WSST Conference 2025: Full Schedule

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8:00am CDT

The OpenSciEd Instructional Model: Routines for Advancing Students Through a Storyline

Thursday April 3, 2025 8:00am - 8:50am CDT

In the OpenSciEd Instructional Model students are presented with puzzling phenomena that elicit a variety of questions that motivate the learning in the unit. These anchoring phenomena draw students into the storyline by presenting the natural challenge of explaining something or solving a problem. Other phenomena may be introduced at key points in a storyline to maintain interest or push students to delve more deeply. To help teachers and students advance through a unit storyline, the instructional model takes advantage of five routines—activities that play specific roles in advancing the storyline with supports to help students achieve the objectives of those activities. The routines typically follow a pattern as students kick off a unit of study, surface and investigate different questions they have, put the pieces together from those investigations, and then problematize the next set of questions to investigate. In this session participants will engage as “students” with an OSE lesson to experience these routines from both the teacher and student lens. Additional supports and resources will be shared so that teachers can go back to the classroom ready to teach a 3-dimensional lesson.

Speakers

Brian Klaft

Sponsors

Activate Learning

Thursday April 3, 2025 8:00am - 8:50am CDT
Hutchinson

General Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies

9:00am CDT

Reach New Heights with Activate Learning’s Interactive Digital Edition of OpenSciEd

Thursday April 3, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am CDT

Hutchinson

Activate Learning has partnered with OpenSciEd to create a digital learning platform where students can benefit from an interactive, engaging online experience when using the OpenSciEd curriculum. Students can record their observations and reasoning and receive feedback from teachers. Students benefit from modeling supports like drawing tools and stamps, as well as writing supports with sentence starters and reading supports through recorded audio, highlighting, and annotations. The OSE lessons are designed and aligned to the Framework and the NGSS. They are based on research regarding how students learn, what motivates learning, and the implications for teaching. Participants will experience first-hand our intuitive digital platform with features that enhance the OSE curriculum and help make science teaching and learning more accessible.

Speakers

Brian Klaft

Sponsors

Activate Learning

Thursday April 3, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am CDT
Hutchinson

General Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies

10:00am CDT

Collaborating for Success: Navigating the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of OpenSciEd

Thursday April 3, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am CDT

Hutchinson

Join us for an engaging professional development session designed for teachers to come together, share, and brainstorm solutions around the OpenSciEd instructional materials. This workshop provides a collaborative space where educators can discuss their experiences—the good, the bad, and the challenging. Bring your successes and amazing resources to share with fellow teachers, and don't hesitate to bring your concerns and problems. Together, we will explore practical solutions, offer support, and enhance our collective understanding of how to best implement OpenSciEd in the classroom. Let’s turn challenges into opportunities and elevate our teaching practice as a team!

Speakers

Michelle Howe

Thursday April 3, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am CDT
Hutchinson

Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies

11:00am CDT

Fueling Curiosity and Engagement: Building a Dynamic Driving Question Board

Thursday April 3, 2025 11:00am - 11:50am CDT

Hutchinson

This presentation will explore the development and implementation of Driving Question Boards (DQB) to foster student-led scientific inquiry. Attendees will gain insight into how DQBs serve as a powerful tool to inspire curiosity and drive learning through real-world phenomena that connect to students’ cultural resources. The session will feature classroom examples of student-created DBQs and practical strategies and procedures for guiding students in the question development process.

Participants will engage actively by stepping into the shoes of students and experiencing the DQB process firsthand as I model the teacher’s facilitation techniques and preparation. Through this interactive approach, attendees will observe how DQBs align with the Next Generation Science Standards by emphasizing student-centered inquiry, phenomenon-based learning, and three-dimensional teaching practices.

By the end of the session, participants will leave with practical knowledge, sample student work, and ready-to-use resources for implementing DQBs in their own classrooms. This session is designed to equip educators with the tools and confidence to harness the power of student questions in driving deeper scientific understanding.

Speakers

Stacey Balbach

Chemistry, Biology, Physics, AP Chemistry, and CAPP Dual Credit Chemistry 105/106, Cuba City High School

Chemistry, Dual Credit Chemistry UWO, Physics, and Biology TeacherI am passionate about creating space for student sense-making through strategic planning and student wondering.

Thursday April 3, 2025 11:00am - 11:50am CDT
Hutchinson

General Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies

1:00pm CDT

Skills Based Grading

Thursday April 3, 2025 1:00pm - 1:50pm CDT

Hutchinson

By combining the best of NGSS and Ambitious Science Teaching, we will show you how our department revolutionized our assessments to grading to the skills. We will share sample activities, grading rubrics, gradebook set-up, and stories along the way.

Speakers

Brad Roost

Tanya Monet-Bakken

Rachel Stindt

Thursday April 3, 2025 1:00pm - 1:50pm CDT
Hutchinson

General Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies

2:00pm CDT

Learning for Justice

Thursday April 3, 2025 2:00pm - 2:50pm CDT

Hutchinson

Attendees will look closer at the CASEL SEL competencies and the Learning for Justice Standards, both of which aim to bring equity and SEL into the classroom. This presentation is step one of getting familiar with the resources, as well as having time to implement one of the strategies in their current curriculum.

Speakers

Claire Bernatz

Thursday April 3, 2025 2:00pm - 2:50pm CDT
Hutchinson

Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies Diversity/Equity

3:00pm CDT

Universal Design in Science

Thursday April 3, 2025 3:00pm - 3:50pm CDT

Hutchinson

Attendees will learn the core principles of Universal Design. From there, attendees will have an opportunity to 3D think and implement how to connect NGSS standards to strong UD principals in a practical, realistic, sustainable way. With extra time, attendees will take an upcoming lesson they are planning and apply these principles to that time to ask questions while integrating.

Speakers

Claire Bernatz

Thursday April 3, 2025 3:00pm - 3:50pm CDT
Hutchinson

Pedagogy/Teaching Strategies Diversity/Equity