Join Lab-Aids at the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Conference this March in Atlanta, Georgia!
Make sure to mark your calendars to attend our workshops and stop by our booth to talk us.
WORKSHOPS:
Thursday, March 23
Not Your Usual Elementary STEM Workshop: Make a Ride for One of Your Toys
From Tinkering Labs
Time: 11:00a - 12:00p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
This hands-on workshop challenges participants to make a vehicle to move a toy or other small object using motors, wheels, wires, and other equipment. This activity is one of 10 engineering design challenges in the Electric Motors Catalyst, a STEM curriculum for grades K-5 that comes complete with equipment, lesson plans, assessments, embedded support for ELA, and is NGSS focused. The program is distributed by Lab-Aids. Lesson samples and literature will be distributed.
Evolution: Investigating Embryology
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 12:30p - 1:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students analyze and interpret skeletal and embryological images to identify patterns of similarities and differences across species that look very different as mature animals. Students identify patterns of similarities throughout developmental time to infer evolutionary relationships not obvious in the mature animals.
Presented by SEPUP:
Computational Thinking Using Computer Simulations in High School Biology
Time: 2:20p - 3:20p | Location: Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center - International Ballroom A
While the NGSS emphasizes the science and engineering practice of computational thinking, there is less familiarity and support for the implementation of this practice compared to other practices. In this session, high school biology teachers will learn how to promote computational thinking in their classrooms by engaging with a newly developed computer simulation. This freely available simulation is based on a real-world phenomenon and is designed to address specific performance expectations in biology. Teachers will explore the simulation as learners first, engaging with it as their students would. Then they will reflect on how they used computational thinking to explain the phenomenon. Teachers will leave the session with access to the simulation, suggestions for lesson plans, ideas for incorporating the activity into their curricula, and strategies for utilizing the simulation with all learners in their classrooms.
Waves: Comparing Colors in Sunglasses
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 3:00p - 4:00p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students collect evidence that indicates that different colors of light carry different amounts of energy. Students analyzing and interpret light transmission graphs for three different sunglass lenses. They determine which sunglass lens (structure) provides the best protection (function) for the eyes.
Friday, March 24
Increasing Student Discourse While Prospecting for Mineral Ore
From EDC: Earth Science
Time: 8:00a - 9:00a | Location: Georgia World Congress Center- B207
How do we engage students to ask questions and develop evidence-based explanations? In this hands-on activity from the Lab-Aids EDC Earth Science program, discourse occurs authentically as you role-play a geologist testing various site extractions for molybdenum, a valuable mineral.
Not Your Usual Elementary STEM Workshop: Make a Ride for One of Your Toys
From Tinkering Labs
Time: 9:00a - 10:00a | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
This hands-on workshop challenges participants to make a vehicle to move a toy or other small object using motors, wheels, wires, and other equipment. This activity is one of 10 engineering design challenges in the Electric Motors Catalyst, a STEM curriculum for grades K-5 that comes complete with equipment, lesson plans, assessments, embedded support for ELA, and is NGSS focused. The program is distributed by Lab-Aids. Lesson samples and literature will be distributed.
Evolution: Investigating Embryology
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 10:30 - 11:30a | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students analyze and interpret skeletal and embryological images to identify patterns of similarities and differences across species that look very different as mature animals. Students identify patterns of similarities throughout developmental time to infer evolutionary relationships not obvious in the mature animals.
Making Sense of Cell Differentiation and Gene Expression
From Science and Global Issues: Biology
Time: 10:40a - 11:40a | Location: Georgia World Congress Center- B207
Explore the use of sensemaking strategies to help students understand how selective gene expression works. Come experience a model lesson from a new Lab-Aids' program: Science and Global Issues: Biology, developed by SEPUP. This hands-on workshop will also show a connection to genetic engineering.
Waves: Comparing Colors in Sunglasses
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 11:30a - 12:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students collect evidence that indicates that different colors of light carry different amounts of energy. Students analyzing and interpret light transmission graphs for three different sunglass lenses. They determine which sunglass lens (structure) provides the best protection (function) for the eyes.
Explore a Learning Sequence about Patterns in Species Diversity
From Science and Global Issues: Biology
Time: 1:20p - 2:20p | Location: Georgia World Congress Center- B207
Learning Sequences to drive phenomena through a unit is one way to help students understand the content. In this model activity from a new Lab-Aids program: Science and Global Issues: Biology, developed by SEPUP, you will use data to investigate how abiotic factors and species diversity are related.
Sustaining the Commons
From Science and Global Issues: Biology
Time: 2:00p - 3:00p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
How common resources are used by individuals is a critical part of global sustainability. Setting parameters for common resource use can be a critical tool in sustainably managing a group’s resources. In this interactive workshop from the new Science and Global Issues: Biology program from SEPUP, you will engage with a model of how human choices affect the sustainability of a particular resource—the fish population of a fictitious lake—and the potential effects of different actions on individuals, the greater community, and the resource itself.
Equitable Unit Designs with Lab-Aids and SEPUP
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 2:40p - 3:40p | Location: Georgia World Congress Center- B207
Learn about the intentional design of our units to embed equitable opportunities in phenomenon-based learning. This hands-on workshop uses a model activity showing how students use data to develop an evidence-based argument supporting the best way to recover copper from a waste solution.
Cutting Canyons and Building Deltas
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 3:30p - 4:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students take on the roles of civil engineers as they use a river model to investigate how flowing water erodes and deposits sediments to create common landforms. They then design erosion-control structures and use the river model to test them. Based on the results of their initial testing, students redesign and retest their structures.
Modeling a River Delta
From EDC: Earth Science
Time: 3:30p - 4:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
After learning about New Orleans, a city in a deltaic region that is sinking and vulnerable to terrible destruction during hurricanes, students examine the important role that rivers play in shaping Earth’s surface through. Utilizing the Lab-Aids' mini stream table, this interactive workshop helps students observe the movement of sediment by a river and the resulting landforms, including delta formation.
Driving Questions Boards (DQB) with Lab-Aids and SEPUP
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 4:00p - 5:00p | Location: Georgia World Congress Center- B207
Use a DQB to make phenomena meaningfully connected to science content. Pro-tips and exemplary DQB walkthrough – an experienced trainer will guide development of a sample DQB, using a model lesson from our middle school program that looks at the effects of an introduced species on an ecosystem.
Saturday, March 25
Presented by SEPUP:
Using "Science as a Human Endeavor" to Foster Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Secondary Science Classrooms
Time: 8:45a - 9:15a | Location: Georgia World Congress Center - A312
The NGSS Connections to Nature of Science emphasize that “science is a human endeavor.” This session will describe how this connection can be leveraged to highlight diversity and foster greater inclusion in the classroom. This session will introduce resources that highlight the contributions of a greater diversity of individuals, teams, and communities than has been typically featured in science and presents opportunities for all students to participate in science. Participants will receive a letter to students that can be used to introduce this concept. They will then explore a free online resource that spotlights examples of how communities are engaging in science locally, provides links to opportunities for community (or citizen) science, and features a diverse array of people who are scientists and engineers currently working in the field. The idea that real world science and engineering is and can be done by people of all ages and backgrounds—including students—will be emphasized.
Cutting Canyons and Building Deltas
From Middle School Issues and Science
Time: 10:00 - 11:00a | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
Students take on the roles of civil engineers as they use a river model to investigate how flowing water erodes and deposits sediments to create common landforms. They then design erosion-control structures and use the river model to test them. Based on the results of their initial testing, students redesign and retest their structures.
Modeling a River Delta
From EDC: Earth Science
Time: 10:00 - 11:00a | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
After learning about New Orleans, a city in a deltaic region that is sinking and vulnerable to terrible destruction during hurricanes, students examine the important role that rivers play in shaping Earth’s surface through. Utilizing the Lab-Aids' mini stream table, this interactive workshop helps students observe the movement of sediment by a river and the resulting landforms, including delta formation.
Sustaining the Commons
From Science and Global Issues: Biology
Time: 11:30a - 12:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
How common resources are used by individuals is a critical part of global sustainability. Setting parameters for common resource use can be a critical tool in sustainably managing a group’s resources. In this interactive workshop from the new Science and Global Issues: Biology program from SEPUP, you will engage with a model of how human choices affect the sustainability of a particular resource—the fish population of a fictitious lake—and the potential effects of different actions on individuals, the greater community, and the resource itself.
Not Your Usual Elementary STEM Workshop: Make a Ride for One of Your Toys
From Tinkering Labs
Time: 1:30p - 2:30p | Location: Lab-Aids Booth #1014 in the Exhibit Hall
This hands-on workshop challenges participants to make a vehicle to move a toy or other small object using motors, wheels, wires, and other equipment. This activity is one of 10 engineering design challenges in the Electric Motors Catalyst, a STEM curriculum for grades K-5 that comes complete with equipment, lesson plans, assessments, embedded support for ELA, and is NGSS focused. The program is distributed by Lab-Aids. Lesson samples and literature will be distributed.
Presented by SEPUP:
NGSS-Aligned Summative Classroom Assessments of Three-Dimensional Learning
Time: 2:40p - 3:40p | Location: Georgia World Congress Center - B303
This workshop will engage teachers with sample assessments designed to assess 3D learning related to several middle school life, earth, and physical science NGSS PEs. Key features of each assessment will be highlighted to help teachers understand where each PE dimension is addressed, how to help their students navigate the prompts, and how to use this information to work with assessments in their own curriculum, or to design their own. They will also examine a sample that integrates an engineering PE as an example of a “bundled” assessment. The items being used are summative, designed to function as a bridge between the formative classroom assessments embedded in specific curricula and large-scale state assessments. Teachers will also explore addressing equity issues in using assessments, and will leave with knowledge about how to help their students navigate and respond to 3D assessments within and outside of the context of whatever curriculum they are using.