NOAA at the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) conference

NOAA Workshop 1: Use Games and Role Playing to Engage Students in One of the Most Dangerous Climate Impacts of Our Time: Sea Level Rise

Thursday, March 27, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Alexandria Gillen (NOAA National Ocean Service), Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

Why are sea levels rising? Why is it so dangerous - no matter where in the US you live? How can we address it? Using hands-on role-playing activities from NOAA, engage your students on one of the most dangerous climate impacts of our time.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

Bridging Science & Culture with Kitt Peak National Observatory

Thursday, March 27, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown - Grand Ballroom Salon G
Ron Proctor (Motion Graphic Designer), Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan (Tohono O'odham Nation Education Development Liaison), Robert Sparks (NSF's NOIRLab)

Join NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), as we share strategies for bringing NOAA’s Science On A Sphere® (SOS) datasets to classrooms and public audiences. We will preview our new SOS content.

🤝 Partner session 🍎 Educator session

NOAA Workshop 2: Explore National Ocean Service (NOS) Education Resources for Your Classroom

Thursday, March 27, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Alexandria Gillen (NOAA National Ocean Service), Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

Dive into a sea of classroom-ready resources! With standards-aligned teaching materials, tutorials, hands-on activities, PD, and funding opportunities, NOS Education supports ocean, coastal, and climate learning at ALL levels and engages students and communities in hands-on stewardship.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

Explore classroom ready, NGSS aligned, Earth science resources from NOAA Ocean Service Education.

Thursday, March 27, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Exhibit Hall, Poster Session Aisle
Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

NOAA Ocean Service Education offers classroom ready, standards aligned Earth science resources for teachers to immediately plug into existing curriculum, as well as opportunities to receive up to $5000 in funding to develop and carry out stewardship projects in their school or community.

🗣️ Share-a-thon

NOAA Workshop 3: Mapping Environmental Resources in Your Community

Thursday, March 27, 2:20 PM - 3:20 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Symone Barkley (NOAA National Ocean Service), Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

Exploring social interactions with the environment is critical to teaching about the natural world. Students will assess socio-environmental issues in their neighborhoods and school communities through a community inventory and asset mapping activity to identify actionable solutions.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

NOAA Workshop 4: NOAA in Your Classroom: How Hydrothermal Vent Chimneys Form

Thursday, March 27, 3:40 PM - 4:40 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Tami Lunsford (Newark Charter School), Michael Gutierrez (Teacher)

At some hydrothermal vents, chimneys can rise more than 50m from the seafloor and grow as fast as 30 cm per day. Come explore how these unique, deep-sea features form through our sensemaking lesson and hands-on activities. We’ll also share resources to make it easier to connect to ocean exploration.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

FREE Federal STEM Education Resources –Where Can I Find Them?

Friday, March 28 • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - 203 A
Melissa Anley-Mills (U.S. EPA: Washington, DC)

Ever wondered where to find FREE Federal STEM education resources that can provide authentic learning experiences for your K-12+ students? Join Federal agencies, including but not limited to the EPA, NOAA, NASA, NIH, USGS, and USPTO to learn more & to receive a resource guide!

🤝 Partner session 🍎 Educator session

Marine Debris Communications Lab: Support Youth to Go From Raising Awareness to Inspiring Action with NOAA

Friday, March 28, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - 122 B
Alexandria Gillen (NOAA National Ocean Service)

It can be challenging to communicate information on pressing environmental issues like marine pollution without losing hope. Support inspiring, energizing education on marine pollution through science, art, math, and the humanities with resources and strategies from the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

🍎 Educator session

NOAA Workshop 5: NOAA Planet Stewards: Affect change through education, collaboration, and action - and receive up to $5000 to do it!

Friday, March 28, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Alexandria Gillen (NOAA National Ocean Service), Symone Barkley (NOAA National Ocean Service), Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

NOAA Planet Stewards Educators are STEM agents of change in their schools and communities. Access professional development opportunities, education resources, and FUNDING, to increase students’ science literacy, and have them respond to real world environmental threats. Appropriate for Grades K-12!

💡 Exhibitor workshop

Let’s Talk Trash! Next Generation Marine Debris Education with the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Friday, March 28, 9:20 AM - 10:20 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - 121 B
Alexandria Gillen (NOAA National Ocean Service)

The NOAA Marine Debris Program has resources for students to learn about marine pollution and how they can be a part of the solution! We will share standards-aligned, hands-on, and place-based materials and strategies to help engage and inspire youth to learn and take action on marine pollution.

🍎 Educator session

NOAA Workshop 6: Explore the Ocean, Weather, Climate Connection with Teek & Tom, NOAA’s New Animated Series and Lesson Plans

Friday, March 28, 9:20 AM - 10:20 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Tom DiLiberto (NOAA), Peggy Steffen (Ready, Set, STEM), Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service), Kurt Mann (NOAA National Ocean Service)

Teek and Tom Explore Planet Earth investigates the relationship between the ocean, weather and climate on local to global scales. You’ll sample some of the ten hands-on activities for upper ES and MS students to reinforce Earth science concepts related to oceanography, meteorology and climate.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

NOAA Workshop 7: Discover Your Changing World with Innovative Tools from NOAA

Friday, March 28, 10:40 AM - 11:40 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Peggy Steffen (Ready, Set, STEM), Margaret Holzer, Bruce Moravchik (NOAA National Ocean Service)

Join the National Earth Science Teachers Association to explore NOAA's resources and dive into interactive, data-rich investigations. Engage students in exploring human impacts on terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, environmental changes, and pathways to informed decision-making.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

Environmental Literacy Planning in Rural Pennsylvania

Friday, March 28, 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - 121 A

Justin Klingler (Gettysburg Area Middle School), Christine Biggins (Gettysburg Area High School), Ashly Wilkinson (Upper Adams Intermediate School), Valerie Stone (Gettysburg College)

Learn how a team of K-12 educators and community partners developed a local environmental literacy plan. The NOAA BWET funded project addresses the 3 pillars of green schools and highlights meaningful, place-based, outdoor learning opportunities for all students and teacher development.

🤝 Partner session 🍎 Educator session

NOAA Workshop 8: How To Find and Use NOAA Data: A Guide For Educators

Friday, March 28, 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Kayla Smith (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Build data literacy with NOAA! Learn how to access and use NOAA’s data-rich resources, lessons, and visualization tools. We will choose 3-5 data resources based on your interests and walk you through navigating the resources and offer suggestions on incorporating them into your teaching.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

NOAA Workshop 9: Sea to Sky: Get to know NOAA’s online educational resources — and let us know what you think!

Friday, March 28, 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Kayla Smith (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Silver Spring, MD)

Join us for a tour of our education website and discuss how NOAA can meet your needs. We’ll show you how to navigate our educational resources on the ocean, coast, Great Lakes, weather, and climate. Bring your questions and comments on what you’d like from us. This session is for K-16 educators.

💡 Exhibitor workshop

NOAA Workshop 10: Effectively Engaging All Ages With Deep-Sea Habitats and Restoration

Friday, March 28, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - Ballroom III
Roy Arezzo (National Marine Sanctuary Foundation), Sasha Francis (National Marine Sanctuary Foundation), Amy Rivers (Gulf Reach Institute INC)

Connecting students with deep-sea habitats and how humans can impact them is challenging. Creative hands-on and gamified activities, stunning videos, & talking to scientists at sea brings an important ecosystem they may never see to them instead! Explore corals, restoration, careers, & tech. preK-12

💡 Exhibitor workshop

How the Arts Improve Teaching & Learning of Data Literacy: Findings from New Research

Saturday, March 29, 8:45 AM - 9:15 AM, Pennsylvania Convention Center - 109 A
Kathryn Semmens (Nurture Nature Center), Jessica Sickler (J. Sickler Consulting)

Data literacy is a vital science skill. Can art help us build it? We share a research-based approach that combines Earth science content, NOAA data, and techniques from art education that center the skills needed to interpret complex visual information, alongside results of actual classroom impact.

🤝 Partner session 🍎 Educator session