Learn a design process for creating three-dimensional assessment tasks that support student learning. We will introduce participants to each phase of the process: unpacking dimensions, developing integrated dimension maps, articulating learning performances, identifying phenomena, and designing tasks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn the steps of a systematic process for designing three-dimensional tasks that align with NGSS performance expectations, take into consideration students’ diverse backgrounds, and can be used in classrooms to provide information to teachers and students to improve learning.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Krajcik (CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI), Christopher Harris (WestEd: Menlo Park, CA)

Come join us to see how OpenSciEd’s materials can help you reveal your students’ brilliance. This professional learning institute will simultaneously prepare you to teach the first unit in the OpenSciEd middle school program and provide the support you need to advance your practice so that learning is both driven by student questions and leads to the foundational science learning they need to be successful. To do this, this session will put teachers in the student’s seat so they can feel what it's like to be a student whose thoughts and questions are valued in the drive to figure out puzzling phenomena. We actually do science together with the facilitator acting as the "teacher" and then dig in to see the coherence across the program and the details in the first units of OpenSciEd’s program.

In the morning, coaches, admin, and teachers will be together. In the afternoon, teachers will keep digging into the materials and instructional coaches or administrators will have the option to move to a breakout room to learn more about the tools and resources that are available to support teachers in impactful implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
How OpenSciEd's free and publicly available instructional materials and professional learning can make a district's vision for science education a reality.

SPEAKERS:
Thomas Clayton (K-5 STEAM Specialist: Long Valley, NJ), Heather Galbreath (Lombard Middle School: Galesburg, IL), Renee Affolter (OpenSciEd: Montpelier, VT), Alicia Wedderburn (Science Instructional Coach: Milton, MA)

Immerse yourself in OpenSciEd's innovative learning and gain a deep understanding of the High School Biology Unit B.1 Ecosystem Interactions & Dynamics. Experience learning in the unit from students’ perspective through lesson immersions and gain a tool-kit of resources and strategies to confidently facilitate the unit in your classroom. Make the B.1 Ecosystem Interactions & Dynamics unit come alive in your high school classroom! Hybrid workshop series beginning at the NSTA National Conference Denver 24 and continuing through April 2024

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Freeport, IL), Holly Hereau (NSTA: Lake Angelus, MI), Kate Soriano (NSTA: Jersey City, NJ)

Join us to learn how OpenSciEd materials can help you build high school science learning experiences anchored in compelling phenomena and meaningful community and global problems.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will gain a bird's-eye view of the structure of units for all three courses of OpenSciEd– biology, chemistry, and physics– and discuss the routines and resources that promote equitable science learning in high school. This PLI will dive into unit 1 of the OpenSciEd High School chemistry course.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Novak (Northwestern University: Grayslake, IL), Nicole Vick (Northwestern University: Avon, IL)

Join us to figure out how to adapt NGSS assessments to be meaningful and coherent for your learners, useful for communicating progress, and manageable for you to provide actionable feedback. We will analyze what task features ensure eliciting evidence related to 3D sensemaking in grade-appropriate ways and consider how to adapt/design tasks to be accessible, relevant, and meaningful to all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
We will work together to adapt classroom tasks and plan for their implementation using the most up-to-date tools and resources from across multiple NGSS assessment leaders and projects. You will leave with a task that has been collaboratively adapted during our session that you can share with your colleagues and try with your learners, along with tools and strategies you can use to change your assessment practices in your classroom, school and/or district.

SPEAKERS:
Kelley Turner (Winchester Public Schools: Winchester, VA), Sara Cooper (Contextus: Lincoln, NE), Abraham Lo (BSCS Science Learning: Ambler, PA), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Grayslake, IL)

Successful implementation of open-source instructional materials for the NGSS requires adaptation for local needs. This Professional Learning Institute will engage participants in using tools to adapt an open-source middle school unit for local standards and phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Jean Flanagan (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Elaine Klein (BSCS Science Learning: Houston, TX), Audrey Mohan (BSCS Science Learning: Burnet, TX), Candice Guy-Gaytán (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Zoe Buck Bracey (Senior Science Educator and Director of Design for Justice: Colorado Springs, CO), Jamie Noll (BSCS Science Learning: Evanston, IL), Lindsey Mohan (BSCS Science Learning: Burnet, TX), Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Laveen, AZ), Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Steamboat Springs, CO)

Join us at the Coloroado Convention Center for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA Denver24! We’ll keep it casual—enjoy beverages and small bites while networking with old and new friends. The event is complimentary and open to all registered conference attendees.

Don't judge a book by its cover; the same applies to relationships. Superficial judgments may miss meaningful connections. Explore implicit biases, adjust thought patterns, and eliminate discrimination for a more enriching journey.

SPEAKERS:
Adolph Brown

Calling all yoga enthusiasts! Regardless of whether you’re a newbie or veteran, join yoga teacher, Azra Chughtai, RYT, for a warm-up with breathwork; hatha yoga (gentle stretching exercises to wake up the body); and, of course, meditation for relaxation and de-stressing. Beginner friendly!

TAKEAWAYS:
Recharge: Energizing and Stress Relief

SPEAKERS:
Azra Chughtai (NSTA: McLean, VA)

Welcome to NSTA’s national conference!! Where should you begin? Join us for an exploration of the conference app and NSTA’s social media. You will learn how to maneuver and conquer the conference and leave feeling energized.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to get the most out of your conference experience in addition to becoming an engaged learner.

The goal of this session is for participants to be able to feel confident and competent with incorporating multiple SEPs into everyday sensemaking lessons in their classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience a hands-on lesson that walks them through the basic steps of how to lead a sensemaking lesson that incorporates multiple SEPs.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Schumann (Katy High School: Bellville, TX), Elizabeth Morris (Katy ISD: Katy, TX)

With literacy making it's way to the forefront of all core curriculum, do you ever feel like you don't have enough time to add a reading assignment to your lesson plans? Don't stress! I will present strategies that I have incorporated into my plans that have had positive results.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will take away literacy strategies that can be incorporated immediately into your lesson plans that will encourage students to read aloud, pick out important words and phrases, and put their ideas on paper. Also allows teachers to assess reading abilities and comprehension.

SPEAKERS:
Stacey Barnett (Hammond Creek Middle School: Dalton, GA)

Diversity in STEM is crucial; however, we need to do more than just talk about it. In order to really create inclusive spaces, we must address the dark side of science which has led many groups to shy away from pursuing these fields. This harm can be repaired through restorative practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand the history of science in the United States. By acknowledging the systemic obstacles and barriers that certain underrepresented groups faced, we can implement restorative strategies to create inclusive science classrooms, such as: circles, conferences, and restorative questions.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Josue Falaise (GOMO Educational Services)

In this engaging session, we embark on a transformative journey, equipping educators with the tools and knowledge to instill a growth mindset in themselves and their students, enriching the educational experience, and nurturing future generations of resilient, adaptable, and lifelong learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will self-assess and evaluate students' mindsets, while discussing resources to foster resilience, embracing challenges, and nurturing a lifelong love for learning in any classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Luciana Girgulsky (Northlands: Olivos, FL)

Unlock the power of student sensemaking in science. Learn strategies to ignite curiosity, foster discussion, and use writing to create an inclusive classroom. Elevate science teaching to ensure you have a student-centered classroom using strategies that develop science and engineering practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
For middle school students, communication through talking and writing is natural. When they are making sense of science through talking and writing, they are making their thinking visible. This session highlights strategies and routines that will transform science lessons into student-centered learning.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Rhoades (Collaborative Science Teaching and Learning Group Consulting: Midlothian, VA)

Implentation of spectroscopic evidence in an elective high school chemistry course to identify various unknown organic structures.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be provided with resources and assessments to identify an unknown organic compound given its % composition. The spectroscopic methods used are Infrared Spectrometry, Mass Spectrometry, and proton NMR Spectroscopy.

SPEAKERS:
Jeromy Bentley (Naperville Central High School: Naperville, IL)

A showcase of creating dynamic spreadsheets that provide instantaneous, differentiated feedback to students as they learn or practice new content independently or in small groups. This method amplifies confidence for students of all abilities and frees teachers to assist those most in need.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will make use of existing, free, and relatively ubiquitous digital spreadsheets in making presentations for new content. The use of this tool makes practicing content and skills helpful, engaging, and memorable. Educators will create their own spreadsheets for a lesson in their content.

SPEAKERS:
Sean Regan (Framingham High School: Westborough, MA)

Explore how excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes water more acidic through hands-on activities from the free 5E lesson plans in middleschoolchemistry.com.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will conduct simple, safe, and inexpensive hands-on experiments showing that carbon dioxide gas makes water more acidic, and see how these activities and concepts can be taught to students in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
James Kessler (American Chemical Society: Washington, DC)

Engaging students in science practices, like arguing from evidence, supports a vision of inclusive instructional strategies. Come explore how students in a fourth grade classroom argue from evidence to figure out which organism was pollinating the moonflower, which only blooms at night.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will come away with an example of how to structure argumentation in the 4th grade classroom through observing student data organization and student discourse.

SPEAKERS:
Betsy Barent (Lincoln Public Schools: Lincoln, NE), Miranda Orellana (Lincoln Public Schools: Lincoln, NE)

This session will introduce teachers to a variety of note-booking techniques that will increase student engagement and excitement for learning. Students will take pride in their notebooks and therefore increase the level of effort they put into their work.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will provide teachers and administrators with various strategies to differentiate learning for English Language Learners, Special Education Students, and General Education Students, and accurately assess student learning through note-booking by tracking student thinking/understanding.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Ziminski (EMK Academy for Health Careers: Boston, MA)

This session looks at the research behind play-based learning and ways of and criteria for assessing science play in the P-2 group. Participant will actively assess several play scenarios.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with experience assessing some science play scenarios, assessment guidelines, and research citations supporting play-based learning to use and share in their own contexts.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV)

To meet the spirit and vision of NGSS, teachers need pedagogies and practices for facilitating scientific discourses at various stages of STEM lessons. This session introduces three discourse frameworks to help students engage in the practices of listening and speaking like scientists and engineers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn pedagogy and practice for scientific discourses. Participants learn how to facilitate 1.) science talks — how to generate curiosity, wonder, and theorize; 2.) scaffolding action, how to engage and expand scientific investigation and engineering design; and 3.) foster scientific argumentation.

SPEAKERS:
Adam Devitt (Associate professor science education: Turlock, CA)

Hosting a STEM Science Fair promotes engagement with the scientific method and CER. It allows students to investigate areas of science that interest them. Learn the logistics of hosting a STEM science fair at your school and the benefits it can bring to your building.

TAKEAWAYS:
Hosting a Science Fair allows students to be active scientists as they study, experiment, and share their knowledge of an in-depth topic of their interest.

SPEAKERS:
Stacie Hopple (8th grade science teacher: New Lexington, OH)

Students with exceptionalities experience barriers to mastering the breadth and depth of the NGSS. This session explains the process used to reduce the depth, breadth, and complexity of the NGSS into K-12 alternate standards for students with severe cognitive disabilities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how the developmental process of the NGSS PEs was mirrored, yet altered, to develop alternate standards that incorporated the three dimensions described in the Framework and the NGSS at a reduced depth, breadth, and complexity.

SPEAKERS:
Joyce Depenbusch (Atlas - University of Kansas: Nashville, KS), Christy Glore (ATLAS at University of Kansas: Canton, GA)

This session presents a unique approach to teacher-led professional learning communities, leveraging data-driven inquiry cycles to identify, test, and refine solutions to common problems of practice around science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore the creation and facilitation of teacher-led professional learning communities, which leverage Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) learning cycles to address problems of practice within their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Seabloom (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL)

This session is for you teachers who want to deepen your understanding of climate change, and gather strategies for teaching it at an age-appropriate level. We will also discuss how to answer a student who declares, “My dad says he doesn’t believe in climate change!” Been there. Let’s talk.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers learn basic climate science and practice conceptual modeling to clarify and communicate their understanding, so they will feel confident teaching climate. Examples of differentiated instruction for ELL, struggling students, and GT students, are also given to reach all children.

SPEAKERS:
Kottie Christie-Blick (University of San Diego: Tappan, NY)

Undergraduate researchers built a bat house on the Amazon River Basin. The project goals were: 1.) provide natural remediation, 2.) create a marketable commodity (guano), and 3.) reduce overhead costs. The venture has proven beneficial and has far-reaching global effects on the most at-risk humans.

TAKEAWAYS:
Several benefits for the Maijuna can be replicated in other communities. International historical bat projects will be shared. Future ventures with tropical bat houses and other natural resources will be shared. The main takeaway is the use of the natural environment to battle current human struggles.

SPEAKERS:
Michael Bechtel (Wartburg College: Waverly, IA)

This interactive session will dive into nature-based learning experiences that help youth develop and maintain positive relationships, become lifelong learners, and contribute to a more caring and just world.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will model a way to advance educational equity using learning environments that feature trusting and collaborative relationships paired with meaningful instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Maurine Banzhaf (Colorado PLT advisory council: Woodland Park, CO)

Like many states, Connecticut has adopted OpenSciEd for the middle level model science curriculum. The approach to teaching and learning through OpenSciEd presents a challenge for school and district leaders– that is, what does it look like? The instructional model & feedback will be the focus.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leaders and supervisors will learn what to expect in an OpenSciEd classroom and take away tools and resources to support their understanding, and support teacher implementation through formative feedback to enhance teacher growth and collective efficacy.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Wlodarczyk (Capitol Region Education Council: Wethersfield, CT)

School leaders play an important role in the adoption of high quality instructional materials and can serve as catalysts for smart adoption processes. Participants will learn how to develop and use local priorities and instructional vision to drive the instructional materials adoption process.

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

SPEAKERS:
John-Carlos Marino (Science Lead: Philadelphia, PA), Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Lander, WY)