Tel: 916-278-5487
Super SIRC Workshops - May 11, 2024
2-Hour Science Workshops
Morning 2-Hour Workshops
Making Time for Science
Ingrid Salim, Davis Joint Unified, and Chris Griesemer, SASP
Too little time for science? OK, really almost no time for science? No worries! Act now and join our workshop!
Explore how to stage a meaningful science lesson and work through it with your kids in 20 to 30 minutes. We’ll learn together through at least two immersive elementary standards-aligned science lessons. Then we’ll engage a couple of planning tools to create our own quick science lessons from adopted curricula or from scratch. It’ll be fun!
Don’t delay! Act now and get science moving in your classroom!
We invite (but will not require!) teachers to bring a lesson they are struggling to cut back to its core as a place to start the work.
Designed for K-5th grade teachers
Living the EP&Cs: Cultivating Connections Between Humans and Natural Systems in the Capital Region
Austin Roughton, UC Cooperative Extension and Todd Gillihan, Sly Park Environmental Education Center
We live, work, and play in an ecologically rich and diverse region of the state that informs our sense of place in both seen and unseen ways. By better understanding our place-based identity, dependencies and attachments we can deepen our impact as science educators and inspire students’ own connections to place.
In this workshop we use California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts as lenses through which to identify, examine and cultivate our shared connections to the Capital Region’s natural systems. Engage in activities and discussions to assess and build educator environmental literacy, and leverage the power of the Science and Engineering Practices and Crosscutting Concepts to strengthen your classroom practice.
Designed for K-12th grade teachers
Any Kid Can Write a CER
Michele Hetland, Sacramento City Unified
How do we support every kid in writing a CER? It begins with talk. Participants will learn techniques for engaging students in partner and table talk to elicit claims, evidence and reasoning. They will then progress to whole class scientist circles where students will engage in argument with each other and refine evidence and reasoning. Various tips and instructions will be given to show how to give students many attempts for practice without the teacher having to grade everything. Finally, participants will be given ideas and scaffolds to help students construct their own claim, find their own evidence, and come up with their own reasoning. These techniques work well for all kids including those with IEPs and limited English.
Designed for 6th-12th grade teachers
STEM Integration of Materials Science Strand Part 1: Level Up Polymers & Reimagine Composites
Mafe Aguilar, Sacramento City Unified
Learn about the construction of polymers by combining polyvinyl alcohol and sodium borate. Students can observe and describe the properties of a prepared substance; observe the nature of a polymer; describe how cross linking affects a polymer using models, drawings, discussion. Engage in engineering challenge to develop a polymer based on specific criteria.
Designed for 6th-12 grade Physical Science teachers
Making Sense of Fields
Kelli Quan, Toby Johnson Middle School
Let’s make sense of simple phenomena that introduce students to forces that act at a distance, including electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields.
Designed for 6th-12 grade Physical Science teachers
Afternoon 2-Hour Workshops
3-2-1 Blast Off! Paper Rockets and the Forces of Flight
Corinne Lardy, College of Education, Sacramento State
Join us as we become aerospace engineers and design, build, and test paper rockets to see how far you can get yours to go! We'll develop models and use science concepts to explain our thinking about why some rockets went further than others and revise our rockets to go even further. Along the way we'll bring in music, math, social studies, and social justice.
Designed for K-5th grade teachers
Tapping into your School Site's Potential: Environmental Literacy in Action
Austin Roughton, UC Cooperative Extension and Todd Gillihan, Sly Park Environmental Education Center
Consider your school’s potential to be a space where learning happens inside and outside the classroom! Any schoolyard can be a place to notice, wonder and explore alongside your students, but how do we move in this direction?
In this workshop we will provide tips to identify and utilize spaces for scientific investigation on your school site. Participants will learn strategies to incorporate SEPs and CCCs while conducting investigations and honing their nature journaling skills. Through this process we strengthen our sense of place and build foundational environmental literacy. Participants will leave with place-based teaching strategies and project ideas that foster community stewardship.
Designed for K-12th grade teachers
STEM Integration of Materials Science Strand Part 2: Level Up Polymers & Reimagine Composites
Mafe Aguilar, Sacramento City Unified
Learn about the construction of polymers by combining polyvinyl alcohol and sodium borate. Students can observe and describe the properties of a prepared substance; observe the nature of a polymer; describe how cross linking affects a polymer using models, drawings, discussion. Engage in engineering challenge to develop a polymer based on specific criteria.
Designed for 6th-12 grade Physical Science teachers
Using Inquiry and Data Analysis to Build Explanations for Ecology Concepts
Steven Ramsay, Elk Grove Unified
Come test and learn how to create lessons based around data analysis to address ecology standards! Based on the book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Dr. Liljedahl, we will investigate how the methods from the book can also be used to engage students in thinking in a biology class. We will focus on NGSS standards that ask students to look at evidence and come to conclusions and learn how to scaffold the activities. We will specifically look at lessons that cover impact of environment changes on organisms, succession, and group behavior
Designed for 6th-12th grade Life Science teachers
Integrating Earth Science into your Chemistry Curriculum
Arlene Laurison, Elk Grove Unified
In this hands-on workshop, participants will explore a variety of Earth science activities that thread through the chemistry curriculum. Expect to come away with a number of engaging labs that help students recognize the integration of chemistry and Earth science. Activities will focus on chemical reactions, plate tectonics, radioactive decay, and forest fires. A storyline for ocean acidification and climate will be discussed but not emphasized. This workshop will emphasize the value of engagement, communication, and student-driven investigation using the NGSS approach.
Designed for 6th-12th grade Chemistry teachers
1-Hour Workshops
Planetarium Show
Morning and afternoon session
Kyle Watters, Physics and Astronomy Department, Sacramento State
The birth of our home planet coincided with the birth of our home star, the sun, and it was a very messy process. The early Earth was completely unrecognizable compared to the comfortable and lush planet we know today. A lot happened between the formation of Earth and the first life on our planet. Come join us for a planetarium experience that will travel back in time billions of years as we explore together the Birth of Planet Earth.
StingerStudio Makerspace
Morning and afternoon session
Preston Tobey, Sacramento State
StingerStudio provides students with skills, experiences, and connections that prepare them for careers in the knowledge-driven economy. During your visit, we will give an exclusive tour of the space, chat about the projects and class support that we provide, as well as the opportunity to create buttons on our button maker and keychains with our laser cutter!
Explore a Different Kind of Science: Starting or Joining a Computer Science Program at your School
Morning session only
Brian Ellis, Folsom-Cordova School District
Learn how you can transfer your science education skills to the fast-growing world of computer science. Experience a hands on inquiry-based CS lesson – no computer required! Discuss available opportunities for teachers and students to enjoy the creativity and challenge of computing.
Modeling Mini-Symposium
Morning session only
Cindy Passmore, UC Davis, Chris Griesemer, UC Davis, and Rich Hedman, Emerson Jr. High
Spend time in a collaborative space with experts on modeling and other teachers grappling with how to productively use models and modeling with students. Bring your problems of practice and questions to this responsive space. Topics may include--introducing the practice of modeling to students in grade-appropriate ways, how to position models in learning, strategies to get students to participate in the creation and revision of models, and/or incorporating model-based reasoning into assessment. This will be K-12 inclusive.
Overcoming the Fear of Using AI in Teaching and Learning
Afternoon session only
Kelli Quan, Toby Johnson Middle School
What do you fear most about using AI? About students using AI? Join us for a discussion about the use of artificial intelligence in the world and how we can take advantage of AI to be more efficient teachers and encourage critical thinking in students.
Bridging Classroom Science to Real-World Research
Afternoon session only
Join us for an engaging presentation that makes connections between scientific concepts taught in the classrooms and their real-world applications in cutting edge research at local universities. Gain insights into how to inspire and empower students with a deeper understanding of the relevance and impact of science beyond the classroom. This workshop is designed based on our guest science speaker model at previous Tuesday night SIRC events.