2023 Kansas City National Conference

October 25-28, 2023

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FILTERS APPLIED:Hands-On Workshop, Leadership and Advocacy

 

Rooms and times subject to change.
16 results
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Finding a North Star for STEM Equity

Thursday, October 26 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 2215 A


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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In this session educators will be presented with the following equity frameworks: (1) Equity and NGSS, (2) Inclusive Ed Tech, (3) Culturally Responsive and Sustaining STEM, (4) Anti-Racist STEM, and (5) Environmental Justice. Educators will work in small groups to learn more about their equity framework of choice and summarize their learning for a larger group. Next, groups will unpack equity moves to identify how they support or hinder equity work through the lens of the framework they selected and identify next steps. By the end of the session, each group will share out actions they can take in their classroom to create a more equitable STEM classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with knowledge of equity frameworks and unique next steps that can be implemented into their classroom for a more equitable, inclusive, culturally responsive, and anti-racist classroom community.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Houston (STEM Ed Innovators: Saratoga, CA)

Transforming Science Teaching and Learning Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning: Change Management

Thursday, October 26 • 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Kansas City Marriott Downtown - Colonial Ballroom


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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Curriculum implementation is complicated and requires significant planning so that the system, including everyone in it, can make the needed shifts in practice to reap the benefits of using high-quality instructional materials to strengthen science teaching and learning. Participants will have a common experience with “a change” and consider important lessons that can help them lead change in their systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leaders can create a culture that is conducive to the significant changes in knowledge, beliefs, and practices required to support the implementation of high-quality instructional materials for next generation science.

SPEAKERS:
Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Transforming Science Teaching and Learning Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning: Immersion into Science Curriculum and Curriculum-Based PL

Thursday, October 26 • 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM

Kansas City Marriott Downtown - Colonial Ballroom


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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Curriculum implementation requires a robust professional learning program to support teachers in making the shifts toward the three dimensional phenomenon-and-problem-driven science teaching and learning called for in NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education. This experience is grounded in BSCS Science Learning’s new instructional model, Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL), and an immersion model of professional learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leaders can support teachers with making the instructional shifts called for in the NRC’s Framework through immersive, curriculum-based professional learning programs.

SPEAKERS:
Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Lessons Learned in 3D Assessment Development

Thursday, October 26 • 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 A


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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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. With over a decade of assessment evaluation and design experience, our team is excited to share ideas for how to improve the 3D assessment design process. These lessons range from shifting assessment development to focus on 3D sensemaking to thinking holistically about unpacking and design to taking an assessment system lens throughout the development process. We will engage participants in activities that demonstrate our lessons learned and connect to how these lessons lead to equitable curriculum-anchored assessment systems. The resources and processes shared in this session are applicable to K-12 science learning. The session will be interactive.

TAKEAWAYS:
Three-dimensional assessment design is tricky -- come join us to discuss how we can take a systems approach and develop better 3-D assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Kelley Turner (Winchester Public Schools: Winchester, VA), Sara Cooper (Contextus), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

Transforming Science Teaching and Learning Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning: Key Elements and Enabling Conditions

Thursday, October 26 • 3:40 PM - 4:40 PM

Kansas City Marriott Downtown - Colonial Ballroom


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

Leaders will study the Core Design Features and Structural Design Features of curriculum-based professional learning to figure out how they can use them together to support teachers in making the shifts called for in NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. These shifts promote three-dimensional phenomenon and problem-driven science teaching and learning. Participants will read and discuss excerpts of the report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Elements: Transforming Teaching Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning. They will have opportunities to make connections from the text to the previous two sessions in this series and/or to their prior experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
By attending to Core and Structural Design Features of curriculum-based professional learning, leaders take a systems approach to supporting teachers in the instructional shifts called for by NRC’s Framework. These shifts promote three-dimensional phenomena/problem-driven science teaching and learning.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Belcastro (Science Educator/Grad Student), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Check Your Bias at the Door: How to Apply Anti-Bias Work Into the STEM Classroom

Thursday, October 26 • 3:40 PM - 4:40 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 2215 A


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

Content will be delivered through Google Slides: participants discuss what bias is and the different types of biases that can show up. Participants will be asked to share biases they may hold (inside or outside of the classroom). We will watch a short video clip, then participants will engage in an activity called "How diverse is your universe?" Several prompts will be read and participants will indicate which racial group the prompt identifies with. An example prompt: "the people I grew up with in my household were...," and participants will indicate which racial group the prompt identifies with. Next, as a group, we will come up with our own definition of bias, and come up with examples of the different types of biases and what they look like in the classroom. We will then look at strategies on how to keep these biases in check. Next, we will discuss how to apply anti-bias work in STEM classrooms. We will develop and share content-specific lessons that we can implement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anti-bias work in the classroom can be implemented in all curricular areas, especially in STEM/STEAM.

SPEAKERS:
Anissa Williams (Niper Middle School: Kirkwood, MO)

How to Use Instructional Vision Setting to Impact Adoption of High Quality K-12 Instructional Materials

Thursday, October 26 • 3:40 PM - 4:40 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 E



(Only registered attendees may view session materials. Please login with your NSTA account to view.)
NSTA_Instructional Vision Setting in Adoption.pdf

STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

EdReports is well known for its reports evaluating high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), however this session will support participants in understanding EdReports beyond the reports. We will dig into how to identify local priorities and set an instructional vision that will serve as a benchmark for a smart instructional materials adoption process. We will deliver strategies for engaging local educators and stakeholders in decision making and equip leaders with how to be advocates for HQIM. Participants will engage in large and small group conversations to reflect on their local adoption practices and learn about how to utilize EdReports resources to improve current practice. Participants will be provided with resources highlighting the resources EdReports offers around materials adoption as well as aspects of the review tools and reports.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to develop local priorities and establish an instructional vision, will engage with EdReports reviews of instructional materials to make informed decisions based on local context, and will leave with materials to support replicating this process with local educators.

SPEAKERS:
Teresa Eliopoulos (EdReports.org: Alexandria, VA), Sam Shaw (EdReports.org)

Transforming Teaching Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning: The Essentials

Friday, October 27 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 F


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

Look across the Essential Elements of Leadership, Resources, and Coherence, to identify enabling conditions for curriculum-based professional learning to ensure that ALL teachers are prepared to leverage high-quality materials as they provide meaningful learning experiences for ALL students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain concrete ideas about how you, as a leader, can plan for effective curriculum-based professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Nancy Hopkins-Evans (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Multiple Paths to Equitable Assessment

Friday, October 27 • 10:40 AM - 11:40 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 A


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

A key goal of this work is to consider how NGSS assessments can be developed and used to advance equity. This framework draws upon interdisciplinary research and best practices to describe student-centered systems of science assessment. The framework explicitly connects what the field has learned about supporting students in becoming confident, savvy, scientific thinkers with best practices in measuring, monitoring, and providing feedback toward multidimensional science expectations.Participants will receive an equity framework for assessment that has been intentionally designed to help users (1) identify features of high-quality tasks, (2) examine effective assessment implementation practices, and (3) interrogate how assessments are used to support the diversity of students who engage in science learning in finding success. This equity framework has been used with teachers to (re)design assessments to be equitable for their population of students. The resources and processes shared

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will use a newly developed equity framework to consider multiple ways to center equity in assessment tasks and systems. Participants will use this equity framework to analyze example assessments for alignment to multiple equity goals.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Cooper (Contextus)

NextGen TIME: A Toolkit for Materials Evaluation

Friday, October 27 • 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 F


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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We know two things: 1) the purchase of new instructional materials represents a significant district investment and 2) effective classroom use of high-quality instructional materials improves student learning. NextGen TIME can help districts ensure investment in the best possible instructional materials and provide guidance on preparing teachers for effective use. NextGen TIME is a suite of tools and processes to support districts in evaluating, selecting, and implementing instructional materials designed for the NGSS. NextGen TIME is also designed as a professional learning experience for teachers to deepen their understanding of NGSS as they analyze instructional materials. It addresses the needs of states, districts, and schools for a deep understanding of the NGSS to make selection decisions for instructional materials, plan for implementation of those materials, and provide teacher professional learning that enables effective implementation of NGSS‐aligned teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how NextGen TIME supports the evaluation of current instructional materials to strengthen their design for NGSS and how NextGen TIME tools and processes can serve as critical components of curriculum-based professional learning. You’ll walk away with free access to NextGen TIME resources.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Teaching STEM in a Linguistically Diverse Classroom

Friday, October 27 • 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 E


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

Effective teaching and learning require language, whether written in textbooks or delivered orally in classrooms. With a notable increase in linguistically diverse population in a Higher Ed., there is a need for a comprehensive strategy to address this both at an institutional and curricular/classroom level. Linguistic diversity can be due to differences in cultural/language needs, age, or education history of the student. Many educators might find it challenging to build a community and educational lesson plans that are equitable to this diversity. This workshop will look at possible classroom scenarios and offer tools and course scaffolding strategies that can be incorporated at institutionally and at course/curriculum level. This is a presentation for faculty, program directors, curriculum developers and instructional strategy developers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Take home strategies for scaffolding effective teaching and formative assessment in a class with 'English Language Learner' diversity, educational history, or age diversity.

SPEAKERS:
Manisha Sharan (Baker College of Royal Oak)

Successful Teachers = Successful Students: Supporting Teaching and Learning Through a Science Teacher Leader Professional Learning Community

Friday, October 27 • 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 E


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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We believe that to transform science teaching and learning to benefit all students, we as district leaders need to foster educator interest and capacity. A Framework for K-12 Science Education states, “Alignment of teacher preparation and professional development with the vision of science education advanced in this framework is essential for eventual widespread implementation of the type of instruction that will be needed for students to achieve the standards based on it” (p256). The NSTA position paper on Elementary Science declares that to support high-quality elementary science learning, school and district leaders should create time and space to facilitate collaborative professional learning communities for teachers. In the 2023-2024 school year our Howard County Public School System (Maryland) Elementary Science Teacher Leader (ESTL) cohort will be going on its eighth consecutive year. We'd like to share this cohort as an exemplar model for supporting the aforementioned goals.

TAKEAWAYS:
Whether you're starting small with limited resources or looking to enhance an existing structure, join us in this interactive session to learn specific strategies for facilitating -- starting and maintaining -- a collaborative professional learning community for science teacher leaders.

SPEAKERS:
Kelley Hatcher (Hollifield Station Elementary School: Elkridge, MD), Jenn Brown-Whale (Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE): Baltimore, MD)

Strategies for Differentiating Professional Learning

Saturday, October 28 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 E


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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At its core, differentiation stems from the recognition that individual learners arrive in classrooms each day with ranging knowledge, experiences, abilities, ways of thinking, curiosities, and dispositions. A one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning undermines the potential of all students to achieve successfully, yet we struggle with how to meet the needs of individual students in our classrooms. Similarly, we know that one-shot workshops are not an effective means of professional development (PD). Yet, we continue to provide one-shot workshops to teach and rarely, if ever, do we consider how PD may need to be differentiated for teachers. We may differentiate by focusing on different content areas, grade levels, or contexts, but rarely do we take time to look at what individual teachers need. Just like students, we need to consider the individual needs of all teachers. This session will provide several strategies for differentiating PD for teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Differentiation is not just for the classroom, it is also a component of designing effective professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Whitworth (Clemson University: Clemson, SC)

Content Integration in K-5 classrooms — Lessons from the field

Saturday, October 28 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 2102 A


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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In this session we will discuss the strategies, approaches and the findings from an 18-month statewide project for systems-level change for content integration anchored in science. This project was created by the Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in collaboration with The Lawrence Hall of Science. Participants will engage in hands-on experiences, discussions, and presentations to learn about essential features for mutually supportive content integration and to reflect on and share their own efforts to advance content integration in their contexts. They will explore and take away the tools and strategies used in the project with teachers and instructional leaders and will have opportunities to share the conditions of their own contexts, reflect on how the strategies employed in this model may apply in their own systems, and identify entry points for beginning and/or advancing implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers and leaders will gain insight into the principles and definitions of content integration with science as the anchor and explore tools, strategies, and system-wide approaches they can use in their own context in order to identify their next step towards content integration.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Pedemonte (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Rebecca Abbott (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Teacher Leader: Standards to live by

Saturday, October 28 • 10:40 AM - 11:40 AM

Kansas City Convention Center - 3501 E


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

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In May 2008 a group of educators exanimated current research and the critical role that teacher leaders play in education. Upon reviewing this data, they believe that teacher leadership is the most powerful method to promote effective and collaborative teaching practices leading to student success. The Teaching Leadership Exploratory Consortium developed the Teacher Leader Model Standards. This set of seven domains describes the knowledge base and skills needed by a teacher leader to assume a leadership role in all aspects of education. In this session participants will examine and discuss the Teacher Leader Model Standards. Digging into the standards they will describe key actions and practices for each of the seven domains. Participants will be asked to reflect on their role as a teacher leader and select one of the domains to focus on as they begin or continue their work as a teacher leader.

TAKEAWAYS:
Digging into the standards, participants will describe key actions and practices for each of the seven domains. They will be asked to reflect on their role as a teacher leader and select one of the domains to focus on as they begin or continue their work as a teacher leader.

SPEAKERS:
Jenne VandePanne (Michigan Technological University/Newaygo Public Schools: Newaygo, MI), Jessica Wagenmaker (Holton Middle School: Holton, MI)

Strategies for Increasing Diversity, Equity, Justice and Inclusion in the Next Generation Geoscience Workforce

Saturday, October 28 • 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM

Kansas City Convention Center - 2215 B


STRAND: Leadership and Advocacy

Show Details

Participants will engage in an interactive discussion regarding the need for increased diversity and new career opportunities within geoscience and related careers. They will gain additional confidence and resources to assist in sharing this information with their students, parents, administrators and guidance counselors. Session participants will gain awareness and/or increased understanding of the necessity to foster increased diversity, equity, justice and inclusion in geoscience and related disciplines in respect to the USA's continued leadership and capabilities. Participants in this session will gain increased awareness and/or understanding of successful student engagement and mentoring strategies for advancing diversity, equity, justice and inclusion within geoscience and other STEM fields. Participants will be provided with information and guidance that can be used to further advance geoscience and other STEM career and technical education programs.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will discuss successful strategies to foster increased engagement of underrepresented groups in geoscience and related careers.

SPEAKERS:
Ashanti Johnson (STEM Human Resource Development: , OK)

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