Welcome to My Classroom is a program sponsored by NSTA’s International Advisory Board and is intended primarily for international participants to view science classrooms. This year, trip participants will visit Maple Richmond Heights Elementary School or Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience. Participants will be split into groups where half will visit the elementary school, and the other half will visit the college preparatory school. Time has been set aside for participants to observe and interact with teachers and students at their selected location.
Those with W-1 tickets will visit Maple Richmond Heights Elementary School, a grades 3–6 elementary school in which teaching and learning is focused by using the “School As Museum” metaphor to organize classroom projects. As students take on the role of curator and designer for their own museum exhibits, they are able to go in-depth into science and social studies units. Students and teachers choose the focus questions for their research allowing instruction to be differentiated naturally. The research process extends children’s opportunities for reading and writing across the curriculum. Creating exhibits based on this research and interpreting them for visitors provides an embedded way for students to demonstrate what they know and for teachers to assess their learning. For more information, visit Maple Richmond Heights Elementary School’s website.
Meet your educational trip leader at the Convention Plaza entrance of America’s Center at least 15 minutes before departure time.
Welcome to My Classroom is a program sponsored by NSTA’s International Advisory Board and is intended primarily for international participants to view science classrooms. This year, trip participants will visit Maple Richmond Heights Elementary School or Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience. Participants will be split into groups where half will visit the elementary school, and the other half will visit the college preparatory school. Time has been set aside for participants to observe and interact with teachers and students at their selected location.
Those with W-2 tickets will visit Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, an innovative, college preparatory school with high expectations of its academic team and student body. With a highly diverse learning community, the grades 9–12 school strives to achieve excellence by engaging in student-centered, experiential learning; integrating effective instructional technology; and using collaborative, real-world learning experiences. For more information, visit Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience.
Meet your educational trip leader at the Convention Plaza entrance of America’s Center at least 15 minutes before departure time.
Room: Regency B, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
By Separate Registration Only
Participants deepen their understanding of three-dimensional teaching and learning by focusing on developing storylines and learning how to use their resources to support broader implementation efforts in their schools and districts. Click here for more information and to register.
The question, “What does STEM look like in the classroom?” typically prompts a wide variety of responses. In their book, Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons, Jackie Speake Dwyer and Milton Huling propose a solution to this question: StEMTify your lessons! Science standards in all states have consistent big ideas—it is how we teach and frame the content that makes a significant difference in student learning and retention of important science concepts. The authors’ goal is to help teachers increase the efficacy of their current science lessons by substituting the StEMT process into already existing lessons to ensure real-world application using mathematics and engineering design. Click here for more details.
Speakers: Jackie Speake Dwyer, Independent Education Consultant, Learning Sciences International Milton Huling, Curriculum Specialist, Polk County Public Schools
Students engaged in authentic three-dimensional learning benefit from teachers who are practitioners of science—curious and reflective individuals participating in their own sense-making as they guide students in doing science. This PLI engages participants in the role of true practitioner, experiencing the feeling of “not-yet-understanding” during the investigation of three Earth systems problems. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to integrate Earth science into an interdisciplinary curriculum and how to mentor students during authentic investigations. Click here for more details.
Speakers: Mary Colson, Science Teacher, Horizon Middle School Russell Colson, Professor of Geology, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Are you planning to adopt new science instructional materials for your district or school? If so, you know this is an important, but challenging process. Claims about the standards alignment are common in materials, but which ones will really help teachers hone their craft? With new science standards, limited resources, and diverse student needs to consider—where do you even begin? NextGen TIME includes a suite of tools and processes designed to guide your deep dive into next generation science and to support you in the evaluation, selection, and implementation of new materials. The full process of NextGen TIME is often spread out over an extended period of time, but this professional learning experience will ground you in the core processes while helping you see through alignment claims. You will learn to identify important qualities necessary in instructional materials that are designed for the NGSS or other standards rooted in A Framework for K–12 Science Education. Click here for more details.
Speakers: Jo Topps, Regional Director, K-12 Alliance/WestEd Matt Krehbiel, Director, Science, Achieve, Inc. Jody Bintz, Senior Science Educator, BSCS
Selecting an anchoring phenomenon that meets standards and is compelling to all students is one of the most challenging aspects of three-dimensional science curriculum and assessment. In this PLI, participants engage in a systematic process of analyzing the standards, brainstorming candidate phenomena, soliciting student input, and developing explanatory models of phenomena in order to select an anchoring phenomenon for a sequence of instruction. Click here for more details.
Speakers: Brian Reiser, Professor, Northwestern University Katie Van Horne, Research Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder Tara McGill, Curriculum Development Specialist Allysa Orwig, Teacher, Curriculum Designer, Denver Public Schools Douglas Watkins, HS Science Curriculum Specialist, Denver Public Schools Michael Novak, Senior Curriculum Developer, Northwestern University William Penuel, Professor, Learning Sciences & Human Development, University of Colorado Boulder
By Registration Through SESD Science educators, special education teachers, parents, and administrators—come learn and share information and strategies for teaching science to students with disabilities. Science Education for Students with Disabilities exists to advance science teaching, curriculum development, and opportunities for inclusion in STEM for students with disabilities. To register, please contact Rachel Zimmerman-Brachman at Rachel.zimmerman-brachman@jpl.nasa.gov. For further information, visit www.sesd.info.
One of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the theory of quantum mechanics, according to which observational results can only be predicted probabilistically rather than with certainty. Yet, after decades in which the theory has been successfully used on an everyday basis, most physicists would agree that we still don’t truly understand what it means. Sean will talk about the source of this puzzlement, and explain why an increasing number of physicists are led to an apparently astonishing conclusion: that the world we experience is constantly branching into different versions, representing the different possible outcome of quantum measurements.
Note: Please join author Sean M. Carroll after his talk, starting at 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM in the Plaza Lobby, where he will be signing copies of his books. The books will be available for purchase while supplies last. There will also be an opportunity for advance purchase of his latest book, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime (for release September 2019).
NSTA wishes to thank Penguin Random House for sponsoring this speaker.
Speaker: Sean M. Carroll, Research Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology
Session Topic:
Earth and Space Science, Physical Science
Hear how our district evaluated and improved our K–12 science and engineering curriculum to meet the NGSS and engage 21st-century learners.
Speakers: Samantha Levine, K-8 Instructional Science Coach, South Orangetown Central School District Brian Newburger, Team Leader/Teacher, Tappan Zee High School Brian Culot, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instr., South Orangetown Central School District
Discover how using claim, evidence, and reasoning to construct explanations helps create scientific thinkers, one of the most important practices students can learn.
Speakers: Sarah Miesner, Teacher, John Thomas School of Discovery Carolynda Peltier, John Thomas School of Discovery Jessica Lowder, John Thomas School of Discovery
Student enthusiasm for STEM in early grades is strong, but barriers to implementation are significant. We will share steps taken and lessons learned on how we transformed teacher perceptions and supported their endeavors implementing STEM.
Speaker: Kristy Kidd, STEM Starters+ project director, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Find out how to participate in local watershed monitoring projects for an inherently three-dimensional experience that increases student interest and builds students’ identities as scientists.
Speaker: Holly Hereau, Biology and Environmental Science Teacher/Science, Lee M. Thurston High School
Session Topic:
General Science Education, Informal Science Education
Discussion centers on a curricular unit using meteorology to inform climate patterns and ecosystems through embedded student investigations and a cumulative PBL biome project.
Speaker: Anne Farley Schoeffler, Middle School Science Teacher, Seton Catholic School
Session Topic:
Earth and Space Science, Life Science
Feeling overwhelmed by all there is to see and do at an NSTA conference on science education? Join us for an interactive exploration through the program, the conference app, and NSTA’s social media. By the end of the session, you will know just how to get the most from your conference experience in addition to building new networks with science colleagues.
Room: Regency E, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
We will use scaffolds to unpack the different dimensions of NGSS and to create learning performances and assessments.
Speakers: Susan Goldman, The University of Illinois at Chicago Donald Wink, Professor, The University of Illinois at Chicago James Pellegrino, Co-Dir., Learning Sciences Research Institute, The University of Illinois at Chicago Brian Gane, Visiting Research Assistant Professor, The University of Illinois at Chicago Laura Zeller, Graduat Student, The University of Illinois at Chicago Mon-Lin Monica Ko, Visiting Research Assistant Professor, The University of Illinois at Chicago
Room: Regency D, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Students design and carry out authentic investigations to learn forces and interactions. The culminating activity asks students to create models and innovate to improve the design.
Speaker: Patrick Brown, Teacher, Fort Zumwalt School District R-II
Room: Regency F, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Through two inexpensive, easily accessible labs, develop a thorough, comprehensive understanding of dynamics from numerical evidence and thought experiments modeled after Galileo and Newton.
Speaker: Maximilian Von Schlehenried, Physics Instructor, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas
Using hand samples, Google Earth, geologic maps, and data sets, we will evaluate and rank the risk posed by a shield volcano, caldera, stratovolcano, lava dome, and cinder cone.
Speakers: Tari Mattox, Assistant Professor, Grand Rapids Community College Stephen Mattox, Professor of Geology, Grand Valley State University
Learn how the fires of Yellowstone National Park can be used to turn your students into scientific investigators, without ever leaving the classroom.
Speakers: Tanner Bryan, Graduate Student/Assistant, Oklahoma State University Julie Angle, Secondary Science Education Director, Oklahoma State University Cara Stephens, 8th Grade Science Teacher, Cimarron Middle School
Experience how connected storylines encourage students to apply science concepts they’ve learned to engineering challenges related to energy, force, and states of matter.
Speakers: Colleen McCracken, Easterly Parkway Elementary School Megan Germ, Teacher, Easterly Parkway Elementary School Deana Washell, Intermediate Teacher, Easterly Parkway Elementary School Kimber Hershberger, Retired, Penn State Kate Hallinger, Radio Park Elementary School
Review data analysis/collecting techniques to help students young and old to learn the relationships between types of data and analysis of it.
Speakers: Tony Bartley, Science Education Professor, Lakehead University G. Michael Bowen, Associate Professor/District XVIII Director, Mount Saint Vincent University
Full inclusion of students with disabilities in STEM involves both accommodation strategies for students and universal design of instruction that enhances learning for all students.
Speakers: Lyla Mae Crawford, Counselor/Coordinator, DO-IT, Univesity of Washington Rachel Zimmerman Brachman, Solar System and Technology Educator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Have you ever wondered what the crosscutting concepts (CCC) are supposed to support in teaching, learning, and assessment? In this session, we will discuss how the CCCs can be used to support students’ confidence and sense-making in instruction and assessment, focusing on practical takeaways that can be implemented with students right now. We will collaboratively design a classroom task that emphasizes how the CCCs can be used with students, and discuss the implications of this approach for supporting diverse students, particularly those who may have been traditionally underserved in science.
Water is a precious resource but certain solutes can threaten that resource. Help students understand the importance of identifying and quantifying solutes in a solution. Using the new Wireless Colorimeter and Wireless Conductivity sensor, your students will get a deeper understanding of water and solutions!
Speaker: Barbara Pugliese, PASCO
Session Topic:
Engineering-Technology-and the Application of Science, Physical Science
Develop your own Escape Room by participating in a live-action game, exploring a wide range of tools, and evaluating examples for biology, environmental science, physics, and chemistry.
Speaker: Joseph Helpern, Science Teacher, Brunswick School
We will review each phase of the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) instructional model and explain how to select trade books to meet literacy strategies to enhance each phase.
Speaker: Julie Jackson, Associate Professor, Texas State University
Oh no, science fair! Are your students working on projects that don’t advance their science or engineering knowledge? Are they copying projects they find online? We will discuss how to inspire students to choose authentic topics and what to do after the project is “done,” as well as eCYBERMISSION—a web-based STEM competition that investigates problems in the community and possible solutions using scientific inquiry and the engineering design process.
Speakers: Matthew Hartman, eCYBERMISSION Content Manager, NSTA Alexandra Wakely, NSTA
Room: Westmoreland/Kingsbury, Marriott St. Louis Grand
Create scientifically literate students by cultivating a classroom culture where students don’t just learn science, but they experience true inquiry across the curriculum.
Speakers: Jessica Sterling, 3rd Grade Teacher, John Thomas School of Discovery Josh Bennett, 3rd Grade Teacher, John Thomas School of Discovery Kathryn Martin, John Thomas School of Discovery
Hear how National High Magnetic Field Laboratory educators are using inquiry activities to teach the topics of magnets and magnetism. You’re guaranteed one new idea using magnets for your classroom!
Speaker: Carlos Villa, Director of K-12 Programs, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Incorporating electronics and robotics into your grades 3–8 science curriculum doesn’t require a huge budget and an advanced degree! littleBits allows students to use engaging, easy-to-use electronic “bits” that can expand the possibilities as they engineer solutions to problems. Learn how simple and exciting incorporating technology into the engineering design process within your classroom can be!
Speaker: Chuck McMillan, National Science Specialist, Pearson
Session Topic:
Engineering-Technology-and the Application of Science
The National Marine Educators Association invites you to engage in hands-on activities and take home resources for your classroom. Join us to discover how you can become involved in both ocean and freshwater initiatives from local and national organizations to promote ocean and climate literacy.
Speakers: Mellie Lewis, Peer Leader, NOAA National Ocean Service Kate Achilles, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center David Bader, Director of Education, Aquarium of the Pacific Celia Cackowski, Marine Education Specialist, Virginia Institute of Marine Science Kathy Fuller, Environmental Resource Teacher, William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center Linda Chilton, Education Coordinator, USC Sea Grant Sarah Richards, Associate Chair, Saint Ann's School Meghan Marrero, Associate Professor, Secondary Education, Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry Campus David Wehunt, Teacher, Soddy Daisy High School Kate Leavitt, Marine Science Programs Coordinator, Seacoast Science Center
Session Topic:
General Science Education, Informal Science Education
Learn how to plan lessons and units that integrate science, engineering, and other content areas into your reading time by starting with any storybook. Take home a CD with classroom resources.
Speakers: Kevin Hill, Elementary Science/STEM Teacher Specialist, Wicomico County Public Schools Brian Raygor, Supervisor of Science K-12, Wicomico County Public Schools
Science is everywhere! Therefore, any fictional text has Science! Learn to implement an NGSS-focused reading framework to help teachers and students identify science concepts.
Speakers: Omah Williams-Duncan, Assistant Professor, University of Houston-Clear Lake Sharon Delesbore, Administrator, Fort Bend ISD
Learn how to incorporate CRISPR—an exciting gene editing tool—into your classroom. We will review the biology behind CRISPR-Cas technology and examine the use of gene therapy to treat a patient suffering from cystic fibrosis. You’ll design guide RNAs to target a mutation in an essential gene, and then use electrophoresis to analyze pre-prepared DNA after CRISPR treatment.
Use fairy tales to engage students in science concepts! Write an example based on Goldilocks together, then collaborate to develop your own classroom-ready creation!
Speaker: Laura Schisler, Visiting Assistant Professor, Missouri Southern State University
Science backpacks are a fun way to have families to enhance science literacy. Participants will view examples and develop a plan for incorporating backpacks.
Speaker: Patti Taylor, Preschool Teacher, St. Malachy School
Keep animals warm, dry, and safe in the winter in this barn-designing activity. Explore an NGSS-focused engineering unit that engages primary students in evidence-gathering, discussion, and prototype revision as they work to design solutions to a real-world problem.
Speakers: Danielle Otto, Teacher, Tarkington School of Excellence Emily Masek, Bilingual Teacher, Tarkington School of Excellence Christine Berman, Teacher, Tarkington School of Excellence
Session Topic:
Earth and Space Science, Engineering-Technology-and the Application of Science
Investigate the phenomenon of global increase in surface temperatures through the use of a global climate model, EzGCM.
Speakers: Mark Chandler, Research Scientist, Columbia University Kimberly Carroll Steward, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Devarati Bhattacharya, K-16 Stem Education Fellow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cory Forbes, Associate Professor and Science Literacy Coordinat, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
See how we collaborated with industry, teachers, students, and our district facilities department to provide real-world learning experiences about geothermal energy for K–12 students.
Speakers: Jennifer Proffitt, HIgh School STEM Curriculum Coordinator, Parkway Instructional Sevices Center Stephanie Valli, STEM Coordinator, Parkway Instructional Sevices Center Jennifer Abdel-Azim, Curriculum Coordinator of Elem Math and Science, Parkway Instructional Sevices Center
Room: Sterling Studio 6, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Engage in activities used in two chemistry classrooms that integrate inclusive pedagogies with 3-D science instruction and examine lessons using a research-based framework.
Speakers: Angela Kolonich, Director of Professional Learning, CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University Kristin Mayer, Teacher, East Kentwood High School Michael Lim, Chemistry Teacher, Gardena High School
Room: Grand Ballroom H, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Learn how to effectively teach and assess misunderstood genetics concepts using free simulations and other learning technologies.
Speakers: Norman Lederman, Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology Dionysius Gnanakkan, Teacher, Baltimore County Public Schools Judith Lederman, Director of Teacher Education, Associate Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology
Room: Mills Studio 1, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Journal of Emerging Investigators and EduChange, Inc. have collaborated to provide free materials to students and teachers that support the student research process at all stages, as described by the NGSS science and engineering practices.
Speakers: Catherine Saldutti, EduChange, Inc. Sarah Fankhauser, Oxford College of Emory University
Session Topic:
General Science Education
Session Type:
Presentation
Available Handouts :
Cultivating the Whole Plant, Not Just the STEM***CANCELED***
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Room: Sterling Studio 9, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Attention will be paid to demonstrating how administrators can effectively support and build STEM programs at their schools by evaluating resources, developing and stewarding a vision, and by expanding their focus to all contents supporting critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative work.
Speaker: Anthony Williams, Executive Director, BEACON House, Inc.
Room: Mills Studio 6, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Give your students a real-world education integrating all content areas through the production and sales of plants, flowers, and health care products.
Speakers: Chris Holmes, Teacher, John Thomas School of Discovery Hannah Bryant, Teacher, Nixa Public Schools Tracy Harris, 6th Grade Teacher, John Thomas School of Discovery
What is pH and why is the scale 0–14? Help students develop and understand the logarithmic pH scale by creating serial dilutions in this hands-on workshop. Using the Wireless pH sensor, SPARKvue software, and universal indicator, your students will be able to analyze and visualize what pH actually means and measures!
Speaker: Shane Kuykendall, Department Chair, Science, Fayette County High School
Session Topic:
Engineering-Technology-and the Application of Science, Physical Science
Room: Mills Studio 4, Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch
Are you surprised there is no research to support the existence of learning styles? Join us to learn more and debunk this prevalent neuromyth!
Speakers: Jennifer Maeng, Assistant Professor, University of Virginia Brooke Whitworth, Assistant Professor of Science Education, The University of Mississippi
We evaluated students’ attitudes about their sugar consumption, related to project-based instruction.
Speakers: Michealrose Ravalier, Secondary Science Teacher, Ivanna Eudora Kean High School Michele Guannel, Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas Campus Nadia Monrose, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas Campus
Do your students struggle with visualizing cellular respiration? Analyzing real-time data for difficult concepts has never been easier. Bring your own device with our Graphical Analysis 4 app installed or use ours during the workshop to investigate common biology experiments. All activities are available as a free download for attendees.
Attend this engaging, hands-on workshop to explore introductory coding using Vernier sensors with the inexpensive Arduino RedBoard. Topics include an introduction to programming Arduino microcontrollers, using the Vernier Arduino library, and sample STEM projects for controlling motors, LEDs, and buzzers based on sensor readings.
Meet the learning needs of a diverse student population with Delta Education’s new ScienceFLEX. Experience how hands-on exploration, four levels of content readers, technology, active scientific writing in student notebooks, and discourse enable all students to master fundamental science concepts and apply them to an engineering challenge. Leave with literacy strategies, a complete lesson plan, and digital tools to try with your diverse learners next week.
Speaker: Mary Anne Feller, Teacher, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School
Attention administrators, coaches, teachers-on-special-assignment and teacher-leaders! Ever wonder why current science technologies have not made more impact on students or how to address access and equity in science classrooms? See how modern science engages students—making deep connections to standards through the lens of 21st-century tools, techniques, and topics!
Speaker: J. Kirk Brown, Director of STEM Programs, San Joaquin County Office of Education
Of the three NGSS dimensions, educators tend to have the least experience effectively using crosscutting concepts to enhance their students’ understanding and skills. Learn how you and your students can expertly use CCCs in coordination with science and engineering practices to dive into phenomena and emerge with deep content understandings.
Speaker: Art Sussman, Senior Project Director, K-12 Alliance/WestEd
Come see Simulation Curriculum’s award-winning Starry Night classroom-ready NGSS lessons for all grade levels that engage students with interactive simulations, as well as current astronomical phenomena. Now running in the browser, use with all platforms including Chromebooks.
Speaker: Herb Koller, Consultant, Simulation Curriculum Corp.
Teach photosynthesis and cellular respiration together in the context of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Using algae beads together with an algae bloom case study, your students can engage in authentic inquiry investigations to learn about two connected processes and their ecological and economical implications.
Support three-dimensional learning with materials that engage your students in an exploration of the unique chemical and physical properties of water and the phospholipid bilayer that separates cells from their surrounding environment. Construct a model to explain diffusion, osmosis, and active/ passive transport across cell membranes.
Speakers: Tim Herman, Director, MSOE Center for BioMolecular Modeling Gina Vogt, Secondary Education Program Manager, 3D Molecular Designs
Session Topic:
Engineering-Technology-and the Application of Science, Life Science, Physical Science
