Science is a social endeavor! Gain strategies to transform your classroom into a community of learners in which students and teachers actively try to make sense of the natural and built worlds.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave this session with strategies for developing classroom norms in collaboration with your students.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Soriano (NSTA: Jersey City, NJ)

Come to this engaging, hands-on session where we will use science activities to demonstrate effective professional learning practices! If you present at NSTA, facilitate professional learning, or just want to learn, this session is for you!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn specific practices they can incorporate into their NSTA presentations or professional learning experiences.

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: 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: TCI

Learn to promote interest and engagement while helping students achieve specific learning objectives with games. Join us as you learn simple and valuable ways to gamify your lessons. We will be sharing a few creative game ideas for building relationships and reviewing and learning content.

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Take a tour through the mammalian heart and trace the path of a blood cell on its journey to oxygenation. Participants take blood pressure readings. Then dissect a preserved sheep heart to model blood flow and connect BP to heart anatomy. Don’t skip a beat - it’s going to be hands-on fun!

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

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply

Experience a hands-on model lesson from OpenSciEd for High School & discover how the Carolina Certified Edition enhanced these high-quality instructional materials, making them more accessible, user-friendly, & safer for classroom use. Participate in the Serengeti board game from the Biology 1 unit.

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

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: 3D Molecular Designs

Dive into modeling the movement of ions and nutrients across membranes. Help your students connect theory with the results from popular homeostasis labs.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (3D Molecular Designs: Westmoreland, KS)

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Exploring by The Seat of Your Pants, a non-profit digital educator, and Wild Hope, a movement highlighting conservation success stories, invite you to discover how to host free, virtual events with top scientists who will get your students exploring the world without ever leaving their desks.

SPEAKERS:
Jessie Hildebrand (HHMI Tangled Bank Studios: Chevy Chase, MD)

Take a deep dive into the practice of developing and using models! We’ll explore how creating and using models help students build science ideas and can support students’ in developing and writing explanations. Experience the power of building science ideas together as part of a learning community.

TAKEAWAYS:
Developing models individually, in groups and as a class makes all students essential members of the knowledge-building community.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Freeport, IL)

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: Activate Learning

Learn how to enhance students’ overall communication in and out of the science classroom throughout their learning. Delve deeper into topics that include listening using classroom norms, strategies that help students with short response, and how to enhance students’ use of CER.

SPEAKERS:
Ellen Mintz (Activate Learning: Charleston, SC)

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 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)

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)

We will explore expansive ways we can notice students’ sensemaking assets and use those ideas to engage students in deeper learning. This session supports educators who are exploring modification or creation of instructional materials to better serve all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Explore the expanded ways of communicating and negotiating meaning children use as they engage in sensemaking at all ages. Work with us as we share ways to becoming more attuned to the multiple ways children engage in meaning making

SPEAKERS:
Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network: Plymouth, MI), Miranda Fitzgerald (University of North Carolina Charlotte: Mint Hill, NC)

Sponsoring Company: Activate Learning

Get a close look at the pedagogical strategies of a highly acclaimed Earth Science book. Developed by the American Geoscience Institute, this book relies on student-centered activities, students doing science! Take part in several activities and connect with other earth science teachers.

SPEAKERS:
Gary Curts (Activate Learning: Greenwich, CT)

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: 3D Molecular Designs

Model how DNA is transcribed into mRNA and how mRNA is translated into a protein - the final stages of the flow of genetic information.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (3D Molecular Designs: Westmoreland, KS)

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: 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: 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 Company

With the transition to 3-dimensional learning and NGSS,is there still a place for dissections in the classroom? The answer is yes! As you dissect a frog,we will demonstrate how to integrate the 3 dimensions of learning while highlighting adaptations and relationships between structure and function.

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

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: TCI

Learn to promote interest and engagement while helping students achieve specific learning objectives with games. Join us as you learn simple and valuable ways to gamify your lessons. We will be sharing a few creative game ideas for building relationships and reviewing and learning content.

Explore a college course on wasted food and societal impacts, highlighting student-centered learning and sensemaking through transformative journeys toward sustainable practices. Build your Insights into teaching and course evaluation methods to understand the effectiveness of course design.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave the session with an understanding of how a course design focused on sensemaking can enrich student learning and, additionally, how this approach allows students to become central to their own educational experiences, fostering deeper comprehension and active engagement.

SPEAKERS:
Pete Locher (Graduate Research Student: Charleston, SC)

Sponsoring Company: Vernier Science Education

Studying complex physics phenomena with photogates can be exciting for your students! Join us to explore strategies for engaging your students in learning about velocity vs. time graphs, acceleration, and kinematic equations. Build confidence in these tools and bring hands-on learning to your class!

The session will discuss how educators can effectively assess assignments and student work to ensure that each piece reflects deep personal engagement and understanding. This dialogue will help understand evaluative practices' critical role in fostering a sensemaking environment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with several methods of evaluating courses, curriculum, and lesson design to ensure sensemaking is evident in student work, discussions, and final projects.

SPEAKERS:
Pete Locher (Graduate Research Student: Charleston, SC)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Discover how modeling with interactive, collaborative tools can help your students learn about this new gene editing technology. Hear how the treatment has helped people.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (3D Molecular Designs: Westmoreland, KS)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Add excitement to your class with live organisms! Explore how organisms find food and interact. Discuss how these two hands-on activities can be applied to younger students: How creatures find food, and to older students: Social behavior and inter-species interactions.

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

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)

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

Do your students struggle with constructing scientific explanations? We'll explore free BioInteractive resources featuring authentic data about the evolution of Caribbean anoles and discuss how students can utilize multiple sources of evidence, such as phylogenetic trees, to support their claims.

SPEAKERS:
Mark Eberhard (St. Clair High School: Saint Clair, MI), Dionne Reid (Teacher - Science: Pembroke Pines, FL)

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)

Through discussions and workshopping, participants consider ways to leverage the curriculum adoption process, including setting an instructional vision, developing criteria, and evaluating materials, to develop teacher leaders in science and support understanding of rigorous science instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will develop a plan for using K-12 curriculum adoptions to develop teacher leadership, support deep professional learning around the NGSS/Framework, and increase stakeholder buy-in.

SPEAKERS:
Shannon Wachowski (EdReports.org: Lander, WY), Matthew Christiansen (Oceanside High School #7: Oceanside, NY)

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Model how our DNA genome replicates – the first stage of the flow of genetic information and preserves genome integrity.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (3D Molecular Designs: Westmoreland, KS)

Sponsoring Company: HHMI BioInteractive

During this workshop, we'll use an HHMI BioInteractive activity to explore major biodiversity threats and design solutions for preserving biodiversity. Participants will leave the workshop with a complete activity and ways to implement it while emphasizing student inclusion and agency.

SPEAKERS:
Cathy Sammons (Teacher: Lexington, KY)

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)

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)

Join our discussion on equitable science education, integrating sense-making pillars into culturally and linguistically sustaining practices. Engage with phenomena, student ideas, and disciplinary core ideas for meaningful learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
We offer a glimpse of science classrooms that are engaged in authentic, culturally sustainable experiences that foster sensemaking.

SPEAKERS:
Johanna Esparza (Assistant Professor of Practice: Brownsville, TX), Miriam Ortiz (Assistant Professor of Practice: San Benito, TX), Uma Ganesan (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley: Brownsville, TX), Zulema Williams (Assistant Professor of Practice: Brownsville, TX), Patricia Ramirez (UTRGV)

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: Carolina Biological Supply Company

Get students of all ages doing hands-on plant science: learning life cycles, genetics, evolution, and ecology. Wisconsin Fast Plants® make teaching life sciences interactive and practical. Learn planting, pollination, and more with these versatile organisms.

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

Sponsoring Company: 3D Molecular Designs

Model how DNA is transcribed into mRNA and how mRNA is translated into a protein - the final stages of the flow of genetic information.

SPEAKERS:
Ruth Hutson (3D Molecular Designs: Westmoreland, KS)

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)

Presentation of a college course using convergence research to tackle the complex issue of wasted food, while emphasizing the integration of diverse perspectives to enhance student learning and problem-solving skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will understand how convergence research was used in the context of wasted food to support students’ learning and address complex problems through creative, multifaceted, and equitable solutions. They will also be empowered to leverage convergence research when addressing complex problems.

SPEAKERS:
Pete Locher (Graduate Research Student: Charleston, SC)

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)

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

How do we scaffold and prepare students for 3-dimensional, sensemaking assessments? Join us to explore how Louisiana and other states are using InnerOrbit’s bank of scaffolded questions and phenomena to gather actionable data and to prepare for the LEAP and other state tests.

Explore how student self-assessment can transform STEM learning by empowering learners to reflect on and take charge of their educational journey. Gain practical strategies and tools to implement this effective approach in your classroom, enhancing engagement and understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn to implement student self-assessment techniques that boost independence, deepen understanding, and increase engagement in STEM subjects.

SPEAKERS:
Matthew Mawn (Roxbury High School: Succasunna, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: InnerOrbit

In this session we’ll provide concrete strategies to use throughout each of your units to help students engage with phenomena and sensemaking consistently, so they can more confidently approach the phenomena-driven LEAP (and other state tests) and new phenomena in instruction.

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)

The Power of Perception, when educators demonstrate an understanding of students' perspectives, fosters trust and rapport. Students feel valued and respected when their experiences and perceptions are acknowledged, which strengthens the student-teacher relationship and is conducive for learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
The intrinsic value of understanding how students perceive their environment is imperative for their future selves. Helping students and teachers understand their perceptions empowers them to take ownership of their learning journey, and navigate complexities with confidence.

SPEAKERS:
Autumn Nowlin (Autumn's Academy: Jacksonville, FL)