Spring has sprung and that means it’s time for the STANYS Spring Conference. The Conference this year was held on Thursday March 28th at Brookhaven National Lab. Participants were greeted with a light breakfast and time to circulate around at vendors before the Keynote Speaker began. The Keynote was presented by Dr. Cary Sneider a Professor at Portland State who is a member of the NGSS Engineering Writing Team. His keynote focused on the concept of inquiry and how it has changed within the guise of NGSS. His talk was engaging and interactive and a great way to start the day. The first session continued with a variety of workshops to choose from, ranging from argument driven inquiry presented by Dr. Victor Sampson himself, author of many Argument Driven resources to escaping the classroom. Lunch was a nice break to interact and connect with fellow participants and after lunch we continued on with two additional workshop sessions. I was fortunate to sit in a workshop where we explore the chemistry of hot sauce as a phenomena and how well it can clean a penny. The presenters were so well organized prepared it made the transition to NYSSLS seem like something we can all introduce in our own classes. Participants were engaged throughout the day and were involved with hands on workshops that ranged all content and grade levels. The conference was a success with teachers walking away with lessons that they could use in their own classrooms. I want to thank the STANYS members that put this great conference together and look forward to the next one. The behind the scene effort it takes to pull off a conference of this caliber is nothing short of amazing, and the members of STANYS really work together to provide high quality professional development to the teachers of Suffolk County.
For additional photos of the day click here: STANYS photos