In this interactive lesson, participants become health advocates, analyzing and interpreting scientific research to propose effective solutions for barriers to prenatal care access.

TAKEAWAYS:
In this interactive session, participants will use scientific research to uncover how socioeconomic factors and policies impact healthcare while developing a deeper appreciation for the intersection of science and society and the role of scientific knowledge in addressing societal needs.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Burkart (Estrella Mountain Community College: Avondale, AZ)

Use A-I to create a fictional planet in order for students to make connections between settling on a foreign planet and early American civilization of Jamestown. How will you choose where to settle? How will your colony be sustainable? How do you ethically interact with native species?

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees are going to learn how to utilize A-I by exploring settlement on a fictional planet mirroring Jamestown addressing sustainability, ethical interaction with natives, citizen science, robotics, and lessons for Earth's care.

SPEAKERS:
Jesse Wren (Riverfield Country Day School: Tulsa, OK), Lisa Robinson (4/5 Grade Educator: Bixby, OK)

In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about creating a culture and instructional strategies to support all students and the assets they bring into the classroom through science sensemaking discourse and notebooking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will first experience an anchor from OpenSciEd 6.4 unit to create their model to describe their thinking in a notebook and then use the discussion diamond to come to a consensus and revise. Educators will review different student samples and discuss how these support all students' ideas.

SPEAKERS:
Christy Krenek (Santa Fe Public Schools: Santa Fe, NM)

Student discourse needs to be carefully orchestrated to provide teachers with meaningful information about all students. We will share a discourse routine as a powerful formative assessment tool that simultaneously supports students’ science sensemaking and expansion of their linguistic toolkit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will experience a Collect and Display discourse routine as learners and acquire strategies for integrating it into any instructional sequence to elicit and support 3D sensemaking and expand students’ linguistic repertoires.

SPEAKERS:
Jill Wertheim (WestEd: Takoma Park, MD), Lauren Stoll (Director of Professional Learning: Santa Barbara, CA)

Experience the impact of science instruction that directly engages and affirms the student scientists in your classroom. Learn how to ground daily lessons in meaningful community issues without overhauling your curriculum. Enable all students to advocate and create changes in their community.

TAKEAWAYS:
We'll share two strategies for grounding lessons in relevant contexts: (1) Anchor the lesson in a question and (2) Connect daily lessons to meaningful community issues using a three-step process. Participants practice both strategies and leave with an adapted meaningful lesson.

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

An NGSS classroom promises Science for All, but sometimes students have different needs. See how classroom teachers build a culture of choice, create differentiated literacy and assessment products, and help students meet differentiated goals for 3D learning within an inclusive classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with ideas and routines for fostering a differentiated classroom culture, samples of high-quality, scaffolded guides for scientific readings and assessments, and strategies to allow students to set their own goals for meeting or exceeding standards.

SPEAKERS:
Barbara McIntyre (Michigan Technological University: Midland, MI), Chris Geerer (Mi-STAR: Rochester, MI)

Science education has a key role to play in supporting a just transition to the climate crisis. Participants will learn about 20 priority areas associated with climate and environmental justice—and explore educational approaches, resources, and groups related to these areas.

TAKEAWAYS:
Working towards climate justice involves a multifaceted set of issues and priorities. Teachers will identify which priority areas relate to their goals and context and learn about related resources. A climate justice framework will help teachers learn about different dimensions of climate justice.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Deb Morrison (University of Washington: Salt Spring Island, BC), Nancy Price (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

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)

Wondering how to customize your curriculum to help more students share and build on others’ ideas? Using examples from OpenSciEd as a context, we’ll share tools & strategies for customizing curriculum to elevate student voice and perspective. 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 curriculum to encourage student voice repositions students as knowledge makers and support their science identity and motivation and values.

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

Far too often, equity efforts are relegated to the sidelines instead of being embedded in core curriculum leadership tasks. Join us to consider how anchoring science leadership in equity principles can remove barriers to science teaching and learning through curriculum implementation efforts.

TAKEAWAYS:
The implementation of HQIM can lead to more equitable systems when barriers to equity are confronted and removed. The process of confronting barriers includes collaborating for justice, taking small actions to learn, and continual reflection and revision of implementation plans based on data.

SPEAKERS:
Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Long Beach, CA), Jenine Cotton-Proby (BSCS Science Learning: Waldorf, MD), Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Laveen, AZ)

Elementary teaching can be very busy. This session will have engaging activities and practical strategies for making time for elementary. We will provide examples of long-term investigations, how science can be a foundation for math/literacy, how teachers can utilize science station work, and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn practical strategies and see examples of making time for science in elementary.

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)

Elementary-age children come to science learning with expansive resources that we must leverage for sensemaking. If you are considering adapting or creating your own instructional materials, join us as we learn to frame investigations from students lived experiences.

TAKEAWAYS:
Many curriculum materials minimize elevating students’ brilliance with teacher directed, pre-designed activities. COESEE envisions classrooms where students’ ideas are foregrounded andn learning is centered in students’ lived experiences.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network: Plymouth, MI), Carla Zembal-Saul (Penn State: State College, PA), Miranda Fitzgerald (University of North Carolina Charlotte: Mint Hill, NC)

Learn how to engage your students with the rich phenomena of a runner that fails to maintain homeostasis, using an open-source NGSS-driven unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will deepen their understanding of how to use phenomena-driven three-dimensional instruction to attend to student interest and relevance, develop a clear vision for how to use modeling to teach homeostasis, and will learn how to access, use, and a use, and adapt a free EQuIP-reviewed unit.

SPEAKERS:
Devin Foschi (New Visions for Public Schools: New York, NY), Joy Otibu (Mott Hall Bronx High School: Bronx, NY)

Educating students in science and engineering requires awareness of our practices and beliefs. What tools exist to keep these reflections in mind throughout the year? Learn about protocols that focus on classroom conditions for student belonging, identity development, and scientific sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will deepen their understanding of learning conditions necessary for student identity development, safety, engagement, and scientific sense-making. Participants will experience a ready-to-use reflective protocol to guide strategic planning for cultivating these learning conditions.

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

Climate literacy and data literacy go hand-in-hand. Variability in data often throws our students off. To truly understand the causes and effects of climate change, students must be adept at cutting across the noise in complex data to look for climate signals.

TAKEAWAYS:
Enhance your students' ability to analyze and interpret variable climate data effectively by implementing strategies to get students to focus on trends instead of individual data points.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran (Tuva)

Restorative circles as a cornerstone of classroom culture builds safe, equitable spaces for students to thrive. After a short introduction we will participate in several circles and see how easy it can be to make this a part of your pedagogy.

TAKEAWAYS:
Restorative circles as a cornerstone of classroom culture builds safe, equitable spaces for students to thrive. Atendees will particpate in circles and leave with a list of prompts to use in their classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Heather Mallory (Instructor of Biology: Durham, NC)

Racism is prevalent in our society. Participants will examine resources for engaging students in respectful and productive activity that contrast the social construct of race with scientific understandings of genetics. Examples of how science education can be a form of social justice will be shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
Anti-racism work in science education is difficult. Resources to support teachers in engaging in controversial topics will be examined and used by participants to rehearse effective pedagogical moves in engaging in classroom discussions of racism and science. Curricular resources will be shared.

SPEAKERS:
Jeanne Chowning (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: Seattle, WA), Michal Robinson (Alabama State Department of Education: Hoover, AL), Deb Morrison (University of Washington: Salt Spring Island, BC), Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

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)

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)

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)

What is the connection between coherent instructional sequences from the students’ perspective and equitable access to science learning? Learn how coherent storyline units support students’ genuine engagement and perseverance as they work to explain a complex phenomenon over the course of a unit.

TAKEAWAYS:
Storyline unit Instructional routines provide a coherent path from students’ questions about a phenomenon to the explanation or model of that phenomenon.

SPEAKERS:
Holly Hereau (NSTA: Lake Angelus, MI)

Talk is fundamental to learning. This workshop engages participants in a variety of talk strategies specifically designed for improving classroom equity while engaging in STEM learning experiences. Many supporting resources are shared that teachers can learn from and directly use with students.

TAKEAWAYS:
The goal of this session is to support teachers in understanding how best to meet the needs of all learners by starting from where students are at and drawing on their intuitive ideas and real world experiences to inform instruction. All strategies are framed as equitable 3D formative assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison (University of Washington: Salt Spring Island, BC), Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Culturally responsive teaching practices are essential in science. You will leave this workshop with NGSS based lessons to help students make sense of identity mapping and positionality in the classroom. Come and design models where identities are atoms and collective identities are molecules.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will experience a set of identity based and NGSS aligned lessons that can be implemented upon return home.

SPEAKERS:
Autumn Burton (The Pike School: Portland, ME), Kathleen Boucher-Lavigne (Pike School: Andover, MA)

Discover how VR can transform the way you teach & your students learn. In this session, you'll explore the benefits of incorporating VR into your classroom, including: increased student engagement, improved retention of complex concepts, and opportunities for immersive experiential learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrating VR into the science classroom can create immersive and engaging learning experiences that deepen students' understanding of scientific concepts and foster their creativity and curiosity. This leads to better engagement and improved performances on formal and informal assessments.

SPEAKERS:
Lakiesha Domingue (Elementary Science Teacher/ Facilitator: Addis, LA)

We show how instructional materials can be adapted for local contexts—and how to elevate issues of climate justice and ethical responses to the climate crisis. Participants will learn about how a high school physics unit from OpenSciEd was adapted to attend to Indigenous land rights and sovereignty.

TAKEAWAYS:
In relation to science and engineering projects in society (e.g., associated with the energy transition, ecological restoration, urban development), teachers will learn how to engage students in exploring moral and ethical dimensions of trade-offs in project approaches.

SPEAKERS:
Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Learning in Places is an OER that helps educators engage with students in field-based transdisciplinary learning. It is the perfect way to start science learning from students’ places while engaging with families and communities. This session is perfect for educators developing their own materials.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learning in Places envisions science learning as a vehicle to ethical decision making. Educators will become familiar with the Learning in Places storylines and how to use them with their students.

SPEAKERS:
Mary Starr (Michigan Mathematics and Science Leadership Network: Plymouth, MI)

This session will provide a conceptual framework for transdisciplinary learning and share a template for designing project-based learning tasks, in which students assume a role to create a product for an authentic audience and in response to a real-life question or problem.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn how to create a transdisciplinary task that can be tailored to meet diverse students' interests and needs, utilized in practice with students, and shared with colleagues in their school building.

SPEAKERS:
Stefanie Holloway (Greater Oregon STEM Hub: La Grande, OR)

Looking to spice up your STEM classes and help the material come alive? Check out the contributions of historical and current rebel women of STEM to infuse new connections into your units. Align their ideas to your content standards and elevate the ways women shape the world of STEM.

TAKEAWAYS:
From this session participants will learn about important historical and current women of STEM and the impact of their contributions along with engaging ways to infuse this information alongside their content standards.

SPEAKERS:
Rachelle Haroldson (University of Wisconsin-River Falls: Edina, MN)

Looking for ways to enhance a high-quality curriculum? This session provides teacher-tested strategies that can be used to augment a curriculum without adding more to a teacher’s plate. Come experience these practical, engaging strategies that help bring a curriculum to life!

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will engage in a variety of classroom-tested strategies that can expand the menu of options for student-centered learning while covering the same material required within the curriculum used to teach standards.

SPEAKERS:
Missy Wooley (Louisiana Tech University: Ruston, LA), Cathi Cox-Boniol (Louisiana Tech University: Ruston, LA)

Climate change is here. Come explore ways to teach about this that intersect with issues of justice and provide action for the future. This workshop will support educators in all grades and contexts, including those who can’t even say “climate change”!

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies for engaging in climate change and climate justice learning appropriate to grade band NGSS standards, climate and energy literacy standards, and for both school and community based learning contexts.

SPEAKERS:
Deb Morrison (University of Washington: Salt Spring Island, BC), Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Join us for a hands-on workshop to learn how Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids free, standards-aligned curriculum materials support upper elementary, middle, and high school students learn about mitigating lead in water.

TAKEAWAYS:
Lead in water is a problem that disproportionally affects children and low-income communities of color. Come away with free standards-aligned, transdisciplinary curriculum materials that s help students in upper elementary, middle, and high school understand the problem and potential solutions.

SPEAKERS:
Ashley Allen (Instructional Specialist: Research Triangle Park, NC), Dr. Whitney White (RTI International: Research Triangle Park, NC)

All students have the right to develop a deep understanding of how the world works in ways that support their personal goals and the interests of their community. Come explore how instruction can more equitably support science learning that is consequential to your students and their communities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will develop an understanding of an equity project framework for science education for supporting professional learning and implementation projects. They will learn how open education resources (http://stemteachingtools.org/) can help them develop equitable approaches to science teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Michal Robinson (Alabama State Department of Education: Hoover, AL)

This immersive and engaging workshop is designed to empower and cultivate teacher leaders in science education. It will provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to become effective leaders in their schools and communities, driving positive change in science education.

TAKEAWAYS:
One key takeaway related to leadership in science is the importance of raising awareness of implicit bias in science education. Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that influence our perceptions and actions, often leading to inequities in educational settings.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Kay Williams (KEDE Educational Business, LLC: Woodstock, GA)

Empower your teaching with Scientist Circles! Discover research-backed strategies to foster collaborative learning, critical thinking skills and ignite curiosity in the classroom. Engage in hands-on-activities, share best practices and leave empowered to implement Scientist Circles effectively.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave equipped with proven methods and practical implementation tips to enhance student engagement and communication skills in the middle school classroom. Elevate your classroom experience and inspire lifelong learners.

SPEAKERS:
Ann Guglielmo (Taunton Public Schools: Taunton, MA), Tonya Brainsky (OSE Massachusetts Community: Rehoboth, MA)

Grading for Understanding is a standards-aligned assessment practice that provides greater clarity to teachers, students, and parents. Using the Grading for Understanding, teachers can provide more valuable feedback to students and focus on assessing current understanding of science standards.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will learn how Grading for Understanding reduces biases in grading and supports growth mindsets and hope for students to succeed in science.

SPEAKERS:
Tyler Miller (Teacher: Tulsa, OK), Jennifer Miller (Tulsa Public Schools: Tulsa, OK)

STEM4Real aims to reduce absenteeism by involving students in solving real-world environmental issues through multidisciplinary projects that elevate high school senior's passion projects with the community and align their vision to service learning and environmental issues that drive the learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understanding that integrating service learning with environmental issues can significantly enhance student engagement and reduce absenteeism. By involving high school seniors in real-world projects that require civic engagement, educators can make learning more relevant and impactful.

SPEAKERS:
Neotha Williams (STEM4Real: Addis, LA), Jennifer Munoz (STEM4Real: Carlsbad, CA)

The NSTA Sensemaking Tool can support teachers shifting their instruction to create opportunities for student sensemaking. Gain experience using the tool to identify “look and listen fors” in classroom observations and to facilitate productive discussions about successes and overcoming challenges.

TAKEAWAYS:
Use the NSTA Sensemaking Tool for classroom observations and providing feedback.

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

Learn about the Justice-Centered Ambitious Science Teaching framework and practices teachers have developed to be responsive to students' cultures and communities, recognize and build upon expansive forms of student meaning-making, and committed to naming and disrupting injustice in society.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about teaching practices aimed at building a welcoming, joyful, and critical community, planning that is meaningful for youth and advocates for justice, elicits local stories and uses interpretive power, and nurtures revisions of scientific thinking with diverse and local expertise.

SPEAKERS:
April Luehmann (University of Rochester: Rochester, NY), Molly Wilson (Warner School of Education and Human Development), Priya Pugh , Todd Campbell (University of Connecticut: N. Franklin, CT), James Kostka (Warner School: New York, NY), Katrina Robinson (Penfield High School: Rochester, NY), Christina Riccardo (IslandWood: SEATTLE, WA)

Experience how classroom agreements can create productive and safe spaces for elementary students to share their ideas, let those ideas change and grow, and engage with each other as a community of learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Elementary students can co-construct classroom agreements that support an environment where they recognize that science can be done in many ways, feel safe and compelled to share their ideas and questions, listen/look/respond to others' ideas, and let their ideas change and grow.

SPEAKERS:
María González-Howard (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX), Amy Belcastro (Science Educator/Grad Student: Fort Collins, CO), Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Laveen, AZ)

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)

Engage in a new OpenSciEd Elementary unit and see how classroom discussions can support ALL students’ in using their ideas, experiences, and evidence for collective sensemaking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about how to engage elementary students in classroom discussion to share initial ideas, build understanding and come to consensus about the phenomenon they are trying to collectively figure out.

SPEAKERS:
Janna Mahfoud (BSCS Science Learning: Laveen, AZ), Susan Gomez Zwiep (BSCS Science Learning: Long Beach, CA)

Advancing equity and increasing accessibility for all students in assessment is a key aspect of the vision for science education. Analyze example assessments with the newly developed culturally responsive framework for alignment to multiple equity goals.

TAKEAWAYS:
Use culturally relevant design principles to evaluate and adapt three-dimensional assessment tasks to meet the needs of the students in your classroom and support them in developing cultural competence.

SPEAKERS:
Kelley Turner (Winchester Public Schools: Winchester, VA), Dawn Novak (Northwestern University: Grayslake, IL), Sara Cooper (Contextus: Lincoln, NE)

NSTA’s suite of instructional coaching tools support teachers, coaches and leaders in making the best use of instructional coaching cycles to support students’ sensemaking in the classroom. Become familiar with all of our OER coaching tools and try a few out a few in this session!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to use NSTA’s suite of instructional coaching tools to support instructional coaching cycles in your school/district.

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

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)

We have developed a framework of pedagogical practices that can be leveraged to support teaching with the NGSS no matter what curriculum is being used. Come hear about our research-backed framework, and experience a sense-making lesson that models high leverage pedagogical strategies!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will experience and gain a deeper understanding of high leverage pedagogical practices that directly support teaching with the NGSS, and strategies to implement some of these practices in the science classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Katy Fattaleh (Senior Manager, School and Teacher Programs: Chicago, IL), Tara Flett (Sr. Educator IQST: Chicago, IL), Karin Klein (Museum of Science and Industry: CHICAGO, IL)

Want to improve student analyzing and interpreting data skills but don’t know where to start? This workshop makes data analysis fun and accessible for you and your students. Learn to interpret and understand real-world data while incorporating math and science concepts. BYOD for optimal impact.

TAKEAWAYS:
Build expertise in nurturing elementary students’ ability to confidently infer meaning from real-world data, bolstering their math and science comprehension.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Foran (Tuva)

Learn how to use the NSTA Student Work Analysis tool and protocol to evaluate students’ three-dimensional learning. We’ll focus our discussions on what counts as evidence of students’ ownership of targeted elements of the three dimensions and how to use collected student data to inform instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to evaluate students’ three-dimensional learning using the NSTA Student Work Analysis tool and protocol.

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

This session highlights cultural dimensions of meaningful science learning. It showcases a powerful instructional technique for formative assessment called “self-documentation”—where students collect information related to a particular theme or topic in their everyday lives.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers learn how to promote equity by focusing on learning and teaching as an inherently cultural process. They develop a shared understanding of how cultural formative assessment can reveal the interests, experiences, and identities of students.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Tiffany Neill (OpenSciEd: New York, NY), Ximena Gallegos Gutierrez (PhD student, Learning Science and Human Development: Seattle, WA)

Wondering how to make science more meaningful? Learn how to easily adapt a unit to affirm student experiences in daily lessons. We'll show you how to create a student survey and use the data to make small but impactful changes to your plans. See examples and leave with a template for trying it out!

TAKEAWAYS:
We’ll show participants how to choose a focus unit and create a survey focused on the same theme. We’ll use the collected data purposefully to make upgrades to our lessons by incorporating student experiences and interests into the learning, all while expanding their scientific understanding.

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

Students are more excited to learn science when they see the ways the learning experience is motivated by their own curiosities. Come interact with and explore strategies to anchor your students’ sensemaking throughout a science unit in questions that the class community has collectively developed!

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with strategies to 1) elicit, 2) make public, and 3) value all students’ questions about a unit’s anchoring phenomenon, and to 4) collaborate with students to shape their questions into investigable questions that can motivate their ongoing sensemaking throughout a unit.

SPEAKERS:
María González-Howard (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX), Carla Robinson (The University of Texas at Austin: Austin, TX), Sage Andersen (The University of Texas at Austin: Buda, TX)

NOAA's Science on a Sphere team will demo an AI chatbot using Large Language Models to enhance access. This chatbot recommends datasets based on teachers' needs, aligns them with goals, and suggests classroom applications. Discussion will address democratizing access vs. perpetuating disparities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Large Language Models are great tools to find correlations between large pools of content, thus its use as a virtual assistant could greatly improve access to large data and visualization content and while minimizing time and effort for this task.

SPEAKERS:
Eric Hackathorn (NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory: Boulder, CO), Juan Pablo Hurtado Padilla (NOAA Office of Education: Silver Spring, MD)

How can science learning experiences help students develop ecological caring approaches to the living world? Come explore educational approaches to multispecies justice with us! Expanding how students connect to and care for the living world around them is vital at this time of climate crisis.

TAKEAWAYS:
People’s relationships to nature are culturally and historically rooted and are embedded in approaches to science teaching and learning. Science can be used to guide ecological caring responses and support the thriving of species.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Nancy Price (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Kelsie Fowler (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

Lead professional learning for your colleagues, school or district using NSTA's Professional Learning Units (PLUs)! These PLUs are designed to deepen educators’ understanding of three-dimensional teaching to help boost all students’ science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Lead your professional learning community’s learning using NSTA PLUs.

SPEAKERS:
Zoe Evans (Bremen City Schools: Carrollton, GA), Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Freeport, IL)

During this hands-on workshop, participants will work with a 26 year veteran science teacher to delve into the impact of using a daily predictable learning routine to help students hone executive functioning skills like goal setting, time and task management, accountability, and self-regulation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Each participant will receive an Organized Binder Student Bundle. This content-agnostic program models a predictable learning routine for students but it also integrates easily into a teacher's existing curriculum, with tools and strategies that can be implemented the very next class session.

SPEAKERS:
Eva Behr (Los Angeles Unified School District: Los Angeles, CA)

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)

Join Girls Who Code for strategies and tools on how to a) recruit and retain girls and BIPOC students in STEM, b) design inclusive holistic programs that build life skills, c) keep your curricula relevant with emerging tech and ai, and d) access free resources for 3-12th graders of all genders.

TAKEAWAYS:
Join Girls Who Code for strategies and tools on how to a) recruit and retain girls and BIPOC students in STEM, b) design inclusive holistic programs that build life skills, c) keep your curricula relevant with emerging tech and ai, and d) access free resources for 3-12th graders of all genders.

SPEAKERS:
Kibret Yebetit (Girls Who Code: New York, NY)

Students often struggle with connecting STEM concepts to their everyday experiences such as deciding on healthy food options in the cafeteria. Teachers will participate in a model lesson incorporating STEM and social justice pedagogy ultimately advocating for their stance on an issue.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn to merge STEM with social justice in teaching, empowering students to critically assess the complexities of healthy eating and school nutrition through diverse perspectives including health experts, students, parents, and food vendors.

SPEAKERS:
Augusto Macalalag, Jr. (Arcadia University: Wyncote, PA), Joseph Johnson (Mercyhurst University: Erie, PA), Dylan Fedell (Palisades High School: Kintnersville, PA)

Students bring amazing intellectual resources to make sense of science phenomena based on their personal and community experiences—including language, perspectives, gestures, and knowledge, interests, and values. Come learn how to notice and leverage those intellectual gifts in your teaching!

TAKEAWAYS:
Culturally responsive education supports student sensemaking and learning in science. Inclusive science strategies help teachers learn to see and leverage students’ diverse sense-making resources. These methods help us create and adapt curriculum that is equitable and centered on justice.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Nancy Price (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)

This session will give participants the opportunity to interactively and collaboratively engage in a sampling of simple activities to promote explicit instruction in the nature of science.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. It is important to explicitly teach the nature of science to students; 2. The nature of science should be presented in an accessible way to all students; and 3. Attendees will walk away with activities they can use in their class immediately to teach the NOS.

SPEAKERS:
Kelly Moore (Tennessee Tech: Cookeville, TN)

Starting with empathy, we can create inclusive learning environments rooted in people’s needs. Learn how human-centered design principles can be applied to create meaningful, engaging, and effective learning experiences for educators and students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave this session equipped with human-centered design strategies and tools to guide their PLCs and to design impactful learning experiences for their students.

SPEAKERS:
Brian Beierle (Relevant Classroom, a Division of Vivayic, Inc.: Wauwatosa, WI)

Immerse yourself in a captivating learning experience as you critically analyze the environmental and social issues surrounding a coal ash landfill located in a small, rural town in Alabama. Join others as you explore how to help students analyze and solve community issues through Design Thinking.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science educators will learn how to create and implement Design Thinking lessons centered around local community issues.

SPEAKERS:
Malysa Chandler (Clinical Instructor/Doc Student: Marion, AL)

Learn how to weave in the stories of cancer survivors, local public health data, and health care experts into the OpenSciEd HS biology cancer unit. Discuss social emotional learning strategies that support students and teachers while learning about cancer as a phenomena.

TAKEAWAYS:
The stories of cancer survivors and local public health data can help students identify health disparities in their community and empower students to think critically about the role they can play to improve the health of themselves, their family and their community.

SPEAKERS:
William Baur (Washougal High School: Battle Ground, WA)

Students bring a range of intellectual resources—based on their unique life experiences—into the classroom as they learn science. These resources can be considered different “facets” of thinking. Teachers explore a protocol for identifying and attending to facets through formative assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
This session will help participants: analyze cognitive formative assessment responses to surface the range of student thinking about science topics and concepts, guide instruction based on that diversity of student ideas, and design formative assessment tasks to support equitable 3D instruction.

SPEAKERS:
Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA), Tiffany Neill (OpenSciEd: New York, NY)

Video shorts (Reels, TikTok, etc.) are one of the best ways to reach today's youth. In this workshop we will share how we have used this technology to create mini-lessons and how your students can use it as a UDL multiple measures assessment. These methods can be used for middle school and up.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will walk away with the knowledge and confidence to create video shorts for use in instruction and assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Julia Lewis (STEM Communications Specialist: Sylva, NC), Matthew Cass (Physics and Astronomy Instructor: Sylva, NC)

Discover NASA's Astro Camp Program: free STEM resources and lessons on space exploration. See how one school created a week-long, community-building STEM Challenge for Pre-K to 5th grade, reinforcing the S.E.P.s and sparking interest in NASA careers.

TAKEAWAYS:
NASA’s ASTRO CAMP Community Partners Program provides collaboration opportunities for youth service organizations, museums, libraries, and schools interested in presenting NASA’s ASTRO CAMP activities in their community with training and resources provided by NASA ACCP specialists. Free resources.

SPEAKERS:
Elaine Sevin (Isidore Newman School: New Orleans, LA), Jennifer Williams (Isidore Newman School: Belle Chasse, LA)

Guiding instruction based on the assessment of student’s developing proficiencies is a key feature of powerful learning experiences. This session focuses how to design assessments that gauge student understanding of justice-related phenomena and topics that are deeply consequential.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn about a detailed 9-step process for conceiving, developing, testing, refining, and using 3D science assessments focused on social justice phenomena and topics. Open education resources that support this assessment development process will also be shared. #NSFfunded

SPEAKERS:
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Philip Bell (University of Washington: Seattle, WA)