Many science teachers feel overwhelmed by the challenges of implementing NGSS, as local and district demands often make alignment more challenging. To address this, we’ve created free, open-source NGSS-aligned materials through a research-practice partnership. These resources are designed to save time, reduce stress, and adapt to diverse teaching needs.
Grounded in educational research, our instructional design consistently helps students achieve NGSS outcomes. Teachers report reduced workloads, enhanced effectiveness, and greater confidence in meeting standards.
In this workshop, we’ll clarify NGSS goals, showcase ready-to-use curriculum examples, and guide you through examples of engaging classroom activities. You’ll leave with access to free, customizable content to streamline NGSS implementation in your classroom. We will focus on examples in biology, but will also provide access to other subjects, including chemistry, physics, astronomy, and agriscience.
The IL Biology Storylines provide a free, complete curricular replacement for any introductory biology course. 3-D learning incorporates the disciplinary core ideas, the science practices and the crosscutting concepts and is the driving force of the Next Generation Science Standards. In order to better integrate the different topics typically taught in the high school biology classroom, storyline units that are coherent and phenomenon-driven have been created so that students can make sense of how science works in real world situations. This workshop serves to introduce attendees to how the IL Biology Storylines have proven to be incredible models for sensemaking opportunities, equitable instruction, and how to lead to students becoming self-directed learners and critical thinkers in an ever-changing world.
In an era where data-driven insights are critical for scientific discovery and understanding, the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data has become a fundamental skill for students. This workshop will explore how you can empower students to actively engage in data collection across diverse science disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology, and environmental science. Participants will learn hands-on techniques for integrating data collection into their science curricula using sensors, which provide real-time data and enhance students’ learning experiences. This session will offer insights on inquiry-based learning that develops students’ scientific literacy and problem-solving skills.
Objectives: 1. Understand the Role of Data Collection in Science Education 2. Explore TI Technology for Real-Time Data Collection 3. Design and Implement Data-Driven Experiments 4. Integrate Data Collection into Standards-Based Instruction
By the end of this session, participants will: • Gain confidence in using technology for data collection in science education. • Acquire practical strategies for designing and implementing data-driven science experiments. • Understand how to integrate data collection with standards-based instruction to enhance student engagement and scientific literacy.
Discover how to engage students in scientific inquiry and coding by designing a digital mood ring! This hands-on session will guide participants through the process of creating a “mood ring” that changes color based on temperature readings from a sensor. With simple coding teachers will explore foundational science concepts—such as temperature sensing, data collection, and thermodynamics—while introducing students to basic coding and data visualization skills. No coding or advanced technical experience is needed; this session is designed to equip all teachers with the tools and confidence to bring this interactive project into their classrooms. Teachers will leave with a project outline, sample code, and step-by-step instructions, making it easy to replicate in a science or STEM curriculum.
Case studies are a great tool to engage and spark students' interest in learning about the human body systems and to learn about different diseases and conditions that affect those body systems. I will present the advantages and reasons for using case studies in a biology or anatomy class. Several case studies from different body systems will be shared and one case study will be conducted in the session. Teachers will also be given directions on a project for students to create their own case study and solve another student’s case.
Learning objectives include Attendees will learn why case studies are a good way to teach human body systems and diseases associated with those body systems. Attendees will learn how to incorporate case studies as a way to introduce a body system or as a way to review a specific body system. Attendees will solve a case study. Attendees will learn how to have students create their own case study for classmates to solve.
This workshop will explore the intricate balance between agricultural practices and sustainability. We will delve into the fundamental aspects of plant biology, the impact of water on land, the delicate equilibrium of nutrient cycles, and the strategic application of agricultural technologies. Participants will work through four Nourish the Future activities as part of a mini unit which works to answer the question, "How do farmers grow food and keep our waterways clean?" By examining the similarities and differences between corn and soybean plants, we will gain insights into the underlying principles of plant growth and development. We will then explore the critical role of water in shaping landscapes and the potential for erosion to degrade soil health. Next the workshop will highlight the importance of nutrient management in maintaining healthy ecosystems. We will observe the consequences of nutrient pollution. Finally, we will examine the latest advancements in precision agriculture, focusing on the use of data-driven technologies to optimize crop yields while minimizing environmental impact. Participants will complete activities which can later be done with their students.
The US Department of Education has recognized the Modeling Instruction program as an exemplary K-12 science program. This pedagogical approach puts students into the role of a scientist planning experiments, gathering and analyzing data, presenting the data and results of an experiment to peers. The participants of this workshop will learn about Modeling Instruction and have an opportunity to experience a number of different aspects of this pedagogical approach. This includes a physics modeling style experiment, a white boarding session and post lab discussion. Participant learning objectives include: gaining a deeper understanding of modeling instruction, participating in a modeling style experiment, learning how modeling instructions aligns with the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices, and learning how modeling instruction can be used with other science content areas.
We invite you to participate in an entomological workshop designed for science educators, focusing on the craft of insect pinning and curation. Insects are fascinating creatures that play many crucial roles in ecosystems and are found almost everywhere. This hands-on session will guide teachers through the essentials of building an insect collection and offer practical insights on how to incorporate these activities into the classroom. We will explore the importance of recording specimen data, emphasizing its role in scientific research and education. Participants will engage in activities, including practicing insect pinning, adding specimens to a collection box, and labeling. Attendees will have developed an understanding for how an insect display box can be used to teach ecosystem services and biodiversity, food webs, classification & taxonomy, life cycles, adaptations to environments and environmental stewardship. All supplies will be provided for free and participants can take the collection boxes back to their classrooms for continued development, display, and teaching.
Have you ever found yourself in need of making accommodations to better support the range of learners in your room, but you didn’t know how to begin? In this presentation, you will be provided some ways to create a template for accommodating and modifying that can be used consistently throughout the year to speed up the process and provide a starting point. I have taught biology and chemistry for many years with a diverse group of learners, including students assessed on the Essential Elements with significant needs. Whether you just need some ideas for embedding more explicit vocabulary strategies or materials to reach a nonverbal student in a way that allows them to participate in a lab with their peers, there will be an opportunity to see examples and hear how they were created.
The goal of the session is to provide an overview with a few examples of my resources followed by time to brainstorm with peers in the session, ask questions, and create some resources you can use in your classroom when you return. Bring your colleagues for even more collaboration!
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.
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.
Insects are the Rodney Dangerfields of conservation—they don’t get no respect. As a result, invertebrate conservation (including that of insects) tends to be significantly underfunded and ignored. It doesn’t help that a majority of people think of most insects as just “bugs”—pests that would best be exterminated. One exception to this rule is Danaus plexippus—the monarch butterfly. Despite being invertebrates, monarchs rank up there with eagles and whales, manatees and wolves as emblems of conservation and the parts of nature that we love. Most people can identify monarch caterpillars, know that they feed on milkweeds, and certainly recognize the adults—not something they can say about any other lepidopteran.
The first grade class at University Lake School—a small, private school in Hartland, Wisconsin—has, for many years, learned about and acted out the monarch life cycle and migration. We will go through the activity, providing background information about these iconic invertebrates as well as giving out materials so participants can easily have their students become graceful monarchs!
