Web Seminar Series

Join us on four consecutive Tuesdays, February 18, 25, March 4, and 11, 2025, to experience the crosscutting concepts (CCCs) as powerful lenses and tools for student sensemaking when partnered with the science and engineering practices (SEPs) and disciplinary core ideas (DCIs). Students who use CCCs regularly build confidence in their science practices and develop a stronger sense of science identity. Each session presents participants with the opportunity to consider the different ways in which the CCCs can be used in the classroom for science instruction and assessment.

Program outline:

Web Seminar 1: Participants will actively collaborate with fellow participants to build a deeper understanding of the CCCs and their role, determine focal CCCs for a given phenomenon, and understand how the CCCs build in a vertical progression across K-12.

Web Seminar 2: Participants will learn about and engage with effective instructional strategies and how to use a “slow reveal” approach to help students make sense of data and graphs. Participants will explore a variety of online sources for obtaining data for students to analyze and interpret and will also receive access to a virtual toolbox of resources to immediately use in their classroom.

Web Seminar 3: Participants will gain strategies to pair student discourse with the CCCs to support students in figuring out phenomena. Participants will be provided a virtual toolbox of resources and the opportunity to collaborate with each other to identify ways to use these strategies/tools in the classroom. 

Web Seminar 4: Participants will explore assessment shifts of the CCCs and uncover HOW and WHY we use assessment to drive learning forward and reflect on their own next steps for assessment and instruction related to the CCCs for student sensemaking.

Program dates and times:

The four live web seminars are scheduled on Tuesdays, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern time. Specific program dates are below:  

• February 18, 25, March 4, and 11, 2025.

During the topic study participants have access to:

• Digital resources and all NSTA online community tools (My Library, My Profile, Community Forums)
• All archive versions of the web seminars to watch on-demand.

Program certificates:

Participants will receive a certificate from NSTA after each live web seminar for attending the live program AND for completing the post-program survey.

Groups of teachers:

Science Leaders Can Sponsor Groups of Educators!  Are you a state, district, or school leader working to enhance your teachers' professional learning?  Please consider sponsoring a cohort of teachers to participate in the Supporting Student Sensemaking with the Crosscutting Concepts: Topic Study for K-12 Educators!

Cost to groups:

• $1,500 flat fee per cohort of 25 participants, regardless of their NSTA membership status. Additional participants (beyond 25) will be charged $60 per person.

If you are interested in sponsoring a group of at least 25 individuals, please contact Flavio Mendez via email ([email protected]) for a quote.

Send your questions about the program to ([email protected]).

Final note: The rates below are for individual registration only and include all four web seminars in the series.