NSTA Conference Presentations

March is conference month for educators.  And, it certainly is for MMSTLC.  The presentations continue at the National Science Teacher Association Annual Convention in Philadelphia, PA, from March 18-21. These sessions highlight two specific sets of resources and activities that came out of the MMSTLC Science Leadership development efforts.  The first, Investigate the State, is a combination professional development/inquiry-based curriculum program that utilizes online tools to encourage collaboration among educators and classrooms on large scale scientific investigations, such as water quality in a watershed, or regional air quality concerns.  You can learn more about this program at the presentation, or by wandering over to our “sister” site – investigatethestate.org.

The second session focuses on the writing strategies that were the focus of many discussions and activities focusing on assessment practices.  This session is one of the featured sessions at the conference.  We would love to have you attend, so please check out the NSTA site to register, and see the session times for our presentations below:

Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science
2:00 – 3:00 pm, Saturday, March 20
Philadelphia Marriott, Grand Salon G

Investigate the State: Collaborating to Study Science Issues in Michigan
9:30 – 10:30 am, Saturday, March 20
Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel, Room: Freedom H

MSTA Conference Presentations

MMSTLC Leaders will be presenting six sessions and a full day workshop at the upcoming Michigan Science Teacher Association conference. The MSTA Conference, which takes place March 4-6 in Lansing, is the premier annual science education conference for teachers in Michigan. These sessions or workshops, which utilize MMSTLC resources, include:

Science Specific Writing Skills to Enhance Student Understanding
Full day workshop (including lunch) from 9:00am to 2:30pm, Thursday, March 4
Registration fee is $45 and includes materials, lunch, and refreshments
Radisson Hotel, Room Capital 4

Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science
10:00 – 10:45am, Friday, March 5
Room 102, Lansing Center

The Problem with Models and How to Fix Them
11:00 – 11:45am, Friday, March 5
Room 201, Lansing Center

Creating a New Generation of Science Leaders
4:00 – 4:45pm, Friday, March 5
Room 203, Lansing Center

Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Collaborative Learning Tools for Science
10:00 – 10:45am, Saturday, March 6
Room 104, Lansing Center

Investigate the State: Collaborating to Study Science Issues in Michigan
11:00 – 11:45am, Saturday, March 6
Room 104, Lansing Center

Science Book Studies as Professional Learning Communities
1:00 – 1:45pm, Saturday, March 6
Room 202, Lansing Center

MMSTLC Presentation at AMTE Conference

Judy Flowers, one of the MMSTLC partners, and a faculty member at University of Michigan Dearborn is presenting a session at the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators conference in Irvine, California.  The session, titled “A Practice-Based Approach to Develop Mathematics Teacher Leaders’ Understanding of Misconceptions Related to Proportionality” will present resources and efforts from the past two years of working with new teacher leaders in Michigan.

Following the presentation, Dr. Flowers’ presentation will be posted here.

The MMSTLC presents a workshop for educators:

Science Specific Writing Skills to Enhance Student Understanding.

Presented by Stephen Best and Nancy Williams, University of Michigan

This workshop focuses on one of the more challenging issues that educators deal with in science – getting our students to better communicate their understanding of science through writing.  The workshop is one of the pre-conference offerings for the MSTA Conference in Lansing in March.  The workshop is a full day (9:00 am – 2:30 pm) session, held on March 4 at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing.

Check here for more information.

This flyer provides information about the workshop.

MMSTLC leaders shared resources and strategies from the project at the NSTA Regional Conference in Phoenix. This conference’s theme of “Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships” aligned very well with the mission and learning activities of the MMSTLC, and we were happy to share our ideas and experiences with the broader science education community at this event.
The following sessions featured MMSTLC presenters.

Developing a Network of Teacher Leaders in Science. Thursday, Dec. 3, 2:00 – 3:00pm.
“See how the Michigan Mathematics and Science Teacher Leadership Collaborative created a professional development program to address critical science instruction, inquiry learning, and leadership issues.”
Presented by Stephen Best and Walt Rathkamp. Click here for session resources.

Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Collaborative Learning Tools for Science. Friday, Dec. 4, 8:00 – 9:00am.
“See how Web 2.0 tools can support inquiry and problem solving in science. We’ll provide an overview, samples, and tutorials for dozens of these tools.”
Presented by Stephen Best. Click here for session resources.

Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science. Friday, Dec. 4, 12:30 – 1:30pm.
“Do your students know the difference between a definition, description, and explanation? We’ll explore strategies to help students effectively communicate their understanding of science.”
Presented by Stephen Best. Click here for resources.

The Problems With Models and How to Fix Them Friday, Dec. 4, 3:30 – 4:30pm.
“Are scientific models causing more problems than benefits? We’ll see why and what we can do to use models more effectively in science instruction.”
Presented by Stephen Best. Click here for resources.

Fall Science Conferences

There are a number of conferences taking place this fall that address a range of science topics and content for teachers. Sure, MSTA is great, but it isn’t the only conference in the state. Check these out:

MESTA Conference – The Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association annual conference will take place Oct. 2-3 “in the Detroit area” (translation – there are field studies!). More information here…

Urban Environmental Education Conference from MAEOE – The Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education is hosting this conference at the UM Dearborn’s Environmental Interpretation Center from Oct. 8-10. More information here…

Michigan AAPT Annual Meeting – The Michigan Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers is having their annual meeting at the Alden Dow Science Musuem in Midland on Oct. 10. This meeting will feature a workshop on quantum physics. More information here…

Fall Science Update – The Regional Math and Science Center of Grand Valley State University is hosting the 25th annual Fall Science Update for K-12 educators on November 18 at the GVSU Eberhard Center in Grand Rapids. This year’s theme is “Building Enduring Understands in Science”. More information here…

It’s that time again – time to get any proposals to present at the spring conferences submitted. There are a number of conferences for mathematics and science educators coming up next spring, and many of these are accepting proposals to present for the next few weeks.

Are you looking for an opportunity to share your ideas and expertise in the classroom? Would you like a chance to attend some of these workshops for free? Then, this is your chance. Check some of the links below to find out more about the conferences, and to submit your proposals to present.

Conferences and Links

COLLABORATIVE TOOLS FOR LEARNING CONFERENCE
November 13, 2009 at the Macomb ISD
MACUL’s fall conference, a single-day event that focuses on the use of online collaborative tools.
Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 5.

MSTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 4-6, 2010 at the Lansing Convention Center
Annual conference for the Michigan Science Teacher Association.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 5.

MACUL ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 4-6, 2010 at the Lansing Convention Center
Annual conference for the Michigan Science Teacher Association.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due September 29.

MICHIGAN JOINT EDUCATION CONFERENCE CONFERENCE
June 23, 2010 at Holt High School
Annual conference for cross-curricular efforts – a collaboration of the various teacher professional organizations.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submission information will be posted on their site later this fall.

NDSC SUMMER CONFERENCE
July 18-21, 2010 in Seattle
Summer conference for the National Staff Development Council

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 2.

NCTM REGIONAL CONFERENCES
October 2010 in Denver, Baltimore, and New Orleans
Regional conferences for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due November 1.

Stephen Best presented two sessions on the MMSTLC project and the online resources of the project at the ESERA conference on Science Education Research in Istanbul. His poster presentation focused on the design of online learning tools and he also presented a paper on the design considerations of professional development activities. His presentation can be found here:

Esera09 Poster