Crowds of Science Teachers
The last time I attended NSTA was in 2018 and there were literally half the number of people present than the crowds I saw today! I have met teachers from ALL over the country in the sessions I attended. In one session, the guy next to me was from California. I walked to the convention with a guy who was down from Boston. One group of educators who were in several of my sessions flew all the way from Hawaii!
Session Highlights (My Favorite Ones!)
The day started bright and early for me today. It was about a 20-minute walk to the Georgia World Congress Center from our hotel. We decided to stop at the Starbucks right outside the center. Turns out it wasn’t my brightest idea 😦 Apparently, the app went down and folks were left waiting for their coffee for 45 minutes to an hour. (Imagine…. a restaurant full of grumpy educators in need of caffeine… It wasn’t pretty!). Anyway, after a 45-minute wait, I showed up a tiny bit late for my first session but I was determined not to miss it!
Forensics
In the Forensics session, we used a gel electrophoresis system to look at DNA in order to determine a match with the suspect. We also did presumptive testing for blood with phenolphthalein and leucocrystal violet. It was fun!
Mini-Lessons (Paul Anderson “Bozeman Science”)
Look who we got to meet~ Mr. Anderson (@paulanderson) from Bozeman Science! I was so happy I got to say thank you to him for all the help he’s given my students over the years!
Check out his website The Wonder of Science https://thewonderofscience.com/
So much useful (& practical) information about using mini lessons to teach SEPs (Science & Engineering Practices) using CCCs (Cross-Cutting Concepts). We participated in a couple of mini lessons (Cause-Mechanism-Effect & Analyzing Patterns in Data in about 5 minutes each). I took away from this that the NGSS standards can be intentionally taught in small lessons very effectively and probably have a greater impact than just run-of-the-mill scientific inquiry labs that we all do (including me).
He also demonstrated using his new Switch Its that could be used on the whiteboard. It’s a really good idea and I hope they produce them!. Check them out on his website https://thewonderofscience.com/
Zombie Apocalypse Simulation with Texas Instruments
I really didn’t know Texas Instruments had calculators that were capable of doing this sort of simulation. I can think of a LOT of uses in my Forensics classes for this sort of thing. They also had a session simulating the time of death from maggots but I didn’t get to go to that one. All these STEM lessons can be found on their website by clicking HERE
After a FULL Day of Learning, We are Headed Back to the Hotel~ WHEW!
Yeah, we called UBER to take us back instead of walking… 🙂
Check out my teacher BFF’s blog post about her day at #NSTA23 by clicking the image below 🙂
Edgy Instruction with DrM 