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: Laveen, AZ), Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Long Beach, CA), Jody Bintz (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO), Bianca Deliberto (Central Community School System: Baton Rouge, LA), Jim Short (BSCS Science Learning: Ridgefield, NY), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Waldorf, MD)

Navigate your first National NSTA Conference with ease! Join our session for an orientation to the conference, tips on selecting sessions, and an opportunity to meet other first-time attendees. We will share a few insider tips from experienced conference attendees and give an overview of the conference app. This session is structured so you can learn why you belong at NSTA.

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

SPEAKERS:
Julie Luft (University of Georgia: Athens, GA)

Experience a variety of engaging STEM activities that can be done in any science content class in 45 minutes or less.

TAKEAWAYS:
Expose your students to STEM skills through short, easy, and engaging STEM activities that can be completed in a single class period.

SPEAKERS:
Brad Posnanski (Comsewogue High School: Port Jefferson Station, NY), Jessica Kohout (Educational Consultant: Ellicott City, MD)

Explore tailored strategies for secondary science teachers to differentiate instruction effectively for emergent bilinguals. Engage in hands-on activities and collaborative planning to enhance student comprehension and engagement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Differentiation strategies for emergent bilingual students in secondary science

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Borunda (New Caney ISD: Porter, TX), Katherine Meraz (The University of Texas at El Paso: El Paso, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Retro Report

Discern how to use short-form documentary films in the Environmental Science classroom to drive the inquiry process. Explore Retro Report’s free, high quality instructional resources. Retro Report is an independent, nonprofit, non-partisan news organization.

SPEAKERS:
Jeremy Wang (Saint Thomas More Catholic School: Saint Paul, MN), Derek Dubossi (Laguardia High School: New York, NY), Filiz Yargici (Retro Report: New York, NY)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

The DQB is an essential tool used throughout OSE units to generate, keep track of, and revisit student questions around the anchoring and related phenomenon. Join the collaborative fun finding ideas for developing, maintaining, and revisiting this exciting representation of students’ learning.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Klaft (Granger Middle School: Aurora, IL), Tracy Marmolejo (Activate Learning: Richardson, TX)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Dive deep into water's secrets! while harnessing the power of physical 3D models to unravel states of matter, polar covalent bonding, and beyond in an immersive journey from atoms to oceans.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Arnholt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

Discover BIOZONE’s new platform that combines digital replicas of our highly acclaimed print titles together with Presentation Slides , 3D models, and curated videos - thereby providing powerful options for delivering your high school science programs. Attendees each receive a FREE 1-year licence.

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

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

Energize your science classroom and foster deep scientific thinking! Through exemplar activities and teacher moves, discover actionable strategies for fostering a classroom culture that celebrates student thinking, promotes risk taking, and cultivates student growth.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Cross (Albert Einstein Academy Middle School: SPRING VALLEY, CA)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Learn how to inspire elementary and middle school students to see themselves in STEM careers. We’ll explore STEM professionals’ stories and share classroom resources co-created with experts in racing and ocean advocacy to bring hands-on, playful learning to life.

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Classroom communities make sense of what’s being investigated through discussions; it’s key to ensuring all students’ ideas are shared and valued. This session focuses on discussion types used to help draw out student ideas, negotiate and refine them, and support communicating in scientific ways.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Klaft (Granger Middle School: Aurora, IL), Tracy Marmolejo (Activate Learning: Richardson, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Class CrunchLabs

Join us for an exciting dive into Mark Rober's Class CrunchLabs! We'll explore our innovative instructional model with hands-on walkthroughs of cool example lessons. Plus, you'll get to share your thoughts, helping us make sure this model rocks for ALL students and supercharges learning!

Sponsoring Company: TCI

Join our session to learn how to harness the power of three-dimensional Performance Assessments! Beyond evaluating learning, these assessments offer students a meaningful context to demonstrate understanding. Explore the role of performance assessments in teaching core science concepts effectively.

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

How can we ensure the science instructional materials we’re using will lead to learning gains? Get practical tips and ‘look fors’ when evaluating whether or not your science instructional materials will have a positive impact on student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Leslie Stenger (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Santa Rosa, CA), Suzanna Loper (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Science Bits

Learn to double student learning gains by increasing fidelity to the 5E instructional model in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Charlene Wetzel (Archbishop Rummel High School: Metairie, LA)

Many schools need high-quality units to meet their state standards, especially if they vary significantly from the NGSS. BSCS Science Learning has extensive experience with designing, and adapting Storylines units. Come to this session to apply a BSCS design tool that can be used for adaptation.

Please note: space is limited.

TAKEAWAYS:
Experience with a tool to unpack and compare target standards by clarifying key ideas, listing prerequisites and challenges, and considering what students should “figure out” and not just “learn about." Consider and share how to apply tools and processes for adapting HQIM in your local context.

SPEAKERS:
Elaine Klein (BSCS Science Learning: Houston, TX), Jean Flanagan (BSCS Science Learning: Colorado Springs, CO)

Sponsoring Company: Simulation Curriculum

Unlock the cosmos for your classroom with our tailored workshop for teachers! Discover teaching methods, explore resources, and delve into the latest astronomical discoveries. Gain confidence and tools to ignite students' curiosity about the wonders of the universe, fostering a passion for science.

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Come along as we undergo a rigorous student experience to work through a complex investigation. Throughout the course of the session, participants will discover the importance of fostering an environment that encourages challenge where students can struggle in a safe space.

SPEAKERS:
Koi Beard (Great Minds: Washington, DC), Nicole Harvey (Zachary High School: Zachary, LA)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply

Immerse yourself in a world of discovery as we blend scientific concepts with the power of language. Through engaging activities, such as designing a hand pollinator, students will not only see how to unravel the wonders of science but also enhance their literacy skills. Get classroom resources.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Cranford, NJ), Melissa Rogers (Smithsonian Science Education Center: Davis, WV)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

How can we equip students with future-ready skills in a world of evolving technology? This hands-on session with LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime shows how students can analyze data, find patterns, and build evidence-based conclusions to tackle real-world challenges and excel in their future careers.

Department of Defense scientists and engineers are the bedrock of our nation’s most advanced technology and research breakthroughs, including virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, and more! Join us as we explore multiple STEM career pathways supported by DoD STEM’s network of partners in academia, i

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use career resources on DoD STEM’s website to support students in envisioning themselves as future STEM professionals.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Marquis Mason (RTI International: Research Triangle Park, NC), Dr. Whitney White (RTI International: Research Triangle Park, NC), Rebecca Stanley (DoD STEM/RTI International: Durham, NC)

Explore how leaders can use the new BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning (AIL) instructional model to support teachers in creating learning experiences that motivate students with significant, real world phenomena and problems! Learn how AIL cycles of inquiry and sensemaking culminate in student agency!

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and forms the basis for high-quality instructional materials. Leaders can leverage this model to support teachers in creating a student centered classroom that provides effective teaching and learning for all.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Steamboat Springs, CO)

Bound lab notebooks are excellent records of student growth and their journey in learning the scientific method. But they tend to be difficult to implement in the lab itself, and horrible to grade. We will share our story of how we use (and effectively grade!) lab notebooks in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with proven strategies that reduce the heavy burden of a robust lab program. Participants will gain access to resources to a large collection of physics labs (and rubrics!) that are easy to set up, engaging to students, and easy to grade.

SPEAKERS:
Oather Strawderman (Lawrence Free State High School: Lawrence, KS), John Pinizzotto (Director, AP Physics: Whitman, MA)

Discover practical strategies for integrating AI in education in this workshop and explore innovative lesson designs to engage students interactively. Resources, tips, and bad puns will be provided to all attendees.

TAKEAWAYS:
Artificial intelligence is here to stay. By experiencing an AI-focussed lesson from the student perspective, educators will leave with a better sense of the potential for this incredible new tool in their own classrooms.

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

Through live demonstrations we will teach attendees the strengths and weaknesses of virtual tutors and best practices for LLM-student learning. During the workshop attendees will construct practice exam questions using ChatGPT and other LLM tools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through live demonstrations we will teach attendees the strengths and weaknesses of virtual tutors and best practices for LLM-student learning. During the workshop attendees will construct practice exam questions using ChatGPT and other LLM tools.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Graham (Assistant Professor: Jackson, MS), Hannah Meyer (Student: Jackson, MS), Kristina Stensaas (Millsaps College: Brandon, MS)

Want to complete rigorous experiments with your multilingual learners? Learn about successful strategies, scaffolds, and structures which can be used for all levels of learners, increasing accessibility and creating an environment where hands-on learning is not only possible, but preferred!

TAKEAWAYS:
English Learners are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. However, access to quality training in how to teach our ELs is limited. Through this session, educators will explore strategies and structures that can be used to better assist ther ELs in the scientific process.

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Salonga (Justice High School: Alexandria, VA)

Have you always wanted to try project-based learning… but you aren’t sure how to start? Join the News Literacy Project as we walk attendees through the PBL design process to create an extension for our FREE news and media literacy educator resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Presenters will engage educators in the development of a PBL experience for their students. Attendees will receive a demonstration of “Be Health Informed,” one of NLP’s STEM Checkology® lessons, and explore creating a PBL extension. Attendees will leave with a PBL planning template and project ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Brittney Smith (The University of South Carolina: Cincinnati, OH)

Join members of NSTA’s Professional Learning Committee for a discussion regarding professional learning! We will explore NSTA’s new professional learning statement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave the discussion with a framework for professional learning and strategies to implement professional learning!

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Abbott (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA), Deanna Taylor (Interactive Learning Solutions LLC: Columbia, SC), Leah Litz (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium: Omaha, NE), Jesse Wilcox (University of Northern Iowa: Cedar Falls, IA)

Sponsoring Company: Great Minds

Join us as we discover ways to prepare for collaborative conversations with strategies like targeted questioning, talk moves, and instructional routines. In this session, we will also practice applying these strategies to promote effective science discourse in a three-dimensional classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kristi Madden (Success Lead: Iowa, LA), Nicole Harvey (Zachary High School: Zachary, LA)

Sponsoring Company: Kognity

Through this session, you'll gain valuable insights into our development process, from initial concept to final implementation, and discover how Kognity's unique tools can revolutionize your teaching methods. Engage with our experts, ask questions, and explore real-world applications that can enhance your educational practices.

SPEAKERS:
Grace Boersma (Kognity: Stockholm, Sweden), Wayne Wright (Kognity: Stockholm, Sweden)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Experience hands-on STEAM learning with LEGO® Education! In this session, you'll explore cause-and-effect, model real-world phenomena, and analyze data to solve problems. Discover how our solutions help students understand force, motion, and energy while bringing learning to life through play.

This session on how to use EcoRise tools and your classroom and how to teach students to write successful EcoAudit grants.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use resources available from EcoRise and how to empower their students to write and receive a grant for an environmental issue in their area.

SPEAKERS:
Cecelia Gillam (Benjamin Franklin High School: La Place, LA)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Learn how Scientists Circles support equitable and meaningful classroom discussions. Create opportunities in your lessons in which all students’ thinking, experiences, and ideas for further exploration can be leveraged for building a culture where students are positioned as knowers and thinkers.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Klaft (Granger Middle School: Aurora, IL), Tracy Marmolejo (Activate Learning: Richardson, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply

Through a hands-on lesson, we will model instruction and resources that support 3-dimensional teaching and learning and actively engage students in the use of the Science and Engineering Practices. Resources include teacher instructional slides, student-friendly investigation materials.

SPEAKERS:
Hoover Herrera (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Cranford, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: Terra Science and Education

Spend a week learning how to set up and run a Bahamas trip. Snorkeling and evening classes mirror the trip you can run for students. The goal is to gain the knowledge and skills needed to work with Terra to run a program that is safe, exciting, and rigorous. Room and board is free for all attendees

SPEAKERS:
George Wolfe (Retired: Walworth, NY)

NSTA provides in-person, online, and blended personalized professional learning experiences for cohorts of K–12 educators. All programs engage educators with digital resources, virtual experiences, the larger online community, and expert staff. NSTA membership included.

TAKEAWAYS:
District and school leaders will learn about the variety of professional learning opportunities that NSTA offers, delivered in-person, online, and blended that give their teachers the power to personalize their learning as well as the ability to learn with their peers. Membership is included.

SPEAKERS:
Tricia Shelton (NSTA: Clarksville, TN), Flavio Mendez (NSTA: Owings Mills, MD)

Learn a variety of implementation strategies to include debating/ argumentation into your science curriculum. Strategies include ideas such as Four Corners, tabletop debate, and full class debate. Ways to differentiate strategies to accommodate different learning abilities will be discussed.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will be able to implement different debating/ argumentation strategies into their science curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Craig (Croatan High School: Newport, NC)

This session will focus on using multiple types of representations to foster a deeper understanding of physics concepts. More than just math, using graphs, charts, pictures, and more gives students many opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and dive deeper into content.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with engaging classroom strategies that can be used to deepen students' understanding of physics content. In addition to teacher-made classroom resources, teachers will gain the tools to develop their own materials that they can adapt to their own unique needs.

SPEAKERS:
Oather Strawderman (Lawrence Free State High School: Lawrence, KS), John Pinizzotto (Director, AP Physics: Whitman, MA)

Experience how discussion diamonds can help support students’ argumentation skills and Claim Evidence Reasoning writing through peer discourse. This workshop will introduce the discussion diamond protocol and allow participants to engage in the activity from the students’ perspective.

TAKEAWAYS:
The discussion diamond protocol is a versatile tool that can be adapted for students of varying skill levels and across any subject. It provides a supportive environment for students to engage in discourse and develop their argumentation skills.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Ciccarello (Beverly Hills High School: Los Angeles, CA)

Unlock the potential of narrative-driven instruction in your science classroom with our interactive workshop on creating storyline-driven lessons. We will provide educators with practical strategies and tools to infuse storytelling elements into their science curriculum.

TAKEAWAYS:
During the workshop, participants will explore the power of storytelling in science education and discover how to develop cohesive storylines that guide the learning journey.

SPEAKERS:
Nicole Holman (Hillsborough County Public Schools: TAMPA, FL)

Memes are a powerful learning tool, helping teachers assess understanding and drive deeper learning through Bloom’s taxonomy. Memes challenge students to articulate and audit their understanding through powerful puzzles. Explore how to use memes in your classroom as a formative assessment tool.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this session, participants will gain an introduction to memes as a learning tool, see good and bad examples of memes in learning, and explore three unique meme activities that can be used in your science classroom to support the development of NGSS Science and Engineering Practices.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Libov (CEO: Chappaqua, NY)

Should we tailor instruction to learning styles? Should we reduce tests to avoid test anxiety? Research shows that some common beliefs we develop about learners are wrong. I will debunk 3 common learning myths and provide concrete research-based guidelines for what to do in classrooms instead.

TAKEAWAYS:
As a former HS teacher, I will detail how to use current research-based strategies to support student learning. Teachers will learn how to present information in multiple ways to help diverse students. Teachers will use desirable difficulties to build equitable instruction in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jonathan Tullis (The University of Arizona: Tucson, AZ)

Join us as we delve into the transformative power of manipulatives in science education. This workshop offers a hands-on approach to teaching intricate scientific concepts. Discover how simple no-cost paper models can transform your teaching method and enhance student comprehension.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will allow attendees to increase their teacher toolbox by learning about several no-cost hands on activities. Participants will take part in paper folding, coloring, and cutting to create materials that can be used to teach a wide variety of science topics.

SPEAKERS:
Molly Swanson (Teacher: , AB)

Explore how Canva sparks creativity in high school science classes. Learn to captivate students with interactive lessons, foster teamwork through collaborative projects, and share resources effortlessly.

TAKEAWAYS:
Transform your science teaching with Canva's creative tools to enhance student engagement, collaboration, and resource sharing.

SPEAKERS:
Misty Lewis (Northside High School: Northport, AL)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Whether you are brand new in education or just not as experienced with teaching science, this workshop is for you. Lifelong educators and science textbook authors Dr. Zipporah Miller and Dr. Mike Padilla will show you how you can be successful teaching Elementary or Middle School Science and love it

SPEAKERS:
Michael Padilla (retired: Athens, GA), Zipporah Miller (Educational Consultant: Bowie, MD)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Dive deep into water's secrets! while harnessing the power of physical 3D models to unravel states of matter, polar covalent bonding, and beyond in an immersive journey from atoms to oceans.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Arnholt (3D Molecular Designs: Milwaukee, WI)

Sponsoring Company: Science Bits

Learn why pre-assessment, summative assessment and formative assessments should form part of your lessons and how to make DQs, retrieval practice and formative assessment work for you and your students. This workshop includes roleplay and an internet enabled device is required.

SPEAKERS:
Paul Banti (Learning Bits Inc.: Miami, FL)

There are many topics included in required course content that student view as irrelevant. Come learn about ways to make these topics more meaningful for students and then leave with access to a digital library of some high-quality instructional materials that you can use to teach them.

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:
Victor Sampson (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

How can we equip students with future-ready skills in a world of evolving technology? This hands-on session with LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime shows how students can analyze data, find patterns, and build evidence-based conclusions to tackle real-world challenges and excel in their future careers.

The NSTA Sensemaking Tool can help educators be critical consumers of instructional materials and create/revise lessons that reflect the shifts required by new standards (sensemaking). Gain experience using the tool and facilitating criteria-based consensus conversations with your colleagues!

TAKEAWAYS:
Recognize the critical aspects of sensemaking in science lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Mathews (NSTA: Skokie, IL), Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Brooklyn, NY)

Practice three structured talk routines while engaging in collaborative sensemaking around research that centers how students acquire the language of science and develop their science identity. (K-12th Grades)

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with insight into educational research and resources for planning and implementing well structured student talk as a tool to support science language acquisition and foster the development of students' science identity.

SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Johnston (Denver Public Schools: Denver, CO)

Sponsoring Company: BIOZONE Corporation

BIOZONE's innovative worktext approach delivers flexible, engaging, student-centred resources. Learn how our titles integrate into our digital platform and how the Teacher Toolkit helps teachers plan, deliver, and assess. Attendees each receive a FREE print title & 1-year digital access to a title.

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

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Experience hands-on STEAM learning with LEGO® Education! In this session, you'll explore cause-and-effect, model real-world phenomena, and analyze data to solve problems. Discover how our solutions help students understand force, motion, and energy while bringing learning to life through play.

Wondering how to customize your curriculum to be more relevant for your students? Using examples from OpenSciEd as a context, we’ll share tools and strategies for customizing curriculum to increase relevance. Come ready to work! 90 minute session

TAKEAWAYS:
If curriculum enactment pairs great materials with support for teachers to make those materials even better, amazing things can happen. Customizing the use of phenomena in quality materials to support relevance for students is a great way to increase engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Erika Palys (OpenSciEd: Palatine, IL), Austin Moore (Boston College: Watertown, MA), Renee Affolter (OpenSciEd: Montpelier, VT), Matt Krehbiel (OpenSciEd: Derwood, MD)

Explore and apply methods to restructure 3D HQIM assessments and grading guidance to efficiently and objectively grade student responses and offer clear, concise feedback. Participants will also engage with an evaluation tool to ensure that restructuring the assessments and grading guidance does not change the integrity, rigor, and 3 Dimensional quality of the tasks.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with an understanding of the process behind the LDOE/NSTA Partnership and explore practical strategies for using NSTA resources to build science leader capacity. Attendees will walk away with skills and tools necessary for restructuring the format and grading guidance of HQIM embedded assessments in a way that ensures maintenance of rigor and standards alignment.

SPEAKERS:
Jill Sutton (science teacher/instructional coach: Ruston, LA), Molly Talbot (Louisiana Dept. of Education: New Roads, LA), April Winstead (District K-12 Science Facilitator: Ruston, LA)

This session will explore a process for creating NGSS aligned IEP science goals using the Science & Engineering Practices. Attendees will be presented with a prototype tool for collecting data, writing goals, and monitoring progress that has been created for use across Chicago Public Schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will explore a process for writing science IEP goals that goes beyond simply recreating math and literacy based goals.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Brady (Dept. of STEM, CPS Bridgeport: Chicago, IL), Joseph Seabloom (Chicago Public Schools: Chicago, IL)

In this session, attendees will practice and create a lesson using one of 5 AI tech tools that empower educators to craft personalized science classrooms. Each tool will be presented along with classroom strategies tailored to maximize their potential for scientific literacy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be able to create personalized learning experiences, enhance student engagement, and improve academic outcomes by utilizing AI tools for tailored curricula.

SPEAKERS:
Stefany Palomba (Choices High School: canton, OH)

Models are essential resources for encouraging deeper knowledge, simplifying challenging concepts, and encouraging critical thinking in students. This workshop explores how effective development and utilization of models can enhance learning outcomes by offering specific classroom strategies.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with applicable and useful knowledge and strategies for developing and using models in the classroom. Resources will be provided at the conclusion of the session.

SPEAKERS:
Augustine Owusu Achiaw (Graduate Assistant: Clemson, SC), Summer Landreth (educator: Anderson, SC)

We live in a 3D world. Do your assessments? Come learn how to measure the dimensionality of your assessments and how to write two- and three-dimensional questions. Participants will be given time to apply their learning to their own assessments to integrate the CCCs and SEPs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to write two- and three-dimensional questions and edit current assessment questions to integrate the cross-cutting concepts and science and engineering practices.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Cohen (Lake Zurich High School: Wauconda, IL), McKenna Serowka (Lake Zurich High School: Lake Zurich, IL)

Integrating authentic and meaningful hands-on maker projects into science classes can be challenging, but rewarding for both students and teachers. These types of projects offer us the opportunity to alternatively assess student learning, infuse creativity, and focus on student choice.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will participate in the engineering and design process and will leave with successful example projects, a working knowledge of the project-design process and can utilize the various strategies for implementation of maker projects in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Catherine Bischoff (Rye Country Day School: Rye, NY)

Sponsoring Company: Kognity

Join Kognity for an impactful session dedicated to empowering historically underserved populations in the field of science. We will explore strategies and initiatives aimed at promoting inclusivity and equity in science education.

SPEAKERS:
Grace Boersma (Kognity: Stockholm, Sweden)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Join us to learn practical ways to help students make sense of phenomena and how to authentically integrate phenomena into your curriculum! Participants will learn principles for effectively using phenomena and experience examples of how phenomena can be integrated into the science classroom.

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

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

You found some Vernier sensors in your storage room but you have no idea how to use them. Sound familiar? This session will give you a thorough but easy to understand breakdown of how to use those probes and how they can make collecting and analyzing data much faster and easier for students.

Participants will use patterns seen through the use of red, green, and violet lasers being shown at copper wires and strands of hair to learn about diffraction of light. Briefly learn how technology-mediated lesson study has helped rural science teachers collaborate to design 3 dimensional lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
During the session, participants will shine lasers at copper wire and strands of hair to construct an explanation for how diffraction patterns can be used to make sense of the phenomena.

SPEAKERS:
Rebecca Sansom (Texas A&M University: College Station, TX), Douglas Morris (Carbon High School: Price, UT)

By 2025, it’s estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created daily; that’s like 212,765,957 DVDs/day! How can our students know if the information they receive is credible? Generation Skeptics teaches the necessary skills with lessons and guest speakers. (www.generationskeptics.org)

TAKEAWAYS:
Generation Skeptics arms educators with free resources to instill skepticism in students. Recognizing the proliferation of misinformation, GenSkeps seeks to equip the next generation with the enduring principles of the scientific method and the importance of substantiating claims with evidence.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King (Thinking Is Power: Franklin, MA)

We have created lab report templates tailored for kindergarten through fifth-grade students. By providing a structured progression of lab report templates, we aim to empower educators to cultivate scientific inquiry skills in students at an early age, laying a solid foundation for their future.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with a template for k-5 lab reports. Each template is flexible and can be adapted to any experiment question, allowing for exploration across various scientific disciplines.

SPEAKERS:
Alyssa Macaluso (STEM Teacher: Pinecrest, FL)

Want to learn how LSTA is representing science educators in our state? Interested in being involved in science education in your region and/or at the state level? Join us for the annual LSTA meeting! Hosted by BrainPOP Science, LSTA members will mix and mingle with regional representatives, other members of the board and network with both formal and informal science educators to get the inside scoop on upcoming LSTA events, science opportunities and much more. During the meeting we will also take a closer look at the BrainPOP Science platform and get a peek at the new engineering projects. You don’t want to miss this special LSTA members only event. If you aren’t an LSTA member, you can join at the door! See you there!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will mix and mingle with regional representatives, other members of the board and network with both formal and informal science educators to get the inside scoop on upcoming LSTA events, science opportunities and get a sneak peek of the new BrainPop engineering projects.

SPEAKERS:
Bianca Deliberto (Central Community School System: Baton Rouge, LA)

Using phenomena to teach Wave Particle Duality (WPD) helps students understand this crazy property of light that is critical for understanding how technology works. By sequencing several activities appropriately, students can understand that light is both a particle and a wave. Mystery solved.

TAKEAWAYS:
Clarification of how light has dual properties; sequencing of phenomena, and activities help guide students to a deeper understanding. Teachers will have instructional resources to teach WPD.

SPEAKERS:
Karen Matsler (University of Texas Arlington: Arlington, TX)

Are you looking for an opportunity to bring free hands-on engineering experiences to your students? The labs available work for biology, environmental science and physical science classes with cross curricular application in math.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this workshop, teachers will don their student caps as an engineer guides us through Engineering Tomorrow’s most popular lab - Phototherapy! Teachers will have an opportunity to register for this free program during this workshop and leave with a goodie bag of supplies!

SPEAKERS:
Marissa Maggio (Stuyvesant High School: New York, NY)

Sponsoring Company: ExploreLearning

On National STEM Day, we celebrate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It’s a day to inspire students about STEM and its career paths. Join the ExploreLearning Gizmos team to explore our newest STEM Case and other activities and resources to celebrate National STEM Day.

SPEAKERS:
Emily Duganne (ExploreLearning: Midlothian, VA)

Sponsoring Company: Gardyn

Hydroponics is the future of food production! Come learn the basics of hydroponics and how Gardyn towers can enhance your classroom experience, while being on the cutting edge of technological trends. Most importantly, learn how to integrate hydroponic gardening into your curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Kuntz (Niles Community Schools: Buchanan, MI), Renee Egan (Gardyn Workshop Presenter/ 7th Grade Science: ACWORTH, GA)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Whether degrading curricula, handicapping librarians, or thwarting medical and environmental educators, science denial impedes rational individual decision making, impedes environmental policy-making, and seriously threatens both individual and public health. What can we educators do about it?

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Levine (Science Writer and Producer: Concord, MA)

Sponsoring Company: Amplify

Dive into a nuanced integration of science, literacy, and language strategies that benefit all students, notably multilingual learners. Explore how NGSS-designed learning sequences coupled with the Science of Reading enhance learning outcomes for all.

SPEAKERS:
Alestra Menendez (Amplify: Fairfield, CA)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

The classroom has changed A LOT in the last few years. Distractions are everywhere all the time. It's no wonder that students are having a much harder time focusing on tasks. This session will use technology that your school may already have and get students back in the game!

Sponsoring Company: Class CrunchLabs

Join us for an exciting dive into Mark Rober's Class CrunchLabs! We'll explore our innovative instructional model with hands-on walkthroughs of cool example lessons. Plus, you'll get to share your thoughts, helping us make sure this model rocks for ALL students and supercharges learning!

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Learn how to inspire elementary and middle school students to see themselves in STEM careers. We’ll explore STEM professionals’ stories and share classroom resources co-created with experts in racing and ocean advocacy to bring hands-on, playful learning to life.

Looking to incorporate local phenomena into your curriculum? Hear how a diverse group of Louisiana teachers working with subject matter experts engaged in a NOAA BWET funded project to examine environmental indicators through place-based learning. Gain access to the lessons these teachers created.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain an overview of the Louisiana phenomenon, environmental proxies and scientific concepts teachers examined as well as themes that emerged throughout the project while gaining access to the LSSS and NGSS aligned lessons these teachers created.

SPEAKERS:
Dani DiIullo (Louisiana Sea Grant: Baton Rouge, LA), Alvera McMillan (Louisiana Sea Grant: Saint Francisville, LA)

Louisiana leads the nation in coastal wetland loss. They also lead in approaches to address this crisis through development of updated five-year Coastal Master Plans. In this activity, participants take on the role of a regional coastal planner and put forth projects that seek to protect the coast.

TAKEAWAYS:
This is a hands-on, interactive activity that allows students to understand and address a complex environmental challenge while analyzing project costs and benefits. All tools represent real projects in the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan and show future workforce opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Dani DiIullo (Louisiana Sea Grant: Baton Rouge, LA)

In this workshop teachers will get a hands-on experience using Harvard's Project Zero Thinking Routines, which are routines designed to guide students as they explore and organize their thoughts about a new topic. Teachers will leave with routines and activities they can start implementing ASAP!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain familiarity with and learn how to embed Harvard's Project Zero Thinking Routines into their curriculum, which help them to successfully have all students explore and organize their thoughts around a topic while participating in academic lessons.

SPEAKERS:
Dani Maloney (Mamaroneck High School: Stamford, CT)

Encountered something you want to buy? Use a bite-sized approach to literacy to discuss the nature of scientific research. This lesson is designed for a high school science course. You will leave with selected literature and a lesson plan that is all about asking questions and scientific discourse.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to engage in asking scientific questions and will be able to participate in discourse using literature and a phenomenon common to people of various backgrounds. They will leave with a lesson plan and associated materials to implement in their own classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Summer Landreth (educator: Anderson, SC), Brooke Whitworth (Clemson University: Clemson, SC), Ashley Hunter (Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant: Clemson, SC)

Sponsoring Company: Anatomage, Inc.

The Science Table provides a library of over 60 biology, chemistry, and physics experiments with realistic-quality visuals on an interactive 7 foot-long touch-screen table. The workshop will focus on incorporating the Science Table into middle school, high school, and college level classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Zach Bryant (Anatomage, Inc.: No City, No State)

Sponsoring Company: UnboundEd

We have future leaders in our classrooms. To cultivate their genius, we need to help them make connections between science and pressing challenges in their world. We’ll show you ways to make it happen. Take home ideas, materials, and resources to equip your students to be the change!

SPEAKERS:
Amber Woods (UnboundEd: Glen Burnie, MD), Jessica Harrell (UnboundEd: West Orange, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: Savvas Learning Company

Looking for innovative ways to integrate science, technology, engineering, and math into your curriculum? Not sure where to begin with hands-on science? Get hands-on building Rube Goldberg machines in this session with an activity you can use in your classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Forsythe (Texas State University: San Marcos, TX)

Sponsoring Company: Texas Instruments

Do you feel like you are forced to teach to the test? Do you despise the end of course or state exam? Let me show you how to use technology in a way that keeps your students engaged in LEARNING science while also preparing them for the dreaded end of year exam.

Learn a variety of implementation strategies to include debating/ argumentation into your science curriculum. Strategies include ideas such as Four Corners, tabletop debate, and full class debate. Ways to differentiate strategies to accommodate different learning abilities will be discussed.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will be able to implement different debating/ argumentation strategies into their science curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Craig (Croatan High School: Newport, NC)

30 years of teacher leadership development have generated impressive results in Wisconsin. Three iterations of summer institutes shaped the science education field, formed lifelong professional networks of educators, and cultivated teacher leaders that steer our state science teachers' association.

TAKEAWAYS:
Fueling educator’s passion and building strong professional networks can work hand-in-hand to develop leadership in your region or state. This session will provide a recipe for a leadership development program certain to transform careers and invigorate your state science teacher association.

SPEAKERS:
Sue Whitsett (NSTA: Waupaca, WI), Chad Janowski (The Einstein Project: Green Bay, WI), Matthew Christiansen (Oceanside High School #7: Oceanside, NY), Dennis Rohr (Seymour Community High School: Seymour, WI)

Experience how embedding literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in 3D teaching and learning promotes sensemaking and science understanding for ALL learners! Learn how the BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model embeds literacy supports throughout cycles of inquiry.

TAKEAWAYS:
The research-based BSCS Anchored Inquiry Learning instructional model succeeds the 5Es and embeds literacy supports for reading, writing, and academic discourse in conjunction with science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts to promote students in figuring out key science ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Gay (BSCS Science Learning: Steamboat Springs, CO)

Embrace a competency-based approach to any Advanced Placement science course by focusing on the practices without sacrificing content or pace. The strengths-based, feedback-oriented assessment approach supports student success on the AP exam, transitioning from a traditional grading to the LPM.

TAKEAWAYS:
Create learning progressions based on the SEPs and adjust the target levels to provide enough time for students to grow to AP expectations. Attendees will leave knowing how they can implement this consistent, reliable method immediately in their classrooms even in a traditional grades school.

SPEAKERS:
Elise Naramore (Pascack Hills High School: Saddle River, NJ)

Make your lessons more impactful by leveraging what students already think, believe and know. We all know that students have misconceptions, but guidance on how to work with them is sparse. They can be the greatest barriers to learning yet by embracing them, teaching can be much more effective.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will come away with classroom strategies that will improve science instruction by embracing students' misconceptions. Ideal for teacher trainers, coordinators, and specialists.

SPEAKERS:
Clayton Chamberlain (Utah State University: Highland, UT)

The National Center for Science Education has developed a free tool called DataWISE that can be used by students to critically examine data-based claims. Participants will practice using the tool as they engage in activities to teach critical data literacy skills (aligned to NGSS SEPs and CCCs).

TAKEAWAYS:
The goal of this session is for participants to move past functional data literacy to critical data literacy so that students can learn to evaluate data-based claims for various types of bias, intent, and misleading presentations of data in addition to basic strategies for understanding data.

SPEAKERS:
Blake Touchet (National Center for Science Education: ABBEVILLE, LA)

Starting a STEM research course or including authentic student research opportunities in an existing course can be daunting. The learning curve is steep, so let me help! I have built my school's STEM Capstone course from the ground up and am excited to share what I have learned with you.

TAKEAWAYS:
I will share my experiences, course outline, and the resources I have created to give structure to an unstructured endeavor. One such resource is a lab notebook that guides students through their independent research journey. I will also share tools for tracking progress and accessing mentorships.

SPEAKERS:
Amy Elliott (Vernon Hills High School: Mundelein, IL)

Cell phone cameras can be excellent collectors of qualitative lab data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Photos from the lab allow students to look closer at phenomena at a small scale. Slow-motion and time-lapse video allow students to see processes that are too fast or slow to see normally. Photographs allow students to more deeply analyze data obtained in the lab.

SPEAKERS:
Larry McAfoos (Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy: Bryn Mawr, PA)

Paper labs get lost SO easily. Lab notebooks help prevent this! Come explore lab notebook templates, sample labs, and modifications that can be made to best support students and their lab experience! Labs will be Chemistry focused, but all sciences welcome!

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore a lab notebook template and its modifications that can support the needs of various learners, including IEP and English Language Learners.

SPEAKERS:
Lauren Pavletich (Esperanza Preparatory Academy: New York, NY)

This session will focus on using your state's forensic science standards in conjunction with *free* educational AI resources to build exciting new activities to meet the needs of your learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
You will leave the session with 3 or more exciting AI tools to build new activities for your forensics classroom. In addition, you will be given time to explore these tools so you can leave with a new activity to implement when you return!

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Mullen (Sprayberry High School: Marietta, GA)

Explore a model for co-production of science education resources by tribal community-based Indigenous culture bearers and university-based science outreach teams. Gain access to free hands-on lessons, educational videos, and Indigenous science terminology guides.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to implement the Cultural Connections Process Model to co-produce Indigenous community-driven, culturally relevant, place-based and standards-based science curriculum. Explore a variety of free resources developed using the model.

SPEAKERS:
Doreen Hayward (Geophysical Institute: Fairbanks, AK), Lori Schoening (Geophysical Institute: Fairbanks, AK)

WSST serves the teachers of Wisconsin. It offers myriad resources for new leaders including operational handbooks and our annual conference. We coordinate with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) adding support to our efforts. This session will share numerous resource successes.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will offer proven ideas for supporting leaders especially new teachers in leadership positions. We will share the historical evolution of these resources as well as the current state of documentation to make leadership work both easier to and more effective.

SPEAKERS:
Sue Whitsett (NSTA: Waupaca, WI), Ray Scolavino (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: East Troy, WI), Kevin Niemi (University of Wisconsin-Madison: Cambridge, WI)

Sponsoring Company: Science Bits

Knowledge matters: this workshop looks at ways of promoting deeper learning and evidence-based strategies to bring critical thinking into your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Amber Richards (Eton Elementary School: Chatsworth, GA)

ScienceSaves (www.sciencesaves.org) promotes the fact that science makes life healthier and easier. Our FREE lessons teach graphing, data analysis, engineering practices, etc. They include teacher notes, standards, rubrics, and lesson plans. Check out our $15,000 scholarship for high school seniors.

TAKEAWAYS:
Too often, our students view science as a cold, calculated endeavor. We have lessons that show how a diverse array of scientists have given humanity amazing innovations, like open-heart surgery, CRISPR, and seatbelts. Our goal is for students to see themselves as future scientists.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Trecek-King (Thinking Is Power: Franklin, MA)

Tired of hearing: Why are we learning this? When will we ever use this? This session will discuss using news articles to teach reading comprehension and improve science literacy in secondary students of all levels. We will connect 3D lessons and Science and Engineering Practices.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with multiple ways of implementing science in the news into their classrooms. Science will become dynamic and applicable.

SPEAKERS:
Misty Heredia (UTRGV: Brownsville, TX)

This study aims to develop an instructional approach integrating historical and contemporary case studies with scientific inquiry. The goal is to enhance students' understanding of the nature of science (NOS) concepts and facilitate their acquisition of content knowledge.

TAKEAWAYS:
The importance and necessity of engaging students with real-life science examples from both historical and recent contexts is paramount in evaluating students' understanding of the nature of science and their acquisition of content knowledge.

SPEAKERS:
Huseyin Colak (Northeastern Illinois University: Chicago, IL)

Turbocharging ELL Learning with Quizizz, Nearpod, Edpuzzle & More! Unleash Quizizz AI's magic in these tools for personalized support & tracking. Plus, discover top strategies for empowering ELL students' success. Get ready to revolutionize your classroom!

TAKEAWAYS:
You will learn dynamic teaching strategies that accommodates ELL students' learning.

SPEAKERS:
Luis Jaua (Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School: Hialeah, FL), Valdwin Etienne (Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School: Hialeah, FL), Diana Ocampo (Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School: Cutler Bay, FL)

Discover NSTA’s 9-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) instructional materials! These materials allow students to explain phenomena or design solutions to problems while developing and applying the knowledge and practices of multiple STEM disciplines.

TAKEAWAYS:
Phenomenon or problem-driven instructional materials allow students to use the knowledge and practices of multiple disciplines to construct explanations and design solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Patrice Scinta (NSTA: Brooklyn, NY)

Come learn about research into how students conceptualize data structure, how hierarchical/grouped structures can help support learning and analysis, and explore potential pedagogical moves and technical scaffolds to aid in student sensemaking with data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Many datasets inherently have a hierarchical structure or can be grouped in a way that creates hierarchy. Spreadsheets are poorly suited for the exploration of such datasets. However, new tools with flexible ways to organize and visualize hierarchically grouped data can support student sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Damelin (The Concord Consortium: Bolton, MA)

Build environmental literacy skills by engaging students in real-world projects based in citizen science, place-based learning, hands-on research, and case studies addressing conservation initiatives conducted by indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will use citizen science tools and research projects to engage students in understanding their role as environmental stewards in local and global ecosystems, using sustainable practices implemented by indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon as a case study.

SPEAKERS:
Julie Rivenbark (Teacher: Dunnsville, VA)

Learning and practicing data literacy skills creates a literacy-science crosswalk. Using the Checkology® lesson “Making Sense of Data,” and with the support of NLP experts, participants will develop a cross-curricular lesson.

TAKEAWAYS:
Presenters will support attendees as they develop an ELA and STEM cross-curricular lesson extension. Presenters will give attendees a live lesson demonstration and facilitate a QFT (question, formulation, technique) session to crowd-source the development of the lesson extension.

SPEAKERS:
Brittney Smith (The University of South Carolina: Cincinnati, OH)

Learn a variety of implementation strategies to include debating/ argumentation into your science curriculum. Strategies include ideas such as Four Corners, tabletop debate, and full class debate. Ways to differentiate strategies to accommodate different learning abilities will be discussed.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will be able to implement different debating/argumentation strategies into their science curriculum.

SPEAKERS:
Melanie Craig (Croatan High School: Newport, NC)

Discover how to enhance your students' sensemaking of scientific concepts through powerful modeling strategies that align with NGSS standards. Gain valuable insights into how models can be used to deepen understanding and transform everyday lesson activities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn to upgrade traditional modeling activities to ensure alignment to performance expectations. They will leave with multiple examples of utilizing modeling to make sense of science concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Harrell (UnboundEd: West Orange, NJ), Amber Woods (UnboundEd: Glen Burnie, MD)

Join us to master the art of leading interactive and impactful workshops with facilitation checklists and planning templates.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will use a facilitation checklist and planning template to plan, deliver, and receive feedback on a mock professional learning activity for disseminating best practices for NGSS instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Kayla Cherry (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL), Sarah Stults (Loyola University Chicago: Chicago, IL)

Sponsoring Company: Shell Programs - NSTA

Do you impact your school and community with STEM? If you teach K–12, come start your winning application, for either of the three programs sponsored by Shell USA, Inc. We'll walk through the application step by step and you'll be able to begin your application or nomination form live.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Upton (NSTA: Fresno, TX)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Learn how to inspire elementary and middle school students to see themselves in STEM careers. We’ll explore STEM professionals’ stories and share classroom resources co-created with experts in racing and ocean advocacy to bring hands-on, playful learning to life.

Learn how one program developed and sustained classroom-based partnerships with scientists to strengthen teacher practice. PlantingScience is a free online resource for teachers. It provides volunteer scientists, resources, and activities to support innovation in teaching, learning, and mentoring.

TAKEAWAYS:
The Planting Science Student Teacher Scientist Partnership provides a unique opportunity for teachers to provide inquiry experiences for their students, by connecting volunteer scientists to student teams for student-centered research projects. Learn how to access the free PlantingScience resources.

SPEAKERS:
Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Waldorf, MD)

Explore useful tools to incorporate into intentional planning for science instruction and curriculum implementation. Examine how to support teachers in intentional planning of science instructional routines. Provide examples of how the science instructional routines can show up in teaching and learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
With the use of intentional planning, participants will learn how to use instructional routines in the classroom to support student science sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Kellie Boquet (Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy: Broussard, LA)

Improve the effectiveness and efficacy of your classroom demonstrations, by using research-based methods of engagement within the demonstrations. Hear in students’ own voices what they think about demonstrations. Small changes DO make a big difference!

TAKEAWAYS:
Engaging students through questioning and physical interactions help students build positive mental models and associate these models with the practice of doing science. Second takeaway: In building a series of demos, the more complex anchoring phenomena should go first to decrease misconceptions.

SPEAKERS:
William Katzman (LIGO's Science Education Center: Baton Rouge, LA)

Sponsoring Company: LEGO Education

Experience hands-on STEAM learning with LEGO® Education! In this session, you'll explore cause-and-effect, model real-world phenomena, and analyze data to solve problems. Discover how our solutions help students understand force, motion, and energy while bringing learning to life through play.

A former national science fair judge provides insights on how good titles can improve the odds of winning at science fairs. The poster will describe what the parts of a "good" title are and how teachers can help your students create one.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn the components of a good project title (from an research project on science fairs) and how to help their students develop a good title for their own project.

SPEAKERS:
G. Michael Bowen (Mount Saint Vincent University: Halifax, NS)

Interested in new ways to teach science process skills and the nature of science? Consider visiting this poster that showcases an elementary after-school club where third-grade students learn and explore birding on their school grounds.

TAKEAWAYS:
The research will highlight aspects of birding relevant to all grade levels and include creative ways to utilize place-based learning that is applicable within the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Ann Catherine Cox (Carrollton Elementary School: Carrollton, VA), Rachel Gisewhite (The University of Southern Mississippi: Long Beach, MS), Stacey Britton (University of West Georgia: Roopville, GA)

Embark on an exploration of teacher recognition of NGSS Standards, where insights to refine science education practices, fostering deeper student engagement and enriched learning experiences. Join us to discover actionable strategies for enhancing pedagogy and igniting a passion for science.

TAKEAWAYS:
Gain actionable insights into teacher perceptions of NGSS Standards and discover targeted strategies for improving science education practices

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Tracey (Graduate Student: Clemson, SC)

TeachEngineering is a free, online digital library of K-12 STEM resources. Our goal is to make applied science, technology, and math come alive by integrating engineering design and design thinking into STEM classrooms. Stop by for free hands-on activities and to create your own prototype!

TAKEAWAYS:
TeachEngineering is a free, online digital library of K-12 STEM resources that integrate engineering and engineering design into science learning. This growing collection is composed of 1,750+ curricular materials, which are educator-created, classroom-tested, peer-reviewed and standards-aligned.

SPEAKERS:
Jennifer Kracha (Teach Engineering)

Immerse students in exploration before explanation with an interactive AI chat space. Learn tips to anchor lessons in relevant events and utilize AI tools and collaborative strategies to cement students’ sensemaking. Access sample lessons, student artifacts, and one-pagers to support implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore student-facing interactive AI tools that promote authentic sensemaking with tips and strategies to leverage exploration before explanation in note-making. Gain access to digital sample lessons, templates, and implementation tips for maximum impact and effectiveness.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Jack (Humble ISD: Humble, TX), Elissa Griffin (Humble ISD: Kingwood, TX)

Funded by the National Science Foundation, these are paid summer opportunities for STEM teachers to conduct research! Hear from a two-year participant about her experience at the Kellogg Biological Station, where she researched plant evolution and created Data Nuggets through the Conner Lab.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about the application process and expectations involved in most RETs, the research I was able to contribute through my time with Michigan State University, and how I bring these experiences back to the classroom for student experiments!

SPEAKERS:
Kirsten Salonga (Justice High School: Alexandria, VA)

To ensure a resilient future, we must engage students with phenomena and problems found in food systems and agriculture. This session explores how food and agriculture connect to students’ lives and presents a highly relevant and authentic science context immersed in the Three Dimensions of NGSS.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will see successful examples of authentic phenomena and problems found within food and agricultural systems that are relevant to all students. We will demonstrate how all three dimensions of NGSS are used to make sense of these real-world phenomena and problems.

SPEAKERS:
Rick Henningfeld (Vivayic, Inc.), Craig Rebich (Relevant Classroom: Lawrenceburg, IN), Brian Beierle (Relevant Classroom, a Division of Vivayic, Inc.: Wauwatosa, WI)

Struggle with new science teachers or student engagement? This 60-minute workshop puts YOU in the student role! Explore a hands-on science activity & learn how to design lessons that ignite student curiosity & sense-making. Leave with practical strategies & a support network!

TAKEAWAYS:
Tired of passive learners? This 60-minute workshop equips you to design student-driven science experiences! Engage in a simulated student investigation, analyze real student work, and discover formative assessment strategies to boost sense-making! Leave with practical tools & a support network!

SPEAKERS:
Sharonda Eggleton-McNeil (Guilford County Schools: Greensboro, NC)

Come experience a new way to review that will have your students saying, "YES! IT'S REVIEW DAY!" Teachers will be introduced to a variety of games that can be applied to any subject area! These games have proven to increase student engagement with material and retention of knowledge.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with new ways to engage students in reviews through using games in the classroom which support students of all levels and lead to increased retention of information.

SPEAKERS:
Amanda Goodwin (Olive Branch H.S.: Southaven, MS)

We encourage and sometimes require teachers to differentiate in the classroom; however, we rarely consider the importance of differentiating professional learning for teachers. But, teachers need it too! In this session, several strategies for differentiating professional learning will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Differentiation is not just for the classroom; it is also a component of designing effective professional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Brooke Whitworth (Clemson University: Clemson, SC)