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

It can be disorienting to approach a science or engineering topic with which we expect students to be familiar, only to be met with confusion, misconceptions, or blank stares. Luckily, a “funds of knowledge” approach to Three-Dimensional instruction can help us engage our students and activate their everyday STEM expertise so they can authentically connect to the SEEd Standards. Strategies discussed in this presentation will include self-documentation, community asset mapping, culturally relevant communication, place-based learning, and more.

Asteroids, often seen as remnants of the early solar system, could be crucial to understanding the origins of life on Earth. These ancient space rocks, dating back over 4.5 billion years, are rich in organic molecules and water—the fundamental ingredients for life. Many scientists believe that asteroid impacts with early Earth delivered these essential materials, setting off the chemical processes that led to life. By studying asteroids, we gain insights not just into the solar system's history, but also into how life might have begun here and possibly elsewhere.

Principled leadership in professional development requires a set of standards describing the attributes of effective professional learning experience. The Science Professional Learning Standards (SPLS) describe a set of attributes of professional learning consistent with the NASEM Framework for Science Education. This session focuses on Attribute 6 - “Model classroom instruction and instructional materials consistent with the desired instructional shifts.” The role of effective classroom discourse will be featured and how to support teachers in changing the focus of discourse toward students centered science learning experience while implementing Utah’s SEEd Standards. The session will present a phenomenon-driven lesson aligned to a SEEd Standards, model classroom discourse, and provide educational leaders with resources to establish more effective learning cultures.

I’ll be speaking about the career of a laboratory scientist, the paths you can take to become a laboratory scientist, and my unique experience working as a laboratory scientist in a warzone.

Use Mission.io to give you amazing feed back and formative information on your student's Science and Math achievement.

One of the biggest challenges facing our students today is the amount of misinformation and disinformation that they are faced with each day. Science is the perfect subject to teach students information and media literacy so that they can use critical thinking and skepticism to be better prepared. We will be going over different research proven methods and lesson ideas to teach students about information and media literacy in your classes using the Utah SEEd Standards and 3D Science.

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.

STEM programs not only equip students with essential skills for the future but also fosters a deep-seated love for learning. Utah's SEEd standards align closely with student STEM competitions by emphasizing inquiry-based learning, integration of science and engineering practices, exploration of crosscutting concepts, interdisciplinary thinking, and the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. AI is a tool that can revolutionize STEM experiences, and data collecting with students. Discover an abundance of different AI tools to help aid your STEM endeavors.

Earth's drylands are some of the most important ecosystems that are also some of the most understudied. They are experiencing drastic changes as a result from climate change and changes in wildfire regimes. My research program asks questions about how climate change, wildfire, and community structure interacts and determines plant community structure and function. In this session, I share results from various research projects centered in Utah's drylands, what we are learning about the state and potential transitions of these dryland plant communities, and how my team and I are using that information to create well-informed decision making tools for land managers.

We want students to ask high quality questions that show deeper learning.  We want students to make and use scientific models to predict and explain phenomena.  But making this happen in the classroom can be very challenging.  And how does a teacher assess these skills? This hands-on, minds-on workshop will dive into how educators can incorporate these skills into instruction and what success looks like for asking questions and developing and using models. We will provide various strategies for teaching modeling and asking questions and rubrics for science skills.

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In this session for K-12 educators, we will discuss the latest research and evidence-based best practices in cross-curricular literacy and explore hands-on strategies for integrating reading, writing, and speaking skills into STEM subjects. This hands-on session will demonstrate how infusing cross-curricular literacy into STEM supports the development of Science and Engineering Practices (such as constructing explanations, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information) while simultaneously enhancing student engagement and comprehension. Participants will learn practical tips for integrating literacy skills into science/STEM education. Through interactive demonstrations, participants will see these techniques in action, gaining the knowledge and skills to enrich their teaching toolkit and transform their classroom into a vibrant, literacy-rich environment. Designed for educators looking to make an interdisciplinary impact, this session will equip STEM educators with effective tools to integrate literacy and STEM, preparing students for the 21st century and beyond.

AI isn’t just about technology; it’s an opportunity to redefine how we teach and prepare our students for a tech dominated future (hopefully without full-fledged AI Overlords). In this interactive session, we’ll explore the human skills that will matter most—like critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration—and discuss how to integrate them effectively into your science classroom using strategies grounded in Transdisciplinary Learning (Convergence Education) and proper gamification techniques. We’ll dive into how most gamification tools miss the mark and how you can implement approaches that truly engage students and connect to real-world challenges. You’ll leave with practical, hands-on activities and a toolkit you can use to transform your lessons and inspire your students to think and act beyond the textbook. Walk away equipped to design science lessons that not only meet SEEd standards but also future-proof your students with skills they need to excel in an AI-driven world.

This session will seek to provide teachers with scaffolds for which to effectively teach 3D science to ALL students, with a particular focus on supporting ML students. This aligns with the SEEd standards as ALL students need equitable access to all three dimensions of the core in order to further their sense-making.