I talked to a few teachers this morning between sessions. Here’s what they’re saying about attending the conference:

He notes the size of the conference can be a challenge, with sessions occuring in the convention center was well as a few hotels, particularly when he finds a session he planned to attend doesn’t fit his needs, which he describes as a bit unusual. He explains, “I can usually tell in five minutes if[a session] is for me or not…I teach 9th grade Earth science. I’ve got to present at a high school level; a lot of the curricula is at the middle school level.”

Amy Hawkins of Anderson, South Carolina, has attended five NSTA conferences including regional conferences. She has some specific goals in mind for this meeting : “I wanted to learn more about scien movement toward core standards and the 21st century initiative going on. I’m looking for ideas to take back to my district.”
She also has some a more general objective. She adds, “This is where you go to get revitalized. You need it for refreshing your ideas. A lot of it is informal [talking to fellow educators]. I come up with a lot of ideas to take home.”

“I’m looking forward to getting a lot of information on astronomy,” says Steven Thedford a chemistry, physics, and physical sciences teacher from the Atlanta, Georgia area. A member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, he was a presenter at a Research Experience for Teachers program yesterday morning. Thedford also planned to attend a few exhibitor workshops in the hope of working out a few problems he’s had with some technology in his classroom.