What approach can science educators use to create assessment tasks that support instructional practice and students’ three-dimensional learning? Participants will experience an approach for designing 3-D assessment tasks that will help their students build toward the NGSS performance expectations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to construct 3-dimensional assessment tasks that they can use in their classroom to promote student learning of the NGSS performance expectations.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Harris (WestEd: Menlo Park, CA), Joseph Krajcik (CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI)

Move beyond passively visiting a museum to connect with curators & have your students take on the role of a teacher at a community event sponsored by the museum. Learn how to connect with local institutions, see samples of student work and leave with access to the full PBL project plan and more!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to organize, integrate and evaluate a long term PBL assessment into your curriculum. Leave with rubrics, a project plan and research template.

SPEAKERS:
Ilana Saxe (The Lawrenceville School: Lawrenceville, NJ)

Many high-quality curricula use transfer tasks, phenomenon-based assessments where students demonstrate their three dimensional understanding while exploring a novel scenario. In this session, educators will work through an example of a transfer task and an activity structure that helps students learn.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with an understanding of what transfer tasks are and an activity structure to use with students learning how to engage in this assessment practice.

SPEAKERS:
Kate Henson (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Melissa Campanella (University of Colorado Boulder: Baltimore, MD)

The session focuses on designing, building, and using 3-dimensional performance science assessment tasks. Analogous phenomena are used to develop novel K-12 tasks requiring the application of DCIs and CCCs to make sense of phenomena. A pool of items aligned to NGSS and STEELS standards is shared.

TAKEAWAYS:
The session will provide participants the strategies and insights into how analogous phenomena are used to develop summative assessment tasks for writing performance tasks for each of the NGSS standards.

SPEAKERS:
Juan-Carlos Aguilar (Georgia Dept. of Education: Atlanta, GA), Brett Moulding (Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning: Ogden, UT)

Teachers spend about 7-12 hours per week searching for & creating instructional materials. In this session we’ll hear from teachers about how using vetted, high quality materials as a starting point opened up new possibilities and helped them to be the teacher they always wanted to be.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how using high-quality instructional materials in your classroom can shift your role as teacher from "creator" to "innovator" and allow more time for supporting students and improving outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Erika Palys (OpenSciEd: Palatine, IL)

Join us for an engaging session exploring several sense-making lessons, aligned with the NGSS. Discover amazing assessment tools used to inform your teaching and focus on increased student learning/excitement. Come investigate assessment strategies while engaging in sense-making lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
The participants will take away a deeper understanding of innovative assessments (prior, formative and summative) that will inform them using sense-making lessons. We will specifically focus on what the results of the assessments mean and how that will change their teaching and student learning.

SPEAKERS:
Cynthia Dey (Belmont Abbey College: Charlotte, NC), Judith McDonald (University of Hawaii at Hilo: Hilo, HI)

This interactive workshop will help teachers develop assessment question clusters that align with NGSS and include all 3 dimensions of the framework, ensuring a holistic evaluation of student knowledge and skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave this session not only with strategies and a framework for designing 3-dimensional assessment question clusters, but also with an assessment they create during the session.

SPEAKERS:
Libbie Haller (Broome Tioga BOCES: Binghamton, NY)

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Harness the power of effective questioning to elevate student engagement and understanding. Led by a former middle school science teacher and current science learning designer, this session focuses on crafting questions to foster elaboration, critical thinking, and meaningful connections in science.

SPEAKERS:
Hannah Bonville (BrainPOP: New York, NY)

Give students opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and dive deeper into physics content through multiple representations. Learn strategies that can be used to deepen students' understanding and improve performance on FRQ #2, Translation Between Representations, on the AP Physics exams.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn engaging classroom strategies that allow students to communicate their knowledge of physics through multiple avenues and make connections between multiple representations and physical scenarios.

SPEAKERS:
Dee Dee Messer (William Mason High School: Mason, OH)

This presentation will share results of my research with a middle school science class on how the online program Classbank boosts student motivation for reassessment in mastery-based learning. It examines how game-like rewards impact students' willingness to improve performance and perceive learning

TAKEAWAYS:
A key takeaway is how Classbank's gamification enhances middle school students' motivation to engage in reassessment, driving improvement in performance.

SPEAKERS:
Alma Fernandez (Robert E. Peary Middle School: Gardena, CA), Cecilia Duenas (Na: Thousand Oaks, CA)

In science, differentiation supports inquiry-based instruction and learning. When the teacher takes students' needs into account, investigations and explorations become more engaging and authentic for students as they explore the natural and designed worlds.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with strategies for differentiating instruction by aptitude, outcome, feedback, and resources, including things they can do before, during, and after instruction to meet the needs of each student where they are.

SPEAKERS:
Hilary Kahn (The Alexander Dawson School: Las Vegas, NV), Kelly Gooden (The Alexander Dawson School: HENDERSON, NV)

Looking to design well-scaffolded, standards-based, clustered assessments but not sure where to begin? Learn about available tools and resources to help kickstart your 2D and 3D assessment design. Develop a system for constructing performance assessments that are relative and meaningful for all learners.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will evaluate existing 2D & 3D assessments, gain access to assessment design checklists, learn how to develop questions, distinguish between scenario and data-based prompts and begin to construct their own scaffolded performance-based assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Stephanie Burns (Connetquot Central School District: Baiting Hollow, NY), Jessica Mintz (Eastport-South Manor Central School District: Holbrook, NY)

How do we know which students of our students are figuring things out that they care about? Which students are contributing to knowledge-building in small groups? Join us to learn about a simple approach to using data from exit tickets with research-based strategies to promote more equitable participation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Making formative use of exit ticket data on student experience can help all students experience instruction as more relevant and coherent from the student perspective. The key to improvement is testing research-based strategies for promoting more equitable participation in class.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Campanella (University of Colorado Boulder: Baltimore, MD), William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO)

Assessing student sensemaking can be time-consuming, and applying standards-based grading can seem overly vague. In this session we’ll analyze 3D assessment scenarios to uncover their scaffolded structure, and use that structure to develop leveling rubrics that quickly convert to traditional grades.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with samples of high-quality, scaffolded three-dimensional assessment scenarios, and strategies to make standards-based grading quick and consistent.

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

Give your students the chance to take on the role of a genetic counselor and apply their understanding of genetics to real world scenarios, including creating a pedigree, using NCBI and interpreting primary literature.

TAKEAWAYS:
Work through the genetic counselor project from a patient background, solving a pedigree, learning how to use NCBI, and interpreting primary literature. You will take home the student directions, exemplar projects, list of relevant primary literature articles, and teacher key.

SPEAKERS:
Ilana Saxe (The Lawrenceville School: Lawrenceville, NJ)

Our classrooms are filled with diverse learners who value choice. We must proactively design differentiated activities that empower students, fostering independence, creativity, and ownership. Join this share-a-thorn session to explore strategies for designing and implementing Choice & Voice!

TAKEAWAYS:
Takeaway from the share-a-thorn session include: designing Choice & Voice assessments and empowering students to be independent learners, knowledge constructors, and creative communicators. The presenter will share tested, standards-based Choice & Voice assessments and student work exemplars.

SPEAKERS:
Gaganjot Singh (Fulton Virtual: Roswell, GA)

Sponsoring Company: Teachers' Curriculum Institute (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: ExploreLearning

Discover how to empower students to do all the science sensemaking practices with far less prep for you. You’ll get practical strategies for using simulations to add more SEPs into your teaching and go hands-on with Gizmos and upcoming new Gizmos lessons that fully engage students in the practices.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Kehret (Abilene ISD: Abilene, TX)

Many schools have common planning time or PLCs but sometimes they can feel more like a chore than a benefit. Why can’t you just have more personal prep time? In this session, we will share resources for CPT or PLCs that make them feel worthwhile, productive, and even enjoyable.

TAKEAWAYS:
Common planning time or PLCs are more effective when teachers are working with strong curricular materials. Well-designed and ready to use tools and structures for CPT/PLCs can support teachers to deepen their understanding of the materials and effectively prepare for future lessons they will teach.

SPEAKERS:
Benjamin Lowell (New York University: New York, NY), Renee Affolter (OpenSciEd: Montpelier, VT)

Looking to build student thinking about data? Come learn how the “Data Discussion” talk routine scaffolds class discussions about patterns in data. We’ll explore key features of the routine, participate in enactments, and brainstorm how to bring quality three-dimensional talk time to your lessons.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be able to provide opportunities for elementary students of all language proficiency levels to engage in “data discussion” talks in which they make data public and analyze meaningful patterns in their own and their classmates’ investigations.

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

We will be discussing the use of modeling in the chemistry classroom. Using modeling students are able to develop questioning and reasoning skills to explain complex, real world lab data analysis, chemistry articles and readings, and various phenomena on a molecular "Zoomed In" level.

TAKEAWAYS:
By utilizing modeling students are able to organize thoughts, justify conclusions, and rationalize arguments. Modeling can easily be used to explain concepts from Coulomb's law to intermolecular forces and how certain concepts explain complex chemical interactions.

SPEAKERS:
Patrick Reidy (Atlantic County Institute of Technology: Mays Landing, NJ), Kevin Wessler (Atlantic County Institute of Technology: Mays Landing, NJ)

Discover how to design and use rubrics that help create assessments that build and practice science skills. Learn how cognitive demand theory can elevate assessments and engage students in deeper learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using universal backwards design and rubrics can help to create assessments that not only assess content knowledge but also promote critical thinking, skill mastery, and deeper learning by integrating cognitive demand principles into science skill building.

SPEAKERS:
Rachel Stindt (Nekoosa High School: Nekoosa, WI)

Explore how NSTA's formative assessment probes from the popular Uncovering Student Ideas series are used in an instructional sequence to understand the ideas your K-5 students bring to their learning, inform next steps for responsive instruction, and build a powerful thinking classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
A key takeaway is how to use formative assessment probes to uncover and understand the prior knowledge that K-5 students bring to their learning in order to tailor next steps where student thinking is valued, misconceptions are addressed, and deeper conceptual understanding is cultivated.

SPEAKERS:
Page Keeley (NSTA Past President: Fort Myers, FL)

Join us to explore strategies for providing feedback to science teachers utilizing framework aligned standards and the Danielson Framework. Participants will engage in authentic practice and will leave with resources to implement these strategies in their schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn strategies for providing feedback to the teachers they supervise.

SPEAKERS:
Andy Weatherhead (National Science Education Leadership Association (NSELA): Downingtown, PA), Kammas Kersch (Chester County Intermediate Unit: Downingtown, PA)

It is powerful to connect science instruction to local phenomena and community priorities—but it is challenging work! Join us to explore benefits and cautions of adapting OpenSciEd instructional materials to local contexts and to learn multiple strategies for localization of resources.

TAKEAWAYS:
Leave with practical strategies and resources to adapt OpenSciEd effectively, making science education more culturally relevant, engaging, and impactful for their students.

SPEAKERS:
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Melissa Campanella (University of Colorado Boulder: Baltimore, MD)

What approach can science educators use to create assessment tasks that support instructional practice and students’ three-dimensional learning? Participants will experience designing 3-dimensional tasks for classroom use that will help their students build toward the NGSS performance expectations.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to construct 3-dimensional assessment tasks that they can use in their classroom to promote student learning of the NGSS performance expectations.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Harris (WestEd: Menlo Park, CA), Joseph Krajcik (CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University: East Lansing, MI)

Explore how to design authentic assessments that align with NGSS and utilize standards-based grading. Learn practical strategies for unpacking rubrics to guide student learning and provide clear, actionable feedback that drives improvement.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to create NGSS-aligned assessments and develop rubrics that students can easily understand and use for self-assessment, promoting deeper learning and growth.

SPEAKERS:
Parwaneh Rezai Sepasi (United Nations International School: New York, NY)

Implentation of spectroscopic evidence in an elective high school chemistry course to identify various unknown organic structures.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will be provided with resources and assessments to identify an unknown organic compound given its % composition. The spectroscopic methods used are Infrared Spectrometry, Mass Spectrometry, and proton NMR Spectroscopy.

SPEAKERS:
Jeromy Bentley (Naperville Central High School: Naperville, IL)

Sponsoring Company: Carolina Biological Supply Co.

Enhance your teaching practice with generative AI! This workshop helps you create smarter assessments, provide personalized feedback, save valuable time, and enhance student learning, all while boosting your teaching efficiency.

SPEAKERS:
Dr. Claudia Rademaker (Dugga: Stockholm, Sweden), Dr. Patrik Nilsson (Dugga: Stockholm, Sweden)

Sponsoring Company: BrainPOP

Move from teacher-led to student-driven learning with Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)! Explore a variety of resources and questioning strategies that promote authentic practice. Learn how the CER process and science and engineering practices can be part of a scaffolded and low-stakes journey.

SPEAKERS:
Kelsie Stocz (BrainPOP: Garner, NC)

Bring Jenga, Bounce-off, Ker-Plunk, and other kinetic games into the classroom for use as a phenomena-based assessment of Forces, Energy, or Newton's Laws of Motion (MS-PS2&3). Engaging and rigorous assessment through observing, writing, diagraming, and modeling of moving objects.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive lesson or assessment frameworks for using a wide-variety of kinetic and dexterity tabletop games to describe relative motion, forces that cause motion, energy transfer, or Newton's Laws. Attendees will also discuss opportunities for differentiation and cross cutting concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Skinner (Escalante Middle School: Hesperus, CO)

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)

Using a probe from the popular “Uncovering Student Misconceptions” series, the co-author will share student responses to address this foundational concept for teaching climate change. You will also gain a deeper understanding of the power of formative assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understanding student misconceptions in this foundational component of climate change is critical prior to teaching the subject. Discover how engaging, open-ended probes provide insight into student ideas and misconceptions while learning ways to support them in understanding the concepts.

SPEAKERS:
Laura Tucker (Consultant: Port Townsend, WA)

Explore the range of needs of urban science educators. Interactive rotating discussions and networking will focus on instructional strategies, professional development opportunities, school environment challenges, technology integration, equity and inclusion issues, and collaborative partnerships.

TAKEAWAYS:
Urban science educators gain a deeper understanding of their specific needs and develop practical strategies to enhance their teaching practices, access resources, address equity and inclusion challenges, and build partnerships within their urban school environments.

SPEAKERS:
Selene Verhofstad (Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship: Pasadena, TX), Elizabeth Spike (Clean Air Partners: Alexandria, VA)

The presentation seeks to revolutionize science education by providing students with a dynamic platform to document, reflect on, and showcase their scientific learning experiences using diverse array of multimedia artifacts.

TAKEAWAYS:
This presentation will help the attendees with startegies to enhance student engagement, improve digital literacy, take ownership of their scientific journeys and prepare learners for future educational and career opportunities.

SPEAKERS:
Himani Nigam (Mendham Country Day School: East Brunswick, NJ)

Early STEM activities capitalize on young children’s interest, curiosity, and prior knowledge during indoor and outdoor cooperative play-based activities. As a metacognitive approach, Thinking Maps helps educators understand and document children’s naïve theories, sensemaking, and problem solving.

TAKEAWAYS:
Science and engineering rely on a range of communication modalities, practices, and languages to support sensemaking and problem-solving efforts. Discourse tools and artifacts like Thinking Maps are fundamental mediational tools helping children to externalize and develop their observations and reasoning.

SPEAKERS:
Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV), Chaoyun Yan (Sichuan Normal University: No City, No State), Wenming Zhang (Shanghai Evergreen Child Development Institute: Shanghai, CA), Shelly Counsell (Self Employed Consultant: Buffalo, NY)

This session focuses on designing, building, and, using three-dimensional performance tasks to assess learning of science. The session will feature ways to find analogous phenomena to use in assessment three-dimensional science learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will gain an understanding of effective three-dimensional science assessment practices for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 and a pool of three-dimensional assessment tasks for each of the NGSS standards.

SPEAKERS:
Brett Moulding (Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning: Ogden, UT), Juan-Carlos Aguilar (Georgia Dept. of Education: Atlanta, GA)

Learn about a Science Education Fellowship program that helps science teachers become leaders without leaving the classroom. The SEF program has transformed the lives of hundreds of Fellows and thousands of students. The collaborative effort includes teachers, science coordinators, and administrators.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about how to foster K-12 vertical articulation of science curriculum, an in-depth means to learn about science and engineering practices and how to be a teacher leader without leaving the classroom. Teacher leadership can lead to school district transformation.

SPEAKERS:
Arthur Eisenkraft (University of Massachusetts Boston: Quincy, MA)

Want to create 3D assessment tasks that students enjoy completing and leave wanting to learn more? Join us for this session where we will explore three different approaches to choosing phenomena and problems for assessments that align to standards and connect to students’ interests and identities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will leave with a plan for learning about your students’ interests and the priorities of their communities pertaining to a 3D standard you are teaching and assessing next semester.

SPEAKERS:
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Abraham Lo (BSCS Science Learning: Ambler, PA)

Sponsoring Company: BFW Publishers

Interested in mastery grading? This workshop will provide some practical steps you can take to transition, including using textbook-provided resources: learning objectives, practice, and mastery check assessment The presenter will discuss experiences with AP® Environmental Science and NGSS Biology.

SPEAKERS:
Kristi Schertz (Saugus High School: Santa Clarita, CA)

Grading that supports student sensemaking doesn't have to keep you at school all night. Learn approaches to grading that prioritize 3D sensemaking and utilize technology, collaboration, and existing resources so you have can your evenings back.

TAKEAWAYS:
The process of giving feedback and assigning grades is easier when there are strong materials and assessments to build from and technology can help make it faster without decreasing effectiveness for students.

SPEAKERS:
Sarah Delaney (OpenSciEd: San Carlos, CA)

Explore how NSTA's formative assessment probes from the popular Uncovering Student Ideas series are used in an instructional sequence to understand the ideas your Grades 6-12 students bring to their learning, inform next steps for responsive instruction, and build a powerful thinking classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
A key takeaway is how to use formative assessment probes to uncover and understand the prior knowledge that grades 6-12 students bring to their learning in order to tailor next steps where student thinking is valued, misconceptions are addressed, and deeper conceptual understanding is cultivated.

SPEAKERS:
Page Keeley (NSTA Past President: Fort Myers, FL)

This session explores how integrating executive functioning strategies and gamification in science promotes student autonomy, engagement, and resilience. Learn how leveled assessments provide differentiated challenges, empowering students to choose their learning path and showcase their strengths.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to incorporate executive functioning strategies and gamification into science instruction, using leveled assessments to provide differentiated challenges.

SPEAKERS:
Casey Kleiman (The St. Pauls Schools), Kris Tidball (The St. Pauls Schools)

Discover the equitable assessment system applied in the OpenSciEd Thermodynamics in Earth’s Systems unit. Examine assessment practices that value and elicit diverse ways of knowing, supporting all students in demonstrating their understanding.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will explore how formative and summative assessments are designed to be inclusive and culturally responsive, providing students with multiple opportunities to engage with, reflect on, and communicate their learning.

SPEAKERS:
Kristin Rademaker (NSTA: Freeport, IL), Holly Hereau (NSTA: Lake Angelus, MI)

This session discusses utilizing the institution’s LMS to improve students' success in a non-major biology class at a community college. It emphasizes the crucial role of the faculty member in providing a method for the students to assess their personal level of learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Using the learning management system can improve the entire student learning experience in any course. Each system has a diverse spectrum of tools to help the faculty members and the student population. The question was which tool(s) should be used and how they were applied.

SPEAKERS:
Lance Morris (Arkansas Northeastern College: Blytheville, AR)

This session will focus on helping all physics students communicate their knowledge. AP Physics Course Leads will share strategies for incorporating Science Practices into all physics classrooms, with a focus on preparing students to communicate their understanding on the new AP Physics FRQ types.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will walk away with an understanding of the skills assessed on each of the four free response questions and strategies for how they can prepare students for success on the AP Physics Exams. Time will be reserved for questions and discussion.

SPEAKERS:
Dee Dee Messer (William Mason High School: Mason, OH)

NSTA's Science Scope columnist and NSTA Press’s Creative Writing in Science author Katie Coppens will provide strategies to integrate reading and writing in science with an emphasis on differentiation. Models and rubrics will be provided. Everyone will leave with ideas for implementation.

TAKEAWAYS:
Integrating science and literacy engages students while enhancing their scientific knowledge and improving their writing skills! Each activity gives students voice and choice to strengthen their interest in various areas of science. Student models are provided to show strategies in action.

SPEAKERS:
Katie Coppens (Falmouth Middle School: Brunswick, ME)

Retakes have been a hot topic in allowing students to demonstrate learning mastery. This has been supported by many including the work of Dr. Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity, but how does this work in practice in a science setting? Join to hear from someone who has tried this out.

TAKEAWAYS:
An honest reflection on the application of offering retakes to students in written assessments to help you make an informed decision on your own grading practices.

SPEAKERS:
Will Leech (The Haverford School: Haverford, PA)

Presenter will share how using customized checklists have aided in student success and clearer communication among all stakeholders. These checklists are used throughout each unit and detail requirements for mastery as well as necessary assignments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to better support student learning at all levels by creating their own checklists for student use. These checklists promote mastery of content while keeping all stakeholders updated on the student’s progression of learning.

SPEAKERS:
Andrea Starks (Houston Middle School: Germantown, TN)

This presentation will share results of my research with a middle school science class on how the online program Classbank boosts student motivation for reassessment in mastery-based learning. It examines how game-like rewards impact students' willingness to improve performance and perceive learning

TAKEAWAYS:
A key takeaway is how Classbank's gamification enhances middle school students' motivation to engage in reassessment, driving improvement in performance.

SPEAKERS:
Alma Fernandez (Robert E. Peary Middle School: Gardena, CA), Cecilia Duenas (Na: Thousand Oaks, CA)

This session will describe how stop action videos are one of the most powerful and most underused tools in life science education.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave understanding how stop action videos can be such a powerful tool and will be able to think about how they might incorporate them into their own teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Christopher Aguiar (Choate Rosemary Hall: Wallingford, CT)

The alumni group of the NASA/IPAC Teacher Research Project have created standalone lessons to help teachers implement astronomical research. This poster will highlight the resources created for the middle school level and include tips to incorporate in the classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn about incorporating standalone lessons into middle school classes and how to help facilitate astronomical research projects.

SPEAKERS:
Ace Schwarz (The Shipley School: Bala Cynwyd, PA)

Learn strategies for designing low-prep guided inquiry labs for all physics students. The poster will address strategies to help students with both experimental design and data analysis. Leave with a better understanding of FRQ #3, Experimental Design and Analysis, on the AP Physics exam.

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to create guided inquiry lab experiences for physics students. Understand how FRQ #3, Experimental Design and Analysis, assesses student understanding on the AP Physics exams.

SPEAKERS:
Dee Dee Messer (William Mason High School: Mason, OH)

The Learning Progression Model is a flexible, equitable assessment strategy to provide descriptive feedback, set goals, evaluate teaching, and report achievement. Attendees leave knowing how they can implement this in their classrooms even in a traditional grades school. For K-College, all courses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Understand how the Learning Progression Model keeps students engaged and accountable, how learning progressions are used to develop/assess skills and knowledge aligned with NGSS, and how to integrate this approach into the traditional grading system.

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

Science teachers have been implementing the CER in their instruction with varied results, but what if there were a better alternative? This session will model how the Gather Reason and Communicate model can lead to greater and more authentic learning outcomes for students in the NGSS classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators should leave this session with ideas that are ready to implement, and a tool kit to allow them to convert existing CER lessons to GRC; an approach that is more student-friendly, rigorous, and can help strengthen sens-making in the NGSS classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Jones (Washington Fields Intermediate School: Washington, UT)

Modeling is an essential SEP and a pedagogical tool that can elevate science teaching. In this workshop, learn and practice modeling as a pedagogical tool for having students illustrate their sense-making process for scientific concepts while also increasing and assessing learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will experience a variety of methods of modeling to utilize in their classroom that allow student learning of science concepts to be visualized. Leave this workshop with activities and pedological moves related to modeling that you can implement in your class immediately.

SPEAKERS:
Jocelyn Miller (E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation: Chapel Hill, NC), Missie Olson (Becker High School: Annandale, MN)

This session looks at the research behind play-based learning and ways of and criteria for assessing science play in the P-2 group. Participant will actively assess several play scenarios

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with experience assessing some science play scenarios, assessment guidelines, and research citations supporting play-based learning to use and share in their own contexts

SPEAKERS:
Anne Lowry (Aleph Academy: Reno, NV)

Attendees of this 60-minute program will acquire knowledge regarding the traits of students with various impairments, explore effective support mechanisms, and identify techniques to cultivate an inclusive classroom atmosphere, thereby promoting the achievement of all students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will learn how to use the NGSS's phenomenon-based, three-dimensional learning framework, which gives students a full, real-world context that makes even the most abstract scientific ideas easy to understand.

SPEAKERS:
Kathryn Dormann Healey (Orange Scholars Academy: Wanaque, NJ), Alicia Lavelle (South Bergen Jointure Commission: No City, No State)

Help students build science efficacy using digital portfolios, a practice that asks students to collect/reflect on self-selected work and share learning with others. Learn how to create/manage a culture of reflective practice in your classroom using this invaluable tool with existing resources!

TAKEAWAYS:
Self-efficacy in science is promoted when students use metacognition and share advice about meaningful learning experiences with others. Creating digital portfolios is a seamless way to meet this need and provide a platform for giving and receiving feedback and celebrating learning.

SPEAKERS:
Suzanne Zilvetti (George Washington Middle School: Fair Lawn, NJ)

Sponsoring Company: BFW Publishers

Collisions and work-energy concepts are key topics in AP® Physics 1, and often challenging due to gaps in understanding. This session explores a clearer way to describe interactions, helping enhance students' comprehension so they tackle these problems more effectively. (Examples from recent exams).

SPEAKERS:
Gay Stewart (West Virginia University: Morgantown, WV)

Sponsoring Company: Switch Classroom

Shortened Description (300 characters): Prepare your students for success on the AP Enviro exam with expert tips for tackling multiple-choice and free-response questions. Learn strategies to enhance critical thinking and test-taking skills, helping your students achieve their best scores.

Whether it is in high school course enrollment, college, or careers, males outnumber females in terms of enrollment and the study of advanced STEM fields, particularly physics, and engineering. This program will review the current research, interventions, and action steps to reverse this trend.

TAKEAWAYS:
Impact of socio-cultural and psycho-social factors leading to gender disproportionality in STEM course enrollment. Also, the sharing of action steps to take designed to increase female student enrollment, particularly for those students with individual Advanced Placement Potential.

SPEAKERS:
Barbara Fortunato (West Windsor-Plainsboro HS South: Haddonfield, NJ), Daniel Sierzega (West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District: No City, No State), Richard Stec (West Windsor-Plainsboro High School: Hamilton, NJ)

The purpose of this session to help participants use meaningful strategies to adapt their curriculum to the STEELS standards. The new standards are a shift in both content and pedagogy which can feel overwhelming to teachers.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will receive strategies to take already written curriculum and make it three-dimensional.

SPEAKERS:
Karianne Chessario (State College Area School District: State College, PA)

Implementing recommendations from the NRC Framework and How People Learn can lead to impactful changes in teacher practice and student learning. Experience what 3D sensemaking of a climate change phenomenon looks and feels like and how this led to enhanced learning in a middle school classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants will leave with a student self-assessment sheet and a rubric that can be used with 3D investigations of any phenomenon and an understanding of how to use it effectively in their classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Wil Van der Veen (Raritan Valley Community College: Edison, NJ), Denise Magrini (Mountain View Middle School: Netcong, NJ)

Figuring out what to grade for 3-dimensional teaching and learning is a challenge. Come see how we use OpenSciEd's assessment guidance to create unit-long learning progression rubrics that support assessing students in mastering intentionally developed SEPs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Our method of deriving Newton's 2nd Law in OpenSciEd Physics Unit 3: Collisions and Momentum is motivated by student ideas. Students are wondering how much time it takes to stop a car. They design an experiment with a unique "force cart" apparatus, then construct an algebraic model from their data.

SPEAKERS:
Joseph Kremer (Denver Public Schools: Denver, CO), Dr. Patty McGinnis (NSTA: Brevard, NC)

Learn how educator-researchers relied upon multilingual learners’ assets to deepen all students’ science knowledge and metacognitive skills via formative and self-assessments. You’ll have the opportunity to create a multimodal self-assessment for the students in your classroom to inform instructional changes.

TAKEAWAYS:
Researchers and educators will share the results of a research study, including takeaways and strategies for using multilingual students’ assets to promote learning and shape instructional changes that benefit all students in science learning before creating their own multimodal self-assessment.

SPEAKERS:
Adam Hays (Marvin B Smith Elementary School: Haw River, NC), Brooke Bentley (Wilkes County School: North Wilkesboro, NC), Brittany York (Center for Applied Linguistics: Washington, DC)

The field of science education has made great strides in implementing the Next Generation Science Standards in order to fulfill the vision for science education established in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Progress has been made developing high quality instructional materials with embedded

TAKEAWAYS:
Deepen your understanding of 3D feedback and grading while also developing practical strategies for making impactful changes in your classroom.

SPEAKERS:
William Penuel (University of Colorado Boulder: Boulder, CO), Melissa Campanella (University of Colorado Boulder: Baltimore, MD)

Multidimensional learning extends beyond the integration of core ideas, science & engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Explore how to deepen learning through problem solving in multiple dimensions in many curricular areas and use experiences and practices to empower teachers and students.

TAKEAWAYS:
1. Identify opportunities for integration and application of multidimensional learning in science, technology, & engineering. 2. Create multidimensional lessons & activities that connect content areas and professional fields. 3. Develop strategies to foster and support multidimensional learning.

SPEAKERS:
Brittany Yabor (Fugett Middle School: West Chester, PA), Dina Dormer (West Chester Area School District: Exton, PA)

Learn how CASCIA has leveraged research-based practices and partnerships to design grade 5 and middle school score reports and reporting mechanisms that help educators track, interpret, and communicate students' science learning and that provide strategies for families to support their students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Through shared testimony of state and local educators, learn how to use open-source assessments and CASCIA reporting mechanisms that include QR codes and hyperlinks for educators and families with assessment-aligned, student-centered, actionable strategies and resources to improve science learning.

SPEAKERS:
Michelle Gall (North Bend Central Junior/Senior High School: Scribner, NE), Bill Herrera (edCount, LLC: Laramie, WY), Rhonda True (Nebraska Department of Education: Lincoln, NE), Charlene Turner (edCount, LLC: Laramie, WY)

How do I help my students be climate literate without changing my whole curriculum? Join WA State’s ClimeTime team as they share K-12 resources, tools, & best practices for designing instruction & assessment while centering local phenomena. Come away with a plan for your climate teaching journey!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will take away resources and best practices for anchoring their instruction and assessments around local climate phenomena, including resources from their local community, such as nonprofits and state and local governments.

SPEAKERS:
Caroline Kiehle (Institute for Systems Biology: Seattle, WA), Brad Street (IslandWood: SEATTLE, WA), Lori Henrickson (Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction: Olympia, WA)

Explore how NSTA's popular Uncovering Student Ideas series, including the newly published Volume 2 life science formative assessment probes, are used in an instructional sequence to understand the key ideas about life science concepts your grades 3-12 students bring to their learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
How to use the life science formative assessment probes to uncover and understand the prior knowledge that grades 3-12 students bring to their learning in order to tailor next steps where student thinking is valued, misconceptions are addressed, and deeper conceptual understanding is supported.

SPEAKERS:
Page Keeley (NSTA Past President: Fort Myers, FL)

Electronic Exit Tickets check for understanding of lesson-level PEs, make connections between content and students’ lives, elicit information about their experiences, and help students reflect on their own use of SEPs and CCCs. They can help reduce grading time and provide actionable information abo

TAKEAWAYS:
Reduce grading time and get the data you need when you need it with 3D Electronic Exit Tickets.

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

Sponsoring Company: Stile Education

Tired of students relying on AI to do their thinking for them? AI has its place, but it’s not the only path to meaningful assessment. This session is your ultimate guide to harnessing the power of Socratic Seminars—where technology meets authentic, student-driven conversation. Imagine your classroom alive with deep discussions—students grappling with ideas, challenging perspectives, and demonstrating true understanding. Say goodbye to cookie-cutter responses and hello to an environment where critical thinking thrives and assessments truly reflect student growth. Don’t miss out on this game-changing strategy to revolutionize student engagement and transform your approach to assessment! Presenter: Mel Horton

SPEAKERS:
Mel Horton (Oregon Science Education Lead: Portland, OR)

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)

This session will discuss how middle school students explored astronomical phenomenon via telescopes and databases to create a research project based on student-driven questions and hypotheses.

TAKEAWAYS:
Authentic, astronomical research can be done in an effective and rigorous way in middle school classes. Attendees will learn how to build an inquiry-based research project using authentic data.

SPEAKERS:
Ace Schwarz (The Shipley School: Bala Cynwyd, PA)

Like it or not, generative AI is here to stay. This session will set aside debate to focus on how it can be a useful tool for teachers. We are not AI experts; we are teachers starting to recognize that micro-incorporations of AI into our classrooms just might enrich the student experience.

TAKEAWAYS:
Easy to replicate and adaptable to your own needs, we’ll share specific ways we've successfully and unabashedly used AI in our middle school science classrooms this school year. You'll leave with practical ideas to implement right away and perhaps a bit more confidence to take the next step with AI.

SPEAKERS:
Bekah Hassell (Harpeth Hall: Nashville, TN), Rebecca Smith (Harpeth Hall School: Nashville, TN)

Discover strategies to boost your students' skills in explaining and evaluating scientific knowledge in real-world contexts. This presentation offers insights from using science discovery narratives and a science literacy tool to enhancing literacy in urban high schools.

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will learn how to systematically assess students' application of scientific knowledge to solve socio-scientific issues via written communication skills.

SPEAKERS:
Eual Phillips (Spring-Ford Area School District: Royersford, PA)

Are you ready to transform your chemistry curriculum? Discover how we are empowering students with voice and choice not just in lessons or projects, but for an entire semester! Join us as we share our innovative approach to chemistry electives, where students select their own lenses for learning.

TAKEAWAYS:
Chemistry education can effectively integrate real-world applications while ensuring mastery of foundational concepts and skills.

SPEAKERS:
Tracy Wazenegger (Hawken Upper School: South Euclid, PA), Lauren Coil-Sherck (Hawken Upper School: Gates Mills, OH)

Assessments where students use understanding of disciplinary core ideas, science & engineering practices & crosscutting concepts rather than only assessing scientific ideas, is challenging. I share 5-min to 1-hour tasks, & explanations & models that develop over time or as culminating assessments.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will leave with several shorter and longer 3-D water quality assessment tasks that require students to use their understandings. These assessments inform students & teachers of where students are in their learning so teachers can adjust instruction to best serve all students.

SPEAKERS:
Ann Novak (Greenhills School: ANN ARBOR, MI)

How I implemented a new curriculum, Lab-Aids, and how I implemented Equitable Grading (Mastery Grading) in Middle School Science. I leaned heavily on CERs and the rubrics from Lab-Aids. My district also has a work habit grade which I utilized for a grade based on the student's spiral notebook.

TAKEAWAYS:
Equitable grading and mastery grading works well for all middle school students.

SPEAKERS:
Donald Selway (Chavez Middle School / Oceanside Unified School District: Carlsbad, CA)

This session explores how English Language Arts Standards can enhance science education by integrating literacy with scientific inquiry. Participants will learn strategies for blending ELA and science, using formative assessments to foster critical thinking and cross-disciplinary skills.

TAKEAWAYS:
One main takeaway from this session is how integrating English Language Arts Standards with science education can enhance students' ability to analyze, communicate, and think critically about scientific concepts, using formative assessments to support both literacy and scientific practices.

SPEAKERS:
Stacie Jassen (Forsyth County Schools: Cumming, GA), Brittney Denier Cantrell (Forsyth County Schools: Cumming, GA)

Take That For Data walks participants through data trackers that allow teachers and scholars to be able to easily track their data and success rate on different standards and assignments. Teachers can quickly check progress as students will be able to be accountable for their own data.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will be able to implement student data trackers to help students be accountable for their growth. Teachers will have an easy to use tracker to measure student progress at a glance.

SPEAKERS:
Kari Walters (Power Center Academy: Collierville, TN)

Assessment as a transformative practice focused on how to elicit evidence to support student learning.  Science educators must plan the instructional activities with assessments to improve in-class learning outcomes. What is learned from multiple choice, essays, and diagrams is examined.

TAKEAWAYS:
Conceptual understanding, rather than memorization, is a more useful measurement of student learning and how three assessment strategies: objective-based questions, drawing of a model, and learner-generated constructed response can be used to gauged achievement.

SPEAKERS:
Stephen Farenga (Queens College, CUNY: Williston Park, NY), Salvatore Garofalo (Queens College, City University of New York: Mineola, NY)

Learn how eliminating grading can empower students and minimize gratuitous stress, all while deepening learning. This session provides practical strategies to implement a no-grades, (or minimal-grading) model that fosters more critical thinking and incentivizes more frequent meaningful instruction.

TAKEAWAYS:
Discover how eliminating traditional grading practices in science can foster deeper critical thinking and minimize toxicity surrounding grading. Explore strategies to implement a no-grades model that enhances long-term learning outcomes and can even give a deeper meaning to what we do as educators.

SPEAKERS:
Daniel Imaizumi (Harriton High School: Rosemont, PA)

Foster sense-making and creativity among your students with the integration of One Pagers into your assessment repertoire. In this session, participants will learn how this open-ended assessment prompt can help your learners take ownership of the knowledge they have gained in science and beyond.

TAKEAWAYS:
One Pagers offer a flexible assessment tool for any classroom and learning level. Teachers will gain insights for implementing One Pagers, explore real examples, and discuss qualitative data collection. This method empowers students to creatively visualize and summarize their learning

SPEAKERS:
Lori Anderson (Neuse Charter School: Clayton, NC), Lindsay Head (Herschel Jones Middle School: Dallas, GA), Dru Humphrey (National Air and Space Museum: Reston, VA)

Explore effective assessment strategies for measuring student understanding in science. We will cover formative and summative assessments, rubrics, and methods for providing meaningful feedback to students.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will walk away ideas to enhance student learning through the strategic use of both formative and summative assessments, supported by clear rubrics and constructive feedback.

SPEAKERS:
Richard Warren Jr (School Specialty: Greenville, WI)

As teacher educators, we must equip preservice teachers to honor diverse student experiences in science education. To address challenges from differing cultural backgrounds, we've integrated AI tools into our courses to develop culturally responsive NGSS lesson plans. We’ll share these strategies

TAKEAWAYS:
Equip science teacher educators with AI tools, strategies, and insights to help science teacher candidates enhance their lesson planning and assessment development to include a focus on equity, social justice and culturally responsive teaching.

SPEAKERS:
Olayinka Mohorn (University of Memphis: Memphis, TN), Logan Caldwell (The University of Memphis: MEMPHIS, TN)

What’s in a good assessment? Learn what to look for (or include) in an effective assessment that tracks students’ 3D learning related to middle school PEs.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn about key features for summative, benchmark 3D assessments designed to be used in any NGSS-aligned middle school classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Maia Binding (The Lawrence Hall of Science: Berkeley, CA)

Simplify and streamline your workday with Schoology! Strategies used by a regular classroom teacher will be shared to aid in PLC collaboration, assignment and assessment differentiation, and transparent communication with parents.

TAKEAWAYS:
Strategies will promote streamlining assignments, ensuring inclusion of all students, simplifying PLC practices, and sharing course information with parents. Necessary set-ups will be shared so that attendees can immediately incorporate them into their own in-person or digital classrooms.

SPEAKERS:
Andrea Starks (Houston Middle School: Germantown, TN)

Transform your assessment tool into a powerful instrument for enhancing learning. Designed for educators from K-16, with an aim to streamline the grading process, make rubrics strengths-based, differentiable across all levels, and centered on developing transferable skills. Bring your own rubric!

TAKEAWAYS:
Attendees will leave with their own revised rubric that not only simplifies grading but also fosters student engagement and achievement. They will discover ways to provide constructive, actionable feedback that drives improvement and facilitates student growth.

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

Science teachers have been implementing the CER in their instruction with varied results, but what if there were a better alternative? This session will model how the Gather Reason and Communicate model can lead to greater and more authentic learning outcomes for students in the NGSS classroom.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators should leave this session with lesson plans that are ready to implement, and a tool kit to allow them to convert their existing CER practices into an approach that is more student-friendly, rigorous, and can help strengthen sense-making in the NGSS classroom.

SPEAKERS:
Jessica Jones (Washington Fields Intermediate School: Washington, UT)

Participants will learn how to identify priority and supporting standards. This session will illustrate the utilization of priority standards in assessment writing; intentionally aligning standards, instruction and assessment.

TAKEAWAYS:
Participants at this conference will explore the importance of identifying priority standards and how to align them intentionally with instruction to enhance student achievement. The workshop will focus on building a foundation for common assessments to improve learning outcomes.

SPEAKERS:
Lynn DiAndrea (Farmingdale School District: Farmingdale, NY), Dr. Kristen Cummings (Farmingdale Union Free School District: Farmingdale, NY)

We are re-imagining assessment for elementary students that elevates three-dimensions. Join us to learn more about how we develop more aligned and holistic assessment opportunities.

TAKEAWAYS:
Educators will learn to evaluate the assessments they are currently using and elevate them to support student sense making.

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

Are you a new or tenured chemistry teacher looking for some short, fun hands-on laboratory activities that reinforce the NGSS and increase students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills? Then, this is a session you will not want to miss.

TAKEAWAYS:
Teachers will perform a handful of laboratory experiment procedures to learn first hand what their students will experience in class as summative assessments that are not memorize and forget. This will help these teachers to better understand where common mistakes and misconceptions may be made.

SPEAKERS:
Paula Irwin (Altoona Area High School: Altoona, PA)

Participants will learn engaging, hands-on science activities to help Emergent Bilingual students at nationally recognized language levels. You'll explore ways to teach and reinforce key science ideas like force, motion, and energy while checking how well students learn new vocabulary and concepts!

TAKEAWAYS:
Learn how to engage and assess Emergent Bilingual students using hands-on science strategies for force, motion, and energy aligned with national language and content standards while building formative tools to support language growth and more profound understanding in your science classroom!

SPEAKERS:
Ricardo Lumbreras (Tarleton State University: Granbury, TX), Gwinn North (Tarleton State University: Stephenville, TX)