What would it look like if we designed all aspects of the assessment system to prioritize impact on instruction and students? Traditional ideas about assessment systems describe assessment systems in the ideal world, where state summative assessments have the smallest footprint, and meaningful classroom assessments are the most important component. However, in practice, we know this is not always the case–because of the stakes and funding attached to large scale testing (both perceived and real), assessments that are not meant to inform instruction end up shaping a lot of the decisions educators make about student learning. In this session, we will discuss how we rectify this in assessment system design, including examples and implications for state, district, and classroom assessments. The session will include opportunities for participants to inform the development of policy documents to inform assessment system development.

TAKEAWAYS:
Systems of assessment can center students and instruction, and simultaneously surface trustworthy information for decision-making – if they are intentionally designed to do so.

SPEAKERS:
Sara Cooper (Contextus), Kelley Turner (Winchester Public Schools: Winchester, VA)

It is often thought that a makerspace activity is something that is nice to do with students, but not a necessity. Yet when makerspace activities are integrated into daily instruction, it can open many avenues that promote an inclusive classroom. This workshop will focus on strategies and ways to use makerspace to promote student voice and choice for areas of concept development, empathy-driven problem solving, and assessment. Participants will explore the key elements of makerspace and examine ways to use makerspace challenges to support sense-making. The discussion will also focus on the idea that makerspace activities can nudge all students to consider multiple ways of solving problems, thus enhancing their “out of the box” thinking. As part of this session, participants will explore different strategies in using makerspace to introduce a phenomenon, model a phenomenon, and assess students' understanding on three different dimensions of learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore makerspace challenges and activities as a means to provide student voice and choice in how they make sense of a phenomenon, a solution to a problem, and core ideas while demonstrating their understanding of core ideas as a means of assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Michele Detwiler (Gary Adult High School: Tampa, FL)

Presenters will discuss how a partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the SIU STEM Education Research Center @ Carbondale, IL built a 100% IL-developed Science Assessment. There was a concerted effort by SIU to include willing and qualified IL educators to score constructed responses and item development. It proved to be a powerful professional learning experience. Participants improved their understanding of NGSS (Illinois Learning Standards in Science (ILS-S/NGSS) and classroom practices. Participants report this experience was rewarding personally and professionally, and their classroom instruction benefited students. We will present participant survey data and testimonials to support our claims. Teachers often say there is a lack of meaningful and rewarding NGSS/science professional learning opportunities. We found the Illinois Science Assessment Project is one of the few. We suggest other states, agencies consider the same.

TAKEAWAYS:
Meaningfully including in-service educators in developing your state assessment will transform the black box of large-scale summative assessment to a joint endeavor that will see teacher buy-in and professional development increase, and student learning and scores go up.

SPEAKERS:
Harvey Henson (Southern Illinois University Carbondale: Carbondale, IL), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

The NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions maps out learning progressions based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The 62 maps in the Atlas organize all of the elements from standards on a particular topic (e.g., modeling, patterns, or definitions of energy) on a single page. The elements from grades K–2 are at the bottom of the page, and those from grades 9–12 are at the top. Arrows connect elements to indicate how ideas in a particular topic build on each other and how elements in different topics connect to one another. Studying the maps in the Atlas and the additional resources in the appendixes can provide educators with new insights about the standards. This session will provide an overview of how to read a map, the other features of the Atlas, and how educators can use this powerful navigational tool to develop and implement curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to read the maps and use other tools in the Atlas to understand and interpret standards, and plan instructional sequences as part of their work in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Ted Willard (Discovery Education: Silver Spring, MD)

Sponsoring Company: STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning

CER gets students to explain phenomena in a scientific way. Let’s use investigations to demonstrate how to use data collection to drive data-based conclusions. Guide students in how to think deeper, write scientifically, & incorporate vocabulary that strengthens their understanding of a phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Margo Dye (Accelerate Learning Inc.: Houston, TX)

Understanding complex science standards in elementary school often depends on the amount of background knowledge children have. One way that teachers can help students develop their schema before beginning a new science unit is to provide children with opportunities to build their prerequisite knowledge. This is particularly important when meeting the needs of a diverse group of learners. This session will center around upper elementary curriculum. It will include examples of short (5-10 minute) hands-on activities that can be used in the classroom to help children expand their schema before beginning to learn new science standards. Examples of pre-teaching activities: Ecosystems and Environments: Sorting seeds for a seed dispersal lab. The children notice features of the seeds. Force and Motion: Test the ramps before the activity and discuss independent variables such as ramp height and surface. Earth Systems: Use a sponge puzzle in water to model how tectonic plates move.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with several examples of short, 5-10 minute long, hands-on activities to use in their classroom to help children develop their schema. They will also see examples of student's thinking and sensemaking in science notebooks.

SPEAKERS:
Stacy Sharp-Adamson (Bell Prairie Elem School)

Implementing a practice based approach within a science methods course has the power to positively impact the science teaching self-efficacy of pre-service elementary teachers (Flores, 2015). Designing and implementing a performance based final as a culminating experience within a science methods course is an example of such a practice based approach. In addition to submitting a 5E lesson plan with all the accoutrements, pre-service elementary teachers planned, rehearsed, and facilitated a 'Science Friday" event at a local elementary school. This "Science Friday" event included six classrooms, two from each grade (Grade 3-5), where the pre-service elementary teachers facilitated a science lesson that included a 4-station hands-on, minds-on activity. All of the pre-service elementary teachers who participated in the performance final found the "Science Friday" experience to be a "value added" experience that positively impacted their perception of their science teaching self-efficacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave this poster session with knowledge of how to implement a performance-based final within a science methods course that effectively promotes the science teaching self-efficacy of pre-service elementary teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Trish Arnold (Minnesota State University, Mankato: Mankato, MN)

Develop your knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead your school or district toward successful NGSS assessment development. We will share one district’s journey to engage teachers in developing NGSS-aligned common assessments focused on SEPs, access, and equity.

TAKEAWAYS:
Develop your knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead your school or district toward successful NGSS assessment development with a focus on SEPs, access, and equity.

SPEAKERS:
Julia Smith (Riverside Unified School District: Riverside, CA)

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)

Participants will gain experience evaluating student learning across the three dimensions using authentic student work samples. Discussion will focus on lesson-level three-dimensional performance expectations and what counts as evidence of student understanding for the three dimensions targeted by the assessment task. We will also use data collected from these student work examples to identify patterns/trends teachers can use to inform instruction to ensure all students have access to science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants gain experience using the NSTA Student Work Analysis Protocol (open educational resource) and can share the protocol and application with colleagues in their school/district.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Bremen, GA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

In 2019, The Louisiana Department of Education was awarded an Education, Innovation, and Research(EIR) grant titled “Improving Pre-Engineering and Computer Science Education through Micro-Credentials”. As one of very few EIR grants awarded to a state education agency, we have had the opportunity to blend both research and practice through multiple lenses as we engage teachers and students across our state. The project has served as a mechanism for the research team to examine how job embedded professional development impacts the practices of our teachers, the content delivery in our classrooms, and its effects on student learning. We plan to share key take aways, including insights into the writing and revision process, how the series took shape over time, and preliminary outcomes from the qualitative measures utilized. This may be of interest to participants considering portfolio based assessments as a means of improving professional learning within their own context.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain insight from the perspective of a state agency into the process and key learnings from a four-year project focused on portfolio-based assessments in STEM.

SPEAKERS:
John Underwood (Louisiana Department of Education: No City, No State)

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)

Join us for a speed-sharing session on the latest research in secondary science education and how it can be applied to the classroom. This is a great opportunity to learn about the latest research and how it can help you make a difference in your students' learning.

STEM IRL: STEM Trailblazers for children of color
Addressing inequity in STEM professions starts with exposing students to current minority trailblazers in the field. If students see successful people who look like them, they can begin visualizing themselves in those roles, which can ignite a spark of curiosity and lead to a future in STEM.

Curricular Interventions to Improve Rural High School Students' Relatability to Scientists
Scientist Spotlights homework assignments that feature non-stereotypical scientists can help students see their possible selves in science. Students that author assignments on diverse scientists improve their science identity more than students that complete teacher-authored assignments.

Connecting electrochemistry to materials science: From modeling redox reactions to exploring materials science with dye-sensitized solar cells
Presentation of lab-based modeling approach to metal-metal ion (“single replacement”) reactions. Discussion of ways to integrate materials science concepts, specifically electrochemical cells and dye-sensitized solar cell construction, into the chemistry curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hear from experts in the field about innovative approaches to teaching science, as well as practical tips for improving your own practice.

SPEAKERS:
Christa Buccola Henriquez (MS 363 The Academy for Personal Leadership and Excellence: Bronx, NY), Fabiola Perez (Student: Edwardsville, IL), Maurina Aranda (Assistant Professor: Edwardsville, IL), Aaron Musson (Omaha Public Schools: Omaha, NE)

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

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SPEAKERS:
Shawna Jensen (Stile Education: Portland, OR)