This capacity building session will explore how to make meaningful phenomena for students; review a set of phenomena descriptions generated by others and say which ones might be compelling to students and why; and explore a framework with examples for different classes of phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn, through an existing OER professional learning module, how to identify meaningful and relevant phenomena that attend to students interest and community priorities.

SPEAKERS:
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

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: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

Engage in strategies to help your English Learners (EL) population make sense of science concepts and apply their science knowledge to real-world applications. We will explore a variety of strategies for differentiating instruction so that ELs can build their ability to communicate science concepts.

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

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

How can a phenomena-based NGSS curriculum promote sensemaking in science and also support language development? See how embedded supports in well-designed instructional materials, along with teachers’ best practices, can create a successful science learning environment for Multilingual Learners.

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)

Generating STEM interest through a place-conscious framework is a pathway for students to solve issues relevant to their community. Framing instructional methods within the place-conscious design allow important issues to be at the center of the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will explore how to design hands-on inquiry lesson developed from a place-conscious framework.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Bookheimer (Pre-service Teacher: , MT)

Washington County Public Schools, MD had adopted the definition of Acceleration as intentionally providing access to grade/course-level learning so students who have unfinished learning succeed in today’s learning experience. Underpinning this definition we have leaned on the work of John Hattie to identify 4 high-impact areas(relationships, scaffolds, clarity, feedback) of teaching and learning to frame our focus away from traditional remediation. This session will look at the practice of scaffolding instruction in the science classroom. Attendees will participate in collaborative discussions and experience the use of authentic classroom examples. These experiences will promote their own thinking of how our practical strategies can be transferred into their classrooms. Due to the organizational leadership role of the presenters, audience members will be able to have questions ranging from classroom implementation to curriculum integration discussed.

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

SPEAKERS:
Tara Ellis (Washington County Public Schools: Hagerstown, MD)

Students are going to talk anyway. Learn to make talk productive with student-led talk circles. Use this powerful strategy tomorrow to build students’ scientific literacy!

TAKEAWAYS:
Talk Circles enable educators to uncover student ideas and misconceptions as well as reveal students’ understanding to pave the way for further investigation.

SPEAKERS:
Patricia McMahon (Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy: North Windham, CT), Sheri Geitner (Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy: North Windham, CT), Nicole Bay (Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy: North Windham, CT)

How do we center students in NGSS units designed for a national audience? Join us to explore how a team of K-8 educators are developing resources and strategies that incorporate local phenomena, community needs, and the lived experiences of their students into their teaching of Amplify Science units

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will become familiar with an approach used to localize national curricula and take away research-based and equity centered tools, resources and approaches they can use in their own efforts to localize their curricula and create an inclusive classroom environment.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Abbott (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Brad Street (IslandWood: Bainbridge Island, WA)

The NSTA Sensemaking Tool (adapted from the research-based NGSS Lesson Screener) is designed to help educators be critical consumers of curricular materials as well as create and/or revise science lessons to reflect the instructional shifts required by new standards (sensemaking). Join us to gain experience using the tool and facilitating criteria-based consensus conversations with colleagues.

TAKEAWAYS:
Recognize the critical aspects of sensemaking in a science lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews (NSTA: Arlington, VA), Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

COESEE - Join us to explore the selection and implementation of phenomenon for elementary students as you review materials or build phenomenon into your own materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon can be used in multiple ways to support interesting and just learning experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Shelly LeDoux (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX), Molly Ewing (The Charles A. Dana Center: No City, No State), Carla Zembal-Saul (Penn State: University Park, PA), Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network)

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: 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)

In this session you will take a closer look at STEM instruction in order to reflect on whether it is inclusive of all students and how to use innovative ideas to continue moving forward as a STEM educator.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss and reflect on their own STEM instruction and focus on ways to include all students in STEM education regardless of abilities, language, or economic status.

SPEAKERS:
Pavel Escobedo Garcia (Principal: Ventura, CA), Adriana Guerra (E. P. Foster STEM Academy: Ventura, CA)

Many states are adopting policy that promotes the use of high-quality standards-aligned curriculum for all grade levels. However, educators may question the accessibility of these units for all students. In the Science Curriculum Adaptation Project for Special Educators (SCAPE) program, science specialists from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education worked with special educators to adapt the NYU SAIL “Garbage” unit for students with moderate to severe disabilities. Science specialists provided learning activities around the structures and routines in the unit and guided teachers through key lessons. Teachers then identified barriers and used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to adapt the unit for their students to access ideas and SEPs in the unit. Each teacher participant left with an adapted unit to pilot with students. In this presentation we will outline the program and share examples of adaptations made for students with disabilities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Session attendees will learn about a MA program designed to support special education teachers in using the high quality “Garbage” unit with their students. Attendees will also see examples of UDL-based adaptations that can be used with science students with moderate to severe disabilities.

SPEAKERS:
Angela Palo (Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Boston, MA), Casandra Gonzalez (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Malden, MA)

Gardening in a school setting provides an authentic learning environment filled with wonder for students and teachers alike. From small outdoor flower pots to raised beds, these spaces transform not only the environment, but gives all involved a new perspective on where our food comes from.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students gain hands-on experiences with their environment while making connections between what they have planted and the food that goes into the cafeteria. Learn how we transformed an unusable space to create a school garden/outdoor classroom that has had unexpected benefits.

SPEAKERS:
Shelly Butcher (Tozer Primary School, Weld RE-4 School District)

Botany principals presented in unusual, indigenous myths of photosynthesis, mycorrhizal fungi, pollination, decomposers, seed diversity, forest ecology, etc. Discover elements of what makes story an effective educational tool and generate successful interdisciplinary experiences supporting science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover the essential elements of story and understand what makes story such an effective educational tool. Learn from indigenous myths to build the meaning of botanical/scientific concepts in the context of narrative, imagery, characterization and sensory elements.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Strauss (Author/ Storyteller: , OR)

Making core instruction accessible to a variety of English Learners isn’t rocket science! With intentional planning and implementation of best practices, you can support multilingual learners with deepening their understanding of science concepts AND developing their English language proficiency.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn more about collaborating and intentionally developing resources for a range of English language learners.

SPEAKERS:
David Flores (Title III Resource Teacher: Charlotte, NC), Christina Mahar (English Language Resource Teacher: Charlotte, NC), Darlene Keyser (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: Charlotte, NC)

Culturally responsive pedagogy can help bridge the diversity gap in STEM. This session shares how our Dream City program supports all students in thinking like urban planners to design beautiful neighborhoods that are not only structurally sound but also inclusive and responsive to all who come.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have a chance to see how IMSA Outreach provides inquiry-based, hands-on STEM learning. Attendees will see how inquiry-based teaching and learning is, by its very nature, inherently culturally responsive and can leave with practical ideas to use in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Elaine Wu (Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy: Aurora, IL)

Learn how to integrate the engineering design process and environmental education to engage students in this unit designed for upper elementary students! Participants will complete the Ocean Cleanup Challenge from the perspective of a student and learn about the Trashion Fashion Challenge.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will learn how to increase student awareness of ocean and land pollution through hands-on STEM challenges. They will also learn how to connect relevant, real world topics that matter to promote student voice.

SPEAKERS:
Meghan Marrero (Mercy University, Dobbs Ferry Campus: No City, No State), Johanna Vasquez (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY), Terri Agravat (Trinity Elementary School: New Rochelle, NY)

Empower our students to be solutionary thinkers with “think local, act global” as an important theme in student centered instruction. Create engaging 3D, phenomenon-based opportunities through a social justice lens and harness local and global community partnerships to deepen student learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Create a solutionary approach to lesson planning connecting local and global environmental issues in California and Africa, while enhancing SEL. Using the 3D5E DO-KNOW-THINK Learning Sequence, teachers create STEAM-centered lessons for engagement, interdisciplinary active learning, and empathy.

SPEAKERS:
Marie Gorman (STEM 4 Real: San Francisco, CA), Jacqueline Lafitte (Teacher: Hayward, CA), Leena Bakshi (STEM4Real: No City, No State)

Sponsoring Company: Plasma Games

Let's expose students to the diversity in STEM careers x3! Explore how to inspire the next generation of STEM experts by showing them STEM experts who are diverse in how they look, diverse in what they do, but most importantly diverse in how they got there.

Looking for an innovative way to bring to life the science vocabulary your students need to know? This session will cover a strategy to enhance the ol' word wall of the past into an engaging learning experience that is low prep for the teacher with maximum benefit for the student.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with the ability to create an engaging visual representation wall, knowledge of current brain science behind building vocabulary memory, and factors to consider when prioritizing key vocabulary words.

SPEAKERS:
CHRISTINA SPEARS (Director of Teaching Academy: Comfort, TX)

We will explore the what, why, and how of integrated science and language teaching. We will describe, illustrate, and model research-based strategies, tools, and resources teachers can use to support inquiry, sense-making, and language development with their young multilingual learners (MLs)

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with some research-based strategies, tools, and resources to support planning and facilitation of language-enriched and inclusive science experiences that leverage science as a context for language and for building skills across the developmental domains with a focus on MLs

SPEAKERS:
Mandell Academy (Connecticut Science Center: Hartford, CT), Rachel Shurick (Connecticut Science Center: Hartford, CT), Becky Fahey (Connecticut Science Center: Hartford, CT), Cindy Hoisington (Education Development Center, Inc.: Holbrook, MA)

Sponsoring Company: National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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

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

Explore how engineering benefits English learners as you engage in lessons designed to foster engineering, science, and language learning for elementary students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engineering activities can offer multimodal experiences for English learners that encourage their participation and contributions to the engineering classroom community and engage them in purposeful uses of language.

SPEAKERS:
Christine Cunningham (Museum of Science, Boston: Boston, MA)

Inclusive Community Science Workshops in schools, libraries, and communities fosters STEM learning, creativity, innovation, and identity through play, making, and positive social interactions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about instructional innovations, resources, and ideas for enhancing STEM learning and teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Jerry Valadez (Fresno State and SAM Academy CSW)

Sponsoring Company: American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture

To effectively collaborate, problem-solve and be active in their own thinking/learning, students need to develop an understanding of themselves, their environment, and their impact on the future. Join us for a hands-on learning experience connecting food, agriculture, and science.

Come join the fun! During this session you will create tools you can use to differentiate your science instruction and provide for the diversity of your students’ needs. Strategies necessary to teach diverse learners science are provided. Participants will actively engage in hands-on activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will actively engage in hands-on activities modeled to deliver instruction using a multi-sensory approach. Materials and handouts are provided.

SPEAKERS:
Marianne Phillips (Texas A&M University-San Antonio: San Antonio, TX)

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)

In this session, participants will work on hands-on activities and test a prototype to learn about forces using the engineering design model and translanguaging for elementary grades.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to teach about forces for elementary grade level using an engineering activity and translanguaging (English/Spanish).

SPEAKERS:
Brianna Ricker (Student: No City, No State), Max Vazquez Dominguez (University of North Georgia: Dahlonega, GA)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

This session will focus on the developmental (not academic) gaps that the past few years of learning are likely to have caused and provide multiple strategies to address those inequities. Like Maslow's model shows, we must address the deficiencies before we can expect growth.

SPEAKERS:
Ramy Mahmoud (Savvas Learning Co.: Paramus, NJ)

Participants will learn how to utilize two different strategies for group collaboration within the elementary science classroom. The first strategy will show participants how they can use common pairs (ex. burger/fries, bacon/eggs) of items to quickly partner students up prior to the collaborative learning activity. This will allow students to get a variety of partners to work with while ensuring maximum time for engagement with the lesson. Secondly, after students are grouped for the investigation using the aforementioned strategy, they can then employ the simple and efficient investigation job cards in their groups so that each person will have a defined job to conduct throughout the entirety of the investigation. One example of a job would be the “Reporter” who would be responsible for sharing the group's data and conclusions with the entire class. These strategies aim to prepare educators with simple tools to ensure greater participation and engagement from all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, you will learn two different strategies for engaging students within the science classroom during collaborative learning. You will walk away with a simple partner pairing strategy, as well as, specific scientific jobs for students to utilize during classroom investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Oberdorf (Big Spring School District: Newville, PA)

This presentation provides guidance on what it can look like for NGSS-designed instructional materials to support all students to design solutions to real-world problems and use them to drive instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
In the NGSS, problems are defined as “situations somebody wants to change,” which is different from construction or design projects, where the ultimate goal is achieving a design or tinkering. Real-world problems can create intrinsic motivation for students to learn science and engineering ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Childress Self (NextGenScience: San Francisco, CA), Neelo Soltanzadeh (WestEd: San Francisco, CA)

Learn to make cardboard mechanisms and structures, create a mechanism that looks like a letter, and mount it to make a structure. Students in pre-K classrooms in Brooklyn, NY have learned to identify mechanisms and structures by engaging in these activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Mechanisms and structures are all around us! Mechanisms have independent moving parts, while structures do not. Increasing the number of fasteners can turn a mechanism into a structure while removing fasteners can turn it back into a mechanism.

SPEAKERS:
Jazlyn Mena (Castle Bridge School: New York, NY), Jody Hilton (P.S. 44 Marcus Garvey Magnet School of Engineering and Design and The City College of New York), Lacey Samsoe (Teacher: Brooklyn, NY)

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Cultivate a sense of belonging in your classroom with conservation, stewardship, and climate science using educational resources from NOAA and other socially conscious organizations. This workshop and resources to be shared is suitable for educators working with students at all grade bands.

SPEAKERS:
Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service: Silver Spring, MD), Symone Barkley (Education Specialist: Silver Spring, MD)