Session Options

Join us for an engaging and informative professional development session focused on navigating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In this session, educators will explore the foundational principles of NGSS, delve into the three-dimensional learning framework, and learn practical strategies for implementing NGSS-aligned instruction in their classrooms.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessons over 19 class sessions, students explore how objects can exert forces on other objects and predict an object's future motion based on observations of patterns of motion. Through this unit, there are 4 main focus questions that will drive the lesson sets and help students make sense of what they are experiencing. Ensure that you are ready to start this unit when it arrives at your classroom door by diving into the lessons and gaining tips to help with successful implementation.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessons over 20 class sessions, students investigate how animals, including humans, use their internal and external structures to sense the world around them, process information, communicate information to others, and react accordingly. For the science challenge, students analyze data based on testing with models to construct an argument about which firefly flash patterns would be most effective for finding a mate. Gain expert insight on how to utilize the materials to get the most out of this unit for your classroom and your students.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessons spanning 20 class sessions, students learn how they can use the properties of materials to identify those materials. In the science challenge, students apply what they have learned about properties to identify four unknown solids. Ensure that you are ready to start this unit when it arrives at your classroom door by diving into the lessons and gaining tips to help with successful implementation.

Makerspaces can be found in almost every school, but you can have your own makerspace in your classroom! Join us to see how easy curricular connections can be made on a daily basis by utilizing the materials in your very own classroom makerspace. We will provide lesson ideas that integrate Common Core Math, Wisconsin Standards for Math, and the Wisconsin Standards for English Language Arts into your Makerspace.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessones over 18 class sessions,students will explore variation of traits in individuals, patterns of life cycles, and how the environment can affect expression of traits. Work with curriculum experts to dive into each of the lessons and gain insight on how to maximize your time with this engaging unit.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessons over 20 class sessions, students explore how motion energy can move and change in a collision. In the first focus question, students learn how motion energy can change into heat, light, and sound and move to another object. In the science challenge, students apply what they have learned about motion energy to predict how far a moving washer will move a stationary washer in a game. Work with a curriculum expert and take time to conduct the investigations and ensure that you are prepared to teach this unit.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 15 lessons spanning 19 class sessions, students explore how plants and animals get the matter and energy they need to live and grow, how they interact in food webs, how change in one part of an ecosystem can have multiple effects, and how newly introduced species can become invasive. Gain expert insight on how to utilize the materials to get the most out of this unit for your classroom and your students.

OpenSciEd offers a comprehensive suite of high-quality, freely available science instructional materials aligned with NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards). In this session, educators and administrators will gain an understanding to the principles and practices of OpenSciEd.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 14 class sessions, students investigate 2 phenomena and propose solutions to 3 problems related to what plants and animals need and how Earth's systems support them. Gain expert insight on how to utilize the materials to get the most out of this unit for your classroom and your students.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 13 class sessions, students gather evidence to help them explain how light can help animals, including humans, survive. In the end-of-module science challenge, students investigate the effects of light hitting new materials to explain how one material could help people find an exit door in an emergency, helping them survive. Ensure that you are ready to start this unit when it arrives at your classroom door by diving into the lessons and gaining tips to help with successful implementation.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 13 class sessions, students investigate what plants need to live, grow, and reproduce, and how these factors are parts of a system that work together in each plant's habitat. Throughout the module, students will be aiming to understand an overarching phenomenon: Why is the number of grand spider orchids in Western Australia decreasing? At the end of the unit, students use their knowledge and evidence accumulated throughout the lessons to construct an explanation for why there may be fewer and fewer grand spider orchids each year. Gain expert insight on how to utilize the materials to get the most out of this unit for your classroom and your students.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 13 class sessions, students explain a phenomenon and solve a problem related to the game of air hockey and explain a second phenomenon related to the game of miniature golf. Work with curriculum experts to dive into each of the lessons and gain insight on how to maximize your time with this engaging unit.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 13 class sessions, students explore similarities and differences between young and adult plants and animals and how behavior and external parts help living things survive. In the end-of-module science challenge, students play a card game in which they act as plants and animals trying to survive various scenarios. They communicate their choices from the game in a comic strip format. Work with a curriculum expert and take time to conduct the investigations and ensure that you are prepared to teach this unit.

Prepare to teach this unit in the 2024-25 school year- In 10 lessons over 13 class sessions, students explore how solids and liquids can change by heating, cooling, building up, carving, and taking apart. In the culminating science challenge, students choose the best material for a replica gemstone based on its properties. Work with a curriculum expert and take time to conduct the investigations and ensure that you are prepared to teach this unit.

Creativity is not a natural talent - it is developed and practiced. Join us in this interactive, hands-on session to learn the ingredients of the creativity recipe that applies to any learning application. Discover the connection to the 5E's and the 4C's and how they are practiced in the makerspace and the classroom.

Join us for an engaging and informative professional development session focused on navigating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In this session, educators will explore the foundational principles of NGSS, delve into the three-dimensional learning framework, and learn practical strategies for implementing NGSS-aligned instruction in their classrooms.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students are tasked with designing a structure that can help keep them cool on the playground. In order to do this, students explore how sun and shadows change over the course of a day. Students also explore how weather changes throughout the seasons, what causes the seasons, and how weather forecasting can help us prepare for different types of weather.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students are introduced to biomimicry, or using inspiration from nature to solve human problems. They make observations with hands-on plant investigations to identify parts of plants and their functions. They connect each plant part back to biomimicry, thinking about how they could be used as inspiration to help protect a campsite. They make comparisons between plant parts as a plant grows, and throughout seasons, to determine how plants change, and how young plants are alike, but not exactly like, their parents.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students view photographs and maps of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. They read an article about how the dunes are getting smaller, and how this affects animals and people in the area. Throughout the unit students will investigate the problem to gather information about how wind and water change the earth over time. They will use their learning to design solutions that protect the dunes from changing.

Design Thinking is utilized in any initiative that needs to solve problems and develop solutions. The full process leverages convergent and divergent thinking at the right times - expanding possibilities, then sharpening the focus on hypotheses to test. Join us in the session to learn or re-acquaint yourself with design thinking. We'll collaborate on some hands-on exercises that will build your design thinking muscles.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students view photographs of garbage in the Mississippi River. Throughout the unit, students will investigate the problem to gather information about why the garbage got there, the types of garbage in the water, and how the garbage impacts living things. They will use their learning to design, test, and communicate solutions to clean up the garbage in the Mississippi River.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students listen to a read aloud about the migration journey of the ruby throated hummingbird. They investigate how and why the hummingbird migrates such a long distance each year. Throughout the unit, they study hummingbirds and explore how they care for their young. They also figure out that adult hummingbirds are similar, but not exactly like their parents. They use the information they gain throughout the unit to write a short story about the hummingbirds.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: This unit will be replacing Tools of the Trade. While we do not have information on the storyline at the moment, we will before this session occurs.

Learn more about Ambitious Science Teaching, an approach aimed at transforming science education through engaging, equitable, and intellectually rigorous instruction. Led by experienced educators and AST advocates, this session will delve into the principles and strategies essential for fostering deep conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and scientific inquiry among students.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students explore why only certain types of foods can be grown in their community compared with other parts of the world. They compare climate differences between their area and other places, and how this determines which types of plants can be grown. Additionally, students ask questions about frost and how it might affect plants. Students investigate how frost forms, and how it affects plants. Students analyze seasonal weather to understand how plants can be protected based on predictable weather patterns. Students then engineer and test solutions to protect plants from the hazard of frost.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: At the start of this unit, students view a slide deck of photos and listen to a podcast to make observations and ask questions about the Glen Canyon Dam. Throughout the unit, students will collect evidence about why the Glen Canyon Dam is controversial and how it impacts people, animals, and the environment. They will use this evidence to produce a public service announcement (video, slides, poster, or other form of media) to inform their peers/families about the different sides of the controversy.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: At the start of this unit, students discuss their favorite pizza toppings and watch a video to start to consider why we eat food and ask questions about how a pizza farm works to grow the ingredients on pizza. Throughout the unit, students will conduct investigations and collect evidence about how energy and matter enter into food and how they cycle and move through the environment and living things. Students will develop a model of a pizza farm by adding the new layers of how energy and matter move through it along the way.

Phenomena-based learning emphasizes inquiry, curiosity, and problem-solving by centering instruction around observable events or phenomena. In this interactive workshop, participants will discover strategies for designing engaging learning experiences that connect classroom content to authentic phenomena.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: This unit will be replacing How Things Move. While we do not have information on the storyline at the moment, we will before this session occurs.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: In this unit, students participate in a read aloud as an introduction to tsunamis. They view slides and videos of tsunamis in Japan and Indonesia and consider the cause of tsunamis, the structure of the waves, and ask questions about how to detect tsunamis in order to reduce the impact of tsunamis on people. Students will learn where tsunamis occur and how earthquakes often cause tsunami waves. They will develop a model to explain how these waves are formed and identify patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength. Then, they will explore ways people might detect tsunamis ahead of time and send messages to people across long distances. They use their understanding of science ideas to design a solution using sensors and computer programs to improve warnings about tsunamis.

Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: Get prepared to teach this unit during the 2024-25 school year: This unit will be replacing Our Place in the Universe. While we do not have information on the storyline at the moment, we will before this session occurs.

In this workshop, educators will explore innovative strategies to integrate the eight essential practices outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) seamlessly into their teaching approach. Through a series of hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and real-world examples, educators will gain a deeper understanding of how to effectively implement the science and engineering practices across various grade levels and subject areas.

1. Fabrication

2. Electronics

3. Programming

4. Strategy