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A Professional Development Experience with Paul Andersen by Alice Veyvoda

This summer, STANYS leaders, Master Teachers, and educational professionals throughout New York State were invited to experience two days of immersion in NYSSLS and Three-Dimensional Learning and Assessment   Paul Andersen joined us to facilitate the learning activities.

There were three workshop sites around the state: July 29-30 (SUNY Stony Brook); July 31-August 1 (SUNY New Paltz); and August 2-3 (Conference Center at Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES). Each workshop was designed to prepare teacher leaders to begin the work of facilitating workshops on how to transition to NYSSLS. These workshops built on those conducted during the last two summers, and teacher leaders attending this year were provided with multiple ideas and resources to share with other educators in their home schools/regions. Workshop activities included creating storylines for lessons to help further understanding regarding the shifts to the new standards and phenomenon-based learning. Learn more at Paul Andersen’s website, TheWonderOfScience

 

Paul also offered some advice to the STANYS leaders as they looked forward to sharing their understanding and providing workshops for their teacher-colleagues “back home” – a sort of “12 step plan” that began with a reminder that teachers are professionals, not students, and should be treated as such, and closed with “Have Fun !” He stressed not to argue about adoption of the new Standards: it’s done!

Day #1 we worked in groups of two or three to develop a 3D assessment. We first continued work on an assessment already started by participants from another workshop and then we chose a Performance Assessment in our subject area and began the process of developing and honing an assessment we might use in the upcoming year. To help us evaluate the assessment we were developing, Paul provided us with his “Performance Assessment Screening Tool – a “check-list” of items designed to ascertain if the assessment tool we were developing was actually doing what we wanted it to: assess 3-dimensional learning for the selected PE area.

Day #2 was devoted to developing activities for a lesson/unit for which we might utilize the assessment developed the previous day. Workshop participants observed various phenomena for introducing “sample” lessons/units, and then searched for a phenomenon suitable for introducing students to the topic they had chosen. We applied Paul’s “method” (his “ABC’s of Teaching”: Activity Before Content”) to our lesson prep. Paul was ready with help, circulating throughout the groups, asking questions and giving suggestions to further our progress. He provided a “3-Dimensional Screening Tool” with a “check-list” to guide us toward development of a truly 3-dimensional lesson. At the close of Day #2, we all felt that we had a 3-D lesson (or the strong beginning of one…) and a 3-D assessment to provide us with student feedback. Quite an accomplishment!

Some comments from attendees:

“As always, my brain hurts from thinking so much … in a good way! I am excited to take all that I learned about developing lessons and assessments and share it with other teachers. I look forward to seeing how the shift to 3D-instruction and learning helps build deeper understanding for students.” Kathi

“This workshop was particularly rewarding beause there was ample tie for discourse among colleagues and we left with a finished product to take back to my classroom!” Jeff Salerno, STANYS Western Section (JeffreySalerno@LSCSD.or)

“As a new teacher that was extensively trained in the new standards it was an insightful experience to work with other teachers and professionals to learn how to incorporate these standards into the classroom.” Riley McHugh

“Paul Andersen has been a phenomenal resource in explaining all of the information about NGSS. I am looking forward to engaging my students with inquiry based labs. See you next year! Ashley Leung

“Paul and the STANYS crew provided another high quality professional development to support the vital work to implement our new standards. They had a great mix of prompts, productive group work, and good humor.” Doug Schmid

“After participating in all three Paul Andersen workshops –this final hands-on interactive presentation really wrapped the NYSSLS into a nice package I look forward to unwrapping during the school year. My level of understanding of the new standards is finally sinking in and Ifeel like I have material to try this upcoming year. The professional development these two days was excellent and well put together by all involved.”Sonja Anderson

“The authentic scientific practices being implemented in NGSS are invaluable for scientific reasoning for all students.” Peter Rosen

“The opportunity to collaborate with colleagues of all levels of experience and all types of backgrounds made this daunting task of implementing NGSS feel totally attainable!” Seth

Paul Andersen will be a presenter at the Annual Conference November 1-4, 2019, in Rochester NY. Find more information online at STANYS.org/ConferenceMain where the full Conference Program is available.

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#STANYSchat – See What STANYS is All a Twitter About!

Did you know that STANYS has entered the 21st century?  During the school year, STANYS hosts a Twitter chat every Thursday at 8pm called #STANYSchat. Here, teachers from across the state join together to discuss a wide range of issues in science education. Past discussions have examined the implementation of the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS), avoiding teaching burnout, and examining past professional development that STANYS has offered, such as ADI, Paul Andersen’s Deep Dives into NYSSLS, and the annual STANYS conferences. 

You might ask yourself “why should I participate”?  Well, why not? For starters, it is a fabulous way to connect with other science teachers across New York State.  Sometimes as teachers, we can have a hard time finding “our person” – somebody else who is motivated to try new things or eager to discuss the changes in education.  In #STANYSchat, participants are invested in science education. Additionally, the discussions are tailored to New York State science, so participants are aware and familiar to the struggles that New York State teachers face.  Lastly – who doesn’t want to participate in personal professional development that can be done in pajamas? Since these are Twitter chats, there is no reason to leave home – so there is no formal dress code that needs to be followed!

So, how does one participate in #STANYSchat?  It might look complicated, but it’s easier than you might think.  For starters, you will need a Twitter account, which can be made for free at Twitter.com.  After creating your account, be sure to be following STANYS official Twitter account at @STANYSorg.  Each week that a #STANYSchat will be taking place, a discussion topic and questions will be posted the Tuesday before Thursday’s chat. Think about your answers to the questions, and on Thursday at 8pm, join in the discussion.  Make sure that each of your answers to the questions includes the hashtag #STANYSchat – it will allow other participants to follow along with your answers. Don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed – everybody was once a beginner and is willing to help others join in the discussion. 

This year, step outside your comfort zone and try something different. I hope that you can join us!

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Suffolk Spring Conference 2019

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

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Moving to NYSSLS Implementation?

Where are you, your department, and your district in transitioning to New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS)?  These are our current science standards, but I totally get the reluctance of some to modify since the state assessments haven’t changed.  Get ready anyway. Teachers, administrators, Boards of Education, professional organizations, NYSED, and NYS Legislators all have priorities but they are often determined by necessity, often the turn in the road ahead.  Each group needs to outline where they hope to be in a few years and then lay out a step by step plan to reach those goals for NYSSLS implementation. District administrators and teachers should plan for changes without waiting to see the new state assessments.  These “Framework based standards” are now adopted by 40 states representing 80% of all student in the US. The standards are about improved science education and preparing our students for this century and not about the summative exams.

District administrators, teachers and community stakeholders need to understand the changes and work towards an implementation plan.  PK-5 are grade banded and development of phenomena-based 3D curriculum resources is challenging so most elementary teachers need support, curriculum materials, and professional learning opportunities.  Middle schools must decide on a course map that includes all the standards (MS PEs) and somehow figure out how to handle acceleration in their HS courses. Once the middle school course map draft is outlined, PEs could be bundled, and curriculum developed.  High school science departments could look at Appendix K, the PEs for their courses, and do a cross walk with the Curriculum Cores and the NYSSLS. As an important note, you must closely look at NYSSLS and not NGSS as you dig into designing curriculum. A concerned teacher recently pointed out that HS-PS2-1 is about Newton’s Second Law of Motion but has a significant difference in the NYSSLS clarification statement … projectile motion, or an object moving in a circular motion), for objects in equilibrium (Newton’s First Law), or for forces describing the interaction between two objects (Newton’s Third Law)…   

I’d like to share some of my positive experiences and observations as we move closer to implementation.  I know student centered instruction, project-based learning, learning through case studies, and problem solving has been part of best practices in science classrooms; now NYSSLS aligns with those practices.  Elementary (K-5) is making progress in local classrooms and teachers are talking about how happy the students are to be doing science. Kids love being up and about figuring out, working in groups and engaged in learning science.  The K-2 and 3-5 progressions represented in the content (DCIs) for each grade removes some of the previously taught recall-based stuff that isn’t inclusive of all students. Some districts are choosing between various elementary BOCES and publisher-based curriculum resources to pilot or adopt.  It won’t be many years before students entering middle school will expect science to be about explaining phenomena, figuring things out, and solving problems. Some middle schools have their draft course maps and shifted entire grade levels to NYSSLS. High school programs seem to be the slowest to shift but there are some that embraced student centered instruction before NYSSLS.  Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGILs), Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI), IB, and the current AP science courses are aligned with the NYSSLS approach. I know cohorts of MS and HS teachers in the NYS Master Teachers program have been working together in transitioning their courses. Teachers collaborating, setting goals, trying new lessons, developing phenomenon based inquiry tasks, working on performance assessments and among the things that will help move us forward.

STANYS is continuing to do what we can to help the science community make a smooth transition to NYSSLS.  Through the NYS Science Education Consortium, we participated in the widely distributed White Paper on Assessment and have lobbied for funding for professional development.  Suffolk STANYS in partnership with BNL will be offering a Spring Conference March 28th.  We have Dr. Cary Sneider (lead writer of NGSS) and Dr. Victor Sampson (ADI) scheduled for workshops along with several your colleagues and folks from BNL.  STANYS is planning more PD opportunities again this summer with Paul Andersen and plans are already underway for our Annual Conference in Rochester.

Best wishes to you and your families for a wonderful year.

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Preparing Students for the Next Generation

How can we best prepare students for the next generation? (The following is based on a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson.) As science teachers, we are trained to be keen observers of student behaviors. Most of us are naturally good at this. This is a direct development of our science minds. We see natural changes and can make predictions, but predicting the timing and the degree of future changes decades away, is extremely challenging. That being said, the students we are teaching today will live and work in that world. Graduates and students today are facing globalization, a robotic workforce, academic inflation, high-speed travel, rapid population movement, rapid advancements in computer technology, climate change, and a raft of environmental issues. The world is changing at an accelerated pace. Students today need to more creative than ever to compete and be the problem solvers that can take on these challenges successfully.

We as teachers, administrators, and legislators have a large stake in creating curriculum and practices that allow students that are creative to flourish. The problem is that we reward students that excel in less creative courses, and diminish the types of courses that produce creativity. Some teachers that I work with are masters at using teaching crutches that allow a student to get the right answer by reducing the solution and limiting creativity. In the world of hyper testing environments, are students being taught that being wrong is unacceptable? Think about it, we reward students for getting near perfect or perfect scores. In fact we praise them with lavish awards and scholarships. Colleges use SAT scores based on a few dimensions of learning, mathematical aptitude, reading and language skills. In general, students learn that in order to be accepted into a college, they must emphasize the courses that the SAT measures, and de-emphasize other courses that are very creative, including arts. This by nature reduces the creative courses that SAT focused students enroll in. Please, I’m not being disrespectful and I’m certain brilliance can shine in any area, but there are specialized minds and very creative thinkers that are not being developed to their fullest potential.

In New York State, many new educational programs are being implemented. In science we are transitioning into the NYSSLS based on the Next Generation Science Standards. How we teach NYSSLS is an important as the performance expectations themselves. Administrators need to realize that every teaching discipline is different. If a science teacher that tries to set up interesting teaching phenomena for 3D learning is not given adequate time or supplies to accomplish this, then creativity and problem solving will be lost from the start.

In order to teach students to be more creative, as often as possible, we should allow students to fail with less penalty, allow them to realize that real problems and solutions do not always lead to an absolute answer. Many times, solutions lead to unsolved problems and more questions. Reward the journey as well as the end result.  I’ve seen many students reach an impasse in science investigations and simply assume they have failed and stop working. Why? Because the reward system in most schools and higher academia fail to allow creative solutions that don’t fit standard grading. Students are taught that failure is unacceptable, so students stop investigating when things go bad and they probably experience a dose of damaged humility as well. However, it’s at this point that student creativity and grit for reworking the new questions generated needs to be taught and rewarded. We should allow time for these type of open-ended activities and not jump to assigning a grade or a score when a student reaches a predesignated result. Encourage and guide the student with the new problem. Allow them to struggle, and reward them for creating new hypotheses to solve using the information gathered from the previous attempt.

If we all know that an experiment that can’t fail is flawed from the start. Then why do we teach students that failure is not an option? It’s not just above average ability that should be rewarded without failure. If we seek to produce the type of problem solvers for the next generation and well into the future, then we must reward creativity, perseverance in finishing, and the raw ability of tackling unexpected results as the cornerstones of the next generation of problem solvers.

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Elementary Science Transition to NYSSLS

Having spent a career teaching high school science, I am now engaged with the world of elementary science. The adoption of the New York Science P-12 Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS) in December 2016 has apparently rejuvenated interest in elementary science. Recently retired (meaning time on my hands?) and involved with the transition to our new science standards based on A Framework for K-12 Science Education and NGSS, I was drawn into professional development opportunities. I’ve learned a lot about how students should learn science, reasons to shift to significant core ideas, how to incorporate engineering, provide meaningful hands-on experiences, and engage with phenomena. These standards should address the needs of all students, incorporate real-world scenarios and when possible be community-based. What really excites me the most about the NYSSLS is the impact this will have on our youngest learners.

The hours spent with our elementary colleagues has given me some insight into their challenges teaching science. Besides the many times that their students are involved in activities outside their classroom, most admit their world is driven by and focused on ELA and math. Teacher evaluation, APPR, and district initiatives typically don’t elevate science learning to the level it deserves. Many are lucky if they get a couple of hours a week of science. Unfortunately, some only do “science” by using the literacy-based science in the ELA domains and modules from www.engageny.org. I’ve seen a wide variety of programs with science “push-ins”, STEM specialists, family STEM nights, STEAM classrooms and varieties of publisher and BOCES kits. Even with that support, most admit science can be short-changed. Since the past standards outlined in Elementary Science Core Curriculum Grades K-4 isn’t grade banded, each district has been left to develop their own scope and sequence so there may be a lack of coherence or much repetition based on “favorite topics.” Students that transfer between districts and sometimes other schools within a district can miss important foundations of science literacy. Sometimes, it’s the grade 4 teachers have the primary responsibility of preparing the students for the Elementary-Level Science Test given in grade 4.

Our New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards is very different for our young learners. Grade banded P-5 with specific Performance Expectations gives teachers and curriculum designers guidance as to what students are expected to know and do at the end of instruction. Coherence is presented by the progressions in grade blocks of K-2, 3-5, MS and HS for the three dimensions (Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Crosscutting Concepts). This means that students learning science using curriculums developed from the NYSSLS will experience increasing expectations in how they learn (Practices), what they learn (Core Ideas), and what they look for in the questions they ask (Crosscutting Concepts). Students are expected to construct their understandings by doing science. Much greater depth in learning occurs when the focus shifts from knowing about science to them figuring out about science.

Many elementary teachers admit to me that their students say science is their favorite subject but the teachers are looking for support. The teachers I’ve worked with are among the most pedagogically talented teachers. I have seen them run with a token of an idea and turn it into fun activities, make ELA connections, and be totally appropriate to their school community. The challenge for STANYS and the science specialists across New York is how to support the transition of elementary teachers into NYSSLS. I’ve worked as a life science consultant with teams of elementary teachers and other science specialists writing grade 1 and 2 for Science21 and I can admit it is very challenging. Many elementary teachers feel they lack the background and confidence to dive into developing curriculum for science. They also wonder what these standards will look like on the student assessment which can help when developing curriculum. Our elementary programs need a good curriculum that maintains fidelity with the intent of the new standards. The elementary teachers and administrators need the training to recognize materials that are aligned and provide constructivist learning opportunities. They should be aware of the limits of the science content in the NYSSLS so they’re not compelled to teach well beyond and be sure to address science literacy for all the students.

This is an exciting opportunity for our elementary colleagues to teach science and for students to experience science as a platform for interdisciplinary learning. It has been shown that students that learn science this way not only show significant gains in science but students of high needs subgroups exhibit high gains, and positive gains are also demonstrated in subjects other than science.* Districts need a plan, decide on resources, and provide the support for the transition to an NYSSLS based elementary science program. It’s time we take advantage of our young student’s natural inquisitiveness and sense of wonder as an opportunity to teach and for students to learn science.

*Smithsonian Science Education Center. (2015). The LASER Model: A Systemic and Sustainable Approach for Achieving High Standards in Science Education. Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

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Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Seattle: Tales and Take-Aways from the West Coast

The Geological Society of America held their annual meeting in Seattle, WA, in late October. This year, I had the privilege of attending and presenting with a fellow New York State Master Teacher about training pre-service and in-service teachers to write and implement inquiry labs in an outdoor setting, in an Earth Science classroom. We had an amazing trip, saw and did a lot in our short time on the West Coast, and I have several take-aways to share.

Items I want to share, in no particular order:

  • Take advantage of excursions offered by conference planners. We thoroughly enjoyed the Foodie Tour of the Public Market (more commonly referred to as Pike Place Market). We enjoyed a variety of cuisines from creamy Greek yogurt to dungeness crab cakes, and the best New England clam chowder (yes, even though it’s on the West Coast, it is the national award winning recipe)! Our tour guide Heather was informative, dramatic at times, and gave a nice behind-the-scenes tour of this world famous location! Oh, and the “original” Starbucks is not actually the original…
  • The Sun shines in Seattle! A LOT!
  • The Seattle Monorail goes from downtown to the Space Needle in 90 seconds!
  • From the top of the Space Needle we saw the Olympic Mountains, the Cascades, Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. It was a perfect day.
  • If I ever head back to the area, I would like to go and visit the Olympic Bike and Skate Shop, in Port Orchard, WA. You see, we met Fred Karakas, the shop’s owner atop the Space Needle. Fred is the MAN! He is a Vietnam veteran, leading a reunion of fellow vets to the Space Needle. With a background in biochemistry, Fred spent the better part of an hour teaching us how to get muscle cells to operate at their maximum level by completing his method of High Intensity Interval Training. We met Fred’s daughter, fighter pilot buddies, got a history of the entire area, saw him at lunch at The Collections Cafe, and ran into him again in the Chihuly Glass Gardens.
  • The ladies from Eastern Oregon deserve an award more so than their own bulleted section. These ladies are public school teachers who presented directly next to us. Their topic? The implementation of NGSS in Oregon public schools over the last four years. They have great ideas, and more importantly… they have experience in writing and implementing year’s worth of NGSS lessons! We are invited to Zoom with their planning group, and I cannot wait to learn from their expertise. Work smarter, not harder, people!
  • Great resources for implementing NGSS-aligned lessons include GETSI – GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues at: https://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/index.html and also InTeGrate – Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future at: https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html 
  • I am particularly interested in this from GETSI – Ice Mass and Sea Level Changes: https://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/teaching_materials/ice_sealevel/index.html 
  • It would be nice if there was a clearinghouse of sorts for people to share and save NGSS aligned lessons, for the rest of us to see, adapt, and share on a national level.
  • I need to join NAGT.
  • Dr. Lee is a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He is interested in working to promote better hydrogeology labs, and will share his expertise and an absolutely great artesian aquifer lab with us in the very near future!
  • There is a severe underrepresentation in geoscience education in the United States. We need to promote and develop geoscientists from all fields in the very near future. If not, the future of our nation may very well be in peril!

Here’s my view, looking south, from the Space Needle! Spectacular!

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Here’s my view, looking south, from the Space Needle! Spectacular!
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Registration Information for the STANYS Fall Regional Science Conference at Hofstra

In order to register for the conference at Hofstra on Monday, October 16th, participants have three options:

Option A: Online Registration via Credit Card

Participants would be able to choose their workshop preferences while they register, on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that the online registration is not currently supported by mobile devices.

Option B: Registration by Purchase Order

School districts are encouraged to call Hofstra University in order to discuss the purchase order process (516-463-5750). The registration form below (Form A) must be used by each participant on the purchase order in order to provide workshop preferences and must be included when the purchase order is submitted to Hofstra. All purchase orders and workshop registration forms must be faxed together to 516-463-6006. Again, workshop registration preferences will be entertained on a first-come, first-served basis.

Option C: Registration by Phone

Individual participants that would like to register by phone can call Hofstra University (516-463-5750). Registrants would email or fax the registration form below (Form B) after registering over the telephone.

FORM A – STANYS FALL REGIONAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE

FORM B – STANYS FALL REGIONAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE – PHONE REGISTRATION

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STANYS State Conference – More Change is Coming!

Science education in NYS is changing, so is the annual State Conference in Rochester!

Come join us November 4th through November 6th, as we roll out workshops focused on the transition to the new New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS). In addition to these several workshops, the Directors-at-Large have collaborated with Subject Area Representatives (SARs) from each section from all over the state to develop half-day institutes that will immerse participants in three-dimensional style teaching and learning.

One noted change that you may observe as you register is the openness of the registration process. Besides the half-day institutes, breakfasts/luncheons, and the Paul Andersen Monday Institute, all workshops will be open enrollment for you to pick and choose your sessions using the official conference app. You must formally register for the three special events (institutes, Paul Andersen, and breakfasts/luncheons), but let your feet guide you to whichever other workshops you may be interested in. For example, if you are inspired by the Chemistry Institute Saturday morning and would like to learn more about chemistry phenomena, you are now free to change your entire conference schedule to find workshops that would meet this new need. You are no longer locked in to particular workshops, so the possibilities are endless!

Please be sure to visit the conference website to view the workshops. The conference app will be pushed out to registrants in early October to start building your custom schedule!

Many of the tried and true events are still happening, like the Wards Giveaway and the Wine and Cheese Reception, so come join us for three days of fun (and a little bit of learning too)!

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Fall Regional Science Conference

The Suffolk Section of STANYS, in partnership with Hofstra University, is proud to announce that the STANYS Fall Regional Conference will be held at the Mack Student Center on Monday, October 16th! Morning registration starts at 7:30am, and the cost of the day is only $65!

Our distinguished keynote presenter will be Professor Joseph Krajcik, the Lead NGSS Writer for Physical Science and Director for the CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University.  Since the publication of the Next Generation Science Standards, Professor Krajcik has played an integral role in the development of formative assessments through the Concord Consortium. You can check out the following video from the National Science Teachers Association, where Professor Krajcik discusses the vision of the NGSS.

The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation of Science Standards challenges the science education community to support students in developing deeper, useable knowledge to make sense of phenomena or solve problems. This will only occur when students make use of the three dimensions – disciplinary core ideas, scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. The Framework and the NGSS refer to this as 3-dimensional learning. Three-dimensional learning shifts the focus of science classrooms from environments where students learn about science ideas to places where students do science by exploring, examining and using science ideas to explain how and why phenomena occur and designing solutions to problems. Doing science to learn science helps students form useable knowledge to explain phenomena and make sense of problems. In this session, Professor Krajcik will provide an overview of each of the dimensions and show how they work together to enable students to explain phenomena or design solution to problems. Woven throughout his remarks, he will discuss the opportunities and challenges of engaging learners in three-dimensional learning.

After the keynote address, participants will be able to choose workshops in three separate sessions, with a provided lunch in between. We will be offering two unique double session workshops, where attendees can choose to attend Professor Emily Kang’s workshop on Implementing the NYSSLS/NGSS or to participate in an authentic modeling scenario with Donghong Sun from STEMteachersNYC. Representatives from the Right Question Institute will also be offering two sessions on the Question Formulation Technique, which is one method that STEM teachers could develop students’ ability to ask their own questions.

Besides the double sessions, teachers can also choose from a variety of other workshops from Long Island teachers and college professors focused on improving science education for all students! To check out the full list of workshops, please click here. The link for registration will be active soon for payment by credit card. District purchase orders will also be accepted. Please check back by September 8th for more information on registration!