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

Come learn about a hands-on opportunity for your students to participate in a real-world disease outbreak simulation! The Utah Valley University Operation Outbreak Embassy is excited to invite all high school science teachers to engage their students in data collection and collaboration with local college students. We would love to involve your students in research. Operation Outbreak is appropriate for students of all ages but is especially applicable to AP and CE students.

We will begin by introducing Operation Outbreak. Operation Outbreak simulations are simulated outbreaks of pandemics for the purpose of teaching students about disease along with data collection on disease spread and human behavior. Students engage in real world modeling and provide data for epidemiologists on how people behave during outbreaks and how diseases spread through populations. We will discuss how the simulations work as well as the benefits for students. We will also talk about research opportunities for high school students and how to reinforce their science identity and bring the university into their classrooms.

These are the SEED standards that Operation Outbreak simulations and associated lessons address:
Bio 1.1, Bio 1.2, Bio 1.4, Bio 4.2, Bio 4.4, Ess 2.6, Ess 4.2, Ess 4.4.

In addition to discussing the benefits of running Operation Outbreak simulations we will discuss the resources available for teaching Outbreak science in the classroom as well as how to use the data. Operation Outbreak is a collaborative and cross-curricular activity that covers multiple content areas including social science, history, math, health, and journalism in addition to Biology. We will discuss the collaborative nature of the simulation and how to involve the entire school in a full simulation.

During the 2023-24 school year, Clark Planetarium developed, tested, and implemented a kinesthetic and computer modeling approach to teaching Utah SEEd Standard 6.1.2 in classrooms across the state of Utah. In the kinesthetic portion, four participants will represent the inner planets of our solar system. Starting in a line, they will revolve around our Sun in periods of two weeks showing how Mercury travels fastest in its orbit. Using this evidence, we will demonstrate how to lead participants to construct explanations for the role of gravity and inertia in orbit. We will support these explanations using computer models of our solar system and by asking participants to make predictions given the absence of gravity, inertia, or an imbalance between them. Through an established partnership, Clark Planetarium is pleased to be able to offer the software we will be using to teachers at no cost for use in their classroom.

Clark Planetarium provides professional development training for fourth-grade teachers on how to implement a kinesthetic activity aligned with Strand 4.4 from the Utah SEEd Standards. By using their bodies to model the Earth, participants will demonstrate how rotation and revolution cause the cycles of day and night and changing constellations throughout the year. Participants will also become individual stars by holding an LED light as they investigate how distance relates to perceived brightness and will work together to form the constellation of Orion. This session will emphasize developing and using models to provide students with evidence for observable patterns that can be used to construct explanations for astronomical phenomena. Clark Planetarium is happy to offer a free kit of take-away materials so that teachers can replicate the activities in their classroom.

Motivated science students – including those who may have been categorized as gifted and talented – can achieve remarkable learning preparatory to their future STEM careers by doing actual hands-on research; but facilitating such experiences for these students can be daunting for their teachers who are focusing on the large number of other students who need their attention. Secondary school science educators can enable their high-capability students’ research experiences by connecting them to extramural resources such as college/university faculty members and facilities. Specific cases of this kind of successful arrangement will be given as concrete examples of how this might be accomplished.