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)

Participants will learn how to choose a picture book as a basis for an engineering unit, examine examples of several books that we have turned into engineering units, follow our journey to construct a force and motion unit, and participate in the Engineering Challenge to build a better race car.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will understand how to select a picture book to support a science standard, as well as be able to construct an engineering unit based on the chosen book. Participants will also receive a copy of our force and motion unit based on to use in their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jenna Henkel (Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers, Inc.: Cumming, GA), Pamela Parks (Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers, Inc.: Winterville, GA)

Is your science time getting squeezed? In this interactive workshop, learn how to use the NGSS K-5 Engineering Standards to find the STEM in ANY storybook to get your students excited about science and engineering through reading in the elementary classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this interactive session, participants will learn how to plan lessons and units that integrate science, engineering, and other content areas into your reading time by starting with any storybook.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Hill (Wicomico County Public Schools: Salisbury, MD)

Knowles Engineering teachers co-developed and piloted a scaffolded framework for integrating social justice into engineering design that we are excited to share with the NSTA community. Come ready to explore how to empower your science students through intentional engineering curriculum design!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will interact with examples of empowered engineering curriculum, as well as apply the framework to their own classroom. Teachers will leave with concrete ideas for how to incorporate more social justice work into their own engineering curriculum in manageable and expanding ways.

SPEAKERS:
Katey Shirey (edukatey: Washington, DC), Emily Berman (Global STEM Challenges Program: Washington, DC)

This session will introduce participants to a NSTA lesson designed to introduce high school students to cutting edge research on Artificial Intelligence. The lesson is designed around the critical aspects of sensemaking: students experience a phenomenon, engage in science and engineering practices and share ideas and to build and/or apply disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts needed to explain how or why the phenomenon occurs. Sensemaking is in the vision of A Framework for K-12 Science Education - “the doing of science and engineering is highlighted as a strategy that can capture students’ interest in science and motivate their continued study.” (A Framework for K-12 Science Education, pp 42-43). NSTA lessons and units provide opportunities for all students to engage in science learning that is meaningful to them

TAKEAWAYS:
The JHU Wavelength lesson introduced in the session provides opportunities for high school students to learn about cutting edge science research, figure out science ideas related to artificial intellligence, and consider how it could benefit their community.

SPEAKERS:
Rama Chellappa (Bloomberg Distinguished Professor: Baltimore, MD), Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Brooklyn, NY), Rama Chellappa (Johns Hopkins University: Baltimore, MD)

Opening a lab is a daunting process. Learn about how Fairport developed a vision, wrote a horizontally and vertically aligned curriculum, and utilized intentional decision making to design the Elementary STEAM Lab experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with recommendations for creating STEAM Labs in their districts based on the blueprint that Fairport used to launch Labs that incorporate the NGSS Engineering Design standards, Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards, and a focus on social-emotional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Travis Wood (Fairport Central School District: Rochester, NY), Kristin Larsen (Honeoye Falls- Lima CSD: Honeoye Falls, NY)

Designing for justice means centering inquiry on phenomena that cross the artificial boundary between human and natural systems. The result is instruction that not only teaches students to understand the natural world, but broadens their perspectives on how humans fit into natural systems, what constitutes science, and what they can accomplish using science. In high school, some of the design problems that students are noticing in the world may feel overwhelming, but breaking them down using the ideas and practices of science can help students find hope and resilience. For example in OpenSciEd HS, students ask: Where should we focus efforts on treatment and prevention of cancer? What can we do to make driving safer for everyone? How can we slow the flow of energy on Earth to protect vulnerable communities? To answer these, students must use science ideas and practices to understand/think creatively about design problems that emerge from complex systems at the nature-human divide.

TAKEAWAYS:
NGSS-designed instruction that is oriented toward justice can not only teach students to understand the natural world, but broadens their perspectives on how humans fit into natural systems, what constitutes science, and what they can accomplish using science.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO), Samantha Pinter (Norwalk Public Schools: Milford, CT), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Evanston, IL)

Learn how to engage your students with the rich phenomena around the mismatch between our human body physiology and our modern environment, using a free, EQuIP-reviewed unit designed for HS NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will develop a vision for how to use engineering practices to teach genetics and epigenetics while creating a more engaging and inclusive classroom environment for all learners

SPEAKERS:
Joy Otibu (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY), Andrea Sau (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY)

Students will gain a deeper knowledge about sustainable energy generation / conservation and architectural ecology through hands-on, collaborative labs, which use on-campus student-built green roof models, a green roof section on our middle school, and ground-level on-campus solar panels.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn how to identify a key sustainable energy or ecological practice that fits your school culture. We'll show you how to design labs and select equipment that will engage the students in learning about sustainability. You'll identify learning objectives and assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Ward (Strath Haven Middle School: Wallingford, PA)

Flight is amazing! Even more amazing is the fact that students at any level can understand how flight works. In this session, we will share resources and strategies to teach aviation in any educational setting and how you can inspire students to pursue STEAM careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will share strategies, conduct hands-on STEAM activities, and provide a range of activities, developed by NASA, for all ages and all educational settings. Come have some fun and leave with useful resources you can use right away.

SPEAKERS:
Steve Kirsche (NASA Headquarters: St. Johns, FL)

How can you use science inquiry for engineering design? What makes a lesson "engineering design"? Learn three go-to teacher strategies for integrating engineering into science lessons for all grades. Leave with free resources, templates, and terrific ideas for confidently integrating the "E."

TAKEAWAYS:
You'll learn how to integrate the E without wasting precious science time by making three strategic moves: set up enticing phenomenon-driven challenges, grow student engineering identity through creative problem definition, and scaffold engineering tasks that require science investigations.

SPEAKERS:
Katey Shirey (edukatey: Washington, DC)

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: Scottsville, NY), Chris Geerer (Mi-STAR: Rochester, MI)

Students and presenters will share how they are making a positive impact in their community through interdisciplinary research and design thinking. During this interactive session you will learn how to teach students interdisciplinary research, interview skills and host a community showcase.

TAKEAWAYS:
It is hard for students to learn about complex problem such as climate change, water security through STEM fields only. By combining STEM research with other disciplines, students learning is deepened and it gives teachers a chance to collaborate with colleagues from other disciplines as well.

SPEAKERS:
Jim Birdsong (Monta Vista High School: San Jose, CA), Kavita Gupta (Monta Vista High School: Cupertino, CA)

Learn how the NASA TechRise Student Challenge helps students build and fly their own experiment ideas in suborbital vehicles (balloons and rockets), as well as how it helps inspire students across the nation to engage in STEM, research, and technology projects.

TAKEAWAYS:
TechRise's unique approach to STEM enables students and educators of all experience levels to learn tangible engineering skills including coding and working with electronics. The challenge aims to engage student teams across the U.S. in the technology experiment design and flight test process.

SPEAKERS:
Deanne Bell (Future Engineers: Burbank, CA), Lucas Moxey (NASA Outreach: Edwards, CA)

Learn how to create and present a cross curricular, cross grade level immersion experience for all ages. Briefly discussing the research that highlights the learning benefits of themeatic units, we will follow a school as they spent a "Semester in Space" that culminated in a 10 minute ISS contact.

TAKEAWAYS:
School-wide units create a culture of learning that spans all disciplines and grade levels as students are able to experience content from variousviewpoints. Learn how to implement a an overarcing theme in any school.

SPEAKERS:
Christiana Deeter (Canterbury School: Fort Myers, FL)

Are you looking to integrate discovery engineering design principles and historical case studies into your biology class? Attend this session to explore serendipitous, real-world stories that have influenced engineering discoveries and learn how to incorporate these ideas in your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants attending this session will explore historical case studies describing discovery engineering stories and learn how to integrate case studies as interactive, data driven activities for students to learn biology and create innovative designs to address specific challenges in biology.

SPEAKERS:
M. Gail Jones (North Carolina State University: Cary, NC), Rebecca Hite (Texas Tech University: Lubbock, TX), Gina Childers (Texas Tech University: Lubbock, TX)

Learn how to create NGSS-focused middle school integrated STEM projects that won’t break the bank. Take home rubrics, guides, lesson plans, timelines, and other ideas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrated STEM no longer needs to be a separate elective or after school activity. Integrated STEM activities can be aligned with NGSS standards and provide a unique way to assess learning while also teaching integrated STEM skills.

SPEAKERS:
Vanessa Ueltzen (Walther Christian Academy: Chicago, IL)

Have you ever wondered where to find Federal STEM education resources that can provide authentic learning experiences for your students? Come join many federal agencies including NASA, NOAA, Dept. of Defense, EPA, Smithsonian, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to learn more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn what K-12 STEM learning resources are offered by federal agencies. In addition, teachers will engage in two-way conversations with federal representatives about the STEM resources, programs, and opportunities that are available.

SPEAKERS:
Bekkah Lampe (NOAA Office of Education: College Park, MD), Carrie Olsen (NASA Headquarters: No City, No State), Carol ODonnell (Smithsonian Institution: Washington, DC), Melissa Anley-Mills (U.S. EPA: Washington, DC), Jorge Valdes (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Alexandria, VA), Cindy Hasselbring (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Frederick, MD), Reginald Duncan (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: O Fallon, IL)

Are you looking for creative ideas to stimulate the minds of your students in grades K-12? Listen to Middle-School STUDENTS present and demonstrate some of the coolest projects around! These students, along with their teacher Mike French, will amaze you with some spectacular PBL ideas for any grade!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be amazed at the presentation/demonstration by middle school students, and their teacher Mike French. Each attendee will walk away with ideas on how to create an exciting learning environment in ALL of your school's classrooms through projects designed to enhance any lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Mike French (Northview Middle School: Newbern, TN)

How could the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge have been prevented? How can we ensure electronic devices hold up to everyday use? Developing well-defined criteria and constraints is critical to successful engineering. Experience ways to help your students plan and evaluate solutions like pros!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn the importance of well-defined criteria and constraints, and will experience activities to share with students to help them develop and evaluate successful solutions to engineering challenges. Everyone leaves with access to a Mi-STAR NGSS aligned OER lesson.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Tubman (Michigan Technological University: Scottsville, NY), Chris Geerer (Mi-STAR: Rochester, MI)

We will discuss engineering design within the context of the NGSS. Focusing on the decline of pollinators, participants will develop prototypes of native bees and dry pollination techniques to demonstrate how to develop engineering lessons using problem-based phenomena and engineering design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have the opportunity to experience an engineering design lesson aligned to NGSS, develop and test prototypes of native bees, and engage in meaningful discussions of engineering design within the context of 3-dimensional science and engineering teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Rita Hagevik (The University of North Carolina at Pembroke: LAURINBURG, NC), Kathy Trundle (Utah STate University: North Logan, UT), Laura Wheeler (Assistant Professor: Morgan, UT)

Department of Energy national labs provide opportunities for researchers to be involved in developing authentic STEM learning experiences for students. Join this hands-on session to see how Berkeley Lab energy technologies research is reflected in projects on sustainability and alternative energy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about NGSS-aligned curriculum resources that reflect authentic STEM research at Berkeley Lab, and directly experience hands-on sustainability/alternative energy projects.

SPEAKERS:
Faith Dukes (Director, K-12 STEM Education Programs: Berkeley, CA), Alisa Bettale (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Berkeley, CA)

ARISS allows your students to talk with an astronaut on the International Space Station! ARISS involves NASA and other space agencies to provide this amazing experience for schools worldwide! An ARISS contact tends to unite and excite a school community while focusing on STEM at your school.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will find out about all the experiences and resources provided at no cost to schools and teachers selected for an ARISS contact including a STEM enrichment kit and special workshop opportunity.

SPEAKERS:
Martha Muir (Retired teacher: Stone Mountain, GA)

Elementary educators will explore ways to add scientific modeling into their class through drawings. Through the introduction of modeling through examples, teachers will experience the process and then be able to plan ways they can use scientific modeling in their own classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will be able to experience scientific modeling through a classroom example. They will then be able to plan a way they can use scientific modeling in their own classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Mouland (Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy: North Windham, CT)

Come learn from the National Free Flight Society (NFFS) and Science Olympiad about how easy it is for to use free flight model aircraft in your classroom to help students master the three dimensions of the NGSS related to Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn the art of the possible when it comes to using flight as topic to engage students in their study of forces, free body diagrams, and Newton's Laws.

SPEAKERS:
John Loehr (Science Olympiad: Oakbrook Terrace, IL)

Hands-on lab producing graphs critical to understanding properties for engineering bridges and more. With focus on making, interpreting, and teaching the graphs in a classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Cheap and effective beams & bridges labs with graph analysis, iterative design, and real-world applications.

SPEAKERS:
Scott Spohler (Global Impact STEM Academy: Springfield, OH)

Feeling timid about embracing the challenge of engaging students in fun and creative engineering design challenges? The presenter will share a method for structuring, scaffolding, and assessing student growth and learning during NGSS aligned engineering design challenges.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging students in the engineering design process fosters life long skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Assessment of engineering design should focus on these skills rather than the overall success or failure of a student designed project.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Stasi (Retied: Portage, IN)

School leaders and university faculty will share and discuss two different grassroots approaches to the development of STEM programming in K-8 levels. The processes of continued collaboration, strategic planning, professional development, and STEM culture have led to initial successful outcomes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about STEM program development and STEM professional development models. STEM Education frameworks and a toolkit used as a foundation for strategic planning and sustainability will be shared and available for attendees.

SPEAKERS:
Brandy Hepler (Southeast Missouri State University: Cape Girardeau, MO), Andi Maddox (Director of Curriculum and Instruction: Kennett, MO), Trudy Giasi (Valle Catholic Schools: Ste. Genevieve, MO)

Come experience how “Tub People” can be used to deepen young learners’ understanding of subtraction under 10 and how rapid prototypes help solve compelling engineering challenges. We’ll explore how this text and other literature can be an anchor for hands-on early mathematics and engineering.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Great mathematics and engaging engineering challenges can be found in children's literature; 2. Learners of all ages benefit from identifying patterns and discovering multiple ways to represent their understanding; and 3. Whether it be in solving mathematical expressions or finding engineering so

SPEAKERS:
Kate Burton (Trinity School: Atlanta, GA)

Explore STEAM with concrete, metal, polymers, and clay. Apply math & design concepts to many real-world examples. Supplies are cheap and students love destructive testing!

TAKEAWAYS:
Affordable labs exploring these properties of material categories and ways to adapt these labs for specific classroom needs while referencing real-world applications and iterative design.

SPEAKERS:
Briana Richardson (Washington High School: Columbus, 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 EDP, students learn how to evaluate their design solutions on identified criteria and constraints.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to use performance tasks to apply STEL and engineering design process to STEM integration, measure students' application of the knowledge, and to assess individual student performance.

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

Learn how to join NASA’s online community of practice for STEM educators (CONNECTS) and gain access to NASA content, resources, educator community, exclusive events, and NASA experts. Join us for this fun session including a foam rocket activity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about the vast resources offered by NASA's online community of practice for STEM educators and they will receive a foam rocket activity they can implement in their classrooms using simple materials.

SPEAKERS:
Carrie Olsen (NASA Headquarters: No City, No State), Richard Arnold (Director of Professional Studies: Cambridge, MD), Cindy Hasselbring (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Frederick, MD)

Go behind-the-scenes of a vehicle crash-test facility to learn about the latest research regarding equity issues and crash testing.

TAKEAWAYS:
Is crash testing biased against women? Exploring the reality of this question offers students and teachers an opportunity for real-world studies of nature of science topics such as correlation vs. causation as well as statistical data analysis techniques and other engineering practices concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Griff Jones (University of Florida: Newberry, FL), Pini Kalnite (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute: Arlington, VA), Linda Jones (University of Florida: Newberry, FL)

Replace demoralizing competition with creativity, laughter, and inspiration by giving students open-ended projects. This talk will feature 3 creative circuits projects—LED greeting cards, Arduino-based holiday lights shows, and LCD quotes displays.

TAKEAWAYS:
Open-ended projects are engaging, technically rigorous, and boost student confidence. Teachers will walk away with 3 concrete project ideas ready for implementation, as well as the inspiration to design more.

SPEAKERS:
Marieke Thomas (The Bronx High School of Science: New York, NY)

The Cellphone Holder Design Challenge is a 2-to-3-week unit that utilizes the engineering design process and entrepreneurial thinking and instills in students the importance of communication, documentation, and precise measurement in the creation of new products. During this challenge, students work with a partner and each designs a desktop holder for their partner’s cellphone per their partner’s requirements. Students must document the problem and requirements and design a solution that meets their partner’s approval. They render their design using 3-D modeling software and test the dimensions. Final solutions are 3-D printed for additional testing and presentations, and students walk away with a tangible product made to their specifications. Classroom-based research conducted as part of an NSF Math and Science Partnership has shown that the Cellphone Holder Design Challenge is a highly engaging activity for both students and teachers, and that it supports science and math learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session describes a 2-3-week unit that utilizes the engineering design process as students complete a whole product design cycle, from RFP, client interviews and defining requirements, to ideating, 3-D modeling, prototype testing, and delivering the final 3-D printed product.

SPEAKERS:
Meltem Alemdar (CEISMC, Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta, GA), Jessica Gale (Senior Research Scientist: Tucker, GA), Jeffrey Rosen (CEISMC, Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta, GA), Marion Usselman (CEISMC, Georgia Institute of Technology: Atlanta, GA)

Do you need help in planning engineering experiences for young learners? Collaboration with others in a learning community can help! This session will show how a group of teachers used Flip to share ideas for STEM/STEAM and engineering focused lessons. Get ready to join our engineering fun!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in using the Flip application and learn how they can create learning communities focused on STEM/STEAM and engineering education.

SPEAKERS:
Tara Hood (Science Specialist: Jacksonville, AL), Carol McGinnis (Jacksonville State University: Anniston, AL)

Presenters will share the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office science of innovation video lessons, trading card lessons, journeys of innovation stories, and professional development opportunities. Resources are available for K-12 classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be provided with resources that can be implemented in K-12 classrooms and opportunities for professional development. Invention education integrates into the STEM curriculum seamlessly and can catalyze student engagement and creative thinking.

SPEAKERS:
Reginald Duncan (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: O Fallon, IL), Jorge Valdes (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Alexandria, VA), Kathy Hoppe (STEMisED, Inc: Rio Rico, AZ)

As we discuss drones as an instructional tool for K-12 STEM education, this session will introduce an example of drones presented as part of an engineering design-based project to teach climate change to secondary Earth Science students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will discover ways to engage STEM learners with hands-on, drone-based teaching for their own educational applications.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Ziegler (Vanderbilt University: Nashville, TN)

Students embark on an odyssey to discover how Art can be the motivation and hub to learn sciences and a journey discover themselves. An acrylic interactive light sculpture combines coding, proximity sensors, laser cutting, refraction of light and soldering to create a large sale art installation. Since our school mascot is the lion, students built columns of laser cut acrylic and LEDS that form the constellation LEO. They soldered customized circuit boards that controlled how the LEDs turned on and off when triggered by human presence. Different emotions were plotted on a 2D graph based on light intensity and blink frequency to help them express aspects of being human in an LED pattern. One student eloquently describes how her light pattern matches what she feels when experiencing an anxiety attack. Their creation forced students to explore different disciplines beyond their comfort zone and spur discussions in the student population about how they felt during pandemic learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students wear labels and often avoid other disciplines of learning, yet the 4th Industrial Revolution will present challenges and opportunities that require a diversity of experiences and skills. LEO demonstrates how all the interconnected letters of STEAM work together. foggs.ca/wp/?page_id=2303

SPEAKERS:
Ian Fogarty (Riverview High School: Riverview, NB)

Bring your community into the classroom by engaging students with the local impacts of STEM careers. This presentation will include resources and strategies for partnering with civil engineers and other field experts in your state and local community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will have immediately actionable resources that can be used in different curricula and district guidelines including tools for classroom visits, lesson plans for learning about local infrastructure, frameworks for virtual site tours, and templates for networking with local experts.

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

Through this workshop, participants will learn from classroom teachers and university professors on ways to incorporate your local habitat and utilize community partners to provide students with exposure to diverse job opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will share activities that demonstrate different jobs related to environmental science while addressing the need for STEM learning. Hands-on activities will be explored and connected to specific careers that can be discussed and applied with students in classrooms regardless of stream access.

SPEAKERS:
Tim Hawig (Carrollton City Schools: Carrollton, GA), Stacey Britton (University of West Georgia: Roopville, GA), Brent Gilles (University of West Georgia: Carrollton, GA)

I Can't Do It! We have all heard that cry from the students during a STEM project. But what do you do about it? This session helps you understand more about the power of failure. We will share our experiences with you to help students understand trial and error along with the engineering process.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with proven strategies to help children overcome the fear of failure in order to attempt or complete a STEM Challenge.

SPEAKERS:
Linda Gowen (Curriculum Consultant: Deltona, FL), Sue Bedard (iBuild Academy: Debary, FL)

Agile is becoming increasingly dominant as a project-management methodology. We will share our experience with applying Agile principles in a high school setting, using a physics and engineering electricity/circuits project as an example.

TAKEAWAYS:
Exposing students to Agile can not only prepare them for internships and careers, but also help them develop better time management, self-assessment, and work evaluation skills. Learn how we adapted Agile for a high school science class, as well as general advice for applying Agile in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick McClanahan (Teacher: Suwanee, GA)

A team of middle/high school STEM teachers with university teacher educators lead a discussion about what we’ve learned from planning, implementing, and evaluating social-justice-oriented STEM lessons in school districts with varying support for integrating social justice into the curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants receive lesson samples that (i) define a target concept aligned with curriculum, learning targets, and social justice issue; (ii) identifies the STEM-knowledge informing the issue, (iii) articulates discourse boundaries, and (iv) anticipates varying student perspectives on the issue.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Barrett (Marietta High School: Marietta, GA), Marshai Waiters (Marietta Middle School: Kennesaw, GA), Mike Dias (Kennesaw State University: Kennesaw, GA)

Based on the vision of the Framework for K-12 Education and NGSS, phenomena based science instruction is an authentic way to engage students in engineering design. In this workshop, attendees will explore a unit of instruction based on student sensemaking to learn about: 1. what makes an anchor phenomenon/problem instructionally productive to support students as the knower and builder of science ideas in the classroom; 2. strategies to authentically integrate the engineering design process 3. how STEM and NGSS complement one another and open up possibilities both for teachers on how science is taught and for students to better explore the topics and the world around them.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn about strategies to integrate engineering into three dimensional science units.

SPEAKERS:
Rob Wallace (: Houma, LA)

Preview of how the OpenSciEd High School Chemistry course will guide students to use force thinking as a lens alongside energy and matter to help them develop and explain chemical phenomena including atomic structure, bonding, and exothermic and endothermic reactions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Forces are not only an important idea in physical science generally, but are necessary, in conjunction with matter and energy, to help students develop the mechanisms underlying diverse phenomena like lightning, creating water on another planet, and energy released in the combustion of fossil fuels

SPEAKERS:
Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Grayslake, IL), Dan Voss (Northwestern University: Minneapolis, MN), Nicole Vick (Northwestern University: Avon, IL)

In this session attendees will engage with a robotics lesson and evaluate the interdisciplinary lesson that integrates robotics into the science classroom. Many times, robotics materials are utilized solely in a competition setting but the focus of this session is daily instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Robotics integration in the science classroom addresses all three dimensions (SEP, CCC, & Core ideas) providing students with one or more of the following instructional domains: Engineering, Coding, and/or Science Practices.

SPEAKERS:
Rabieh Hafza (Henry County Schools: Mcdonough, GA)

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: Los Alamitos, CA), Neelo Soltanzadeh (WestEd: San Francisco, CA)

Use award-winning videos, crash-science demos and teacher tip-assisted activities including paper car crashes, egg drop cushions and stretchy slime to teach science and engineering concepts related to vehicle crashworthiness and highway safety.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participant will learn how to access inquiry-based lessons and video-supported activities integrating STEM concepts with vehicle crashworthiness and crash avoidance technologies.

SPEAKERS:
Pini Kalnite (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Highway Loss Data Institute: Arlington, VA), Griff Jones (University of Florida: Newberry, FL)

Engineering instruction can empower students to address complex societal issues. See students investigate how nutrient pollution impacts ecosystems and their communities, and apply earth and life science concepts to develop and optimize a plan to reduce excess nutrients in a local watershed.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how expanding engineering instruction beyond building simple prototypes can increase students’ interest and stretch their ideas about the role of engineering in society.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Gifford (Monomoy Regional Middle School: Harwich, MA), Shawn Stevens (GBH Education: Watertown, MA)

Ever had a project fail? Too difficult or easy? Students make great products but without actually learning or using the content? We will share our journey of learning to plan better projects through a way of thinking anchored in real-world engineering ideology: thinking in Solution/Problem Space.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn to consider how the criteria and constraints you set for a project will affect the Solution Space your students must navigate. This will help you avoid trivial or unaligned solutions, as well as more easily create projects with rich potential for students to create imaginative solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick McClanahan (Teacher: Suwanee, GA)

Matter, forces, and energy are three powerful lenses to make sense of phenomena. We will use examples from the forthcoming free and open-source OpenSciEd High School physics course, which also incorporates earth and space science, to show how we can scaffold the development of student thinking using these lenses across the year. Participants will receive an overview of the course and the matter-energy-forces (M-E-F) conceptual framework. Participants will also explore examples of phenomena that students will explain through these different lenses. Examples will include (1) deep mantle convection, (2) vehicle collisions, (3) meteors, (4) microwaves, and ionizing radiation.

TAKEAWAYS:
A framework for reasoning about changes in the matter, energy and forces in a system helps students develop the mechanisms underlying explanations of diverse phenomena including deep mantle convection, vehicle collisions, meteors, microwaves and ionizing radiation.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO), Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Grayslake, IL), Kate Henson (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

So you are already doing great STEM work, now what? How can we make it even better? Join us for a guided self-reflection time where we work shifting existing lessons toward gold-standard PBL.

TAKEAWAYS:
Creating engaging problem-solving opportunities for students does not mean starting over with curriculum planning. Teachers can transform existing classroom lessons and activities into PBLs rich in relevant, authentic learning that builds the skills and knowledge students can use for a lifetime.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Benigno (The Science House at North Carolina State University: Mills River, NC), Jason Carter (The Science House at NC State University: Candler, NC)

Learn how all students benefit from inventing using U.S. Patent and Trademark Office free resources. Walk away with a classroom invention challenge focused on real-world problem-solving addressing science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. Resources will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how invention education engages students in real-world problem solving and is a transdisciplinary approach to learning. They will gain an understanding that STEM does not exist in isolation and that collaboration and critical thinking become essential along with content.

SPEAKERS:
Reginald Duncan (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: O Fallon, IL), Jorge Valdes (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Alexandria, VA), Kathy Hoppe (STEMisED, Inc: Rio Rico, AZ)