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Hi everyone. I hope we can continue the conversation about the NSTA Virtual Conferences on the NGSS Practices. I think we have a great group of speakers today, but I am biased because I helped pick them. :) What are you all most looking forward to? And what do you hope to get out of the conference? -Ted Willard Director, NGSS@NSTA

This is the first online conference of this type that I've participated in. I am curious and interested to see how it will work (so far, it's great!). I also hope to see inspiration for different online tricks to use to engage my students.

Thanks Nicole. This is something new for us as well, but we see it as being a great complement to our face-to-face conferences. Something that can happen at different times of the year and that might appeal to educators who aren't always able to travel half-way across the country. We are trying our best to "mimic" many of the aspects that people find useful in our regular conferences, including a chance to talk to colleagues, which is why we established this discussion forum. -Ted

Ted I'm seeing some cool and rich questions being asked and discussed briefly in the live web seminar virtual conference, might you select a few you think that have "legs" and post them here, or encourage that individual to make the post here at a break during the live day. Might be cool to see if folks want to extend the conversation from synchronous to asynchronous.

Yes, please! Can we get a thread going for generating storylines? That would be a fantastic collaborative resource.

I'll just make a strong request that paid participants should be able to get powerpoint versions of the slides from the sessions, it is probable that the presenters prepared them as such, so it would be very helpful in terms of accessing for our own needs… Thanks…

Hi Richard, Thank you for your post. All the slides from presenters are available to all paid participants at the launch page: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/events/vc_launch.aspx They are included within each resource collection for the specific presentation. Flavio.

Hi Ted, Great conference and it is just starting! It was asked in the first session, "what changes in our lesson plans and curriculum materials need to be made to incorporate NGSS?" I thought I would jump in and share some things that I am doing with my classes to continue the discussion. In my biology classes, we have paired with a scientist studying the effect of climate change on the food web in Antarctica. Students apply what the content they have learned in their biology and earth science courses. We have explored several climate models. Student complete three experiments that help them understand some current findings. We also have had live calls with our scientist while she has been in the field. It was really exciting for the students. For the final project for this unit, students work in their lab groups to conduct their own investigation dealing with ocean acidification. We just started the investigations this week. The room is a mess. However, the learning environment is exciting. I know that this program may not be for everyone. However, I have noticed several teaching shifts that have made this project very successful. First, content is given on an as-needed basis. Secondly, the unit is very carefully planned so that each reading, activity, or lab is related. Thirdly, students are taken to the scientific literature early immediately. We still have a biology textbook for reference, but we also look at what scientist have recently found that hasn't made the textbook yet. We have used popular magazines like Scientific American and science websites that are geared for high school students. My better readers also have been using the abstracts and the accompanying graphs from professional journals. I have found that some days I am instructor giving direct content knowledge. As the unit progresses, I am a guide and manager to help individual student teams as they need help. Mostly, I just get out of the way and let the students learn. They are having fun and are highly motivated. Lastly, we have covered an important topic in more depth. We do not cover as much content, but students have a much better understanding of how science works. If you are interested in doing something similar in your classroom, you should check out the website which is [url=http://coseenow.net/project-parka/]here[/url]. What are others doing in their classrooms?

Thanks for sharing, Ruth! What a great example of how to help our students interact with real scientists in the field. I have been participating in the modeling break out session of the virtual conference. Cindy Passmore has done a phenomenal job of helping me to understand how modeling can be "modeled" in the classroom. I can't wait to view the archive of this web seminar. There is so much in one session, that I know I will want to refer to it again (and again). There were some outstanding graphic organizers (in the ppt presentation) shared as well. I am really glad we have these new resources! Carolyn

I've been trying to jump between sessions, but have missed a lot as a result. I'm definitely going to need to dive into the archives.

I came late because of funeral attendance. I went to engineering with Mariel and caught the tail end. I will be watching each and every one of the archives at least once maybe MORE! Just in the few minutes I was there I got caught a great simulation that I want to try ...Can't wait untikl I have time to dig in! Kathy

Thank you Falvio, what I meant was to have access to powerpoint slides rather than pdfs…

Just as it has been mentioned, learners need lots of practise working in and with different models I wanted to play in the NGSS practices sand box not only with the presenters but also to interrelate with the participants on what was presented. Its happening. The dendrites are making new synapses and I am having fun, too.

I am thinking about how much I enjoyed the 'elementary' session. The session provided me with much fodder to chew on.I am now stretching my thinking about modeling to inlcude some of the other if not all of the NGSS practices.

As a teacher, I was totally enthralled by what Rich and Leona were doing with teachers and students. I, do have to admit, I wondered how many schools would be allowed to let that type of learning happen. Administrators would and should trust educators to provide the type of learning expereinces they talked about.

Rich and Leona stressed the connection between the 'culture of the classroom' and the ' students being willing to share their thinking'. Without the culture, none of the in-depth learning can occur. I think it is critical to begin developing that culture in elementary school so students continue to be willing to share their thinking with their peers and the teacher as they move through the grades.

I am wondering if Rich and Leona, or any of you are willing to talk about how you develop the culture in your classrooms each year?

Kathy

Such a valuable experience today! Loved the sessions especially Jonathan Osbourne's session. So many great ideas about how to utilize using argument and explanation! My head is spinning. Thank you NSTA for thinking outside the box!

Kathy, I agree with you. Key is the collaboration of University, Informal educators and K-12 schools. In CT I'm involved with CT Green LEAF Schools. The organization just received a grant for a partnership that I just listed focused on environmental education. Email me at [email protected] and I'll share with you more details. Website is http://ctgreenschools.org/index.htm

This has been an amazing whirlwind of a day to explore and learn more about NGSS and how to creatively implement it into our teaching practice. I also will be returning to the archives of these sessions many times. The Modeling and Engineering sessions that I attended were fantastic! If you were not able to view either of those in real time, check out the archives. I like Ruth's earlier questions - "What changes in our lesson plans and curriculum need to be made to implement NGSS?" Today was a wonderful series of sessions to help us begin to answer that question. Love all the teaching resources that were provided by the presenters.

Even though my state was involved in the process of NGSS, my school district won't be implementing them until the 2015/2016 school year. :-( I am very excited to learn as much as I can before the formal implementation process. I very much enjoyed this webinar as traveling to different places for professional development is not really an option with no funds in the budget for science! Being part of this webinar was very helpful as well as valuable to me. I hope in the future, my school will be interested in spending money to promote these new standards.

I really enjoyed the virtual conference, specially the Engineering and Explanation and Argumentation. Im taking lots of ideas for classroom use. Am also very grateful for the participants to suggest activities and provide great links for use in our classrooms. Will we be able to access the chats later on? Thanks! Tania

Love the closing panel discussion of Science for All - teaching science to diverse students. This is a challenge for implementation of NGSS all class rooms, especially in mixed ability groupings.

The discussion on Assessment and the NGSS is also fascinating.

Check out the closing session the archives if you missed it.

Kathy Renfrew, You asked for practices teachers used as first steps toward creating a classroom culture where ideas, data, and argument can take place among learners ? Recalling elementary classroom of 28-30 "gifted" type 4th graders whose reticence to go public with their ideas was challenged. This was the plan: Materials: 1 used brown business sized envelope 32 name tags cut from used manila folder with a student's name boldly printed on each tag (extras for new students or whatever new idea needed for this particular class) 1 sm bus. envelope creating a pocket taped inside big envelope to fit the used name tags Students were instructed that if their name was pulled out they would have time with no interruptions to provide a response to their thinking. They could take a pass on the first time and then could call on a volunteer in their place. Their name was then put back in the brown folder. The learner's card who responded was placed in the pocket so as to not be called on until all in the class had an opportunity to engage in this process. This was to help the teacher not to call on the same student and to have all students "on the hook" all the time. The teacher made the decision to intervene if a student really couldn't make a response in a reasonable amount of time.(Teachers needed to increase the student's time to think on their feet.) Upon a response another name was pulled out of the brown envelop to repeat in their own words the response of the previous student. Increasing student's listening to each other. This wasn't always needed especially as it became a habit to listen to each other. This was set up in the beginning of the academic year. When we went into groups of 3 or 4 for "lab" work students imagined they were like scientists in other parts of the world listening to each group reporting of their data and analysis and would have to carefully look and listen to either add to the data, disagree, and/or propose their results and analysis. This practice created a culture of trust and respect. I hope this is what was meant by your query, Kathy ? Wished I had learned tis strategy in the first 20 yrs of teaching.

Ali, I love your suggestion for creating a classroom culture of listening, respect, AND analysis of thought. Using one envelope inside a larger one is great teacher-trick that I'm definitely going to use! I've never had a good place for "called-on" popsicle sticks... Thank you.

Not having a copy of the NGSS while on the road and having read Appendix D - "All Standards, All Students”: Making the Next Generation Science Standards Accessible to All Students Is there an NSTA resource available on line where the seven case studies of diverse student groups can be found? Please.

The seven case studies were found under the Standards heading tab at the NSTA website. I can go forward. Disregard previous request. Thank you.

Okhee Lee strongly suggested viewing the seven case studies following Appendix D of the NGSS. Each of the cases illuminated different science teaching strategies modeling a related science classroom interrelating ELA and Math common core. The included rational accompanying teacher guided actions and questions in each "vignette" was most meaningful. I am grateful to Okhee for her guidance.

Hello! I tried to log in today to The Nature of Science in NGSS at 3:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. CT / 1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT. I had trouble, but will troubleshoot and try again to view the archive.