Participants will learn research-based methods for supporting emerging multilinguals in their science classroom. These methods will be modeled by sharing sections of Biology labs that have been modified to support English learners. At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to take home sample lessons and labs specifically developed for a multilingual science classroom. Teaching methods presented are based on research and actual classroom experience, developed collaboratively by a team including a science teacher, English as a new language teacher, and a language development researcher. Labs shared with participants are designed to foster critical thinking while incorporating appropriate scaffolding. Lab handouts for participants to take back to their classrooms will include the following topics: scientific method, ecology, enzymes, biomolecules, cell transport, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn and practice teaching techniques for supporting English learners in their science class while engaging with lessons that model these procedures.

SPEAKERS:
Tina Ahmadi (PhD Student: Indianapolis, IN)

Engage your students with a real-world application of physical sciences and biology through our scaffolded nuclear radiology case study. Nuclear medicine is a branch of radiology that uses radioactive materials to diagnose and treat disease. The purpose of this session is to introduce students to medical imaging and nuclear medicine alongside Next Generation Science Standards as they attempt to diagnose and treat a hypothetical patient. In addition to fostering critical thinking, this session connects FDG-PET (a type of nuclear imaging) to the following next generation science standards: 1) Develop models to illustrate the changes in the composition of the nucleus of the atom and the energy released during … fission, fusion, and radioactive decay. (HS-PS1-8), and 2) Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms. (HS-LS1-4).

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will feel prepared to incorporate a nuclear radiology problem-based learning activity (developed by a radiologist and science teacher team) into their own classrooms!

SPEAKERS:
Peter Gunderman (Radiologist), Tina Ahmadi (PhD Student: Indianapolis, IN)

Teachers will explore a data collection activity to investigate pH and a pH titration curve. Teachers will also explore a variety of card sorts, hands-on activities to model acid base chemistry as well as the application of buffers in real world situations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Acid base chemistry and buffers are difficult concepts for students to grasp. This session will help teachers create and modify traditional lecture activities to be student-centered, hands-on learning opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Coker (Camden Fairview High School: Camden, AR), Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA)

The presentation will include background information detailing how the presenters traditionally taught energy concepts in their physical science, chemistry, and physics classrooms and then gained familiarity with LOL diagrams and implemented this tool in their own classrooms. The presenters will outline why a shift in the instructional approach was needed and how use of this tool can help students to better understand the abstract concept of energy outlined in the evidence statements for NGSS HS-PS3. We will explore how LOL diagrams enhance students’ sensemaking regarding energy, create models of energy flows in systems, and translate conceptual models into computational ones. This approach allows greater integration of the NGSS’s three dimensions as students and participants work to explicitly define systems, leading to greater transparency in students’ thought processes. Participants will engage in discussion with other examples and then work to apply these concepts to their own work.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how student sensemaking can be supported using LOL diagrams to provide a scaffold for creating a conceptual and computational model of energy flow in a system and collaborate in applying these concepts to their own disciplines.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Evans (Olathe South High School: Olathe, KS), Matt Richard (Teacher: Olathe, KS)

Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking is unfamiliar to many science educators because they didn’t engage in this practice in their own K-12 careers. Join us as we venture together into the unknown (unfamiliar) using grade-appropriate elements of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking to build pieces of disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts needed to explain a phenomenon (in part) and begin designing a solution to a problem. Participants will reflect on what Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking is all about and how this practice relates to the practices of Developing and Using Models and Analyzing and Interpreting Data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging students in the practice of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking can create and foster wider interests in STEM fields.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Arlington, VA)

Participants will engage in a thinking classroom for developing and using a constant velocity particle model by: • Observing a constant velocity toy car moving across the floor • Recording and summarizing their observations of the car • Developing a driving question board about their observations • Designing an experiment that could answer their question • Working in small groups to make sense of the model and apply it to a new situation using a thinking task • Discussing in a whole group a consensus model for any particle moving with a constant velocity • Examine the pedagogy that led to student thinking and sensemaking of the scientific model.

TAKEAWAYS:
Thinking classroom practices create the optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned science thinking and learning, and have the power to transform science classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Earl Legleiter (Legleiter Science Consulting: Hays, KS)

The impact of battery operated cars have become a hot topic as energy alternatives are explored. Unfortunately, few students get exposed to the true nature of a Voltaic Cell and the vital workings of the transfer of chemical energy to electrical energy through oxidation-reduction reactions. After a junior high demo, Physical Science and Chemistry classes don't relate the function of metals in their tug-of-war with electrons within a Redox reaction. Working with an ELL Specialist, Science Specialists created a series of lessons that incorporate phenomenon, asking questions, creating an investigation, data analysis, justification of their data through science research and application to real world analogous phenomenon. These have been tried in Arkansas Physical Science and Chemistry classrooms. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of batteries, the next generation must engage on the issue. The answers may come from the next William Kamkwamba not the AP Chem class.

TAKEAWAYS:
When life gives you lemons- make a battery! Educators will see an inclusive approach incorporating a demo to explore how a battery operates. It will relate the simple to the complex Redox reaction with supports and scaffolded instruction to best meet the needs of all learners.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Allison (Dawson Education Service Cooperative: Arkadelphia, AR)

Using the often discarded coinage, attendees will use the penny, calculators, force sensors, graduated cylinders, and formulas to collect and analyze data. This data will be used to analyze density comparisons of pre- and post- 1982 pennies with scientific as well as mathematical tools. Attendees will also use force sensors to analyze mass and force data to find the acceleration due to gravity. Both activities use slope and graphing knowledge to ensure student success in the science and math classroom, as well as solidifying science skills needed for standardized testing.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to incorporate technology in the science classroom that will solidify concepts learned in the math classroom which directly apply to science.

SPEAKERS:
Chris Coker (Camden Fairview High School: Camden, AR)

Visible three-dimensional learning classroom connections can be difficult to assess. In this session, participants will use real-world data collection to determine a phenomenon: why salt is added to freezing roads and when making homemade ice cream, but also is added to boiling water when making pasta. Participants will use the data collected to argue with evidence while creating a visible molecular-level diagram of what occurred. This model will be used to assess student learning of why those phenomena exist.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to use SEPs to drive student instruction and molecular-level modeling of processes using data to support claims.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Ellicott City, MD), Stacy Thibodeaux (Southside High School: Youngsville, LA)