Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Learn to leverage freely available global data visualizations using NOAA’s SOS Explorer mobile application (available on Apple and Android devices and Chromebooks), and an observational technique used in art museums to increase critical thinking and time spent on visual and group thought analysis.

SPEAKERS:
Beth Russell (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD), Hilary Peddicord (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory: Lyons, CO)

Sponsoring Company: Milestone C & STEMI

This essential Foundations of Tech will provide an introduction to areas of new-age tech that are embedded in Industry 4.0, including design, robotics, and AI. Let's work together to make students developers, instead of consumers, of tech and STEM for their future and ultimately, career choices.

SPEAKERS:
Dave Conelias (Milestone C LLC: Shelton, CT)

Over the last few years, access to digital resources to capture student understanding of chemistry concepts has greatly increased. This technological shift, along with a focus on the use of storylines to engage students in chemistry, provides an opportunity to implement digital interactive notebooks. Through the use of various on-line platforms, student beliefs and understanding can be documented and tracked over the course of a storyline. Digital notebooking is a dynamic process that integrates different learning experiences to challenge and reinforce student understanding. This method actively engages students in a manner that encourages discussion and collaboration. Support is built into the digital notebook for absent students and those that need additional resources to understand a concept. This session provides an overview of the digital interactive notebook creation, along with guidance for educators to take this process and use phenomena relevant to their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will provide a brief overview of how I use digital interactive notebooks in my classroom, along with guidance on how educators can begin the process of building their own. Resources and editable chemistry notebooks will be shared that focus on different chemistry phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah English (Sweet Home High School: Amherst, NY)

TikTok is all the rage, and student spend a large amount of time on TikTok. Because of this, students do not always like traditional methods of receiving information (notes, lectures, demonstrations, labs). Additionally, according to Pew Research, 26% of 18-29 years old get their news (whether accurate or inaccurate) on TikTok. This number is probably higher for younger ages. Because students spend so much time on TikTok, they are used to getting short (less than 1 min) snippets of information in an engaging environment. In order to better serve our students, educators need to know how to use TikTok to their advantage to inform students. Tiktok can be used to share information with students (as photos or videos) and can serve as a great tool for formative and summative assessments (i.e.: students sharing information about their experimental results, taking polls, analyzing other TikTok's for their educational value).

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to use TikTok for educational purposes; including disseminating information to students via TikTok and using TikTok as a formative and summative assessment tool for high school and post-secondary students.

SPEAKERS:
Kelsey Mescher (Battle High School: Columbia, MO), Stephanie Coyle (Jefferson Middle School: Columbia, MO)

Sponsoring Company: Milestone C & STEMI

Bring AI tech to your classroom in an engaging way!  Visit this workshop to learn about how this technology is influencing and controlling our lives and how educators can teach your students so they are prepared and connected to the jobs of the future that are waiting for them.

SPEAKERS:
Dave Conelias (Milestone C LLC: Shelton, CT)

SPIN, a FREE web-based notebook created with funding by NSF, has 4 customizable lessons for data-focused investigations in Physics on Centripetal Force, Ohm’s Law, Pendulums, and Impact. Teachers can also input their own lessons into SPIN. One of the teachers who created the lessons in the notebook will be presenting. During the first 30 minutes, presenters will give teachers accounts in SPIN and show how students can use the notebook and the metacognitive support features such as the Communication Hub, I’m Stuck button, and SPAARC prompts. Experiences of teachers and students who have used SPIN will be discussed. In the final 30 minutes, teachers will customize a lesson in SPIN or input their own lessons with help from the presenters. By the end of the session, teachers will be able to use SPIN effectively with the ability to share the notebook with all of the teachers at their school. Use of SPIN is entirely free and is found at https://spin.cehd.gmu.edu/login.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to use SPIN to download and edit a lesson from the Global Marketplace or create their own lesson in SPIN. Teachers who have used SPIN note that it has helped their students understand data practices explicitly.

SPEAKERS:
Erin Barrett (Physics Teacher: Purcellville, VA), Erin Peters-Burton (George Mason University: Fairfax, VA)

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, teachers have had to restructure how they teach. When schools closed, teachers were given multiple options and had to pick one. Many schools chose the Google Classroom option as it was the easiest for some schools to set up, but didn't allow for inclusivity with every student both in and out of the room. Using examples from my own Chemistry and fully virtual Applied Digital Skills classes, I will show how Microsoft Teams can give both the teachers and students a hub for all their presentations, notes, assignments, and even assessments. It allows teachers the ability to grade assignments and for students and parents to see those grades within the platform. It also allows for teachers to keep track of students' mental health and insights that can be shared with parents or councilors about students' habits on their computer. This may not be a science specific topic, but it works so well for managing a science classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will know how to use Microsoft Teams to host virtual lessons, create postings students can read and interact with, create and grade assignments, and how to check in with the emotional needs of students.

SPEAKERS:
Jill Elder (Assumption High School: Louisville, KY)

Using the standard model kits for inspiration, attendees will see how using simulations for 3-D modeling of molecular geometry can help students "see" the unseen. Taking this knowledge, attendees will code a rover to draw the molecular shapes using simple and easy coding commands. NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED! Student's will be exposed to not only molecular geometry, but will also tie in mathematical geometry with the use of interior and exterior angles for their shapes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Give students new ways to visualize molecular geometry while integrating coding into the science classroom and maybe learning a little geometry!

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

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

Discover BIOZONE WORLD - a new platform bringing all our digital resources together for easy access and delivery. Incorporating BIOZONE’s eBooks with our rich collection of presentation slides, 3D models & curated videos, it provides powerful options for delivering your high school science programs.

SPEAKERS:
Richard Allan (BIOZONE International Ltd.: Hamilton, New Zealand)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

A decomposing corpse is found in a field. Four possible missing persons fit the description. But who is it? Using clues near the scene will help determine identity. Forensic anthropologist Diane France helped to develop this free middle school and high school forensic science lesson.

Sponsoring Company: Visible Body

Lab time and access to specimens can be limited, expensive, or sometimes entirely out of reach. Visible Body’s 3-D content and Courseware platform provide a digital alternative to wet labs and 2-D textbook images and diagrams, allowing students to “cut” as many times as they need.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Buchanan (Sales Director: , SC)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

Bring a friend with you to attend, "Zombie Apocalypse!" Just make sure you can run faster! Zombies provide an excellent way to get students interested in understanding how diseases move through a population. Great for middle and high school students.

Stars form in clouds of gas and dust in star formation regions, and follow sequences that end in their destruction. Plotting their changing physical properties on the H-R diagram shows their evolutionary progress. Plotting light curves on the H-D diagram determines instability regions as stars transition to the next stage. Stellar evolution provides the energy which drives the universe and determines its future. Nucleosynthesis creates the elements which will enrich the next generation of protostars and planets. The resources developed by UoL are a progression from understanding astronomical images to plotting stellar transitions through instability strips on the H-R diagram, to analyzing observational data with the same JS9 tools that scientists use to determine everything from the chemical composition of supernovas to determining whether a stellar core is a white dwarf or a neutron star. The JS9 investigations include links to the original research papers and archived data sets.

TAKEAWAYS:
All our knowledge of stars and galaxies is determined by spectroscopy -- the analysis of radiation emissions, including radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, gamma, and X-ray. Knowledge of spectroscopy is essential to understanding the processes producing the individual wavelengths.

SPEAKERS:
Donna Young (NASA/NSO/UoL Program Manager: Laughlin, NV)

Content for our presentation includes: Opening-Introduction, History and Background of uBEATS, Highlights of the Program, Standards Alignment to NGSS and NCHSE, and a Canvas course walk-through Activity-In this activity portion, we will be taking a “Deep Dive” into uBEATS. We will preview a selected sample Freshman biology unit (Cellular Biology) and show specific modules that could be integrated into that unit of study (Cellular Structure and Function, Mitosis, and Cancer). The modules used in this preview will provide two different interactive activities that we will complete together while viewing them in the module. These modules will provide a review of core content, provide an extension to the core content, and bring in a career connection (Careers in Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences). Closing-Register, Module Preview, social media, Podcast

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, attendees will walk away with a clear understanding of what uBEATS is, how to effectively use this resource, and be fully prepared for implementation in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Zuzi Greiner (Instructional Technologist)

SPIN, a FREE web-based notebook created with funding by NSF, has three customizable lessons for data-focused investigations in Earth Science on Sunspots, Tides, and Hurricanes. Teachers can also input their own lessons into SPIN. One of the teachers who created the lessons in the notebook will be presenting. The first 30 minutes presenters will give teachers accounts in SPIN and show how students can use the notebook and the metacognitive support features such as the Communication Hub, I’m Stuck button, and SPAARC prompts. Experiences of teachers and students who have used SPIN will be discussed. In the final 30 minutes, teachers will customize a lesson in SPIN or input their own lessons with help from the presenters. By the end of the session, teachers will be able to use SPIN effectively with the ability to share the notebook with all of the teachers at their school. Use of SPIN is free and is found at https://spin.cehd.gmu.edu/login. Biology, chemistry, and physics also available.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to use SPIN to download and edit a lesson from the Global Marketplace or create their own lesson in SPIN. Teachers who have used SPIN note that it has helped their students understand data practices explicitly.

SPEAKERS:
Kevin Cabaniss (Teacher, Science), Erin Peters-Burton (George Mason University: Fairfax, VA)

Sponsoring Company: Anatomage, Inc.

The Science Table by Anatomage provides a library of biology, chemistry, and physics experiments with realistic-quality visuals and an interactive touchscreen experience. The workshop will focus on incorporating the Science Table into middle school, high school, and college-level classrooms.

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

The King of all sensors in most science departments is the temperature probe. Probes make it easier for students to quickly and reliably collect data so they can spend more time making sense of it. Come to this hands-on session and interact with, "The Lord of the Probes!"

Rubin Observatory is a public US observatory funded by the NSF. Educational materials and services are freely available to all. “Coloring the Universe” is one of six free online investigations that offer a complete, classroom ready lesson. Designed to support the NGSS, it comes with a phenomenon, teacher guide, presentation slides, videos, and a variety of three-dimensional formative and summative assessments and scoring guides. Since the entire lesson cannot be completed in 60 minutes, we will adopt a drop in approach at various places of the phenomenon and online app, and role-playing from the student perspective.We will then visit the website to preview additional resources. This workshop will also model how the lesson can be incorporated in Earth-Space or Physics storylines, and will demonstrate formative assessment and inclusive learning techniques.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the free interactive Coloring the Universe online investigation and support materials designed for NGSS teaching and learning, as well as active learning and assessment strategies that support inclusive techniques for building student communication skills.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold (Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Tucson, AZ)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

Graphs are great ways to illustrate patterns/trends in data, but many students do not understand how to use them. By using a motion detector and calculator, students are challenged to "Match a Graph" by changing their position and speed. Come give it a try!

Sponsoring Company: Pivot Interactives

Learn how to use Pivot Interactives as a source of phenomena to quickly bring data analysis into all parts of the learning cycle. Unlock the science practices with your ready to go data and easily implement into your instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Friberg (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN)

Sponsoring Company: Plasma Games

It's all fun and games but does it work? Dive into the difference between gamification and game-based learning to innovate your classroom, and engage and excite students to learn Chemistry. Bonus: Leave with an all-inclusive access code to a 3-D game-based platform.

SPEAKERS:
Alison Baker (Lead Curriculum Specialist: Raleigh, NC)

Sponsoring Company: Plasma Games

It's all fun and games but does it work? Dive into the difference between gamification and game-based learning to innovate your classroom, and engage and excite students to learn Chemistry. Bonus: Leave with an all-inclusive access code to a 3-D game-based platform.

Sponsoring Company: Pivot Interactives

What do hands-on labs do well? What not well? Are you open to considering a paradigm shift? Come see how Pivot Interactives expands the options to implement phenomena, the science practices, feedback, and scaffolding easily across the learning cycle.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Friberg (Pivot Interactives: Minneapolis, MN)

Even prior to the adoption of Illinois' media literacy requirement, Stanford University had researched student search patterns and developed a curriculum for teachers/specialists to educate students on evaluating online sources. I am a biology teacher who worked on a teacher-led team for 3-years with Stanford to implement a cross-curricular Civic Online Reasoning experience for all freshmen. Our program was highlighted in Chicagoland All Things Considered (NPR) and Scripps National News Literacy Week. Focus will be on why students need explicit experiences, three online focuses, and designing lessons for immediate use. https://cor.stanford.edu/curriculum/ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t_mVir5PHvfnOKgzm48HCqDPxilpeKwnZ1qf_7CSnek/edit?usp=sharing

TAKEAWAYS:
Science teachers can take the front seat in teaching students best practices in online searches with mini-lessons embedded in science content.

SPEAKERS:
Adrianne Toomey (Neuqua Valley High School: Naperville, IL)

Often art mimics science and some aspects of science seem divinely beautiful. As an approach for developing a holistic curriculum for the science classroom, the novel approach of using common, free, 3D modeling tools has been considered and implemented in the science classroom. The objective of this session is to introduce educators to the benefits and opportunities of using 3D modeling in the science classroom to enhance student learning and engagement. The session will provide practical tips and strategies for integrating 3D modeling technology (Blender) into science lessons, as well as showcase examples of successful implementation. Blender is a free, easy to use, yet robust, 3d modeling and simulation software.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will have practical tips and strategies for integrating 3-D modeling into their science lessons. Participants will have hands-on experience with 3-D modeling tools and software. Educators will be able to share their experiences and ask questions about using 3-D modeling in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Posey (McCallie School: Chattanooga, TN), Jessica Dobrin (Science Teacher: Chattanooga, TN), Caleb Bagby (Senior Director of Engineering, Technology, and Design: Chattanooga, TN)

Attendees will walk through the process of creating a Google Site specific to their classroom. They will learn how to create a master template to share with their students and how to help their students get started with the Google Site. They will also learn how to support their students as the Google Site is used to submit projects, portfolios, or lab notebooks. Attendees will learn how to insert pictures, files, and videos into the Google Site to create a more interactive resource for students. Attendees will begin to create their own template in the session with the goal of having a template ready to use in their classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Google Sites streamlines the grading process for lab notebooks and projects.

SPEAKERS:
Brodie Solomon (Physics Teacher: Ft Worth, TX), Katie Labadie (Science Department Chair: Fort Worth, TX)

Since returning from COVID classrooms have become increasingly digitally based, but has this been beneficial for students? After reflecting on our own teaching practices & examining our students’ progress we concluded that a fully digital classroom is limiting our students' linguistic and academic growth which can really hurt our English Learners. We examined available research on technology use in the class & how the implementation had impacted students. In addition, we looked at current best practices for literacy & academic language acquisition as it pertains to our ELLs. We began to look for ways to hybridize assignments to encourage substantive conversations, collaboration & engagement. Early results point to students’ better use of academic language, higher engagement & increased test scores. Participants will learn by doing a hybrid assignment & compare them to the results of our digital only & analog only assignments. We will provide scaffolds to build your own hybrid lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Particpants will walk away with outlines and skeletons on builidng hybridized digital and analog lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Heather Berlin (Truman High School: Independence, MO), Jennifer Tuff (North Side High School: Fort Worth, TX)

Content for our presentation includes: Opening-Introduction, History and Background of uBEATS, Highlights of the Program, Standards Alignment to NGSS and NCHSE, and a Canvas course walk-through Activity-In this activity portion, we will be taking a “Deep Dive” into uBEATS. We will preview a selected sample Freshman biology unit (Cellular Biology) and show specific modules that could be integrated into that unit of study (Cellular Structure and Function, Mitosis, and Cancer). The modules used in this preview will provide two different interactive activities that we will complete together while viewing them in the module. These modules will provide a review of core content, provide an extension to the core content, and bring in a career connection (Careers in Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences). Closing-Register, Module Preview, social media, Podcast

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, attendees will walk away with a clear understanding of what uBEATS is, how to effectively use this resource, and be fully prepared for implementation in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Zuzi Greiner (Instructional Technologist)

Rubin Observatory is a public US observatory funded by the NSF. Educational materials and services are freely available to all. “Expanding Universe” is one of six free online investigations that offer a complete, classroom ready lesson. Designed to support the NGSS, it comes with a phenomenon, teacher guide, presentation slides, videos, and a variety of three-dimensional formative and summative assessments and scoring guides. This workshop will model scaffolded teaching and assessment techniques to help students achieve success in making sense of abstract concepts presented in the lesson. Since the entire lesson cannot be completed in 60 minutes, we will adopt a drop in approach at various points by using portions of the phenomenon and the online app, and role-playing from the student perspective. We will then visit the website to preview additional resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the free interactive Expanding Universe online investigation and support materials designed for NGSS teaching and learning, as well as scaffolded teaching, and as formative assessment strategies to ensure that all students may achieve a successful learning experience.

SPEAKERS:
Ardis Herrold (Vera C. Rubin Observatory: Tucson, AZ)

SPIN has 3 customizable lessons for data-focused investigations in Chemistry on Periodic Trends, Thermodynamics, and Stoichiometry. Teachers can also input their own lessons into SPIN. One of the teachers who created the lessons in the notebook will be presenting. The first 30 minutes presenters will give teachers accounts in SPIN and show how students can use the notebook and the metacognitive support features such as the Communication Hub, I’m Stuck button, and SPAARC prompts. Experiences of teachers and students who have used SPIN will be discussed. In the final 30 minutes, teachers will customize a lesson in SPIN or input their own lessons with help from the presenters. By the end of the session, teachers will be able to use SPIN effectively with the ability to share the notebook with all of the teachers at their school. Use of SPIN is entirely free and is found at https://spin.cehd.gmu.edu/login. There are also lessons available in biology, Earth science, and physics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to use SPIN to download and edit a lesson from the Global Marketplace or create their own lesson in SPIN. Teachers who have used SPIN note that this has helped their students understand data practices explicitly.

SPEAKERS:
Zachary Minchow-Proffitt (Teacher: Leesburg, VA), Erin Peters-Burton (George Mason University: Fairfax, VA)

Students often have ok data but present it graphically not in the best way. Let’s talk about how to make your graph tell your story. Simple stuff like: which type of graph? What variable, where does it go, scale, function or not? Stuff beyond the basics: Which graph is the best type of graph for your data, hypothesis and story? How can I effectively improve my graph to better communicate my results? Does my graph limit the credibility of my work?

TAKEAWAYS:
Effective graphing can be a tool to visually show relationships.

SPEAKERS:
Louise Chapman (Volusia County Schools: Deland, FL), Jacklyn Bonneau (Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science at WPI: Worcester, MA)

Pathogen Patrol is a gamified learning experience created by Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and Tipping Point Media on the Roblox platform. This immersive classroom learning experience is designed to teach students about the human immune system's response to infections. Students are transformed into one of five different white blood cell types, and they must work with other players to protect the host from invading pathogens. The experience combines fun and engaging gameplay with applied learning, building students' problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and enduring understandings of the human body and its response to infection. PLTW believes that Roblox is the perfect platform to engage students in deep learning that builds the same transportable skills they develop in the classroom. In this workshop, teachers will be transported into virtual human hosts and experience stealth learning experience how stealth learning can create deep understanding of complex systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Well-designed immersive learning experiences can engage students and create deep learning opportunities through repeated gameplay.

SPEAKERS:
Sheila Robles (Instructional Developer: , TX), Taylor Puett (Project Lead The Way, Inc.: Indianapolis, IN), Jason Rausch (SVP of Programs: Indianapolis, OK)

The session will give teachers an opportunity to participate in the same sort of rich and meaningful learning experiences that are called for by the NGSS. This session, as a result, will include approximately forty minutes of audience participation in student hat. Teachers will leave with high-quality instructional materials that they can use in their own classrooms. The agenda for this session is: • A discussion of some topics that are challenging to teach because many students see them as irrelevant and why students think this way about them (10 mins). • An opportunity for participants to experience an example of how a meaningful and authentic phenomenon can drive a learning experience (40 mins) • An overview of a tech tool to help teachers create these types of learning experiences (5 mins) • Questions and suggestions for learning more (5 mins)

TAKEAWAYS:
Meaningful phenomena and authentic problems can make topics not only more meaningful for students, but can also make instruction more rigorous and equitable.

SPEAKERS:
Todd Hutner (The University of Alabama: Del Valle, TX)

The integration of science and mathematics should be a natural thing, and it is the foundation of any good STEM teaching. Data collection is crucial in all science classes and the analysis of the data is a great way to bring math into the science classroom. This session will involve all participants in data collection activities that can be done in any classroom, regardless of class size or student background. Common, easy-to-use technology will be used for the activities and this session is sure to motivate teachers to collect and analyze data with their students--and share their results with their math colleagues; fostering a spirit of cross-curricular collaboration and integration.

TAKEAWAYS:
ALL attendees will be active participants in the data collection activities in this session. But collecting data will not be the greatest takeaway. Rather, instilling confidence in ALL attendees to perform mathematical analysis of the data will be the main goal of the session.

SPEAKERS:
Jeffrey Lukens (Retired Science Teacher: Sioux Falls, SD)