AI is already having a significant impact on education and is only just starting to transform our work and lives. This session seeks to provide a discussion space for educators to consider some of the following thought prompts: -How do I design work that will help my students learn in the age of AI? -How do I leverage AI for my work? -How do I use AI ethically and how do I teach students to use AI ethically? -Who has access to AI and what biases are inherently embedded in it? -What policies exist in my space about AI? -What policies and practices do I want to establish using AI? -How can I evaluate the use of AI in my work and in my students’ work?
Attendees will be able to leave with: -A better understanding of the ways that AI is shaping and will shape their work. -Reflections on their views and values about AI in the classroom -Next steps for their practice in the ethical use of AI
This session will explore our district’s journey of adopting a new high school science curricular resource and developing curriculum aligned with the NGSS standards. Attendees will gain insights into how we collaboratively established learning targets, designed cohesive units, and developed shared assessments used across three high schools. The presentation will also share challenges and successes from multiple perspectives—administrators, teachers, and students—providing a comprehensive view of the process.
Interactive components will include opportunities to analyze sample rubrics and discuss strategies for applying similar processes in attendees’ districts. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with actionable ideas for fostering alignment and consistency in their own curriculum and assessments.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the steps for adopting and implementing NGSS-aligned curriculum and assessments. 2. Explore the importance of cross-school collaboration in creating consistent learning experiences. 3. Develop strategies to adapt the process for use in their own districts or schools.
High School Science Teacher, School District of Waukesha
This is my 12th year as a high school science teacher (Chemistry and Physics). I am an inveterate user of Blackboard and Google apps to facilitate instruction both virtually and face-to-face. I enjoy testing the capabilities and limits of what a program can offer me because my... Read More →
The School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the first academic institution in the nation solely dedicated to the study and advancement of freshwater sciences. This session provides a brief overview of current freshwater research initiatives and opportunities to engage with the School’s outreach efforts, which connect teachers and students with educational experiences. The session will also feature collaborative discussions to encourage your input. How can universities best support your work bringing freshwater science to students? What can we do to empower you to provide students with real-world applications which enhance engagement and learning outcomes. Learning objectives for this session include: 1. Enhancing participants’ understanding of the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences. 2. Building connections between participants and the School’s outreach efforts to create ongoing opportunities for collaboration, internships, and student engagement. 3. Identifying opportunities for university support, with a focus on accessing resources, fostering collaborative partnerships, and integrating real-world applications of freshwater science into student learning experiences. This session will serve as a platform to share ideas and suggestions for new activities and resources to strengthen community-university connections.
There is a folder on my desktop with way too many activities saved in it. I know that I will never implement them all, but occasionally I will discover a new “tool” for my “teacher toolkit.” What I really want is to hear what “tools” other folks like to use. For this reason (and many others), I am happy to have found a community of practice of other science teachers with whom I can chat about stuff I want to try in my classroom. I have learned a lot from our times together and hope teachers at any stage of their career are able to find a similar support network. In this workshop, we will act as a small community of practice for the day. First, we will get into a classroom mindset by making sense of an “everyday phenomenon”. Afterwards, we will open space for folks to share experiences and resources that they find productive for meeting similar goals or could help improve the learning experience. Come to have some fun doing a kitchen-safe lab activity and chat with others about productive experiences teaching and learning science.
Every student deserves a welcoming and comfortable learning environment. At this polarized time, different communities are in different places in their level of encouraging welcoming spaces. In our session we’ll brainstorm the types of things that are within the control of a classroom practitioner to create welcoming spaces for all different types of identities. We’ll also share brainstorming of ways of overcoming community challenges. We will honor the wisdom and experience of the diverse perspectives of the room, by modeling strategies for helping people solve each other’s problems. Finally, we’ll look at places where in a Science classroom in particular, old types of thinking/ exclusion may cause problems for learners.
Attendees will be able to leave with: -A reflection on the identities present in their context -A list of possible strategies to try to make their space more welcoming to those identities -Troubleshooting solutions to other people’s challenges in creating welcoming spaces
Attendees will hear about our work to best unpack rich teacher resources to develop a cohesive PLC perspective of what a uniform experience might look like. We will discuss strategies for how to UBD a transfer task based assessment system which focuses on Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) rather than Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs). Teachers in a PLC need to develop a shared vision of what student success looks like on SEPs/CCCs in order to efficiently share success criteria with students and effectively plan instruction to provide students to deeply engage in productive work to build the capacity for that success. At the end of the session, attendees will leave with a template that could be used as is or edited to organize PLC discussions for backwards planning a unit. Attendees will leave with strategies for clarifying SEP/CCC success and facilitator moves for developing those practices in the classroom.
Join the WSST Professional Development Committee for a round table discussion about professional development opportunities you want to see from the committee.
This informal session will begin with a brief introduction of myself, my role as a director, and my journey with WSST. Following this, participants will have the opportunity to share insights and hear from other members in our district. Together, we’ll network and exchange ideas on staying connected year-round, organizing socials, and planning professional development opportunities tailored to the unique needs of educators and enthusiasts in our district.
I will teach participants about how we created a self sustaining permaculture food forest that mimics nature with the movement of animals to maintain and sustain the forest. The food forest is self-watered through a series of swales and berms to retain nearly 100% of the water that falls on the property, and is projected to make the school roughly $50,000 each year. I will utilize a Powerpoint style presentation and handouts. This is connected to NGSS standard: MS-ESS3-3 Earth and Human Activity Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. and 5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
Attendees will experience several related science phenomena to build incrementally more productive models that explain the science that is being observed. A focus will be placed on attendee sensemaking -- both individually and as a collective group -- to increase facilitator tool boxes in terms of supporting student sensemaking through scientific models. The NGSS Science and Engineering Practice (SEP) of Developing and Using Models can be leveraged to bring student ideas to paper to explain weird and complex ideas. As facilitators in 3-Dimensional learning spaces, sometimes it is difficult to provide students guidance in how to create productive models without squashing student agency and authority. How can a teacher guide students toward success while leaving space for student discourse around productive modeling practices? Attendees of this session will leave with practical tools they can use to organize their facilitation moves when they ask students to develop scientific models.
This session is designed for educators who are new to AI or hesitant about using it. Attendees will be introduced to a variety of AI platforms to help determine which tools might best suit their needs. Real-life examples will demonstrate how AI can be used for creating and modifying content, designing unique classroom experiences, and saving time in both professional and personal tasks.
The presentation will highlight intuitive, accessible tools directly applicable to teachers’ daily routines. Participants will have time to explore these tools and see firsthand how easy it is to integrate AI into their practice in manageable steps.
By the end of the session, attendees will feel more confident about incorporating AI into their work, knowing that these tools are meant to enhance—not replace—their teaching.
Learning Objectives:
Understand how AI can streamline and simplify everyday tasks for teachers. Discover AI tools to amplify your lessons and engage students in new ways. Gain confidence in using AI to enhance both your professional and personal life.
High School Science Teacher, School District of Waukesha
This is my 12th year as a high school science teacher (Chemistry and Physics). I am an inveterate user of Blackboard and Google apps to facilitate instruction both virtually and face-to-face. I enjoy testing the capabilities and limits of what a program can offer me because my... Read More →
Saturday April 5, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am CDT
Thistle
Learn how a digital template can provide scaffolded guidance for student learning by providing easily accessible learning resources such as embedded content sources (video clips, articles, website links, etc) and clarifying support related to expectations for student work products (embedded rubrics, student work exemplars, etc). Additional discussion and simulated mini-lesson will cover how this approach fosters more efficient and relevant feedback of student work and how the digital template can serve as a resource hub for teaching materials (i.e. lecture slides, class data collection, rubrics, answer keys, etc.). Student notebook samples and corresponding digital notebook templates will be available for reference.
I will present for 30 minutes on how I use transects to get kids outside collecting data along a stream corridor. I have found transects are engaging for students without the expectation that they are an expert on identifying plant or animal species. Transects are often the building blocks for our field observations within an outdoor freshwater ecology course I teach and useful to build skills required for the rest of the semester. I will share several different transects that I have found to be effective for mapping, analyzing and collecting field data all within a 45 minute class period (so quick turn around). I will talk about common barriers and future connections with transects as well. The last 15 minutes will be open discussion or time for any questions you may have for me.
HS LS2- 2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.HS LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
