by Georgia Charter Schools Association
Innovate, Inspire, Invent – Science in Today’s Classroom
Science instruction is evolving in order to better prepare the students of today for the STEM careers of tomorrow. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ® is proud to partner with our authors, thought leaders in the fields of next generation science instruction, to equip teachers with the information 
and the tools they need for the exciting changes ahead!
Science educators, prepare for the NGSS by watching these free, on-demand webinars.
Strategies to Assist Students with Interpreting Images and Other Earth Science Spatial Thinking Skills
Grades 6–12 | Hosted by Dr. Michael Passow
Understanding in the Earth Sciences depends greatly on interpreting images. We represent current conditions through such images as synoptic weather and color-coded sea surface temperature anomalies maps. We represent relationships between parts of our planet through cross-sectional diagrams of Earth layers. Interpreting geoscience images is one form of spatial thinking. Research has shown the importance of spatial thinking in science generally, and in Earth Science in particular. This webinar will explore spatial thinking and provide you with strategies to assist your middle and high school students to master core ideas and NGSS-aligned skills.
Cha-cha-cha- Changes: Re-engineering Science Curriculum for the 21 st Century
Grades K–12 | Hosted by Michael DiSpezio
Join Michael for a lively and informative webinar focused on re-engineering science curriculum based upon the common tenets of NGSS * and its parent document, A Framework for K–12 Science Education. You’ll not only get the backstory of standards-based curriculum, but you’ll also construct a proactive understanding of what these changes really mean to the science teacher and administrator. Join Michael and find out what’s real and what challenges and inertia you might expect.
When an Argument is Not a Fight:
The Claims-Evidence-Reasoning Approach
Grades K–8 | Hosted by Marjorie Frank
Step away from the panic button! Don’t let the words claims, evidence, and reasoning put you off. We’ll explore what they mean, how to bring them into your dialogue with kids, and how to lead kids to take ownership of these words and the kind of thinking they represent in scientific arguments. Three-Dimensional Teaching: What It Looks Like in the Classroom
Grades 3–12 | Hosted by Dr. Cary Sneider
Perhaps the greatest challenge of the Next Generation Science Standards * (NGSS) is combining all three dimensions—practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas—into daily teaching and learning. In order to gain insight into what 3D teaching looks like, participants will be asked to view up to one hour of free online videos of science classes before the webinar, so that we can have an interactive discussion of ways the examples reflect 3D teaching. Access the pre-webinar videos at bit.ly/3DInstruction.
Building Conceptual Understanding in Science from the Top Down
Grades 8–12 | Hosted by Dr. Stephen Nowicki
Too often, our students come to class thinking that science is a bunch of stuff to know instead of a way of understanding how things work. This emphasis on knowing facts is often to the detriment of understanding concepts, and the lack of a strong conceptual framework makes it even harder to just remember facts, let alone put those facts to use in context. In this webinar, we’ll use some common examples from biology to illustrate the difference between “bottom-up” and “top-down” concept formation in science and explore how to enhance our students’ ability to take a top-down approach to their own learning.
Brain-Powered Science: Teaching & Learning with Discrepant Events *
Grades K–12 | Hosted by Dr. Thomas O’Brien
Optical illusions, cartoons, demonstrations, and hands-on explorations will engage participants and model the power of discrepant events to enhance learning by activating attention and catalyzing cognitive processing. The take home, minds-on message is that three-dimensional, next generation CurriculumInstruction-Assessment shifts the teacher’s focus from didactically covering content to interactively helping learners recover FUNdaMENTAL conceptual precursors, uncover (and deconstruct) misconceptions, and discover (and reconstruct) enriched conceptual networks of understanding.
* FOR OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE: Be sure to have a few sample materials on hand in order to participate in an actual live discrepant event! Please have a fork, knife, or spoon; a piece of string ~0.5 meters long; a spool; and two same size round balloons.
Science educators, prepare for the NGSS with these exciting webinars!
Note: HMH will have a booth at the National Science Teachers Association Conference March 15-18th. We encourage members, if you are attending, to stop by to meet the authors of the Science Dimensions program and learn more about NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards).
Next Generation Science Standards and logo are registered trademarks of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and they do not endorse it.
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Georgia Charter Schools Association
The Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA) is the membership organization for Georgia’s charter school operators and petitioners, established in 2001. Our mission is to be an effective advocate and service provider for all charter public schools in Georgia.
