Pathways

Let Us Help You With Your Journey

Pathways feature hand-selected programming tracks to maximize your conference experience through a curated grouping of sessions centered around a specific topic of interest.

Add these Pathways to your agenda via the session browser today.
 

AI

This pathway features sessions on using AI to enhance science teaching in your classroom.

Council of State Science Supervisors

Learning to Lead: Support. Empower. Partner.

Elementary Pathway: hosted by the NSTA Early Childhood and Elementary Science Teaching Committee and COESEE

This pathway showcases the diversity and breadth of science education in early childhood and elementary school years.

HS High-Quality Instructional Materials Pathway

These sessions are designed to support educators implementing High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) in their classroom. 

Inspiring, cultivating, and developing diverse and exceptional STEM talent with Department of Defense STEM (DoD STEM)

Join DoD STEM's pathway sessions to explore how DoD equips STEM educators with programs and resources to inspire students to pursue science and engineering careers. Across our sessions, you'll hear from scientists and engineers doing cutting-edge research within DoD and explore how to connect with them to provide unique learning experiences for your students of all ages. You'll also hear from current educators who infuse DoD STEM into their classrooms. DoD STEM programming and resources include internships, scholarships, and career resources for students, along with professional development and classroom tools for educators. Learn more about how to engage with the DoD STEM community and its resources through our pathway sessions.

Leaders: Leveraging the Power and the Promise of High-Quality Instructional Materials

How can we use high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) to design more equitable systems? Join us to consider how leaders rally interest and build internal capacity for the selection and effective implementation of high-quality instructional materials. Work with other leaders to consider strategies to make the case for change toward more equitable systems that support all learners in the system and the role of HQIM in leading ongoing science improvement efforts.

Leading the Charge: Professional Learning, Implementation, and Evaluation for Framework-Aligned Curriculum

This series empowers science leaders to drive transformative change by assessing district-specific needs, designing and implementing strategic professional learning plans, and evaluating their impact—all aligned with A Framework For K-12 Science Education.  Through collaborative learning, participants will acquire the skills and tools necessary to foster effective professional development that supports high-quality, three-dimensional science instruction. Leaders will leave equipped to establish sustainable systems for continuous improvement and evaluation, ensuring long-term growth in science education practices.

Meaningful STEM: Presented by NSTA STEM Fellows

Join the 2025 NSTA STEM Fellows (former DoD STEM Ambassadors) as they share their experiences and collective expertise in creating and improving opportunities for all students to engage in meaningful STEM learning.

NSTA Preservice Teacher Education

Inviting all preservice teachers and higher education instructors attending the conference to join us on Friday to network and learn about ways to engage with NSTA resources and events. Sessions on Saturday in this pathway are targeted to preservice teachers and new teachers' experiences.

NSTA Professional Learning

Join the NSTA Professional Learning team to  enhance your phenomenon-driven, three-dimensional teaching! Whether you’re new to three-dimensional standards or stepping into a teacher leadership role(s), you’ll gain actionable ideas, implementable strategies, a wealth of resources, and opportunities to engage in national conversations about the vision for science education for all students.

OpenSciEd Elementary

The much anticipated first half of OpenSciEd elementary units are now available for public use! Come experience the joy possible when elementary science classrooms engage in collective science sensemaking.

OpenSciEd Middle School: Customizing High Quality Curriculum: Using Your Expertise to Better Support Students

Feeling boxed in by pre-made curriculum? High quality, phenomenon-based materials have robust storylines that help students make sense of a phenomenon, but sometimes the volume of teacher support provided can make it feel like there isn’t room for teachers to bring in their own expertise. Furthermore, making changes in the wrong places can make the units less effective. The sessions across this pathway provide opportunities to learn more about a wide variety of customizations–from the behind the scenes work of thinking through grading and sub plans to digging in and modifying the materials to encourage student voice or increasing relevance in the classroom. 
We will unpack how you can utilize a high-quality curriculum to both meet the identified learning goals and also provide opportunities for customization and localization. This customization work is like a game of Jenga- how can you determine which pieces of the curriculum unit can be removed and changed without toppling the entire tower? Building this knowledge will help you take advantage of the strength of the well-constructed tower (curriculum) while making it your own to reach higher heights with your students.

OpenSciEd’s materials are featured in these sessions due to their all-green rating from EdReports and their availability as free, publicly accessible resources. However, many of the ideas, strategies, and tools shared throughtout the pathway can be applied to any high-quality instructional materials. We hope you will join an amazing community of educators who are taking high quality instructional materials and making them even better!

Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association

Interested in hearing from your colleagues in Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania-specific sessions?  Topics range from AI initiatives and use to the STEELS Standards, to other programs in the Commonwealth. Come and join PSTA members as they share their sessions.  All are welcome!

STEELS

These sessions are designed to assist PA educators implementing the newly adopted Pennsylvania Integrated Standards for Science, in their classrooms.

STEM Teaching Tools: Free Resources for Equitable Science Instruction 

Explore our collection of open education resources (OER) at http://stemteachingtools.org, focused on supporting equity-centered science and climate change instruction. Co-created by educators and researchers, these professional learning resources are aimed at fostering foundational knowledge and key practices for NGSS implementation. Each STEM Teaching Tool is an idea and resource funnel about a problem or opportunity of teaching practice. The initiative is #NSFfunded.