Come see us at NSTA Minneapolis!
The inquiryHub team will be in Philadelphia for NSTA, and would love to see you there. Register on the NSTA website.
Wednesday November 12, 2025
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Join the inquiryHub team for a day-long deep dive into the use of programmable sensors in science learning. Professional science leverages computing in all aspects of the scientific process. This workshop provides tangible ways to incorporate real world computational thinking into your classroom. You will experience a model curriculum sequence including an introduction to the micro:bit and MakeCode computing platform as well as a Maglev Trains investigation that complements a physical science curriculum. Our approach is grounded in phenomena, storylines, coherence and student modeling. We build on the three dimensions of the NGSS by incorporating computational thinking through physical computing (micro:bit) where students use programmable sensors to ask questions, define problems and engage in all of the science and engineering practices. Participants will experience these practices through a hands-on experience and will be prepared to implement the units. We will write computer programs, collect/analyze data, and connect investigations to place-based contexts. You will walk away with classroom ready toolkit of resources that ready to implement and incorporate into other lessons and units.
Presented by: Greg Benedis-Grab
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - TBD
Thursday November 13, 2025
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Join us to explore how to use AI to assist in brainstorming NGSS-aligned phenomena that enhance 3D instruction and assessment and connect to students’ interests and identities. These tools come from the 5D assessment project, a collaboration between inquiryHub and BSCS Science Learning.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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Support your students in demonstrating their three dimensional learning! Many high-quality curricula use transfer tasks, phenomenon-based assessments where students demonstrate their three dimensional understanding while exploring novel phenomena. In this session, educators will be introduced to the research that led to this kind of assessment and how these assessments are designed. They will work through an example of a transfer task, analyzing the alignment to the three dimensions of the NGSS. Then, they will work through an activity structure that apprentices students into this new assessment practice, by breaking it down into smaller pieces, discussing in small groups, and participating in peer review. Finally, they will review scoring and feedback guidance to support student learning. Educators will leave knowing how and why to use transfer tasks in their own classrooms.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 211 A/B
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In this workshop participants will engage with our innovative computational thinking curriculum unit. Our approach is grounded in phenomena, science storylines, coherence and student modeling. We have innovated upon these time tested NGSS teacher practices by incorporating computational thinking through physical computing (Micro:Bit). In our approach, students use programmable sensors to ask questions, define problems and engage in the rest of the science and engineering practices. The participants will experience these practices in student-hat so that they better understand the student experience and how to implement the units. Participants will write computer programs, collect/analyze data and connect investigations to place-based contexts. Participants will walk away with a co-designed, classroom ready toolkit of resources that they are ready to implement based on the workshop experience. No prior experience using sensor technologies or programming is needed.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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In this workshop we will explore the AIK12 standards through an unpacking activity. We will then explore tested lessons that can engage students in learning about the nature of AI and how to responsibly use it. During the session we will use the lesson materials to have participants reflect on the value of learning about AI and to deepen the conversation on the role of AI in the classroom.
TAKEAWAYS:
You will gain a deeper understanding of AI, its role in education and how to incorporate AI in your classroom. You will leave with proven lessons that you can add to your classroom to get students thinking about and be critical of AI.Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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How do we know which students of our students are figuring things out that they care about? Which students are contributing to knowledge-building in small groups? Join us to learn about a simple approach to using data from exit tickets with research-based strategies to promote more equitable participation in OpenSciEd classrooms.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 211 A/B
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In this session, we will share about programming focused on supporting the wellness of educators through providing supports for caring for themselves, cultivating and sustaining compassion for students, students’ families, and colleagues, and working towards more compassionate schools. We will share audio recordings from educators that highlight key realizations or themes that emerged for educators related to compassion in schools, including how compassion has impacted their professional lives. We will explore the concept of compassion and identify the benefits and science of compassion. Participants will also engage in compassion practices, reflect, and discuss in small groups their experience of the practices and how they intend to strengthen compassion in their lives, in their classrooms, and in their schools. Cultivating compassion for oneself and others strengthens the social and emotional competencies of self-awareness, social awareness, self management, and relationship skills.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101B
Friday November 14, 2025
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In this workshop participants will engage with our innovative Self Driving car unit. Our approach is grounded in phenomena, science storylining, coherence and student modeling. We have innovated upon these time tested NGSS teacher practices by incorporating AI and computer science. In our approach, students explore the phenomenon of Self Driving Cars to ask questions, define problems and engage in the rest of the science and engineering practices. The participants will experience these practices in student-hat so that they better understand the student experience and how to implement the units. Participants will engage with Teachable Machines to create their own AI image classifier.
TAKEAWAYS:
You will leave ready to implement our high quality unit with your students engaging student interest and using powerful storylining teaching routines. You will also have authentic student assessments to accompany the unit.Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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In this workshop participants will engage with our innovative STEM unit on MagLev trains. We will engage as a group in the anchoring phenomenon routine to rehearse the unit. We will also explore the freely available materials so that the unit can be implemented in the classroom.
TAKEAWAYS:
You will leave with a high quality, ready to implement unit that you can use in your classroom. Our storyline teaching routines will engage students and spark their curiosity. The MagLev phenomenon is engaging and exciting for students.Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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Localizing instructional materials provides the potential for students to be able to identify with science and engineering ideas they are learning and helps students connect with their communities. It can also help students see where science and human systems intersect, particularly when students are made aware of issues and different points of view. In this workshop, participants will discuss how to elicit students’ own interests in local phenomena and community priorities and explore how to examine and use survey data from students. In addition, they will encounter and learn about five different strategies for adapting OpenSciEd instructional materials to be more local: (1) adding or swapping an anchoring phenomenon; (2) adding or swapping an investigative phenomenon; (3) writing a local transfer task; (4) making use of the related phenomenon board throughout a unit; and (5) using exit tickets to help students connect the lesson to something important to them.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 211 A/B
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In this session, we will focus on creating 3D assessment tasks that engage students in computational thinking. We’ll begin by starting with students, collecting and analyzing information about their interests and identities to ensure the assessments resonate with them. Next, we’ll get to know the standards by identifying your assessment target, conducting a grade band analysis, and unpacking the essential components of the standard. Finally, we’ll choose phenomena by evaluating their potential to engage student interest and identity, ensuring alignment with Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), and identifying the necessary data or information for computational sensemaking. By the end of the session, you will have a clear plan for selecting a phenomenon or problem for your upcoming assessment of computational thinking that connects to your students' interests.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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In today’s science classrooms, students need to be able to make their thinking visible and work with the ideas of others, but this is risky for students. It’s important to cultivate an inclusive culture where students can take risks sharing their ideas, no matter who they are. Just as routines can help teachers partner with students on the direction of their learning, routines can help foster an inclusive culture of knowledge building. In this workshop, we will engage participants in a pair of routines for establishing agreements with students and for helping students reflect on how well they are following those agreements, both to hype good work and make repairs to the group culture when needed. Teachers will leave with a description of the elements of the routines and examples of how other teachers have used them successfully.
Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B
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OpenSciEd High School units include Electronic Exit Tickets. These are short formative assessments that occur 2-3 times per unit, in between other assessments. They include items to check for understanding of lesson-level PEs, to make connections between content and students’ lives, and to elicit information about their experiences and to help students reflect on their own progress in focal SEPs and CCCs. They are built in Google Forms but can be ported to any survey software. They can also be used in any lesson, and you can make your own. Incorporating Electronic Exit Tickets into your teaching routines can help you reduce the amount of time you spend grading and provide you the information you need when you need it about your students’ three-dimensional understanding. You will also learn how to use the keys that accompany Electronic Exit Tickets to support student learning and their experience of your classroom community.
TAKEAWAYS:
Reduce grading time and get the data you need when you need it with 3D Electronic Exit Tickets.Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 211 A/B
Saturday November 14, 2025
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In this workshop participants will engage with the proven Animal Prosthetics Unit. Participants will engage in an activity using TinkerCad to explore the value of spatial thinking for students. We will explore the freely available unit materials together and discuss strategies for implementation in a variety of school settings.
TAKEAWAYS:
You will leave ready to use the freely available TinkerCad software with your students to develop their special thinking. You will be ready to implement this innovative and engaging unit on building animal prosthetics for animals with special needs.Location: Minneapolis Convention Center - 101 B