Rubrics are great assessment tools when grading lab reports and projects. Rubrics help to clarify expectations, inspire students to set goals and give educators a way to improve feedback that stimulates student reflection. Emphasis is on application and analysis not getting the right answers.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Poster will highlight best practices for creating and using rubrics to grade lab reports and projects. The poster will include best practices, main components of a rubric, tips for creating rubrics and well as best practices for feedback and grading using rubrics.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Morton (Instructional Coach)

This poster presentation will demonstrate teacher methods for using children's literature to explore topics related to sustainability as well as student-created picture books that serve as rich, individualized artifacts of project-based learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning about sustainability and environmental issues shouldn't be boring or negative. See how quality children's literature that focuses on these topics can inspire creative writing and illustration projects that demonstrate individualized student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kerry Teeple (University of Findlay College of Education: Findlay, OH)

Designing the solution that solves a real-world problem requires the application of knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines, as in STEM practices. Through the exploration of STEL and the EDP, students learn how to evaluate their design solutions based on constraints and criteria.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators learn how to use performance tasks to measure students’ application of the knowledge and to assess individual student performance.

SPEAKERS:
Denise Clarke-Mayers (East Orange STEM Academy: East Orange, NJ)

Students may lose confidence in science skills when inconsistencies are not addressed. Our project shows that students can feel success by understanding measurement error, identifying ways to reduce measurement error, and analyzing the impact of those modifications.

TAKEAWAYS:
This project will demonstrate educationally and statistically significant impact of a piloted, experiment-based measurement error lesson. Attendees will take home tips for addressing inconsistent data to foster student success.

SPEAKERS:
Alexandria Martin (Student: , SC), Tiannah Green (Student: Warrenville, SC), Hannah Smith (Student: Warrenville, SC), Darneisha Hughes (Student: Warrenville, SC), Destiny Ramos (Student: Warrenville, SC), Janiya Dunbar (Student: Warrenville, SC), Alexis Wren (Student: Warrenville, SC), Samantha Brosnahan (Aiken County Career Cente: Langley, SC), Vivian Swearingen (Student: Warrenville, SC), Sophia Taylor-Davis (Student: Warrenville, SC), Aubria Johnson (Student: Warrenville, SC), Jose Rodriguez (Student: Warrenville, SC), Atticus Lull (Student: Warrenville, SC), Savannah Manning (Student: Warrenville, SC), Chassity Williams (Student: Warrenville, SC), Kayleigh Thigpen (Student: Warrenville, SC), Katherine Roberts (Student: Warrenville, SC), Christie Palladino (Teacher: Warrenville, SC)

Step-by-Step Skills explains how to break down a scientific skill into a series of steps. Presenters will provide examples from their own classroom as well as a framework for how to utilize the technique across multiple grade levels and science disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to break down a scientific skill into a series of steps and why it is helpful for all learners, but especially those within a neurodiverse classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Beck (Randolph School: Huntsville, AL)

NSTA provides a wide array of professional learning services for teachers, science specialists, and administrators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to bring NSTA professional learning services to your school, district, or organization (face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid).

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

This session will provide educators with ideas for hosting STEM day/night for K-8 students (especially in Title I schools). Attendees will participate in hands-on STEM challenges that explore phenomena, require minimal preparation, and can be completed in 45 minutes or less. Educators will walk away with packets that include posters, supply lists, rubrics, and worksheets. This session will help attendees to facilitate and model simple Engineering Design Challenges that will engage ALL scholars.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to coordinate a STEM day/night including scheduling ideas, resources. Attendees will receive packets for their respective grade levels/grade bands that include posters, supply lists, rubrics, and worksheets.

SPEAKERS:
Karelle Williams (The Main Street Academy: Atlanta, GA)

In this workshop, we will explore The National Park Classroom, an approach to inquiry-focused education which combines aspects of several pedagogical models to create engaging and student-centered learning experiences. Students of all ages can benefit from this approach which is rooted in the Buck Institute for Education's HQPBL model, National Geographic Geo-Inquiry model, and tech-infused resources from the National Park Service. You will learn all about where to find these resources, how to align them to your content and learning goals, and how to facilitate student-centered learning experiences, both inside and outside the classroom! Participants will leave with a great exploration-focused lesson and a large list of FREE resources for building their own completed unit of study.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with an understanding of the National Park Classroom model, the research that supports its use, strategies for integrating it into your classroom, and free resources for both teachers and learners.

SPEAKERS:
James Fester (Hill-Murray School: Maplewood, MN)

Various children's books will be presented that can be used to introduce and discuss important science topics in the middle school science classroom. Examples of how I use these books in my classroom and what topics they cover will also be discussed. Books such as "Sparrow Girl" and "Ada Twist Scientist" will also be presented as a way to bring diversity of science thinkers into classrooms and demonstrate that science is inclusive of all race, genders, and cultures. Other books to be presented include "There is a Hair in My Dirt" and "Did a Dinosaur Drink This Water?"

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be provided with examples of how children's literature can be brought into the science classroom to not only engage our students, but teach them important science concepts in the area of Ecology and scientific thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Krista Hachadoorian (H.B. Thompson Middle School: Syosset, NY)

How do we assess both DCIs and SEPs in a way that is not overly complicated nor burdensome, yet pedagogically sound? There is a clear way to integrate your course content without sacrificing an emphasis on the NGSS practices. You will leave with resources to implement this in your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
After outlining the current debate, attendees will examine several effective approaches to deal with both content and skills, while considering issues of equity, differentiation, and opportunity for students of all ages.

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

Learn about a great hands-on tissue paper hot air balloon STEM activity that can be done indoors year-round! Join Dr. Yemothy to learn about this easy and affordable activity that ALL students can accomplish. Leave having seen an example an gained an understanding of the activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Knowledge of how to do the activity, ways to vary it, and understanding what is needed to do with students along with digital access to the hot air balloon STEM activity.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Yemothy (K-8 STEM Educator & Trainer)

The poster will highlight and discuss some of the valuable technology resources that played a key role in allowing teachers to provide students with an equitable learning experience during the pandemic and how they can continue to be utilized as we return to the post pandemic classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
The poster will discuss strategies using tools such as Classkick, Gimkit, Blooket, and Edpuzzle to differentiate instruction in the classroom while encouraging persistence and achievement in students.

SPEAKERS:
Selene Verhofstad (Dobie High School: Houston, TX)

At arrival participants would receive a green or grey colored paper. They would then be prompted with the question, How would environmental changes impact the population of both green and grey colored insects? After brainstorming they would read and view some graphics on the poster of the “Impacts of Industrialization,” looking at how scientists have long studied how environmental changes impact organisms over time. Then, educators would participate in an online simulation, they would play as a bird and eat the moths in the simulation. Participants would then debrief their observations, hopefully finding that dark forest environment represented what the environment was during and after the Industrial Revolution. The light colored trees became dark and bare, due to the harmful effects of the pollution; this made the lighter colored moths harder to see and therefore gave them an advantage to survive. Poster facilitators would them help educators brainstorm other SS/Science connections.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will find unique ways that they can incorporate their science and social studies lessons more frequently and naturally.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Petersen (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ), Judith Lozoya (Professional Development Facilitator: Phoenix, AZ)

Are you looking for climate change lessons that provide strategies to engage middle school students? Activity-filled lessons will explore natural cycles and what can be learned from proxies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Activities involving natural cycles including the sun cycle, the carbon cycle, and seasons, as well as a variety of proxies and what they can tell us about Earth’s climate past and present will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Karin Jakubowski (eesmarts: No City, No State), Kathleen Brooks (CREC: No City, No State)

Explore what NSTA is offering online to support your professional learning needs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about the variety of professional learning opportunities that NSTA has to offer.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Phillips (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Drawing on the experiences acquired in this international educational project, the poster will introduce participants to the concept of open schooling - its principles, benefits, and challenges. It will present the project's main objectives and showcase examples of activities designed based on the project principles and the actions completed so far, such as the co-creation of 16 Learning scenarios with eight pilot schools in the UK, Israel, Netherlands, and Poland, development the Open School Navigator for educators and conducting two rounds of pilots to test the learning scenarios and the Navigator with teachers. Finally, it will capture an example of the implementation of the Make It Open project and its future goals.

TAKEAWAYS:
The poster will introduce the Make It Open project based on the open schooling approach. It will give an overview of the tools and learning scenarios curricula developed by this project and showcase examples of how educators can implement them in their classrooms based on their community.

SPEAKERS:
Uttarika Shetty (Research Assistant), Tamar Fuhrmann (TC Columbia University: No City, No State)