Coming Together to Advance STEM Education
Brought to you by STEMscopes
With education forever transformed by distance learning, mini‑STEMposiums are the key to navigating both today’s instructional needs and tomorrow’s new normal in the classroom.
Featuring premier speakers from across the United States, each webinar brings together the knowledge of on-the-ground experts and relevant topics that every classroom in America is facing now. We encourage you to attend as many webinars as you like; recordings will be available after each event, so check back here if you missed one.
Webinars are entirely free of cost and, more importantly, are not product promotions—they’re offered to address issues affecting all students for a better tomorrow. Together, we are stronger than we are apart.
Meet Your Host
Your guide to each webinar is Kenn Heydrick, EdD, an accomplished STEM education veteran.
Having organized a wide variety of events at conferences, school districts, and virtually, Kenn understands that the root of advancing STEM education is in quality professional learning. Together, we’ll find the path to the new normal and come out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a better understanding of how to support students, parents, and teachers everywhere.
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Upcoming Mini‑STEMposiums
Thursday, October 15 [ 4:00-5:15 pm CT ]Immersing Students in Science Through Children’s Literature
Focused on the intersection of science and reading, this session will provide strategies and ideas for educators to immerse students in science, using children’s literature as a starting point. Recommendations for books to illustrate STEM-like thinking and suggestions for investigations to accompany the books will be provided.
Audience: Grades 2–5 teachers and teacher educators
Speaker:
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Christine Anne Royce, EdD NSTA Past President (18-19), Professor/CO-Director MAT in STEM Education Shippensburg University, PA
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Thursday, October 15 [ 5:45-7:00 pm CT ]Let STEMscopes Math Support You with Synchronous and Asynchronous Virtual Learning Opportunities
Explore how popular educational technology tools can enhance your math curriculum for guided and independent remote learning. This session will provide participants easy-to-implement strategies to create meaningful learning experiences that empower your students with 21st-century skills needed to succeed in a virtual learning environment.
Audience: Grades K–5 teachers and teacher educators
Speakers:
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Saturday, October 17 [ 10:00-11:15 am CT ]All Students' Ideas Matter
Eliciting, understanding, and addressing students' ideas is key to ensuring all students have the opportunity to learn. Learn how purposefully designed questions, called formative assessment probes, can reveal what teachers need to know about their students in order to provide responsive instruction, while simultaneously supporting student metacognition and intellectual engagement. Suggestions for using probes in a remote learning environment will also be provided.
Audience: K-12 teachers and teacher educators
Speaker:
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Thursday, November 12 [ 4:00-5:15 pm CT ]Making Digital Lessons Dynamic
If socially-distanced or distance learning is feeling repetitive and stale, join us to discover how to vary instructional practices to increase student collaboration, community, critical thinking, and cognitive engagement. This session will focus on the how and why we should engage students in powerful distance-learning environments.
Audience: K–12 teachers and teacher educators
Speakers:
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Thursday, November 12 [ 5:45-7:00 pm CT ]High-Yield Science Strategies for Reaching English Learners
Helping English learners master science content by building academic language is more important than ever. Drawing from the highly popular strategies in Teaching Science to English Learners, Dr. Fleenor models and explains high-yield techniques to reach and empower students with academic science language. In this webinar, participants will: --Develop higher-order open-ended questions --Engage with visuals and vocabulary strategies --Practice using new scaffolds to promote speaking, reading, listening, and writing for ELs --Practice structuring academic discussions online and in person with all students
Audience: K–12 Science/ESL educators
Speaker:
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Saturday, November 14 [ 10:00-11:15 am CT ]Making the Most of Guided Math Small-Group Lessons
Small-group lessons can be more than just whole-class lessons with fewer students. How can you make the most of this instructional format? Learn how to create differentiated lessons that target the specific learning needs of your students with a flexible lesson plan structure to address gaps in essential background knowledge, as well as providing additional challenge to those who need it.
Audience: K–12 teachers and teacher educators
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Thursday, December 10 [ 4:00-5:15 pm CT ]All Learning is Social and Emotional!
Now more than ever, we need to be attuned to a student’s academic and emotional well-being. The session will consider resources available to educators and parents to help ensure that students thrive both emotionally and academically.
Audience: K–12 teachers, teacher educators, and administrators
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Cathy Gassenheimer, MS Exec. VP for the Alabama Best Practices Center, A+ Education Partnership
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Thursday, December 10 [ 5:45-7:00 pm CT ]Engineering Culturally Relevant Cognitively Demanding Tasks to Empower Students in Mathematics
Given the diversity of today’s classrooms, it is important for teachers to be familiar with culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and implement it successfully. My colleagues and I (Matthews, Jones, & Parker, 2013) designed a framework and rubric for creating and assessing culturally relevant cognitively demanding (CRCD) mathematics tasks. Participants will discuss the salient features of CRP and use the CRCD Rubric to engineer tasks that will empower their students. Appropriate implementation of these tasks can help to develop positive student math identity and agency. In addition to task creation, participants will share other culturally relevant math resources.
Audience: K-16 teachers, teacher educators, and administrators
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Shelly M. Jones, PhD Professor of Mathematics Education Central Connecticut State University
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Saturday, December 12 [ 10:00-11:15 am CT ]Claim Evidence Reasoning: Implementing Strategies for Student Success
Join us for an interactive workshop on Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER). We will discuss and explore strategies for implementing CER in a virtual environment, scaffolding the process to reach more learners, and communicating clear expectations to students.
Audience: K–12 teachers and teacher educators
Speakers:
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Recorded Mini‑STEMposiums
Tuesday, May 19 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Using NGSS STEM Practices to Empower Students' 21st Century Skills
This session is designed to lead participants through essential practices that engage students in STEM learning. It will support educators in planning lessons where students use the practices from the Common Core as well as the science and engineering practices of the Framework to support their learning.
Speaker:
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Tuesday, May 19 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Engaging Student Engineers:
Designing Engineering Solutions for Your Science ClassroomEngineering design challenges enable you to apply science and engineering practices in your classroom! Discover structures and strategies that will encourage critical thinking and problem solving through the Engineering Design Process. Learn how to implement, modify, and scaffold these strategies for distance learning.
Speaker:
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Wednesday, May 20 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Building Literacy through Science with the Five Es
Using talking, reading, and writing skills can be an important foundation for teaching literacy in the science classroom with the 5E instructional model. Through these activities, teachers can increase rigor in their classroom and promote a more student-centered environment, whether meeting students face to face or in a virtual platform. Participants will use a variety of tech tools that can easily be used with students in a distance learning environment.
Speakers:
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Wednesday, May 20 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Students with Inquiring Minds Are Scientists (SWIMAS):
A Model for Student-Driven Inquiry-Based ScienceParticipants will learn about the development, implementation, and ongoing improvement of the Students With Inquiring Minds Are Scientists (S.W.I.M.A.S.) model for student-driven inquiry-based learning. This model includes deep alignment with the standards, pre-assessment, student-generated questions, teacher-student goal-setting conferences, individualized learning pathways, scientific reasoning and explanation, and post-assessment. We will share our journey with the model before as well as during the COVID-19 school closings. Learn how the culture of "doing" science was maintained in the midst of social distancing and school closings.
Speakers:
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Thursday, May 21 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Math Talks:
Promoting Dialogue and Discourse in the Math ClassroomHow do you get students talking and writing about numbers? Join us for an interactive look at how to promote dialogue and discourse among your students. Walk away with ready-to-implement strategies—like “Decide and Defend”—that will get the conversation started in your classroom.
Speakers:
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Thursday, May 21 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Overcoming Student Misconceptions –
Barriers to Understanding ScienceMisconceptions represent faulty thinking and understanding, and they are pervasive. Educators play a major role in uncovering and addressing misconceptions through formative assessment and carefully crafted lessons. Join me to learn about the types of misconceptions our students harbor and how we can uncover and correct them.
Speaker:
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Tuesday, June 16 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]A 2020 Vision for STEM Education –
Inquiry Programs for All StudentsThe popularity of STEM and the potential for STEM to address varied issues of state policies, school programs, and classroom practices all present the need for an education vision and concrete plans—that is, leadership. This keynote will provide background and ideas for leadership by the STEM education community.
Speaker:
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Rodger W. Bybee, PhD Executive Director Emeritus Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS)
[ view profile ]Tuesday, June 16 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]STEM Ecosystems and Planning for Your Future Campus/District Initiative
Collaboration among partners, schools, businesses, community members, and after-school programs can strengthen student readiness and academic achievement. An effective STEM campus will grow and connect STEM learning opportunities for all students. Barriers that hinder equitable access also need to be identified. Come learn how to plan, implement, and sustain a campus—the cornerstone of a STEM ecosystem.
Speaker:
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Wednesday, June 17 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]STEM Education for All Students, Including English Learners
The convergence of STEM subjects through broadening participation in technological innovations is changing the lives of students and teachers in classrooms and informal educational settings. Using classroom examples, this presentation will highlight how instructional shifts for STEM education and English learner education are mutually supportive.
Speaker:
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Wednesday, June 17 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Building A Community Bridge to STEM Success:
STEM Innovation HubsWith over 220,000 students, Hillsborough County Public Schools is the 7th largest school district in the nation and serves as the lead partner of the Tampa Bay STEM Network, one of the original 27 STEM Learning Ecosystems in the US. Early in development of their STEM “playbook,” Essential Elements for STEM Education (2011), the district focused efforts upon engineering as a touchpoint for mathematics and science learning. In 2017, with the help of partners of the Tampa Bay STEM Network, Hillsborough County Public Schools launched a new program—STEM Innovation Hubs—in four areas of the district, in which collaboration with academic, business, and community partners (the ABCs of STEM) anchored the transformation to STEM in challenged areas. The focus of each STEM Innovation Hub was to build trust within the community to support equitable STEM learning for all students. Three years later, 27 schools have worked together in four “Innovation Hubs” to create a STEM identity for their neighborhoods and to build thriving centers of creativity. Each STEM Innovation Hub is racially identifiable, serves many low-income families, and has a cultural influence. Educators within each hub have contributed to the success of the program through professional sharing and learning. This session will focus upon building strategic alliances within the community, specifically the role of the site-based administrator and regional/area superintendent as the foundational levers for change and success.
Speaker:
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Larry R. Plank, EdS Director K-12 STEM Education, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tampa Bay STEM Network
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Thursday, June 18 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Making Science Multilingual:
Integrating Science and Language for ALL StudentsNSTA and the 40-state WIDA Consortium formed Making Science Multilingual to support educators in interrogating and revising assumptions and practices that unintentionally exclude multilingual students from three-dimensional science. Crowther and MacDonald will share MSM’s pedagogical principles and new WIDA resources that leverage MLLs’ language skills to support their effective engagement.
Speakers:
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David T. Crowther, PhD Professor of Science Education University of Nevada, Reno, NSTA Past-President
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Rita MacDonald, MA Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Thursday, June 18 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Come Construct Meaning through the Inquiry-based 5E + IA Model in Math
Explore how the effective 5E +IA model drives student wonder, curiosity, and learning in the math classroom. We will take you through all phases of the model, including Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate, Intervention, and Acceleration. Take away strategies and ideas for your classroom.
Speakers:
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Tuesday, July 14 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Coaching Confident, Connected, & Capable Science Learners
Coaching students to success in science can require a multitude of learning tools besides the obvious traditional texts. The rationale behind using effective instructional methods goes way beyond test scores. Students who are confident in science processes are less defeated by science terms. Students who are connected in a community of learners are less isolated by science structures. Students who view themselves as capable are less likely to give up the journey to conceptual understanding of the world around them. This session will connect effective and applicable science instructional methods that coach students to be confident, connected, and capable in their science learning.
Speaker:
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Kelly Price Colley, EdD Vice Principal The Villages Charter High School, The Villages, Florida
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Tuesday, July 14 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Formative Assessment Planning that Promotes Student Self-responsibility and Yields Individual Student Success
Join us to empower students autonomous learning. We will explore a backward design strategy that helps you create a clear path of learning intentions through all your lessons, encouraging students to track their progress and decide how their time is spent preparing for the unit assessment.
Speaker:
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Wednesday, July 15 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]Strengthening the STEM Pipeline through Out‑of‑School Experiences
Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas is changing the workforce pipeline in STEM to meet the urgent need for female voices, engagement, and leadership in the fastest growing sector of the US economy. Reports show that STEM occupations are growing at double the rate of other professions, and Girl Scouts is committed to filling the STEM workforce pipeline. As the director of the STEM Center of Excellence, a sprawling 92-acre living laboratory located in south Dallas, Shane will share how they are providing year-round experiences in robotics, coding, smart botany, and more in order to meet the need for 1 million more STEM professionals over the next decade.
Speaker:
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Wednesday, July 15 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]The Future of Teaching:
Blending Online and On‑site InstructionThis webinar will help teachers prepare for the ambiguity of fall 2020 and the possibility of serving students both on-site and online. We will share practical strategies, like setting up a tech friendly classroom, creating flexible lesson plans, and using collaboration protocols to support student learning regardless of location. In addition to supporting a blended learning environment, these strategies can also be used to support absent students, those on independent study, and teachers wanting to provide additional differentiation and opportunities through technology.
Speakers:
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Thursday, July 16 [ 2:00-3:15 pm CT ]How to Put the “Productive” into the “Struggle” in the Math Classroom
Join us in diving into the process of productive struggle. Help students face problems in math and develop grit and creative problem solving techniques. Learn how to provide your students with opportunities to share their reasoning and celebrate their different ways of thinking.
Speakers:
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Thursday, July 16 [ 3:30-4:45 pm CT ]Classroom Management –
Strategies for STEM Student SuccessCreating a positive classroom culture provides a strong foundation for STEM success. Join us to learn practical strategies that encourage student collaboration, autonomy, and engagement.
Speakers:
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