Breakout Sessions

COLTON 1: Building Youth Climate Leaders: Climate Action Curriculum for the Classroom (Emily Gomez and Kalia Vaught (fellow), Ecology Action) We all need to take action on climate change, and you can make a huge impact as an educator. These tools and resources are available to help you successfully enable your students to act, address their climate anxiety, and make concrete change in your classroom without having to develop your own curriculum or materials from scratch! Ecology Action's Resilient Central Coast Campaign is a 6-County collaborative effort from Santa Cruz to Ventura with the goal of activating 500,000 residents on the Central Coast by 2030 to take climate action and prepare for climate change impacts. We will take a look at these free materials which feature over 100 actions residents can take including Youth Friendly actions to reduce resource consumption. 

COLTON 2: Parents and Math - empowering parents as math teachers (Johnnie Wilson, UCSC) In this session, we will look at how to support and motivate parents to be great math teachers for their children. We will consider math in the everyday, cultural frames for math learning and teaching, the power of language to make sense in math, and how fun and games bring families together around good math. This session is for anyone who wants to work with parents to build a thriving, interesting and joyful connection with their children through math activity.

COLTON 3: Engineering in the School Garden (Whitney Cohen, Life Lab) Experience an engineering unit designed for NGSS in which students design and build trellises for peas in the school garden. Participants will experience the anchoring phenomenon lesson and get a high level view of the unit storyline and features. We will discuss how students engage in design work and figure out science ideas. While participants will engage with the Trellis unit specifically, we will share resources for how to design your own garden-based engineering unit. This session will be targets to teachers through the high school grades.

STEINBECK 1A: Tinkering as a paradigm of learning (Salinas Community Science Workshop) Several hands-on projects where learning comes through tinkering.

STEINBECK 1B: STEM Games (Emilyn Green, Cabrillo College) Many games can connect with your STEM courses. Games can stimulate the brain and prepare students for more advanced topics. Come play!

STEINBECK 1C: Nature Journaling In (and Out of) the Classroom (Sami Chang, SChang Studios) This breakout session will offer alternative ways to teach students about science through nature journaling. By offering a creative outlet into lesson planning, students may be able to retain more information and, hopefully, become more curious about the natural world that surrounds us. Nature journaling encourages everyone to ask more questions, note down observations, and record information that photos cannot do. This also gives a small glimpse at the importance of scientific illustration and communication in various STEM fields. 

COLTON 1: Imagining a More Just Food System for California (Emily Reigh, UCSC) Climate change is impacting how our students’ families and communities participate in our state’s food system, from unsafe conditions for agricultural workers to increasing the cost of groceries. In this workshop, we will use stories and quantitative data to collectively generate a model of California’s food system, explain how it is impacted by climate change, critically analyze who is most impacted, and brainstorm ways to create a more just food future. To conclude, we will discuss how the activity structure can be used to support students to engage in systems thinking about other complex socio-STEM issues. 

COLTON 2: NO SESSION

COLTON 3: Trash Talking: Organics Recycling in Schools (Laura Chain, CalRecycle) In this session, CalRecycle staff will breakdown SB 1383 (Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Reduction Strategy), provide information on its implementation in schools and homes, and share examples of how it can be incorporated into the classroom. Examples from Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito County will be shared along with contact information.

STEINBECK 1A: Language for Emergent Bilinguals in STEM (Eddie Mosqueda, UCSC Math Education) This session focuses on language for emergent bilinguals in STEM. Eddie Mosqueda's work quantitatively examines the relationship between the English proficiency of Ethnically and Linguistically minoritized students, their access to rigorous mathematics courses and their performance on standardized secondary school mathematics assessments. 

STEINBECK 1B: Building a Sustainable Community Through STEM Education (Claudia Pineda Tibbs, Monterey Bay Aquarium) Join this engaging session where we will explore the pivotal role of STEM education in shaping a sustainable today and tomorrow to address the pressing challenges of our time. Franco Guzman with ReGen Monterey and Sara Papineau-Brandt with Salinas Valley Waste Authority will be participating in this session alongside Claudia.

In this dynamic presentation, we will delve into the critical intersection of STEM education and sustainability, examining how these disciplines can work synergistically to empower the next generation of problem solvers, innovators, and global citizens by sharing practical strategies to integrate sustainability concepts seamlessly into STEM curricula.

Key Highlights: Connecting STEM to real-world challenges; student-centered teaching approaches; inclusion and diversity in STEM; partnerships for impact.

By the end of this session, participants will leave with actionable insights, resources, and a renewed sense of purpose to elevate STEM education as a driving force in building a sustainable and equitable tomorrow. Join us in unlocking the potential of STEM education to shape a brighter, more sustainable future for generations to come.

STEINBECK 1C: Green Math Games (Kevin Deutsch, MBAMP) Experience math games that work for students of all levels from upper elementary through high school. We'll play the games, see how they can become a daily routine, and examine their efficacy in building foundational skills in mathematics and logic. Best of all, these environmentally-friendly games require no paper or plastic supplies!

COLTON 1: Back to the Roots: Planting the Seed of Anti-Ableist Practices in Education (Alex Westerlund & Kyrstie Lane, CSU Monterey Bay TRIO SSS STEM-HS) Getting back to the roots of STEM Education means we need to evaluate our student services to ensure we are leaving our ableist language, practices, and mindsets in the past and we are moving forward with empathy. Join this session for activities, dialogue, and tips and tricks for best practices in supporting students with disabilities. We will be covering Critical Disability Theory, learning how to move from theory to practice, and applying these ideas to STEM learning.

COLTON 2: Engaging Students through Career Connections (Beth Price and Brandy Jackson, Scoutlier by Aecern) Making real-life connections to learning does two things. First, it creates a purpose for the task, skill, or content in the world of careers they may venture into in the future. Second, knowing the connection makes learning relevant today. Students need to know the why and how of learning to engage them in the classroom. We have students for thousands of hours from grades K-12. When we combine engagement with career connections, the world looks a little different for students entering college and the workforce. 

COLTON 3: Why Science Fair with NGSS? (Heather Wygant, Santa Cruz County Office of Education) This session will introduce real-world problem solving in the K-12 classroom, NGSS practices, and the connections to Science Fair competitions, and show the relevance of doing science fair projects in the K-12 classroom.

STEINBECK 1A: NASA MUREP Aerospace Academy: Building a STEAM identity for high school students (Ana Ibarra, Hartnell College K-12 STEAM Program) In this session, the Hartnell College K-12 STEAM program will introduce their current NASA MUREP Aerospace Academy activities and will discuss observations in the context of student STEAM identity development.

STEINBECK 1B: Generative AI in Education - The Good, Bad, and Ugly (Topher Mueller, Chartwell School) Come learn about the current landscape of generative artificial intelligence and how institutions around the world are reacting. We'll survey the most accessible AI tools to students, discover what strategies schools are adopting - and then practice putting it into use for YOU! 

STEINBECK 1C: Youth, STEM, Agriculture, and Community Building in Rural Central California (Vahid Motazidian, Olinga Learning) Lessons learned from an ongoing attempt to equip middle school youth with scientific and moral capabilities that enable them to improve their small communities in rural Central California.