Join10 NSTA Conference Sessions that Will Turn Your World Upside Down
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Posted on 2017-02-28
Ready for something completely different?
Ready to love science teaching even more?
NSTA is headed to Los Angeles this month for our 2017 National Conference on Science Education, March 30-April 2. And what happens in LA won’t stay in LA. You’ll go home with a brand new perspective on your teaching.
How does this happen? It starts and ends with your fellow teachers who share what really works, in real classrooms. Whether you’re in sessions, socializing, experiencing the exhibits, or visiting local museums, you’ll be surrounded by thousands of fellow teachers who will be there to help you solve your problems and celebrate your successes. And boring won’t be on the schedule.
Below are just a few of our favorite sessions, guaranteed to give you fresh perspective.
- How to be a DonorsChoose Rockstar: Using Crowdfunding to Get a Killer STEM Space!
- Science Current Events Journals: Real Science and Media Literacy
- Identify Patient Zero of a Zombie Apocalypse
- Using Student-Created Virtual Field Trips to Enhance Learning
- A University Course and Middle School Teacher Professional Learning Promoting Climate and Data Literacy, plus Effective Teaching and Learning Practices
- “Making” Three-Dimensional Learning Happen: Using Maker Space Technologies to Engage the NGSS
- Building Scientific Literacy by Using Science News Reported in the Popular Media
- Equity within NGSS: Strategies for Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Science Classroom
- Putting It All Together: The Crossroads of NGSS, CCSS, and ISTE in the Elementary Classroom
- Virtual Reality’s Emerging Future in Science Education
More About the 2017 National Conference on Science Education
Browse the program preview, or check out more sessions and other events with the LA Session Browser/Personal Scheduler. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA17, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it! Need to request funding or time off? Download this letter of support.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
Add Professional Learning Institutes to Your Conference Experience
Professional Learning Institutes (PLIs) are focused, content-based programs that explore key topics in science/STEM education in depth. One-Day PLIs are a preconference full-day session only. Full PLIs begin with a full-day preconference session, followed by pathway sessions that offer further exploration of the topics covered. PLIs are presented by experts in science/STEM education, professional learning, standards implementation, assessment, curriculum, and resources/materials development. Institutes are offered in conjunction with the NSTA National Conference on Science Education and require conference registration.
At the Los Angeles Conference, full PLIs will begin with the preconference one-day session on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, by preregistration only. The pathway sessions will be scheduled on Thursday, March 30, 2017, and/or Friday, March 31, 2017. The PLI One Day Work Sessions will be held only on Wednesday, March 29, as preconference sessions only.
Los Angeles, California: March 29, 2017
To register online for the Los Angeles conference and to purchase PLI tickets, click here. You may also download a registration form (PDF).
- PLI-1: Disciplinary Core Ideas: Reshaping Teaching and Learning
- PLI-2: Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices
- PLI-3: Uncovering Students’ and Teachers’ Ideas with Three-Dimensional Formative Assessment Probes and Techniques
- PLI-4: Argument-Driven Inquiry: Transforming Laboratory Experiences so Students can use Core ideas, Crosscutting Concepts, and Scientific Practice to Make Sense of Natural Phenomena
- PLI-5: Moving Standards into Practice: Five Tools and Processes for Translating the NGSS into Instruction and Classroom Assessment
- PLI-6: District Level Administrators: You are not alone in the NGSS Universe!
- PLI-7: Equity in STEM Education
- PLI-8: Picture-Perfect STEM Lessons, K–5: Using Children’s Books to Inspire STEM Learning
Professional Learning Institute (PLI) Ticket Scholarship Opportunity
The Northrop Grumman Foundation is providing free PLI attendance (a $150 value) to Los Angeles area teachers attending the NSTA National Conference in Los Angeles, March 29–April 2, 2017.
To qualify for a PLI Ticket Scholarship you need to be:
- A full-time teacher of science, technology, or engineering working within a 100 mile radius of Los Angeles.
- Registered for the NSTA National Conference in Los Angeles March 29–April 2, 2017 and able to attend the PLI, which is a preconference all-day session on March 29.
Please complete a short eligibility survey via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PLI17
You will receive an email confirming your scholarship once you are accepted based on the criteria listed.
If you have any questions, please contact Wendy Binder at wbinder@nsta.org.
Future NSTA Conferences
2017 National Conference
2017 STEM Forum & Expo
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Ready for something completely different?
Ready to love science teaching even more?
Inquiring Astronomy: Incorporating Student-Centered Pedagogical Techniques in an Introductory College Science Course
Journal of College Science Teaching—March/April 2017
By Debbie A. French and Andrea C. Burrows
Increases in student-centered pedagogy have been more prevalent in K–12 education than in collegiate undergraduate science education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using student-centered pedagogy advocated in K–12 education on introductory astronomy students’ content knowledge, interest, and recall of content taught in the semester. Forty-two students participated in the study and took the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) at the beginning and end of the semester. The students had an average initial TOAST score of 37% and a post-TOAST score of 62%. Students also participated in surveys reporting their interest in astronomy, whether their interest in astronomy changed, and what they remembered from the course. Students (79%) reported the class increased their interest in astronomy in a survey given at the end of the semester. Students reported remembering the active-learning activities more than astronomical facts. These results show encouraging results for creating and implementing student-centered pedagogical techniques in college science courses of all disciplines.
Increases in student-centered pedagogy have been more prevalent in K–12 education than in collegiate undergraduate science education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using student-centered pedagogy advocated in K–12 education on introductory astronomy students’ content knowledge, interest, and recall of content taught in the semester. Forty-two students participated in the study and took the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) at the beginning and end of the semester. The students had an average initial TOAST score of 37% and a post-TOAST score of 62%.
Increases in student-centered pedagogy have been more prevalent in K–12 education than in collegiate undergraduate science education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using student-centered pedagogy advocated in K–12 education on introductory astronomy students’ content knowledge, interest, and recall of content taught in the semester. Forty-two students participated in the study and took the Test Of Astronomy STandards (TOAST) at the beginning and end of the semester. The students had an average initial TOAST score of 37% and a post-TOAST score of 62%.
The Power of Investigating: Guiding Authentic Assessments
Children want to explore, dig, build, play, and wonder. To do this they need to touch, feel, see, observe, listen, manipulate, plan, and create. How does a teacher build and maintain a learning environment that will help students investigate meaningful questions? How does a teacher plan and manage ongoing investigations? How does a teacher use resources to bring learning to life?
Children want to explore, dig, build, play, and wonder. To do this they need to touch, feel, see, observe, listen, manipulate, plan, and create. How does a teacher build and maintain a learning environment that will help students investigate meaningful questions? How does a teacher plan and manage ongoing investigations? How does a teacher use resources to bring learning to life?
Problem-Based Learning in the Earth and Space Science Classroom, K–12
Implementing PBL is difficult for teachers, and few curriculum guides are available to support their efforts. This book fills that gap by providing the kinds of strategies and examples teachers need to facilitate open-ended inquiry in their science classrooms.”
—Peggy A. Ertmer, Professor Emerita of Learning Design and Technology, Purdue University, and Founding Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning.
—Peggy A. Ertmer, Professor Emerita of Learning Design and Technology, Purdue University, and Founding Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning.
Implementing PBL is difficult for teachers, and few curriculum guides are available to support their efforts. This book fills that gap by providing the kinds of strategies and examples teachers need to facilitate open-ended inquiry in their science classrooms.”
—Peggy A. Ertmer, Professor Emerita of Learning Design and Technology, Purdue University, and Founding Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning.
—Peggy A. Ertmer, Professor Emerita of Learning Design and Technology, Purdue University, and Founding Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning.