This session provides 5 lessons for 4th and 5th grade classrooms that supports students' awareness and making sense of lived experiences with climate change and climate change disasters toward development of 3D understanding of standards-aligned science knowledge.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to apply NGSS (and other standards frameworks) for a student-centered approach to science learning about local climate change hazards, solutions and concerns, while supporting conversations about community resilience.

SPEAKERS:
Ayca Fackler (University of Missouri: Columbia, MO), Julie Luft (University of Georgia: Athens, GA)

Investigating the motion of a pendulum will help your students understand gravity's effect on an object and Newton's First Law of Motion.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to relate pendulums to Newton's first law of motion and determine how the motion of the pendulum is related to its length.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Diane Smith (Wells Academic and Performing Arts Complex: Flowood, MS)

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to facilitate deeper student understanding of mole ratios, stoichiometry, and limiting reactants. This hands-on activity uses common household chemicals to simplify setup and a Wireless Pressure Sensor to support live data collection and immediate data analysis.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Engage students in a real-world engineering challenge! Learn how students can design and test crash barriers with live collision data to explore the link between momentum and impact forces. Analyze the resulting data to improve upon further design iterations.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Apply creative problem-solving skills and engineering practices to chemistry and physical science challenges with race cars and rockets. Experience how Carolina makes it easy to incorporate STEM into your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Patti Kopkau (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Hale, MI)

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Discover how PASCO's innovative equipment seamlessly integrates with OpenSciEd's standards-based curriculum. Engage in hands-on Middle School investigations. See how sensor-based data transforms traditional labs into dynamic learning experiences, empowering students to think like scientists.

Sponsoring Company: Pets in the Classroom

Learn about new STEM tools teachers are using for innovative standards based instruction by engaging students with a classroom pet. 98% of teachers reporting see increase in student responsibility and student engagement. Grants are available to help teachers with pet expenses.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Assume the role of a crime scene investigator to solve a realistic crime scenario. Students use fingerprint, hair analysis, tire track impressions, blood typing, forensic entomology, and a police log review to identify a primary suspect from a pool of 6 alleged perpetrators.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Nixon (Watauga High School: Blowing Rock, NC)

This session is the third of a series of four - join for one or more - focused on early childhood science and language arts integration. Engage with concrete examples of interdisciplinary connections focused on physical science. Part of the NSTA Early Childhood/Lower Elementary Science Pathway.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to plan and implement instruction that integrates early childhood physical science and language arts learning targets with fidelity.

SPEAKERS:
Jenn Brown-Whale (Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE): Randallstown, MD)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply

Discover how the Carolina Certified Edition enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, and safer for classroom use. Participate in the featured light box model activity from 6.1: Light & Matter unit and walk away with valuable resources.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

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.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Experience the best way to teach basic circuits! Learn how to build circuits with modular components that look identical to schematic drawings. We'll show you how to skip the tangled wires that confuse students so you can focus on the physics.

This introduction to STEM for elementary, secondary, or special education classrooms will allow participants to explore motion and energy while creating their own Rube Goldberg machine using found objects.

TAKEAWAYS:
Students can easily plan, build, and problem solve their own Rube Goldberg project using recycled and found materials.

SPEAKERS:
Elaine Sevin (Isidore Newman School: New Orleans, LA)

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to facilitate deeper student understanding of mole ratios, stoichiometry, and limiting reactants. This hands-on activity uses common household chemicals to simplify setup and a Wireless Pressure Sensor to support live data collection and immediate data analysis.

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Engage students in a real-world engineering challenge! Learn how students can design and test crash barriers with live collision data to explore the link between momentum and impact forces. Analyze the resulting data to improve upon further design iterations.

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.

In this session, participants will learn how to bring electrical engineering to life with the creation of "Electric Houses". Participants will walk through the steps of turning science standards about electricity into a fully hands on project that involve all types of learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be immersed in a project based activity bringing electricity and circuits to life. Using basic knowledge of electrical circuits, participants will be able to teach concepts in a hands-on immersive way to engage their learners in a real world situation about electrical engineering.

SPEAKERS:
Alicia Reno (STEM - Teacher: Decatur, GA)

Students are given questions to answer about a scientific phenomenon. They must dig through research and investigations to find their evidence for a group seminar. Students come to the circle prepared to discuss their CER and their own questions. Peers agree or disagree, with evidence of their own.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will participate in a Seminar that teaches the process of how to facilitate. They will also get to participate in one first hand as a demonstration. Attendees will have access to editable google slide presentations, self and peer assessments, and a rubric.

SPEAKERS:
Jodie Landry (STEM Lab K-5: Lafayette, LA)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Explore easy, engaging, and safe chemistry activities that guarantee a reaction in your students. These lab activities support 3-dimensional learning and work every time, not just periodically.

SPEAKERS:
Laurie Nixon (Watauga High School: Blowing Rock, NC)

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: PASCO Scientific

Discover how PASCO's innovative equipment seamlessly integrates with OpenSciEd's standards-based curriculum. Engage in hands-on Middle School investigations. See how sensor-based data transforms traditional labs into dynamic learning experiences, empowering students to think like scientists.

Come experience the wonder of our universe through the lens of a young learner while taking the abstract out of astrophysics! Join AMNH Educators as they present astrophysics lessons for young audiences, try activities that combat common misconceptions in space science, and receive lesson resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session aims to break down the barriers of intimidation that come with teaching an abstract concept like astrophysics and address common misconceptions in space science. Attendees will practice techniques for teaching astrophysics to elementary-aged students using AMNH lessons and activities.

SPEAKERS:
Ilana April (American Museum of Natural History: New York, NY), Kate Schmidt (Museum Educator: New York, NY)

Join us as a young scientist to investigate different sounds and how and why they occur. Using simple tools, engage your curiosity about the phenomena of sound as you delve into sensemaking to figure out what causes sound to occur, and how you can stop, start, and change sound.

TAKEAWAYS:
Engage in teacher play, investigate making sense of how sound is made, how to change sound, how to create your own song with rubber bands and a simple board, plus explain all of it with your own words/drawings. First 50 participants will leave with rubber bands, a simple board, and an investigation idea.

SPEAKERS:
Lisa Chizek (Iowa State University: Toledo, IA)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply

Take a deeper dive into understanding the importance of learning progressions in 3-dimensional learning using STC Middle School. Experience the importance of a coherent storyline in student understanding. Explore a learning progression using density and walk away with classroom resources.

SPEAKERS:
Cory Ort (Carolina Biological Supply Co.: Burlington, NC)

Sponsoring Company: PASCO Scientific

Experience the best way to teach basic circuits! Learn how to build circuits with modular components that look identical to schematic drawings. We'll show you how to skip the tangled wires that confuse students so you can focus on the physics.

Explore through six hands-on stations just as your students would! Confidently teach energy forms and transformations to elementary students with experiments that showcase the science behind everyday objects – batteries, toy cars, glow sticks, an apple, yo-yo, and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be able to take hands-on experiments and background information that allow elementary students to explore the different forms of energy and how they are transformed right back to their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Kimberly Swan (The NEED Project: Manassas, VA)

This session explores how productive uncertainty in science investigations can support meaningful engagement in science practices and conceptual understanding. Participants will engage with uncertainty, analyze examples of elementary students grappling with uncertainty, and explore tools for use.

TAKEAWAYS:
Uncertainty is core to sense-making at all ages. We can elicit and build from specific forms of uncertainty as children move between phenomenon, investigation, evidence, and explanation to support productive classroom sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Annabel Stoler (Boston University: Malden, MA), Eve Manz (Boston University: Boston, MA)

We present a dynamic facilitation scaffold as a teacher tool to support students scientific sensemaking. The scaffold uses disciplinary language as means to develop student reasoning as they engage in science practices. The research based scaffolds support integrated Science and ELA instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Elementary teachers will learn about facilitation scaffolds to support student sensemaking when engaged in science practices. Teachers will study a sample scaffold that uses disciplinary language related with the practice of constructing scientific explanations, in context of a force & motion unit.

SPEAKERS:
Patricia Paugh (University of Massachusetts Boston: Worcester, MA), Tejaswini Dalvi (University of Massachusetts Boston: Dorchester, MA)

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.

Explore the wonders of science with engaging upper elementary experiments! From chemical reactions to animal diversity and electrical circuits, hands-on activities ignite curiosity and inspire learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn practical strategies and obtain access to a Google folder with resources for conducting and seamlessly implementing upper elementary hands-on science experiments. Participants will gain insight into fostering inquiry-based learning and promoting STEM engagement in the classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Sutton (5th grade teacher: Boca Raton, FL), Paul Lehman (A.D. Henderson University School: Boca Raton, FL)

Experience the fascinating world of color perception through two intriguing phenomena: colored shadows and afterimages. Experience light color through hands-on exploration and captivating demonstrations. These are ready-to-implement activities for your class (NGSS-aligned).

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers engaging in this fun activity will gain insights into the mechanisms of human color perception, providing them with engaging ways to use these hands-on experiments and captivating demonstrations into their curriculum to enhance students' understanding of waves, light, color and vision.

SPEAKERS:
Sophia Crook (LIGO Livingston Observatory: Livingston, LA), Mishael Sedas (LIGO Livingston Observatory: Geismar, LA)