Who’s Ready to Thrive in 2025? Connect with Activate Learning at These 2025 Science Education Events!
Connect with Activate Learning at These 2025 Science Education Conferences & Events! 🚀
Get ready to thrive in 2025 with Activate Learning! As we navigate the growing presence of AI in our classrooms and unprecedented changes in education, there's never been a more crucial time for science educators to connect, collaborate, and learn from one another.
Together, we'll explore innovative approaches that help both teachers and students thrive through meaningful, relevant, and engaging science learning experiences.
Join our curriculum experts and professional learning team at science education events throughout winter and spring 2025. These gatherings offer more than just professional development – they are opportunities to build the networks and strategies we'll need to guide us through this transformative year in education. You'll discover how our research-based, NGSS-aligned curriculum transforms classrooms into vibrant spaces where investigation-centered science naturally cultivates critical thinking and real-world problem-solving skills.
The coming months are full of opportunities to connect with our experts and network with fellow science educators who share your passion for exceptional teaching. As we start 2025 together, these connections will be more valuable than ever.
Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated – we're adding new information and events to our calendar regularly!
2025 Science Education Conferences:
Pennsylvania STEELS Institute 2.0
January 28, 2025 | Lancaster, PA
Join us at the IU13 STEELS Institute 2.0 to connect with a collaborative community of educators and administrators dedicated to advancing STEELS education. This event focuses on leadership development, innovative classroom practices, and fostering curiosity to inspire students and improve scientific literacy.
Key learning objectives include:
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- Strengthen networks to support STEELS education.
- Equip leaders with strategies to drive STEELS implementation.
- Enhance teaching methods for greater curiosity and engagement.
- Develop high-quality, three-dimensional assessment strategies.
- Emphasize science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) for rigor and relevance.
Region 9 Education Cooperative
February 7, 2025 | Ruidoso, NM
The Region 9 Education Cooperative provides direct services to children and families and support services to member districts in south-central New Mexico. The service area includes Capitan, Carrizozo, Cloudcroft, Corona, Ruidoso, Hondo, and Tularosa school districts and communities.
Join us on February 7th for the Region 9 Education Cooperative Textbook Adoption Event to learn about the state approved High Quality Instructional Materials provided by Activate Learning.
2025 HASTI Conference
February 16 - 17, 2025 | Noblesville, IN
The Hoosier Association of Science Teachers (HASTI) Conference is the premier event for Indiana science and STEM educators. Attracting over 300 teachers, administrators, and aspiring educators, this conference focuses on improving science and STEM education across the state. Join us for professional development opportunities, engaging workshops, and the chance to connect with other passionate educators dedicated to advancing STEM learning in Indiana. This year’s conference theme is: Embracing the future together!
Activate Learning Session:
Creating a Driving Question Board that Supports Students’ Ongoing Sensemaking
Date & Time: Saturday, February 15th, 3:00 PM - 3:45 PM
Grades: Middle School (6-8)
Room: TBA
Presented By: Brian Klaft
The Driving Question Board is an essential tool used throughout OSE units to generate, keep track of, and revisit student questions around the anchoring and related phenomenon. It is a visual representation of the class’s shared mission of learning in the unit. The DQB serves as a record of students’ curiosities about phenomena and a way of documenting the progress that they make in understanding the phenomena under study. A DQB is introduced at the beginning of each unit in the Anchoring Phenomenon routine, and then revisited by the class as part of the Navigation, Putting Pieces Together, and Problematizing routines. The role of a DQB changes over the course of a unit. Initially the DQB enables the teacher and students to understand what students both know and do not know about the anchoring phenomenon. As the class revisits the DQB, students begin to answer questions on the DQB and can pose new questions. Join the collaborative fun finding ideas for developing, maintaining, and revisiting this exciting representation of students’ learning and sensemaking.
Bucks County IU STEELS Resource Fair
February 27, 2025 | Doylestown, PA
Don’t miss the second annual PA STEELS Resource Fair hosted by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit. This event offers a unique opportunity for K-12 teachers, science leaders, administrators, and other educators to explore resources that support the integration of the PA STEELS Standards. Learn how these resources can facilitate a shift in K-12 teaching and learning and discover strategies to align your classroom practices with these innovative standards.
2025 MSTA Annual Conference
March 7-8, 2025 | Lansing, MI
Join us at the largest state conference dedicated exclusively to science education! Hosted by the Michigan Science Teachers Association (MSTA), this year’s conference theme, Leveling the Lab, emphasizes equitable and accessible science instruction for all learners. Attendees will explore best practices and strategies for effective science teaching through hundreds of peer-led sessions and workshops tailored for K–20 educators.
Activate Learning Session:
The OpenSciEd Instructional Model: Routines for Advancing Students Through a Storyline
Date & Time: Saturday, March 8, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Grades: Middle School, High School
Room: Banquet Room 2
Presented By: Michelle Tindall
Explore the OpenSciEd Instructional Model through an engaging, hands-on session designed to showcase 3-dimensional teaching and learning. Participants will act as "students" to experience puzzling phenomena that spark curiosity and drive learning, while also exploring the five instructional routines that advance unit storylines and support student sensemaking. Anchoring phenomena draw students into lessons with the challenge of solving problems, while subsequent activities deepen understanding and maintain interest. Teachers will leave with ready-to-use strategies, Open Educational Resources, and the confidence to implement a 3-dimensional lesson in their classrooms.
RIU6 STEELS Science Education Vendor Fair
March 19, 2025 | Clarion, PA
The Riverview Intermediate Unit #6 (RIU6) STEELS Vendor Fair is your opportunity to explore instructional resources and community services designed to support schools in meeting the Pennsylvania STEELS Standards. This informal event invites educators to engage with vendors, preview resources, ask questions, and establish connections in a relaxed setting. Approximately 75 school leaders and educators from 17 LEAs in Venango, Clarion, Jefferson, Forest, and surrounding counties will participate.
2025 NCMLE 'Middle School Matters' Conference
March 23-25, 2025 | Charlotte, NC
Middle school educators, mark your calendars! The 2025 Middle School Matters Conference, hosted by the North Carolina Association for Middle Level Education (NCMLE), is your chance to learn, network, and grow alongside 500+ passionate educators. Held in the vibrant uptown Charlotte area, this event promises opportunities to enhance your skills and connect with peers dedicated to middle-level education.
Activate Learning Session:
OpenSciEd Instructional Model: Routines for Advancing Students Through a Storyline
Date& Time: TBA
Grades: Middle School, High School
Room: TBA
The OpenSciEd Instructional Model starts with puzzling phenomena that elicit a variety of questions to motivate the learning in the unit. These anchoring phenomena draw students into the Storyline by presenting the natural challenge of explaining something or solving a problem. The instructional model takes advantage of five routines—activities that play specific roles in advancing the storyline with supports to help students achieve the objectives of those activities. The routines typically follow a pattern as students kick off a unit of study, surface and investigate different questions they have, put the pieces together from those investigations, and then problematize the next set of questions to investigate. Participants will engage as “students” with an OSE lesson to experience these routines from both the teacher and student lens. Additional supports and resources will be shared so teachers can go back to the classroom ready to teach a 3-dimensional lesson.
Pennsylvania STEELS Institute 2.0
March 25, 2025 | Lancaster, PA
Join us at the IU13 STEELS Institute 2.0 for an inspiring day of collaboration and professional learning. This event aims to empower educators and administrators with the tools and strategies needed to advance STEELS education, foster scientific literacy, and prepare students for real-world challenges.
Key objectives:
- Strengthen collaborative networks to support STEELS education.
- Equip leaders with strategies for effective STEELS implementation.
- Enhance classroom practices to inspire curiosity and engagement.
- Develop authentic, high-quality, three-dimensional assessment strategies.
- Increase rigor and relevance by focusing on science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts (CCCs).
NSTA Spring 2025 Conference
March 26 - 29, 2025 | Philadelphia, PA
Join us in the City of Brotherly Love for the NSTA Spring Conference, where science educators come together to connect, learn, and grow. With content designed by educators for educators, this event offers an array of engaging and practical strategies you can implement in your classroom, school, or district right away. Whether you’re interested in networking, peer-driven roundtable discussions, or exploring new professional opportunities, the NSTA Spring Conference has something for everyone.
Join us for our professional learning workshops on implementing NGSS-aligned curriculum. Get strategies, tools and tips you can take back to your classroom immediately!
Booth: #533
Activate Learning Sessions:
Session 1: Brand New Active Integrated Physics and Chemistry book – 1st edition 2025
Date & Time: March 27 (time TBA)
Grades: High School
Room: TBA
Presented By: Arthur Eisenkraft, Gary Curts
Come and participate with program author Arthur Eisenkraft for a close-up look at a the new Active Integrated Physics and Chemistry™ curriculum. Experience a fun, take-home lab and learn more about this super physical science curriculum from Activate Learning.
Session 2: Experience EarthComm 4th Edition with the American Geosciences Institute
Date & Time: March 27 (time TBA)
Grades: High School
Room: TBA
Presented By: Gary Curts, Lindsay Mossa (AGI), Lauren Brase (AGI), Sequoyah McGee (AGI)
Get the first look at the newly revised EarthComm, 4th edition earth science book. Experience a great take home lab and learn how to infuse United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) into instruction, plus see all the changes that were made to this classroom resource!
Session 3: Introduction to OpenSciEd Elementary
Date & Time: March 27 (time TBA)
Grades: Elementary
Room: TBA
Presented By: Jen Gutierrez
Come learn more about the OSE elementary curriculum! We’ll look at shifting to a classroom where students' natural curiosities about the world are leveraged to motivate their learning in science. Meaningful conversations and ideas about what that might look like with your teaching and learning.
Session 4: Encouraging Equitable Participation During a Discussion in the OpenSciEd HS Classroom
Date & Time: March 27 (time TBA)
Grades: High School
Room: TBA
Presented By: Michelle Tindall
Classroom communities make sense of what’s being investigated through discussions; it’s key to ensuring all students’ ideas are shared and valued. This session focuses on discussion types used to help draw out student ideas, negotiate and refine them, and support communicating in scientific ways.
Session 4: Creating a Driving Question Board that Supports Students’ Ongoing Sensemaking
Date & Time: March 27 (time TBA)
Grades: Middle School
Room: TBA
Presented By: Jen Gutierrez and Michelle Tindall
The DQB is an essential tool used throughout OSE units to generate, keep track of, and revisit student questions around the anchoring and related phenomenon. Join the collaborative fun finding ideas for developing, maintaining, and revisiting this exciting representation of students’ learning.
2025 WSST Annual Conference
April 3 - 5, 2025 | Oshkosh, WI
Hosted by the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers (WSST), the 65th annual conference is the premier event for advancing science education in Wisconsin. As Wisconsin’s largest membership organization for science education, WSST is dedicated to preparing students to use valid evidence to understand the world and tackle current and future challenges. Join educators at the Oshkosh Marriott Waterfront Hotel & Convention Center to explore strategies for engaging students in meaningful, three-dimensional science learning.
Activate Learning Sessions:
Session 1: The OpenSciEd Instructional Model: Routines for Advancing Students Through a Storyline
Date & Time: TBA
Grades: Middle School, High School
Room: TBA
In the OpenSciEd Instructional Model students are presented with puzzling phenomena that elicit a variety of questions that motivate the learning in the unit. These anchoring phenomena draw students into the storyline by presenting the natural challenge of explaining something or solving a problem. Other phenomena may be introduced at key points in a storyline to maintain interest or push students to delve more deeply. To help teachers and students advance through a unit storyline, the instructional model takes advantage of five routines—activities that play specific roles in advancing the storyline with supports to help students achieve the objectives of those activities. The routines typically follow a pattern as students kick off a unit of study, surface and investigate different questions they have, put the pieces together from those investigations, and then problematize the next set of questions to investigate. In this session participants will engage as “students” with an OSE lesson to experience these routines from both the teacher and student lens. Additional supports and resources will be shared so that teachers can go back to the classroom ready to teach a 3-dimensional lesson.
Session 2: Reach New Heights with Activate Learning’s Interactive Digital Edition of OpenSciEd
Date & Time: TBA
Grades: Middle School, High School
Room: TBA
Activate Learning has partnered with OpenSciEd to create a digital learning platform where students can benefit from an interactive, engaging online experience when using the OpenSciEd curriculum. Students can record their observations and reasoning and receive feedback from teachers. Students benefit from modeling supports like drawing tools and stamps, as well as writing supports with sentence starters and reading supports through recorded audio, highlighting, and annotations. The OSE lessons are designed and aligned to the Framework and the NGSS. They are based on research regarding how students learn, what motivates learning, and the implications for teaching. Participants will experience first-hand our intuitive digital platform with features that enhance the OSE curriculum and help make science teaching and learning more accessible.
2025 MCIU STEELS Expo
May 20, 2025 | King of Prussia, PA
Join us at the 3rd annual STEELS Expo, hosted by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (MCIU) at Upper Merion Area High School. This year’s event offers an exciting lineup of breakout sessions, a brand-new Showcase, and increased opportunities for teacher-led sessions. New for 2025: a dedicated computer science strand! Don’t miss this chance to connect with educators and explore innovative practices aligned with the PA STEELS Standards.
Activate Learning Sessions:
Session 1: Spark Questions with Anchoring Phenomena and DQBs
Date & Time: TBA
Grades: Middle School
Room: TBA
The Driving Question Board is an essential tool used throughout OpenSciEd units to generate, keep track of, and revisit student questions around the anchoring and related phenomenon. It is a visual representation of the class’s shared mission of learning in the unit. The DQB serves as a record of students’ curiosities about phenomena and a way of documenting the progress that they make in understanding the phenomena under study. A DQB is introduced at the beginning of each unit in the Anchoring Phenomenon routine, and then revisited by the class as part of the Navigation, Putting Pieces Together, and Problematizing routines. The role of a DQB changes over the course of a unit. Initially the DQB enables the teacher and students to understand what students both know and do not know about the anchoring phenomenon. As the class revisits the DQB, students begin to answer questions on the DQB and can pose new questions. Join the collaborative fun finding ideas for developing, maintaining, and revisiting this exciting representation of students’ learning and sensemaking.
Session 2: Routines for Advancing Through a Storyline
Date & Time: TBA
Grades: Middle School
Room: TBA
In the OpenSciEd Instructional Model students are presented with puzzling phenomena that elicit a variety of questions that motivate the learning in the unit. These anchoring phenomena draw students into the storyline by presenting the natural challenge of explaining something or solving a problem. Other phenomena may be introduced at key points in a storyline to maintain interest or push students to delve more deeply. To help teachers and students advance through a unit storyline, the instructional model takes advantage of five routines—activities that play specific roles in advancing the storyline with supports to help students achieve the objectives of those activities. The routines typically follow a pattern as students kick off a unit of study, surface and investigate different questions they have, put the pieces together from those investigations, and then problematize the next set of questions to investigate. In this session participants will engage as “students” with an OSE lesson to experience these routines from both the teacher and student lens. Additional supports and resources will be shared so that teachers can go back to the classroom ready to teach a 3-dimensional lesson.
2025 Louisiana Teacher Leader Summit
June 10 - 12, 2025 | New Orleans, LA
The Louisiana Department of Education’s annual Teacher Leader Summit is a must-attend event for educators and content experts supporting students from birth through grade 12. Held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, this professional learning conference gathers thousands of educators to share knowledge, gain new skills, and prepare for the upcoming school year. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, school leader, counselor, or early childhood professional, the Teacher Leader Summit offers valuable opportunities to grow professionally and make an even greater impact on Louisiana students.
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