JoinProfessional Learning Institutes
Chicago National Conference on Science Education • July 20
Transform Your Teaching Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning
Strengthen your content knowledge, while learning effective, research-based approaches that increase equitable participation and student achievement in the classroom at NSTA’s Professional Learning Institutes! During these immersive, half-day learning sessions, educators and leaders will explore how the choice of instructional materials can serve as a foundation for successful implementation of state standards. Join colleagues and leading experts in science education, professional learning, and instructional materials development for an opportunity to discuss important and timely topics in depth.
PLI registration includes...
- one half-day session
- invitation to a free, boxed-lunch session
- an additional morning or afternoon PLI can be purchased at the price of $65.
You must be registered for the 2022 Chicago National Conference on Science Education in order to register for a Professional Learning Institute.
PLI Schedule
Morning
Pre-Conference • Wednesday, July 20 • 8:30 - 11:30 AM CT
PLI-1: Developing Instructional Materials Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards for All Students, Including Multilingual Learners
The purpose of the session is to present our conceptual approach to developing yearlong NGSS-designed instructional materials that integrate science and language for all students, especially multilingual learners.
Key Takeaways
- Our conceptual framework integrates science and language with all students, including multilingual learners.
- Our design process leverages the synergy of NGSS performance expectations, phenomena (with a focus on local phenomena), and students (with a focus on multilingual learners).
- Our instructional materials benefited from teachers as co-participants while promoting their professional learning.
SPEAKERS
Okhee Lee
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development • New York University
Greg Borman
Director of Science • Department of STEM • Office of Curriculum, Instruction & Professional Learning
Theresa Ocol
Senior Director of Content Areas • Division of Multilingual Learners • New York City Department of Education
Pre-Conference • Wednesday, July 20 • 8:30-11:30 AM CT
PLI-2: Leading the Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Materials to Enact Standards: Practical Guidance From the Field
High-quality instructional materials (HQIM) designed for next generation science can make a difference in the quality of equitable science teaching and learning throughout the system and for all learners (i.e., for all leaders, teachers, and students). So how can HQIM designed for next generation science help? How can local leaders take a systems approach to the selection, broad and effective implementation, and sustained improvements offered by such materials? What are some practical ways to make this work in our community?
Participants, working in teams or small groups, will consider these questions as they delve into a vignette describing how one large district took on the challenge of implementing high-quality instructional materials at the middle school level and hear from leaders of such efforts. Participants will consider their own context and readiness for such an initiative.
Key Takeaways
- Curriculum implementation for next generation science requires a clear vision shared by a strong partner, funding, a long-term plan for implementation, a robust professional learning program with ongoing support, advocacy and support, capacity-building, and a robust kit distribution and/or refurbishment process.
- Some aspects of our current system are supportive of the changes required to implement high-quality instructional materials designed for next generation science and support new approaches to teaching and learning; others are barriers and present challenges to achieving this vision of science teaching and learning.
SPEAKERS
Jody Bintz
BSCS Science Learning
Susan Gomez Zwiep
BSCS Science Learning
About the Speakers
Jody Bintz
Jody Bintz serves as BSCS Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships and Professional Learning and as co-director of the NEXUS Academy for Science Curriculum Leadership. She works primarily in the areas of leadership development and teacher professional learning. Jody designs, studies, and leads programs to develop organizational leadership capacity, particularly as related to implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Jody serves as co-principal investigator of an efficacy study of the professional development program, Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA), and its impact on high school biology student learning and teacher practice. She also leads the professional learning and leadership development components of a study of STeLLA scale up and sustainability in grades 4 and 5 with partner organizations and schools from across Kentucky and Tennessee.
Greg Borman
Greg Borman is presently Director of Science for the NYC Department of Education. He has spent 40 years as a secondary school science teacher, staff developer and administrator. His team is supporting the implementation of the NYS Science Learning Standards through professional learning, curriculum evaluation, and strong collaborations with higher education and informal science institutions. He helped develop the New York State Strategic Plan for Science, and is presently a member of the NYS Science Content Advisory Panel. Before returning to the NYCDOE, he was on the faculty of the CCNY School of Education, teaching science education courses and supporting and supervising preservice and inservice teachers.
Susan Codere
Susan Codere is the Multiple Literacies in Project-Based Learning (ML-PBL) Project Director at CREATE for STEM at Michigan State University where she manages curriculum development, review, revision, and sharing; professional learning; assessment; and research activities. Before joining the ML-PBL Team, Sue served as the Project Coordinator for standards development in the Michigan Department of Education. She served as the Lead State Representative from Michigan on the NGSS development team, and coordinated Michigan’s NGSS Internal Review and implementation planning processes. Sue served as the Project Coordinator for the development and implementation of Michigan’s High School and Grade Level Content Expectations in Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, and Social Studies. She works closely with colleagues across the state to support standards implementation and promotes career and college readiness through literacy across the content areas. Sue holds BS degrees in Secondary Science Education and Medical Technology from Michigan Technological University and an MS degree in Microbiology and Immunology from Michigan State University.
Daniel C. Edelson
Daniel Edelson is a curriculum and software developer, educational researcher, and advocate for education reform. In his work, he draws on current research to develop products and programs that address the challenges of implementing effective teaching and learning in real-world settings. Since 2015, he has been the executive director of BSCS Science Learning, a nonprofit research and development center for science education. From 2007-2014, he was the vice president for education at the National Geographic Society. Prior to that, he was a faculty member in Learning Sciences and Computer Science at Northwestern University for 15 years.
Joe Krajcik
Joe Krajcik is currently the principal investigator and co-principal investigator to design assessments and curriculum materials aligned with the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS). He served as lead writer for developing Physical Science Standards for the NGSS and the lead writer for the Physical Science Design team for the Framework for K – 12 Science Education. He currently recently completed two randomized control studies to test the efficacy of project-based learning to support student learning and social emotional learning. Joe has authored and co-authored curriculum materials, books, software and over 100 manuscripts, and he makes frequent presentations at international, national and regional conferences. Joe served as president of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), from which he received the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award in 2010. He received the 2014 George G. Mallinson Award from the Michigan Science Teachers’ Association for overall excellence of contributions to science education over a significant period of time. Joe was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2019, an honor reserved for the nation’s most outstanding scholars in education. In 2020, Joe received the prestigious McGraw Prize in Pre-K-12 Education and in 2021, Recipient of the 2021 International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE) Prize for Excellence in Educational Design and Development. Joe is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Educational Research Association. He was honored to receive a Distinguished Professorship from Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea in 2009 and Guest Professorship from Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China in 2002. In 2005, Joe was the Weston Visiting Professor of Science Education at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. He spent 21 years at the University of Michigan before coming to MSU in 2011. The University of Michigan recognized Joe for his commitment to graduate student education by presenting him with the Faculty Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., Joe taught high school chemistry and physical science in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for eight years.
Okhee Lee
Okhee Lee is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. She was a member of the NGSS writing team and served as leader for the NGSS Diversity and Equity Team. She was also a member of the Steering Committee for the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University. Her research involves integrating science, language, and computational thinking with a focus on multilingual learners. Her latest work focuses on justice-centered STEM education to address pressing societal challenges using the case of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emily Adah Miller
Emily Adah Miller is the co-PI for Multiple Literacies in Project-based Learning. She is a lead writer for the Diversity and Equity Team on the Next Generation Science Standards, a member of the NGSS writing team, and writer of multiple peer-reviewed research articles. She is an author of the best-selling teacher practice book, NGSS for All, and upcoming practice book Crosscutting Concepts, both with NSTA Press and Okhee Lee. Before academia, Emily taught for two decades in multiple grades Pk-9th grade, as an ESL and Bilingual Resource science specialist in Wisconsin at Title I schools. She served as an associate researcher on an NSF Teacher Professional Development grant with the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research where she collaborated with WIDA to design Discourse Tools aligned with the ELPD Framework, and recently co-chaired the adoption of the new ELD standards in Wisconsin. Emily’s research interests are examining opportunities for sensemaking for underrepresented students in PBL science contexts, and how teachers can build on these opportunities to develop practices that support their students.
Theresa Ocol
Theresa Ocol is the Senior Director of Content Areas with the Division of Multilingual Learners at the New York City Department of Education. In this capacity, she focuses on designing, planning, and delivering professional learning opportunities and resources for science and English as a New Language educators from grades K-12. Theresa has worked in the NYC DOE for the last 17 years, serving as high school biology teacher and Assistant Principal of Science at a large comprehensive high school with one of the largest populations of English Language Learners and Multilingual Learners in New York City. From her school-based experiences with culturally and linguistically diverse ELLs / MLs and work with the research community, Theresa embraces the notion that all ELLs / MLs bring assets to their school communities and should be afforded grade-level instructional opportunities.
Brian J. Reiser
Brian J. Reiser is professor of learning sciences at Northwestern University. Dr. Reiser heads the NextGen Science Storylines project, which establishes researcher-teacher teams to develop NGSS-designed storyline units, in which students help manage the trajectory of their science knowledge building. Dr. Reiser is a leader in the OpenSciEd Developer’s Consortium, working with 10 state education agencies to create and field test a complete set of robust, research-based, open-source middle school science instructional materials that are aligned to the Framework and NGSS. Reiser served on the NRC committees authoring the reports A Framework for K-12 Science Education (the framework that guided the development of NGSS), Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards, and Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards, and has partnered with multiple states to help design and implementing NGSS professional learning programs.
Jim Short
Jim Short is a program director within the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Education program, where he manages the Leadership and Teaching to Advance Learning portfolio. Jim oversees grantmaking aimed at preparing and supporting teachers and school and system leaders for learning environments that enable students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need for future success.
Susan Gomez Zwiep
Susan Gomez Zwiep began her career in science education as a middle school science teacher in Los Angeles where she spent over 12 years working in urban schools. Prior to joining BSCS, Susan worked at California State University, Long Beach as a Professor of Science Education. Susan has also worked as a Regional Director for the K-12 Alliance@WestEd, providing high-quality professional development in science and mathematics for K12 educators, including the CA NGSS Early Implementer Initiative. Susan consistently works toward establishing equitable access for all students to rigorous, inquiry-based science instruction and supporting teachers in their journey to become advocates for students, science education, and their own professional development.