaging science demos/activities that have been purposefully paired with literacy strategies to help develop important thinking routines students can use when approaching a problem, issue or challenge in science.

SPEAKERS:
Lionel Sandner (Edvantage Interactive: Sidney, BC), Sandra Mirabelli (Brock University: Burlington, ON)

Creating an inclusive learning environment requires dedication and creativity for incorporating the success skills (21st Century Skills) such as citizenship with culturally relevant education for crafting STEAM and science curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Main goal of the workshops is using the CRE into STEAM or science lesson or unit plan on any topic or subject matter.

SPEAKERS:
Jenniffer Stetler (Chamblee Middle School: Chamblee, GA)

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)

Discover how you can use a free, global science classroom created at Harvard University to promote student sensemaking. Experience how to tailor learning using LabXchange, a powerful, interactive, online learning platform as students explore their ideas about phenomena and design problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how LabXchange can be used in a classroom as a mechanism for sensemaking and three-dimensional learning aligned with the NGSS. With LabXchange, attendees will learn how to implement world-class content from a variety of Harvard vetted resources and digital assets.

SPEAKERS:
Jenny Frank (LabXchange, Harvard: No City, No State), Kenneth Huff (Williamsville Central School District: East Amherst, NY)

In this session, we will explore the intersection between Information Processing as outlined in Culturally Responsive Teaching, Cognitive Routines, and Three-Dimensional Science to enhance science learning experiences for all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with an experience that enables them to utilize cognitive routines and develop as independent learners while also building their capacity as culturally responsive educators.

SPEAKERS:
Danielle Bowks (Director of Science: No City, No State), Heather Gansky (Smedley Elementary School: Philadelphia, PA), Allison Porzillo (Mastery Charter Schools: Philadelphia, PA)

Notebooking for All Ages is about helping instructors organize and create a meaningful interactive notebook that will help students record, reflect, retain, and recall information.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create and set up Interactive notebooks using NGSS Science standards and practices to help the student maintain the highest learning experience.

SPEAKERS:
Sheryl Tabutol (WIS: Dinuba, CA)

In this workshop, participants will be guided through the free online module created by Underwriters Laboratories (ULXplorlabs: Fire Forensics Claim and Evidence). This module provides a unique platform for learning fire science in an investigator academy; and then applying this science to an arson investigation simulated in the labs of the UL Fire Research Institute. Participants will have an opportunity to see the potential for blending this media and technology resource with three additional modalities of learning: oral discourse, fire related investigations, and interactive notebooks. Participants will experience these modules and complementary hands-on strategies as means to engage students in sense making via analysis of real fire data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Underwriters Laboratories online ULX modules use current issues to engage and motivate learning about scientific ideas that can be applied to engineer solutions for relevant problems.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Gilbert (Griffin Middle School: Smyrna, GA)

Experience the process of sensemaking by investigating surface heating from a student perspective. With a focus on student ideas, explore methods for engaging students in the three dimensions of science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning through place-based, student-centered, teacher-facilitated science inquiry increases student engagement in and ownership of learning and promotes student growth in science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts.

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

Do your students struggle to make sense of graphs? You're not alone. Join us to explore new ways to leverage how our eyes work to make working with graphs and real-world data easier for your students. Gain strategies you can use this week regardless of what curriculum or graphing programs you use.

TAKEAWAYS:
Access classroom-ready strategies to better leverage graphs from online data portals and ways to better set students up for success to make sense of data patterns in any graph they are using in your science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Hunter-Thomson (Dataspire Education & Evaluation, LLC: No City, No State)

Hexagonal Thinking ensures the learning environment features a high degree of student engagement by providing a framework for academic discussion where all students participate. Attendees experience Hexagonal Thinking using science, math and engineering concepts to make connections between them.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn a hands-on strategy that will help students make connections between academic vocabulary, engineering practices and science concepts visible in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Miranda Rosenhoover (Aledo ISD: Aledo, TX)

Practical solutions to socio-scientific issues often require the synthesis of scientific, social, economic, and political dimensions. Learn how to support student sensemaking about these issues by linking the science practice of argumentation to the social studies practice of democratic deliberation

TAKEAWAYS:
Since communities use scientific evidence as well as socio-political considerations to make decisions about socioscientific issues, lessons need to support students in analyzing scientific data about an issue and then integrating this analysis with sociopolitical perspectives to deliberate solutions

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Forsythe (Texas State University: San Marcos, TX)

Do you want to teach the most sought after skills needed to be a successful scientist? Join us as we share practical strategies to create a learning environment where students are asking the questions, participating in productive collaboration, and constructing knowledge through discovery.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will discover practical ways to create a classroom environment rich in curiosity, collaboration, and critical thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Dawn McCotter (Van Andel Education Institute: Grand Rapids, MI)

Adopting curriculums is a top priority for many schools across the nation. While curriculums are useful, they often have shortcomings. One shortcoming we often see in schools is a lack of engagement between the students and the content. In this session, we will explore strategies that align with the 5E Instructional Cycle and UDL that can be easily implemented with the curriculums adopted by schools and provide opportunities for students to engage with science and engineering practices. The strategies can be implemented immediately in the classroom setting. Each strategy presented can be leveled up or leveled down for varied grade levels, including differentiated supports in class to support the varied learners in a classroom. Engage strategies include Observations and Questions and Four Corners. Both are low stakes and engage learning with phenomena immediately. The Explain strategy leverages reading in science and makes it accessible through targeted questions and scaffolding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Small shifts in the curriculum can make large shifts to develop an inclusive classroom environment. Science should be accessible for all and by taking prescribed curriculum and making a few adjustments, all students can engage in science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Whitney McCormick (Alliance College Ready Public Schools: Los Angeles, CA), Sheena Velasquez (Alliance College-Ready Public Schools: Los Angeles, CA)

With increasing diversity in student populations and continued focus on STEM education, new approaches are needed to increase student interest and literacy in science. Student success in the science classroom requires that they be authentically engaged as they investigate and communicate their understanding of scientific phenomena. In this session, participants will receive 30+ classroom-ready strategies, activities, games, templates, and resources that will help engage all learners and increase student achievement in various domains of science. The resources and strategies provided will help participants teaching grade 6 and higher motivate even the most unengaged students. Resources and strategies target areas of the 5- E Model of instruction. Many activities can be used as formative assessments to assess student learning. Participants may modify the activities based on the content they teach and the academic level of student groups and individual students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore resources including activities, templates, games, etc. they can use to increase the scientific literacy and engagement of all students. These can be used “as is” or modified to include other content based on the needs of the learners.

SPEAKERS:
Iris Mudd (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools: Winston Salem, NC)

Although questions are an important aspect of effective science teaching, many science teachers may not be aware of the questions they ask. This session will show three questioning strategies including SHARE (Wilcox et al., 2021), using students’ responses to drive the conversation forward, and convergent/divergent questions. We will demonstrate the questioning techniques during a 5E where we use specimens preserved in acrylic to investigate the structure/function relationships (1-LS1-1, 4-LS1-1) and to consider homologous and analogous structures (MS-LS4-2).

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn three different questioning strategies they can use with their students. Additionally, participants will experience these questions in action as the presenters will use life science examples to teach the questioning strategies.

SPEAKERS:
Carson McClain (Student), Jesse Wilcox (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)

Physical computing allows students to design and create interactive objects that emphasize computational thinking skills. Participants will engage in activities designed for middle school students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Microcontrollers are small computers that come with several integrated sensors. Their functionality makes them useful for both investigations and engineering projects. We will focus in how engineering tasks using microcontrollers provide opportunities for student sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS), Susan German (Hallsville Middle School: Hallsville, MO)

The sky belongs to everyone - including middle-school age youth. Learn how to join the Youth Astronomy Network (YouthAstroNet) of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, where your students can tell their own star stories using images they capture from real robotic telescopes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn YouthAstroNet’s strategies for engaging students from culturally diverse backgrounds in accessible, relevant and meaningful exploration of their place in the cosmos and find out how they can join the YouthAstroNet online community, supported by the National Science Foundation

SPEAKERS:
Erika Wright (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA), Mary Dussault (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian: Cambridge, MA)

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)