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.
Performing environmental surveys on your school building and campus is a way to make science content relevant to students and to discover and address environmental problems at your school. This presentation reviews a case study where students learned about air pollution through school air quality surveys. Four different surveys will be covered: an indoor carbon dioxide survey, an indoor particulate survey, an outdoor PM 2.5 survey, and an outdoor lichen survey. You will come away with knowing what supplies you need for each survey, how to evaluate the data, recommendations for scaffolding skills and content, and possible summative options, including a presentation to administration on environmental problems students discovered.
Standards: HS-ESS3-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
Science & Engineering Practices: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Constructing Explanations and Designing Solution
Think outside the box! As we continue to face decreasing levels of student engagement, can we design new course offerings to captivate students in a variety of ways?
Science electives offer high school students a unique opportunity to explore their passions and delve deeper into specific scientific fields. Beyond meeting graduation requirements, these courses provide invaluable benefits, such as gaining in-depth understanding of a specialized science area, developing practical skills through laboratory work, fostering critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, exploring potential career paths, and simply satisfying a natural curiosity about the world!
Attendees will hear about the development process for three unique electives including: Cultivating student interest, encouraging exploration and interest-based course selection, and providing opportunities for students to contribute to curriculum development.
Presenters will share reflections on the preliminary offerings, including successes, challenges, and the need for cultural shift in order to maximize the benefit of these courses.
Join other Chemistry teachers from Wisconsin using phenomenon based curriculum for an informal roundtable discussion and resource-sharing session. Bring a computer and any resources you would like to share. Are you diving into chemistry phenomenon based curriculum like Storyline or OpenSciEd—need others to connect with—or are you new to the concept and want to learn more? After introductions,, we plan to break the group of educators into smaller groups to connect specifically with your interests. We are excited to make connections in teaching chemistry and provide resources to explore after the conference!
