The Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative is a STEM learning ecosystem in rural western North Carolina and has been a NASA Science Activation partner since 2016. We have over a decade of combined experience in assisting educators in utilizing NASA resources through a local lens in their classroom and out-of-school-time programs. As a rural region, we are familiar with the difficulty that comes with reaching disenfranchised learners that may struggle with broadband access. Participants will be introduced to a number of resources and hands-on activities they can utilize in low or no-bandwidth areas, as well as partners they can collaborate with in order to broaden and deepen their impact in their classroom and community. We will conduct a few example activities tailored for middle school educators, with suggestions to be scalable for learners in high school, post-secondary, and informal settings.

TAKEAWAYS:
After engaging in some hands-on activities, attendees will leave with access to a digital library of resources as well as personal connections to bring NASA Science into their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Randi Neff (STEM Program Coordinator: Sylva, NC), Matthew Cass (Physics and Astronomy Instructor: Sylva, NC)

This presentation will provide teachers with a ready-to-teach Unit designed to help their students experience several Physical Science, Earth-Space Science, and Engineering NGSS standards. The unit addresses global weather patterns and the impacts of potential pattern changes. It also addresses thermal energy and its applications in building design. All middle school science teachers; whether new to the profession, new to phenomena-based learning, or seasoned veterans will find something new and exciting to bring back to their classrooms. This Unit combines my understanding of the middle school science classroom with expertise of curriculum writers at Pacific Education Institute. Teachers will receive help planning lessons, activities, and discussions. They will also take the role of a student to have first-hand experience with labs and activities. Teachers will receive a digital copy of all of the instructional materials including grading rubrics.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how to teach and assess a dynamic 3-D unit addressing Physical Science and Earth Space Science NGSS Standards. Teachers will leave with editable access to all Unit materials. Teachers will get time and guidance on how to adapt the Unit to their classroom and student needs.

SPEAKERS:
Kat Chamberlain (Ridgetop Middle School: No City, No State)

Participants in this session will learn about NASA’s Heliophysics Big Year (Oct 23-Dec 24), including an annual eclipse, a total eclipse, and the culmination of the Parker Solar Probe Project. Learn the basic mechanics of how and why eclipses occur while engaging in low-cost and hands-on activities such as Sun Paper, UV Beads and Solar Radiation, and how to make a cereal box viewer. Attendees will enjoy engaging activities while learning about the next total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth and completely blocks the face of the Sun. Those in the path of totality will experience a total eclipse and the sky will become very dark as if it were dawn or dusk. If the skies are clear, people can even see the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, with their own eyes. Learn about these solar eclipses as well as NASA’s Solar Eclipse Toolkit, including lesson plans, activities, safety guides, videos, and so much more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the upcoming solar eclipse, explore resources within NASA STEM’s Solar Eclipse Toolkit, learn how to view the eclipse safely with their students, and walk away with standards-aligned hands-on activities that can be shared with students in both formal and informal settings.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Sagirah Wheeler (NASA Education Specialist: No City, No State), Monica Uribe (NASA Education Specialist)

The growth of human settlements and natural resource use have impacted our wild spaces and led to fragmented habitats, pollution, and overharvesting. In this hands-on session, the presenter will lead participants in hands-on classroom activities that explore ecological footprints and possible paths toward sustainability. The presenter will introduce concepts around human ecology, including human population trends, biodiversity trends, and how human activities (agricultural expansion, deforestation, etc.) have impacted wildlife habitats. Most of the session will be the demonstration of hands-on activities that address NGSS content, but also integrate mathematics, social studies, and language arts. Activity formats include a large-group simulation on carrying capacity in nature, a visual demonstration of the breakdown of land use around the globe, and a modeling activity on biodiversity threats in different ecosystems.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn hands-on, collaborative approaches to guide students’ inquiry around key ecological concepts on population, wildlife, and biodiversity, using 3-D strategies and sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Vanessa Wyss (Professor: Big Rapids, MI)

Sponsoring Company: miniPCR bio

Engage students in authentic research through Genes in Space: the experimental design competition that launches experiments to the International Space Station. Learn about free educational resources, including lesson plans, classroom activities, explainer videos, and biotechnology equipment loans.

SPEAKERS:
Marc Bliss (miniPCR: Cambridge, MA)

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: Great Minds

In this workshop, participants interact with a 4th grade module to figure out how Balinese Rice farming has endured for 1,000 years. While exploring farming practices in Bali, participants uncover a new process for developing models in science.

SPEAKERS:
Sally Robichaux (Great Minds: Washington, DC)

The conceptual understanding of the interactions between Earth Systems, particularly the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, allows students to expand their knowledge further of concepts like weather, climate, and climate change. But research (Dove, 1999; Henriques, 2002; Phillips, 1991) shows that teachers and students have a poor understanding of basic weather-related concepts. In this workshop, teachers will be given a 5E lesson incorporating activities that will enable them to better integrate the phenomena of high and low-pressure systems (Disciplinary Core Idea ESS2D) into their curriculum. Besides the 5E lesson, participants will receive additional resources for implementing how these highs and lows interact during the winter to produce Nor'easters and Midwestern Winter Bomb systems. This workshop aims to better prepare those teaching about this important phenomenon in our nation's classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be given a 5E lesson incorporating activities that will enable them to integrate better the phenomena of high- and low-pressure systems into their curriculum. Participants will also receive additional resources on incorporating winter weather systems in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Dannah Schaffer (Minot State University: Minot, ND)

The workshop will provide participants with the following information and learning experiences: 1.) Where and when the solar eclipse will be visible, including how to find what will specifically happen in their location. 2.) Three-Dimensional learning strategies to use with their students to understand what causes both lunar and solar eclipses, including what causes lunar phases and how knowing what causes lunar phases is key to knowing when eclipses occur. 3.) How to safely observe the eclipse using a variety of observing strategies. 4.) Suggestions for how to make the most of the eclipse as a school and/or community-wide event. 5.) What overall resources that NSTA has to help them make the most of this celestial event.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with 3-D teaching strategies for students to understand the science behind eclipses, plus safe viewing strategies and ways to make the event a school-wide experience.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR)

More than 10,000 observers submitted data to GLOBE collecting more than 20,000 cloud observations with 60,000 photos and 80,000 air temperature measurements using the GLOBE Observer app during the Total Solar Eclipse on August 21st, 2017. The data was used by scientists around the world. Educators will learn how to upload data to GLOBE as citizen scientists in the GLOBE Observer App. The latest updates from NASA will be shared including these current sites on the solar eclipse. The NASA data provides teachers with lesson plans written in 5-E format and activities for students to do. Educators will receive a brief introduction on the protocols used. As a citizen scientist, educators can enter data without going through the GLOBE trainings. Examples of student research projects on the 2017 Solar Eclipse will illustrate the work that can be done by students. Supports NGSS Science and Engineering Practices and following NGSS standards: MS-ESS1-1 and HS-ESS1-1.

TAKEAWAYS:
Contribute to a citizen science database used by scientists to study the effects of eclipses on the atmosphere. Learn how to access NASA resources including teacher lesson plans to use in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Janet Struble (: Toledo, OH)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

Students use a river model to investigate how flowing water erodes and deposits sediments to create common landforms. They then design erosion control structures and use the river model to test them. Based on the results of their initial testing, students redesign and retest their structures.

Since the NGSS, science teachers have been increasingly considering how to effectively engage students during science lessons using science and engineering practices (SEPs). In order to engage in these practices deeply, students need to have effective social and emotional skills. Therefore, embedding social-emotional learning (SEL) can be a tool that teachers use to build a classroom community that deeply engages in the SEPs. This session will engage students in three science activities (one elementary, one middle school, and one high school) that promote 3D learning and SEL. For example, the high school activity will consist of us doing a simulation where participants will act as animals getting "food". We will use it to connect SEL to HS-LS2-8. We will then have participants reflect on SEL teaching strategies such as explicit/reflective SEL questions (Bahnson et al., 2020) in order to demonstrate how to meaningfully embed SEL into 3D NGSS lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn strategies to teach SEL in existing NGSS lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Borton (Science Teacher and Ed.D Student: Nevada, IA), Jesse Wilcox (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)

Creative ideas will be explored for developing and using climate science storylines based on Midwestern climate phenomena, past and present. For example, the timing of the settling of Midwestern states was a direct result of global and regional climate changes that included the Little Ice Age (creating a demand for animal furs for coats and hats) and the giant 1815 eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora (which caused the famines of the “year without a summer” and drove large numbers of easterners westward into the Midwest. Examining regional Midwest geology (such as glacial deposits and bedrock limestone layers) can also foster student sensemaking of the cycles of climate change that can occur on longer time scales. Analyzing the evidence of past climate changes and its impacts on humans and other life will help students carry out the processes of sensemaking to better understand the current trends in climate change (obtained from NASA satellites) and their implications for humans.

TAKEAWAYS:
Climate-related storylines anchored by Midwest regional phenomena provide powerful frameworks for students to develop sensemaking of performance expectations concerning weather and climate. Instructors will leave with multiple ideas for incorporating the latest climate science into their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession (Washington University in St. Louis: Saint Louis, MO)

How do we know about mass-extinctions and meteor impacts? Using fossils to study past glacial periods? Shells, sand grains and even dust and volcanic ash from faraway lands fall slowly through the ocean and pile up on the seafloor, eventually becoming rocks. When we drill into the seafloor to collect layers of rocks (as cores), the deeper down we go, the further back in time we go. Scientists looking at these cores are effectively reading the pages in a book that reveals the Earth’s past, and sheds light on our future. This workshop will have teachers look at how using real scientific data collected onboard the JOIDES Resolution and other ships in the program, we can translate findings into data sets and activities to inspire students and help them see science in action. The focus will be on how data from oceanic drilling can be used to create activities using real-world phenomena that can connect to many scientific concepts, such as climate, natural hazards, and Earth’s systems.

TAKEAWAYS:
By looking into the past and present, we can begin to predict our future. The International Ocean Discovery Program creates educational resources that enable students to use real data collected by scientists investigating global concerns and explore parts of our world usually hidden to them.

SPEAKERS:
Maya Pincus (Columbia University / U.S. Science Support Program: Palisades, NY), Carol Cotterill (U.S. Science Support Program: Palisades, NY)

Educators have struggled with maintaining student engagement in science, especially as students transition from primary to middle school and upper grades (Vedder-Weiss & Fortus, 2012). With the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, teachers are looking for curricula to support its implementation. Two curricula, mySci 5E and OpenSciEd storylines, were compared in terms of student academic achievement and attitudes toward science. The research questions were: (1) To what extent is there a difference between achievement in science by eighth grade students experiencing the OpenSciEd storyline science curriculum and those experiencing MySci 5E as measured by end of unit assessment scores? (2) To what extent is the difference between attitudes towards science by eighth grade students experiencing the OpenSciEd storyline science curriculum and those experiencing MySci 5E as measured by My Attitudes Toward Science (MATS) surveys (Hillman et al., 2016)?

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will hear about the results of the study and potential impacts of the perception of coherence on students’ academic achievements and attitudes toward science. Implications for future research will be discussed.

SPEAKERS:
Nina Blanton (Educator: , MO), Nicole Vick (Northwestern University)

Although there is extensive dissemination of the research and results obtained from deep-sea cores within the scientific ocean drilling community, less focus has been placed on the lives and experiences of those carrying out the research, including scientists, technicians, ship’s crew, and shore-based staff. This project documents the stories of those that have sailed on and supported scientific ocean drilling expeditions through a collection of audio narratives that showcase what goes beyond the “science” part of science at sea. By highlighting the human aspect of ocean expeditions and emphasizing the experiences of those involved, we make the field accessible to those who may have previously felt uninterested, disconnected, or alienated. We are also seeking feedback from educators in terms of what additional supporting materials (eg: images and maps, scaffolds, formative and summative assessments) should be added to the project to maximize the benefit to all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Free multimedia classroom resources, including audio narratives from the people involved in scientific ocean drilling and associated activities and worksheets, allow students to interact with the people who participate in complex science and engage in sensemaking about geoscience concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Maya Pincus (Columbia University / U.S. Science Support Program: Palisades, NY)

A middle school PLC observed that students were not retaining or using content specific vocabulary or completing teacher provided practice. Through a coaching partnership, educators researched and determined to prioritize the following learning: conceptual understanding, explicit instruction, connection between words, multiple interactions with words, and discourse among peers. First, teachers minimized the words in each unit to focus only on Tier 3 and Tier 2 words. Next, the educators placed the words in a flow chart on a large wall showing connections between words. Teachers developed conceptual understanding during instruction and ways for students to interact with each word. Examples included; labs, readings, definitions, and discourse with peers. The teachers intentionally selected strategies to interact with each word such as defining, drawing, comparing, summarizing, discussing, and synthesizing their understanding. Student work was displayed on the interactive wall.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with strategies to implement vocabulary instruction in any science content area.

SPEAKERS:
Maryam Siddiqui (Teacher: , IL), Meghan Chuipek (Thompson Middle School)

In this interactive presentation, the presenter will share a schoolyard science template and guide attendees through how to customize the template for their local community. The presenter will share examples and resources to support each component of the schoolyard science template including (a) the use of satellite imagery and schoolyard assessments to identify existing schoolyard resources, (b) connecting 3-D learning standards to place-based schoolyard science opportunities, and (c) opportunities for stewardship and civic engagement. The presenter will share several strategies to engage students with the SEPs in the schoolyard as they observe, measure, monitor, and experiment with their local environment. The schoolyard science template was developed as part of Advancing Science’s NOAA-funded grant to develop an environmental literacy plan in collaboration with Adams County, PA, school districts.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain access to a schoolyard science planning template and the knowledge to customize the template for their local community. Attendees will learn to connect schoolyard resources with DCIs and SEPs to help students make sense of their local environment while learning science content.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie Stone (Gettysburg College: Gettysburg, PA)

In this workshop we will work through the "anchoring phenomenon" from the OpenSciEd Middle School space unit, which helps students see the relevance of astronomy by drawing on traditional indigenous astronomy knowledge, and students' own cultural knowledge to engage students in identifying and explaining patterns in the sky that set the rhythm for our lives. Participants will get a chance to experience the anchoring phenomenon, and share their own experience, expertise and ideas, to begin visioning how astronomy education can draw on student and community resources, connect students to traditional knowledge from around the world, and build on natural curiosity about questions that are older than Western history.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anchoring astronomy instruction in phenomena that invite connections between science and students' identities can support culturally sustaining pedagogy in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO), Thomas Clayton (K-5 STEAM Specialist: Berkeley Heights, NJ), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Join Professor Michael Wysession in an inspirational session to reconnect you with the reasons you chose teaching as your profession. Through the lens of a modernized ancient concept (the Japanese “Ikigai”), participants will reflect on their teaching careers and rediscover the rewards (personal, societal, financial) of the teaching profession.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Wysession (Washington University in St. Louis: Saint Louis, MO)

Sponsoring Company: NOAA

Join us for a demo of our database of 1,200+ educational resources from NOAA. We host ocean, coast, Great Lakes, weather, and climate resources. Tour our lesson plans and activities and ask us your questions. Learn more at noaa.gov/education/resources. This session is appropriate for K-16 educators.

SPEAKERS:
Kayla Smith (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Silver Spring, MD)

The primary goal of Native Earth | Native Sky is to build culturally-relevant earth-sky STEM curricula that will increase the understanding of and interest in STEM fields for middle school students in three Oklahoma Native American nations. Providing a culturally-relevant STEM curriculum in a classroom can increase student motivation (Landson-Billings, 1995) for groups historically underrepresented in STEM careers. The theory of Two-Eyed Seeing, which places equal status on western science and Indigenous ways of knowing (Hatcher et al., 2009), and the pedagogical model of place-based learning (Semken, 2005) can be valuable tools for designing learning experiences for Native American students. This session will provide an overview of the program and lessons related to MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics, MS-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems, and MS-ESS1-1 Earth's Place in the Universe using three-dimensional teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to increase student engagement by weaving cultural components and place-based learning with science and STEM curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah McDowell (Maryville College: Maryville, TN), Angela Just (GRA)

Sponsoring Company: Lab-Aids

How do we engage students to ask questions and develop evidence-based explanations? In this hands-on activity from the Lab-Aids EDC Earth Science program, discourse occurs authentically as you role-play a geologist testing various site extractions for molybdenum, a valuable mineral.

The workshop will provide participants with the following information and learning experiences: 1.) Where and when the solar eclipse will be visible, including how to find what will specifically happen in their location. 2.) Three-Dimensional learning strategies to use with their students to understand what causes both lunar and solar eclipses, including what causes lunar phases and how knowing what causes lunar phases is key to knowing when eclipses occur. 3.) How to safely observe the eclipse using a variety of observing strategies 4.) Suggestions for how to make the most of the eclipse as a school and/or community-wide event. 5.) What overall resources that NSTA has to help them make the most of this celestial event.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with links to 3-D teaching strategies for students to understand the science behind eclipses, plus safe viewing strategies and ways to make the event a school-wide experience.

SPEAKERS:
Dennis Schatz (Institute for Learning Innovation: Beaverton, OR)

In this interactive presentation, the presenter will share a schoolyard science template and guide attendees through how to customize the template for their local community. The presenter will share examples and resources to support each component of the schoolyard science template including (a) the use of satellite imagery and schoolyard assessments to identify existing schoolyard resources, (b) connecting 3-D learning standards to place-based schoolyard science opportunities, and (c) opportunities for stewardship and civic engagement. The presenter will share several strategies to engage students with the SEPs in the schoolyard as they observe, measure, monitor, and experiment with their local environment. The schoolyard science template was developed as part of Advancing Science’s NOAA-funded grant to develop an environmental literacy plan in collaboration with Adams County, PA school districts.

TAKEAWAYS:
The ability to customize a schoolyard science planning template for their local community. Connect local schoolyard resources with the DCIs and SEPs to help students make sense of their local environment while learning science content.

SPEAKERS:
Valerie Stone (Gettysburg College: Gettysburg, PA)

This STEM Share-a-thon session acts as a come-and-go session where attendees can learn about our outreach for the 10/14/23 eclipse. Our goal with this outreach was to reach most, if not, all 5th grade students in Lafayette County, MS. In Mississippi, students learn about eclipses in the 5th grade. In this session, we will share what we did, how we were able to get all the moving parts in place, and what we learned while conducting this outreach. Attendees will also learn about our partnership with our local library for a public viewing party on the day of the eclipse. Attendees will receive a handout detailing how we conducted and met both outreach goals. Attendees will also see photos from our events and resources that influenced our outreach. Presenters will be available for questions.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive a handout detailing a report of our outreach in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Attendees will also be able to see pictures of our events, and receive ideas about how they might conduct their own public outreach for the April 2024 eclipse.

SPEAKERS:
Alice Steimle (Director: University, MS), Christian Clark (University of Mississippi: University, MS)

MothEd provides K-8 students and teachers a simple, low-cost way to study moths, an important and often overlooked part of the natural world. These fascinating insects play key roles in our ecosystems as pollinators, prey, and in some cases, pests. The relative lack of scientific research about moths provides rich opportunities for students to make novel discoveries while learning the practice of science research. Students build DIY blacklight traps, develop research questions and hypotheses, collect data from local habitats, and use technology-enhanced curricular materials to foster collaboration and conduct analyses. Participants at NSTA will see examples and learn to build their own moth traps from 2L soda bottles. They will learn how MothEd is implemented in a classroom by teachers in 1st-8th grade and how students in these classes asked their own questions and discovered their own results from their local habitats. Participants will learn how to run a MothEd unit in their class.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers learn to build moth traps from 2L bottles to engage students in authentic science experiences. They see how MothEd is implemented in a classroom by developing research questions/hypotheses, collecting/analyzing data from local habitats, and fostering collaboration and agency among students.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Keas (Research Associate)

NASA’s UoL STEM program connects the public to the discoveries, scientists, engineers, and educators working with astrophysics missions, such as Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, GALEX, Fermi, Swift, and JWST. The program includes a nationwide network of partners who share and develop resources. The UoL projects and events are designed to inspire engagement and learning with STEM materials to promote science literacy. All materials are free and excellent astronomy resources for STEM education programs. One of the UoL STEM partners is the National Science Olympiad (NSO), a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing interest in science for all students, and creating a STEM-literate workforce. The UoL program supports NSO space science events, and all materials are freely available from the UoL or the NSO websites. Other UoL partners include AstroViz, Planet Search, STEAM, MicroObservatory, Planet Watch, and View Space.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA’s UoL team connects the public and learners to data, discoveries, and experts from NASA’s Astrophysics missions. The team of scientists, engineers, and educators have direct connections to these missions, and provide a range of projects and interactive activities for any educational setting.

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

In the presentation, I will be sharing activities for a 6-8 aligned unit on convection currents, as they are related to the layers of the earth, plate tectonics and weather. The activities the participants will experience will include hands-on activities using innovation, creativity, and technology. I will also provide links to activities/projects that participants can use that will not be demonstrated/experienced that will align the concepts of Earth Science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will experience hands-on learning for grades 6-8 about convection, and how it relates to the layers of the Earth, tectonic plates, and weather.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Rush (Lufkin Middle School: Lufkin, TX), Rebecca Walker (Tays Junior High School: Katy, TX)

Data is an increasingly prevalent resource for addressing real-world challenges, however, the transdisciplinary skills needed to interpret and think critically about data are lacking in the public. Geospatial data visualizations are tools used to transform large datasets into representations that support learning, but our understanding of how to effectively use them in instruction is under-studied. To support data literacy, a new model for teaching with data visualizations in middle school science uses arts-based instructional approaches including visual thinking skills that apply in both science and art. The model helps teachers develop greater comfort with data visualizations, understand arts-based pedagogies that support close observation and critical thinking, and integrate these approaches in their curricula, resulting in students’ data literacy skills gains. Workshop attendees will experience the program as students and reflect on how the approach supports teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will experience a new model for exploring geospatial data using arts-based instructional approaches for learning about earth science and learn how this transdisciplinary approach supports teachers and students in improving data literacy.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Semmens (Science Director: Easton, PA)

The session will open with having participants work through pieces of Chapter 11 from Once Upon an Earth Science Book. Participants (as students) will collect information from three models: (the Coriolis effect, major ocean currents, and how wind creates currents). Then they will read an article on the Pacific Garbage Patch and how its existence was predicted based on such models before it was discovered. We will outline a writing assignment in which they predict where a boatload of rubber duckies that capsized off the coast of Morocco might end up. Next, we will discuss the "shape" of the lesson we just worked through, called a literacy learning cycle. From there, we will look at several specific difficulties that arise for students when they are asked to read and write (expectations, background knowledge, and meaningful writing). Finally, we will talk briefly about how the Once Upon a Science Book series can serve as a resource for literacy learning cycles.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will be introduced to the literacy learning cycle format, in which hands-on work precedes meaningful reading and writing activities. You will see how this system works by participating in a lesson and come away with practical strategies for your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jodi Wheeler-Toppen (Author/ Staff Development: Atlanta, GA)

This presentation will focus on how our STEM education center educated students and the public about the upcoming solar eclipses. Presenters will share how the Center incorporated sensemaking through the phenomenon of solar eclipses by engaging students with the SEPs of modeling and constructing explanations. The outreach will primarily focus on standard MS-ESS1-1, but the goal of the outreach aligns with the goals of the Framework to educate all students in science and engineering and to provide foundational knowledge for our future scientists, engineers, technologists, and technicians. Attendees will engage in an activity that they can share with their classroom in order to safely view the 2024 solar eclipse, including the creation of a solar eclipse viewer. Presenters will also share teaching strategies that make use of modeling and online simulations for eclipses. Time will be included for participants to share their own ideas of effective solar eclipse teaching strategies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will take away ideas for educating their classes about eclipses and ideas for educating the public on what causes eclipses and how to view them safely. This information will be a result of our STEM education center's eclipse outreach and its effectiveness.

SPEAKERS:
Alice Steimle (Director: University, MS), Christian Clark (University of Mississippi: University, MS)

Science teachers can use visual data strategies to help students come to understand what they are seeing, as well as pick out how those representations differ from reality. Strategies such as teacher modeling, questions, and small group work (McTigue & Coleman, 2013) help direct students’ attention to graphics and help them make sense of them. In this presentation, we will engage students in middle school space science lessons about eclipses, seasons, and moon phases (partially addressing MS-ESS1-1). We will use visual data throughout the 5E, along with teaching strategies, to show participants how we help our students move towards a more complete understanding of eclipses, seasons, and moon phases. We have found that by focusing on teaching students through and about visual data, they are better able to think critically about the content and the way the content is represented. We will discuss specific strategies on how to include visual data and how to help students make sense of that data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will have examples and strategies to engage students with visual data.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Wilcox (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)