Join our design workshop to develop Check and Connect assessments (reimagined exit tickets) that support equitable sensemaking and 3D science learning for use in your classroom. These short formative assessments offer a meaningful way to build a caring culture around assessment, provide actionable information for you AND your learners, and support learners in developing their skill to transfer learning to new phenomena. You will walk away with some draft Check and Connects to assess students’ 3D learning experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gathering evidence about learners and their experiences through short, well-designed assessment opportunities builds meaningful relationships with learners and provides rich evidence to inform instructional moves.

SPEAKERS:
Kelley Turner (Winchester Public Schools: Winchester, VA), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Evanston, IL)

Join us to learn about the new OpenSciEd program for elementary grades coming soon to a classroom near you. Learn how this instructional approach supports all students in figuring out complex science issues in their world through a coherent storyline. During the session, we’ll engage participants in a common, immersive curriculum-based professional learning experience, provide opportunities to explore key aspects of the instructional materials through video and consider how the OpenSciEd Elementary classroom agreements can support an inclusive classroom culture. 

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how the OpenSciEd Elementary instructional design supports three-dimensional science learning for all students and how classroom agreements can be used to support student belonging and sensemaking in science.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Yanira Vazquez (Instructional Coach: No City, No State)

At OpenSciEd, our teams of experts work tirelessly to design materials for the latest research and we know YOU can make them even better. Our materials are released in editable formats because we value teacher experience and expertise. In this session you will work with some of our experts to “get under the hood” of OpenSciEd middle school units so you are better prepared to customize these materials for your classroom, building, or district. 

We will map your customization “why” to a customization “what” and “how.” Reasons for customizations may include better supporting relevance, engagement, equity, pacing, or standards alignment--and sometimes it's just about making it fit for you as an educator. Customizing lessons and units while keeping your eye on the learning goals, keeping student sensemaking at the center, and adjusting for how that change impacts other lessons and units; however, can get overwhelming. And sometimes the right changes to make aren't readily apparent.

We’ll share tools for helping you to clarify for yourself the reason a lesson or a unit needs customization, work through strategies for figuring out what the right customizations are to make to address this reason, and then dive in to making these customizations together with a community of like-minded collaborators. 

There will be additional support sessions throughout the conference to continue to work on the customizations that we start together during the Professional Learning Institute.

We've got the materials, you bring your brilliance, and we'll make magic!

SPEAKERS:
Erika Palys (OpenSciEd: No City, No State), Renee Affolter (OpenSciEd: No City, No State), Austin Moore (Graduate Student: , MA)

Come join us to see how OpenSciEd’s materials can help you build science learning experiences anchored in compelling phenomena and in important community and global problems. This professional learning institute (PLI) will simultaneously prepare you to teach the first unit in the OpenSciEd biology course and provide the support you need to advance your practice so that learning is both driven by student questions and helps them develop proficiency with targeted three-dimensional science standards in life sciences and Earth and space science. To achieve this goal, this session will put teachers in “student hat” so they can feel what it’s like to be a student whose thoughts and questions help drive learning forward in the unit. We actually do science together with the facilitator acting as teacher and reflect on coherence in the unit by unpacking the storyline for the unit. We will open up and explore the structure of units for all three courses of OpenSciEd–biology, chemistry, and physics–and discuss the routines and resources to promote equitable science learning in high school. Follow-up sessions you can attend throughout the conference will dig deeper into other courses in OpenSciEd and provide practical strategies for implementing OpenSciEd in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Bill Penuel (: Boulder, CO)

How can we use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) to design more equitable systems? Join us to consider how leaders rally interest and build internal capacity for the selection and effective implementation of high-quality instructional materials. Work with other leaders to consider strategies to make the case for change toward more equitable systems that support all learners in the system and the role of HQIM in leading ongoing science improvement efforts.
Ticketed event - register here: https://my.nsta.org/event/2024NEW_LEADERSHIP

TAKEAWAYS:
Consider how high-quality instructional materials can be used to design more equitable systems. Discuss how to share the vision, support implementation, and build internal capacity for ongoing support for curriculum implementation.

SPEAKERS:
Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Bianca Deliberto (Central Community School System: Baton Rouge, LA), Jim Short (Carnegie Corporation of New York: New York, NY), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

District X educators will get together for fun, fellowship, and to to discuss what is needed in to move forward in science education for students as well as themselves.

Join us at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for an opening reception to mark the start of NSTA NOLA24! 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.

TAKEAWAYS:
NA

Educator, published author, and master storyteller Dr. Tommie Mabry will kick off the conference by sharing his inspiring journey—one full of hardship, self-realization, and redemption—from troubled youth to a renowned international speaker with attendees. His insightful session will provide attendees with a better understanding of why we are all dealing with so many students who are at risk, as well as specific strategies to engage ALL learners. Participants will learn how effective relationship building with children is fundamental for student and school success. Understanding the reason we teach, with special emphasis on the student, is the central theme of his presentation. Dr. Mabry will offer participants a refreshing look into the eyes of the students from his own experience as an at-risk student, as well as from being an educator.

SPEAKERS:
Tommie Mabry