UtSTA 2024: Out-Of-This-World Science Teaching

Carbonaceous chondrites (carbon-rich meteorites) represent some of the oldest and most primitive pieces of material formed in the Solar System; indeed, they could even be older than the Sun itself. These carbon-rich meteorites may have delivered an important concentration of organic compounds and water to the primitive Earth. Multiple organic classes, including those required for life (e.g. amino acids, carboxylic acids, nucleobases, and polyols) have been identified from carbonaceous chondrites, providing valuable insights into the chemical inventory of the early Solar System, the primordial synthesis of organic matter, and the question of how life appeared on Earth.
Amino acids are the basic building blocks of all protein-based life on Earth, making them some of the most fascinating organic compounds found in meteorites. In earthly biology, proteins are mostly made up of the L-form of amino acids, a feature crucial to life as we understand it. Some meteoritic amino acids also show a preference for the L-form, which raises intriguing questions about a possible connection between meteorites and this biological preference. Additionally, the stable isotopes (D, 13C, 15N) found in meteoritic organic compounds can tell us about how they formed and their history. By comparing the distribution, chirality, and isotopic composition of these compounds in different types of carbonaceous chondrites, we can learn more about the composition and conditions of the early solar system, the bodies where meteorites originated, and possibly how these compounds were made and survived the solar system's formation.
I will present results from our extensive investigation on the abundance and molecular distribution of amino acids, and other biologically relevant molecules extracted from meteorites. We will discuss their potential prebiotic origins and relevance to the emergence of life on Earth. We will also review the importance of sample return missions and our future findings after the analysis of asteroid samples brought to the Earth by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS REx.

How science teachers can use AI like Magic School AI or School AI to enhance student learning and to showcase the free tools available to all teachers. Like having your students chat with a bot that is acting like one of the scientists who developed an atomic theory. Also tutoring and test review.

Alpine teachers, come meet your district science specialist.

Come meet your CHOPS Representative, Amy Pace.

Come meet your Region 2 Representative, Lindy Sanford.

Come meet your Region 6 Representative, Mechelle Dodge.

Discover how artificial intelligence can transform your Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and elevate science instruction. This session will present a collection of AI-generated prompts designed to guide your Science PLC through the 4 essential questions:

What do we want our students to know?
How will we know if the students have learned it?
What do we do if they haven't learned it?
What will we do if they have learned it?

The biggest reason the science team at Spring Creek Middle School is such a great team is by using our Google Sheet curriculum map that we use to plan and collaborate the entire year together. This also could be used to collaborate with teams at other schools!

The Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) is launching a high school education program focused on air quality awareness and student engagement. We aim to connect with science teachers in all grade levels to explore how our program can best complement existing curriculum and incentivize student participation in and outside the classroom. We value your insights on the needs of your students and how air quality topics are currently covered or prioritized. Your feedback will help shape an impactful program that supports both educators and students in driving cleaner air initiatives across Utah.

Outdoor education offers students an incredible environment to learn and grow, but connecting students to these programs isn't always simple. Canyonlands Field Institute is researching what barriers might exist between students and quality environmental education, starting with the teachers who know them best. There is a 3-minute survey for folks to fill out and CFI representatives to chat with teachers about their experiences. 

The American Meteorological Society sponsors a free graduate course in Atmospheric Sciences that includes a week in Kansas City at the National Weather Service Training Center. Resources include lesson plans and activities for Earth and Space Science. Poster includes links to these resources and information about applying for the course, as well as other courses sponsored by AMS that include a week residency in Oregon for Project Ice, and fall and winter graduate courses in oceanography, atmosphere, and climate sciences. I attended this summer and had a great experience.

Project Atmosphere: https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/project-atmosphere/
Project Ice: https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/project-ice/
DataStreme: https://www.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/ams/education-careers/education-program/k-12-teachers/datastreme-program/

Clark Planetarium’s Heat, Weather, and Climate kits are aligned to the SEEd standards and are available for educators to borrow through their district or directly from the planetarium. Each kit includes infrared laser thermometers to allow students to examine the temperatures of various materials, participate in controlled experiments with heat lamps, and connect their learning to phenomena like weather and climate.

You're a good teacher, so why aren't they learning? For a lot of kids, it's because they learned in elementary school that 'learning' means to memorize. Spelling words, times tables, paragraphs about lake Bonneville- they don't know what any of it means, but knew they had to memorize to get good grades. Now their secondary teachers say "Go home and Study" meaning "Make this make sense and understand it." but what the kids hear is "Go home and memorize this." because that's all 'studying' has ever meant to them.

This leads to test anxiety in the good memorizers ("Will the test be written like I memorized it?!), demoralization among those who don't memorize well ("I get bad grades no matter how hard I try so I must be dumb."), and apathy about most of school in secondary ("This is so dumb. When am ever going to use this information that I'm just going to forget after the test anyway?")

For many students, all that is needed is directing them away from memorization and teaching them how to understand- which involves making connections and understanding subjects rather than trying to retain a bunch of unrelated facts. This mini session will include some sample concept maps and a sample lesson on density that helps kids confront the misconception that "Heat rises". Understanding molecular motion changes their perspective to "Gravity pulls harder on more dense things". After making this jump, they can then be guided to explain how hot air balloons rise, why breezes on the beach are predictable and reverse every day, how the continents move, why ice keeps your whole drink cold, and several more phenomena. The way you know if you're succeeding is when the kids say "Ohhh! That makes sense!" This lab can help you walk through that with your own kids.

Simple lab to help students see how magnetic fields affect objects around them and allow them to see the actual shape and relative strengths of magnetic fields.