UtSTA Needs Presenters!

UtSTA knows wonderful instruction is occurring in our schools and would love to highlight what you are doing to promote three-dimensional, phenomena-based instruction. As a result, UtSTA is looking for presenters for our virtual conference this year: Cultivating SEEd in Diverse Environments!

They would love to have your expertise in helping Utah teachers experience and implement three-dimensional lessons. This virtual presentation would be one time, approximately 60-90 minutes in length. Presentation dates and times for you to select from are listed at the end of this letter. As a thank you for presenting UtSTA would like to express its gratitude with a small stipend of $100.

Presentation Guidelines:

• An engaging, student-centered lesson aligned to a Utah SEEd standard in your grade level.
• Present the lesson in a way that teachers can actively participate as students virtually such as using household items, making observations, doing a simulation, etc.

Possibilities to Consider:

• Choose one Science and Engineering Practice to highlight in the lesson.
• Choose one Crosscutting Concept to highlight in the lesson.
• Provide an example of a formative assessment for the lesson.

Here is what it might look like:

• Engage participants with an activity or prompt. This might be a phenomenon, making predictions about what will happen when (some event or phenomenon happens) and provide justification, ask questions about a graph/model/data that is presented, or investigate a cause and effect relationship, etc.
• Provide participants with a sense-making opportunity, something that allows them to access information that will help them better understand the initial activity or prompt. Some possibilities include: small experiment participants could use household supplies to conduct a timed observation quest participants could engage in from their various locations around the state (like a picture scavenger hunt, or other observations they might be able to make), a virtual lab or simulation to gather data and information from, a chance to review information online and discuss in a small group (zoom rooms) and prepare something to present back to the larger group.
• Bring the participants back together to share what was learned in the sense-making and how it relates to the initial activity or prompt.
• Give an example of a formative assessment prompt. Participants can spend time answering the prompt and sharing responses or may discuss various ways the prompt could be used in the classroom.
• Present information about practical applications of this lesson like where it fits in an instructional sequence, modifications that can be made for face-to-face instruction or online instruction, differentiation, etc.
• Bonuses: Share your favorite resources, post a module in Canvas, or share positive experiences from science teaching this year!

Dates of Presentations: (you would only present once, but we hope you would join us and participate in the rest!)

Thursday, October 22, 2020 Thursday, December 3, 2020 Thursday, January 21, 2021 Thursday, March 4, 2021 Thursday, April 1, 2021

Please support UtSTA by signing up as a presenter! Utah educators will really appreciate your knowledge, skills, and resources as they navigate shifting instruction to meet the expectations of our Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards.

If you are interested, please respond by filling out the following survey:

UtSTA Presenter Survey

UtSTA will contact you within a week (or less) once you have filled out the survey to confirm your presentation.

Thank you for being a part of UtSTA’s virtual conference this year! We look forward to hearing from you!