2023 Atlanta National Conference

March 22-25, 2023

All sessions added to My Agenda prior to this notice have been exported to the mobile app and will be visible in your account when the app launches. Any sessions added now, will also have to be added in the app.
Grade Level


Topics























Strands














Session Type














Pathway/Course

FILTERS APPLIED:Poster, Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice, Biology

 

Rooms and times subject to change.
14 results
Save up to 50 sessions in your agenda.

Dog Mode Design Challenge

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: No Strand

Show Details

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

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

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

Digestion of Waste to Energy: School Design and Lab Study

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
EdmersonCandace_Anaerobic Digester Poster Presentation_NSTA Atlanta 2023.pdf
https://blog.uta.edu/yazdani/ret/
UTA Civil Engineering

STRAND: Research to Practice

Show Details

An AD can decrease the amount of waste in landfills, and produce clean energy, the byproduct of digestate (liquid and solid) can be used as fertilizer, it prevents pollution of the atmosphere, and the processing time takes (20 to 30 days) less than composting.

TAKEAWAYS:
This research aimed to identify and create a way to repurpose and utilize organic waste material that usually ends up in landfills. By creating a closed system within the laboratory, we measured the gas production of carbon dioxide and methane gas, and which waste produces the most biogas.

SPEAKERS:
Candace Edmerson (Duncanville High School: Duncanville, TX)

Transformational Learning in Science Pre-Service Teacher Education

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Research to Practice

Show Details

This poster will introduce attendees to Transformational Learning Theory and how we have used this as a research to practice framework. We will provide best practices for using it to develop science teacher education programs, particularly focused on study abroad or study away opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create transformational learning experiences for their science teacher educators using study abroad and study away opportunities. A template for designing and assessing such experiences will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Lacey Huffling (Georgia Southern University: Statesboro, GA)

Handling extinction and adaptation: Project Based Learning with low-cost fossils

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
PosterCan Biology Teachers Use Low-Cost Fossils for Evolution Adaptation PBL
From the abstract:In High School Biology, providing hands-on connections to Earth’s biodiversity can be challenging. But project-based learning (PBL) using fossil-bearing rocks of multiple ages gives students a concrete experience. They can touch and inspect adaptation and evolution over the mind-boggling time spans of Earth’s existence. The expense and relative rarity of anatomically complete fossils is an obstacle even to universities, when their goal is to systematically teach fossil identif

STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

This project was funded by a National Science Foundation grant to expose high school students to geoscience within their required science curriculum. A collateral benefit is integrating key concepts in other sciences. In Biology, natural selection requires eons (“deep time”) to create Earth’s biodiversity. In project-based learning using fossil-bearing rocks of multiple ages, students experience deep time concretely. A barrier to hands-on fossil study is the expense of specimens good enough for university students to systematically learn fossil taxa. However, imperfect samples can connect anyone to deep time. Ironically, some such samples are simply dumped when teachers return from professional development field trips. This presentation reveals a path to making use of such ordinary material by 1) circling fossils in ink, 2) creating a picture guide from circled fossils, 3) building a PBL unit uniting those fossils with a biodiversity-though-time graphic known as a Tree of Life diagram.

TAKEAWAYS:
Might students better master evolution standards, especially extinction and adaptation, by encountering fossils through "deep time"? Teacher-collected samples, with fossils circled in ink, a picture guide made from the set, and a detailed Tree of Life diagram form foundations for PBL exploration.

SPEAKERS:
Adrianna Rajkumar (Lecturer), Katty Mobasher (Professor of Geology and GIS: , GA), Bill Witherspoon (geologist/educator: Decatur, GA)

Student Engagement: Researching Biodiversity Along the Cache River

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Student Learning and Inclusion

Show Details

Students from Anna-Jonesboro High School and Marion High School worked together to complete a field study on tardigrades and biodiversity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students felt more driven to succeed in their scientific research when working with peers from another school.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Richbourg (Anna Jonesboro Community High School)

Phenomenal Teaching - Increase Engagement and Inquiry

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

Learn how to use guiding phenomena to increase student engagement and inquiry. The guiding phenomenon of Sickle Cell will be demonstrated for Biology and Mangrove Forests for Environmental Science.

TAKEAWAYS:
From this session, attendees will learn how to use guiding phenomena to develop units that engage students and increase inquiry.

SPEAKERS:
Elissa Blount (Vidalia High School: Vidalia, GA)

Cold email to a professor? In-class interventions help students join research laboratories

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


Show Details

Joining a research lab as an undergraduate is a boon to many future career directions, making it important to equip students with the tools to find and contact potential laboratories. We will discuss evidence for the need for these tools as well as a tested strategy for their input into classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gaps in knowledge created by socio-economic differences, being a first-generation college student, etc., can make it challenging to find a research laboratory, or decide what skills are required to join. We will demonstrate a modular teaching device to help fill this void.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Ruesch (Postdoctoral Researcher/Educator: Ithaca, NY)

Limitations of the CHLT-6 as an Assessment in a STEM Laboratory Experience

Friday, March 24 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Curriculum and Assessment

Show Details

Although cancer biology is an important topic with the study life science, the definition of cancer literacy has been ill defined. This project demonstrates limitations of using one measure of cancer literacy, the Cancer Health Literacy Test-6, within the scope of a cancer biology outreach program.

TAKEAWAYS:
Cancer literacy has been broadly defined and assessed. Assessment of cancer biology knowledge may be best suited by the use of instructor-prepared, lesson-specific assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Heath (Student: Warrenville, SC), Kamani Barnes (Student: Warrenville, SC), Alexandria Martin (Student: , SC), Christie Palladino (Teacher: Warrenville, SC)

Grasses on Earth@Home: A free, online, NSF-funded resource showing why grass matters for biodiversity, geography, and human culture

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Grasses on Earth@Home
Brief Description: Grasses are the dominant plant type in grasslands and a major component of savannas that naturally cover more that 20% of the world’s land area, though many wild grasslands have been significantly altered or converted to graze livestock and grow crops. Grasses cultivated for grain were some of the first plants to be domesticated and are a major staple of the human diet globally. They provide us forage for livestock, biomass to produce biofuels, sugar, and many other products.

STRAND: No Strand

Show Details

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

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

SPEAKERS:
Don Haas (The Paleontological Research Institution)

That’s a wrap! Exploring the DNA Histone Model and Cancer

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Research to Practice

Show Details

Free phenomenon based unit around chromatin remodeling! Organization of a meter of DNA into a 5-μm nucleus is an obstacle and a way that genes are regulated. Using free resources including a 3D cut-and-paste model, this unit explores how DNA is organized and how access to DNA is controlled.

TAKEAWAYS:
DNA is coiled around histones. Tightly coiled DNA is inaccessible to gene reading machinery. Methyl molecules bind to DNA and block access to genes. Acetyl molecules bind to histones and improve access to genes.

SPEAKERS:
April Thompson (Lakeview Academy: Saratoga Springs, UT)

Teaching Science Through Cooking For Secondary Educators

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle


STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

Empower students to playfully explore science through food and cooking. Explore the theoretical underpinnings that support sensemaking in the classroom and practical avenues for facilitating equitable and accessible learning through food and cooking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to authentically leverage food and cooking to make science concepts concrete in the secondary classroom which platforms individual student voices, experiences, and ideas.

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

Storylines: A Classroom Research Project

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Storylines A Classroom Research Project Poster

STRAND: Research to Practice

Show Details

The effects of a Storyline approach was used in a High School biology class. A storyline focusing on the concept of ecosystem homeostasis was presented to students and compared to a traditional teaching approach. Results indicated that student content knowledge and attitudes improved.

TAKEAWAYS:
Storylines are effective teaching tool to help student learn science content through the lens of Science & Engineering Practices and Crosscutting Concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Shane Cullian (Whitewater High School: Whitewater, WI), John Graves (Montana State University: Bozeman, MT)

Human Evolution Lab Suite

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Human Evolution Lab Suite (HELS)

STRAND: Teaching Strategies and Classroom Practice

Show Details

The Human Evolution Lab Suite (HELS) is a collection of select labs that supplement existing biology curricula. The very best fossil, physiologic, behavioral, and genetic evidence is woven together to produce a compelling confluence of evidence for hominid (human) evolution.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Human Evolution Lab Suite (HELS) is a set of labs that features the most compelling and student-accessible evidence for human evolution, designed for user-friendly delivery by an instructor with the help of open access lesson plans and tools.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Bayer (Co-Founder, AncientAncestors.org: Feucht, Germany)

Co.lab- Co-Teaching & Exhibiting Student Work

Saturday, March 25 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Georgia World Congress Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
Introducing Co.lab
This presentation offers an overview of the co.lab program at Leyden High Schools. This interdisciplinary program combines Biology, English, Global Studies, Digital Literacy, and Health/PE into one course in the middle of the traditional school day. Combing these classes allows for teachers to deconstruct time, co-teach shared curriculum, and group students in different ways to accommodate a wider variety of lessons, labs and projects.

STRAND: Curriculum and Assessment

Show Details

Come learn about co.lab, an interdisciplinary course designed by Leyden teachers that includes Biology, Global Studies, English, Health/PE and Digital Literacy. Discover how we use our 4 period block of time in a traditional school day to reimagine how students learn and teachers collaborate.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away from this session feeling inspired to collaborate within and outside of their departments, with ideas and strategies on how to do so. They'll learn the power of exhibiting student work, and hear new ideas on how to do so on a grander scale.

SPEAKERS:
Jamie Litzhoff (Leyden High School District 212: Franklin Park, IL)

Back to Top