Algorithms may be powerful general tools, but they can trap students in limited, less-sophisticated reasoning. In this session, learn how students can take advantage of the power of generalizing without getting trapped and how we can develop mathematical reasoning, get better results, and reach more students. Math is Figure-out-able!
Pam Harris is shifting the way we view and teach mathematics. She is a mom, former high school math teacher, university lecturer, and the founder of Math is Figureoutable. Math teachers around the world rave about her online Building Powerful Mathematics workshops. For over 20 years... Read More →
How do we help students apply what they know to a phenomenon they’ve never seen before? One of the biggest challenges in NGSS classrooms is supporting students as they transfer learning to new contexts. In this interactive session, we’ll explore how to build those skills through four practical, low-stakes sensemaking routines.These classroom-ready strategies give students frequent opportunities to engage with novel phenomena, practice three-dimensional thinking, and build confidence without the pressure of assessment. We’ll model each activity and share tools you can use right away to help students move beyond memorization and into true science understanding.
How do we help students apply what they know to a phenomenon they’ve never seen before? One of the biggest challenges in NGSS classrooms is supporting students as they transfer learning to new contexts. In this interactive session, we’ll explore how to build those skills through... Read More →
Join us for an interactive, hands-on session to engage in modeling from all grade spans, K-12 from OpenSciEd. Discover how the Carolina Certified Version takes these high-quality instructional materials to the next level-more accessible, more user-friendly, and enhanced for classroom safety. Participants will leave with practical strategies and valuable resources to energize their classrooms.
Dr. Burns retired as a high school and middle school teacher nine years ago. She has worked for Carolina Biological for 13 years as a science consultant. She facilitates and trains teachers how to use science kits and has presented many workshops at national and state confere... Read More →
Learn to promote interest and engagement while helping students achieve specific learning objectives with games. Join us as you learn simple and valuable ways to gamify your lessons. We will be sharing a few creative game ideas for building relationships and reviewing and learning content.
Michael Washington is a former high school teacher and leader with 22 years of experience who now serves as an Account Manager for TCI. He’s passionate about helping Washington educators bring engaging social studies curriculum to their classrooms. Michael loves traveling across... Read More →
The Confluence Project is a University of Idaho sponsored field-based watershed curriculum for 9th through 12th Environmental Science, Biology, and other science classrooms. The program seeks to make science concepts tangible to students through hands-on field data collection activities. U of I covers costs for participating teachers to bring their students on stream water quality, snow science, and groundwater field trips. Students conclude the program by presenting their water research projects to water professionals at the regional Youth Water Summit. 300 to 400 students participate annually in North Idaho, and 180 students completed the successful southwest Idaho pilot year. This session will provide details about the Confluence Project & model two sample lessons from the program that can be used independently. The groundwater lesson explores nitrate contaminants in a gravel aquifer system, and the evapotranspiration lesson introduces students to NASA satelitte data.
Christa Howarth works as a Water Educator for the University of Idaho Extension and Idaho Water Resource Research Institute (IWRRI) & is stoked to get students outside! They deliver non-formal education programs, with a focus on groundwater and water resources, to youth and adults... Read More →
Engage students with authentic mathematics that fits seamlessly into your daily instruction! Join our hands-on showcase of career-connected tasks bringing local industries directly to your classroom. Built by Idaho educators, these materials follow one strict rule: "The math project has to be something these industry folks actually do at their job." Step into the shoes of a power lineman, a Fish & Game biometrician, and a taco truck entrepreneur to actively experience these concepts. Leave equipped with ready-to-use materials to finally answer your students' favorite question: "When are we ever going to use this?" Co-Facilitators / Task Designers:Co-Facilitators / Task Designers: Nicole Anderson, Steve Palmer, Callie Rose, Russel Seay, Lesley Marks, David Repke, Rebecca Owen, Emily Wasemiller, Mandy Simpson, Austin Duerksen, Kristen Montague, Nathan Cardon, Landon Belnap, Mitchell Parsons With: Josh Watson, Kathy Prummer, Veronica Blackham, Carol Hicks, Jayce Bell, Katie Bosch-Wilson
Dr. Kacey Diemert is a Professor of Mathematics - Education entering her 12th year at Lewis-Clark State College in the Teacher Education and Mathematics Division where she also serves as the Mathematics Program Coordinator. She has been fortunate to continue her love of working with... Read More →
Suzanne has been teaching mathematics at LC State since 2012, and her approach to teaching has evolved significantly over the years. When she began working with future teachers in 2017, it changed how she thought about math education entirely. She started focusing much more on helping... Read More →
This session, led by Senior STEM Product Specialist Cassondra Kauppi, explores how technology can be paired with Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) principles in the math classroom. Through intentional design, technology is used as a bridge for connection, communication, and collective sense-making in the mathematics classroom. Rather than positioning technology as a replacement for interaction, this session centers technology as a way to amplify student voice, connect multiple representations, and make thinking visible. Students are able to see, compare, and build on one another’s ideas, strengthening both their understanding and their sense of belonging in mathematics. Educators will leave with ready-to-use tasks that help transform technology from a potential distraction into a driver of community, reasoning, and deep mathematical learning.
Join me to teach differently than how we were taught AND differently than how we were taught to teach math. Let’s shift the focus from memorizing / mimicking to reasoning and math-ing. And get results. Math is Figureoutable!
Pam Harris is shifting the way we view and teach mathematics. She is a mom, former high school math teacher, university lecturer, and the founder of Math is Figureoutable. Math teachers around the world rave about her online Building Powerful Mathematics workshops. For over 20 years... Read More →
Join faculty from the University of Idaho where they will present and demonstrate the Classroom Catalyst kit: chemistry lessons to be used as hands-on activities in high school classrooms. Each kit includes lessons, handouts, and consumable materials to illustrate atomic-structure concepts and periodic trends. This project aims to: • Deliver in-classrooms hands-on chemistry-focused activities. • Increase STEM identity in high school students. • Increase high-school students’ awareness of career pathways that include chemistry. • Enable students to relate chemical concepts back to their everyday life. • Enhance high-school teachers’ access to University of Idaho resources which support their professional development. Let Classroom Catalyst kits help build the connections between high-school students’ daily experiences and core chemistry concepts.
Most students form ideas about their future long before high school, yet few have meaningful exposure to real careers early on. This session gives you a ready to use, classroom tested module that introduces middle school students to the healthcare careers ecosystem through a clear, engaging, and relevant lens. You will see how to break down complex systems using a real world example from St. Luke’s Health System, while helping students recognize transferable skills they already use. We will also show how to connect early exploration to future opportunities through Idaho LAUNCH and Next Steps Idaho.
Walk away with a complete lesson, facilitation guide, and student activities you can implement immediately. If you want students more engaged, more aware, and more confident about their future, this session is for you!
This presentation introduces a classroom ready career exploration module designed for middle school students, focused on opening early awareness of healthcare careers and pathways. The module helps students understand how a healthcare system functions, using St. Luke’s as a rea... Read More →
This interactive session offers a clear and practical look into Idaho’s STEM and workforce ecosystem, designed specifically for educators, school leaders, and career advisors.Participants will gain an inside perspective on key statewide initiatives including LAUNCH, I STEM, Idaho... Read More →
AI in Education: Where We Have Been and Where Are We Going? AI has evolved from behind-the-scenes technology like spell check to powerful tools like AI Agents that can write, create, and converse. Students are already using AI, and teachers are experimenting with it for lesson planning, differentiation, and feedback. However, we face challenges around academic integrity, equity, privacy, and keeping pace with rapid change. The future isn't about avoiding AI. It's about teaching with it and keeping education human-centered. AI literacy will become as essential as digital literacy. We need to shift from asking "Is this student work?" to "How did you use AI to learn?" This means updating our assessment strategies, teaching AI ethics, and helping students develop uniquely human skills like creativity, critical thinking, and empathy. Our role is clear: prepare students to thrive in an AI-integrated world while staying grounded in human values. The tools may change, but students will always need caring, expert teachers—like you. Organizations like ISTE, MIT RAISE, and Code.org are creating frameworks and free curricula to support us in this journey. As an ISTE AI Explorations cohort member, I've piloted MIT RAISE curriculum and Code.org AI courses with middle school students, explored tools like Playlab and NotebookLM in the classroom, and introduced preservice teachers to lesson planning tools like Schoolai and Eduaide. These resources are ready for your classroom. Bring a device and let's get to work.
Join Katie Bosch-Wilson from the Idaho Department of Education to learn about key AI updates. This session will cover the new AI legislation passed in early 2026, including requirements, how the Department is supporting new AI standards, a statewide framework, and discussion around available professional development opportunities. Walk away with hands on ideas of utilization of AI in your classroom. Time will also be included for questions and discussion on what these changes may look like in practice.
In a student-centered classroom, students have frequent opportunities to wonder and make connections, share strategies, notice patterns, and justify their ideas. These opportunities support the development of student voice and choice, which are critical to learning and positive identity development. In this session, we will explore discussion structures and scaffolds to support discourse and agency in your classroom. While a device is recommended to access resources during the session, it is not required for participation.
How can we change student trajectories to open doors in mathematics using very explicit instructional practices? Join us to discuss how leveraging daily mental math strategies supports problem solving capacity, productive struggle, reasoning, and reflection in the middle school math classroom. By using choice, interesting rich tasks, and supporting students, we can increase student confidence, perseverance, and agency in the classroom and throughout their math career.
This session will explore how an experimental fluency program that included elements of fluency, mental math, rich tasks, collaboration, and discourse built student perseverance and confidence, as well as math proficiency.
The Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs) were designed to describe how students engage with mathematics, yet in many classrooms they remain disconnected from daily instruction. This session introduces a modernized vision of the SMPs that integrates them directly with grade-level content, emphasizing coherence, student agency, and real-world application. Participants will explore practical frameworks for embedding the SMPs into lesson design, with a focus on sense-making, discourse, and purposeful use of representations—including data visualizations tied to audience and context. Through concrete examples, we will demonstrate how aligning content and practice creates richer learning experiences without adding instructional burden. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and a visual planning tool to support immediate implementation in their classrooms or districts.
Deeply committed to ensuring that children have opportunities to experience mathematics that is meaningful and relevant to the world that they will continue to shape.
Help your students take the next step after high school with confidence. This session explores the Idaho LAUNCH grant, a powerful funding opportunity that covers up to 80 percent of tuition and fees at eligible institutions, with a maximum award of 8,000 dollars. You will learn how to guide students through the application process step by step, increasing their chances of success. We will also highlight practical career exploration resources that help students make informed, future focused decisions, along with key updates to ensure you have the most current information. This session is ideal for educators, counselors, and mentors who want to empower their students to access financial support for their education and gain confidence in their career choices. No devices are required.
This presentation introduces a classroom ready career exploration module designed for middle school students, focused on opening early awareness of healthcare careers and pathways. The module helps students understand how a healthcare system functions, using St. Luke’s as a rea... Read More →
STEM classrooms are full of problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking, but those skills are not always named or reinforced in a consistent way. When that happens, students complete the work without always understanding what they are building or how it applies beyond school. This session explores how the Idaho Career Readiness Competencies can serve as a shared language for making STEM skills more visible and transferable. Participants will look at how competencies already exist within STEM instruction and how small shifts in language, reflection, and feedback can help students recognize and apply those skills across contexts. Examples from K-12, postsecondary, and workforce settings will highlight how a common language strengthens alignment and clarity. Participants will leave with one practical way to name and reinforce a competency in their own classroom. The goal is not to add more, but to make what is already happening more intentional.
Jacque Deahl serves as the GEAR UP Idaho Statewide Coordinator at the Idaho State Department of Education, where she works with colleagues and partners across the state to support college and career readiness efforts for students. Her work focuses on strengthening career connected... Read More →
This workshop is designed to help transform classrooms from spaces defined by finding the "right answer" to environments fueled by student curiosity. Participants will evaluate and practice questioning and discussion techniques that minimize student fear, encourage deeper participation, and empower students to generate their own questions. In addition, we will practice in converting low-level recall questions into high-level discussion questions that require students to justify claims, synthesize evidence, and engage in genuine intellectual debate. These techniques cultivate a culture of inquiry, leading to increased student ownership of the learning process and gains in critical thinking across all content areas.
Bring the magic of STEM to life with simple, engaging science experiences designed for real classrooms. In this interactive session, presenters will model quick, hands-on activities aligned to Idaho Content Standards for Science grades K–5. Inspired by the idea of “favorite demonstrations,” each activity is easy to implement, uses accessible materials, and is grounded in meaningful scientific phenomena.
Participants will actively engage in 1–2 ready-to-use activities per grade level, while building confidence in facilitating science learning. Beyond the “wow” factor, we’ll focus on how these experiences support student thinking, discussion, and sensemaking.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies, classroom-ready ideas, and approachable phenomena to immediately integrate into their instruction, helping every educator feel confident bringing the magic of science to their students.
Elementary educators know that science is essential—but finding the time and resources to teach it well can feel overwhelming within an already packed schedule. This panel brings together classroom teachers and school administrators to share realistic, classroom-tested strategies for making science instruction both meaningful and manageable. Panelists will address common barriers such as time constraints, curriculum demands, and resource limitations, offering actionable solutions that can be applied immediately.
This session is designed to be interactive, with opportunities for audience questions and shared problem-solving. Participants will leave with concrete strategies, adaptable ideas, and renewed confidence in their ability to bring science to life for elementary learners.
Marisa Alan serves as the Idaho Curriculum and Success Lead at Inquisitive, where she partners with elementary schools to bring high-quality, phenomena-based science instruction into classrooms. With more than 25 years of experience in education, including roles as a classroom teacher... Read More →
How do we help elementary students truly think like scientists without adding more to an already full plate? This session focuses on practical, easy-to-implement strategies that build on what elementary teachers already do best.
We will break down the three dimensions of science standards and show how understanding them helps teachers focus on science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts. When teachers know what to listen for and what kinds of questions to ask, they can guide students toward deeper thinking and sense-making.
Participants will leave with simple questioning strategies and classroom moves that help students explain their thinking, make connections, and engage in meaningful scientific discourse—all while leveraging the natural strengths of elementary educators.
Chris is the current president of ISTA. He taught physics and math for 16 years and has been the science coordinator in the West Ada School District for the last 10 years. When he's not geeking out trying to understand a new phenomenon, he loves to backpack, fish, and travel with... Read More →
Learn how sentence-level writing can unlock deeper understanding of complex concepts for learners. This interactive session blends practice and reflection as participants move between experiencing and facilitating high-impact writing tasks connected to content learning. Lee has requested that IDE might provide the book The Writing Revolution 2.0 for the first 20 participants who attend--we await a reply.
How students see themselves in math shapes not only what they learn, but how they engage, persevere, and grow. As Liesl McConchie notes, “A student’s emotional relationship with math is foundational to their cognitive relationship with math.” In this session, participants will explore practical strategies to help students author their own math stories—stories of confidence, competence, and belonging. Through hands-on examples and reflective activities, teachers will leave equipped to create classroom experiences that nurture positive mathematical identities, strengthen student agency, and make every learner feel seen, valued, and capable.
teacher, Cynthia Mann Elementary, Boise School District
Tammy McMorrow has been teaching first grade for 32 years in Kuna, Idaho. In 2022 she began building a thinking classroom inspired by the work of Peter Liljedahl and was quickly won over by its magic and messiness. Determined to start a movement, she created a Facebook page for K-2... Read More →
This session introduces Pivotal Progressions as a powerful approach to strengthening mathematics systems to keep children in the learning. Rather than focusing only on standards coverage or isolated interventions, Pivotal Progressions establish a shared language for the most critical concepts that drive future learning and make visible how those ideas develop across grades. Participants will explore how this shared language supports coherence across classrooms, sharpens instructional decision-making, and creates meaningful opportunities for vertical articulation. Using concrete K–5 examples, we will examine how educators can align around key mathematical ideas, anticipate what comes next in the progression, and connect daily instruction to long-term understanding. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to identify opportunity points, strengthen Tier 1 instruction, and build more connected systems across grades.
Deeply committed to ensuring that children have opportunities to experience mathematics that is meaningful and relevant to the world that they will continue to shape.
Join me to teach differently than how we were taught AND differently than how we were taught to teach math. Let’s shift the focus from memorizing / mimicking to reasoning and math-ing. And get results. Math is Figureoutable!
Pam Harris is shifting the way we view and teach mathematics. She is a mom, former high school math teacher, university lecturer, and the founder of Math is Figureoutable. Math teachers around the world rave about her online Building Powerful Mathematics workshops. For over 20 years... Read More →
When Belén Hoobing tried to figure out what STEM careers actually look like day to day, she couldn't find the answer in a brochure or a career fair. So she started calling professionals and asking them. Now a rising senior at Boise High School, she's built See It Then Be It, a free video library of interviews with women and other STEM professionals. In this session, she shares what she's learned about the gap between how we present STEM careers and what the work actually involves, drawing on conversations with professionals like a river-restoring environmental engineer and a Fortune 500 engineering director. She'll also walk teachers through a practical framework for making student-led career interviews part of their classrooms. Attendees leave with outreach templates, question banks by field, and a step-by-step interview guide.
Conference Exhibitor, Boise High, Women Innovators
I'm Belén Hoobing, an incoming senior at Boise High School in Boise, Idaho. I started See It Then Be It because I was trying to figure out what I wanted to study in college and realized that most career advice for high schoolers tells you job titles, not what the work actually feels... Read More →
In this session we will explore the essential conditions and organizational structures required to move beyond isolated STEM activities and toward a cohesive, school-wide culture of integrated STEM. We will examine the critical "readiness factors" that determine long-term success and sustainability, including leadership alignment, flexible scheduling, physical and digital infrastructure and strategic partnerships. By focusing on these structural pillars first, administrators and educators can ensure their STEM initiatives are sustainable, equitable, and capable of fostering the critical thinking skills students need for the future. Participants will leave with a roadmap for building an environment where STEM doesn't just happen, it thrives.
I am currently serving as an Associate Professor at the Idaho State University College of Education. My primary focus is to bring high-quality STEM learning to all students. I have a background as a middle school math and science teacher and then earned my Ph.D. in Science and... Read More →
Ready to bring science to life in your classroom, without adding to your workload or scrambling for materials? In this interactive session, you’ll experience how Inquisitive supports phenomena-based, inquiry-driven instruction that’s both deeply engaging for students and truly manageable for teachers. We’ll model a complete lesson from the Inquisitive platform, “Has Earth Changed?”, which uses vivid visuals (including a rainbow layer cake!) and hands-on activities to explore Earth’s layers, fossils, and geologic change over time. You’ll participate in a student-level simulation, then step into the teacher role to unpack the pedagogy, standards alignment, and built-in supports like the 5E model. All participants will receive a free 90-day subscription to Inquisitive, along with digital resources, planning tools, and ready-to-use science lessons designed to simplify your prep and spark student curiosity. And of course, there will be cake!
Marisa Alan serves as the Idaho Curriculum and Success Lead at Inquisitive, where she partners with elementary schools to bring high-quality, phenomena-based science instruction into classrooms. With more than 25 years of experience in education, including roles as a classroom teacher... Read More →
Dive into the fascinating world of sourdough starters—a living, bubbling microbial ecosystem. Discover how this everyday phenomenon can help you explore energy flow, cellular respiration, biodiversity, and ecosystem dynamics with your students. You’ll get hands-on with citizen science, walk away with ready-to-use classroom ideas, and maybe even develop a new hobby. Get ready to feed your curiosity—and maybe a sourdough starters while you are at it!
Current ISTA Member, Professional Learning Solutions
Idaho Science Coach Region IV (Magic Valley) since 2022ISTA Board MemberInstruction Designer and Curriculum Developer for American Heritage Online SchoolSecondary Educator at Kimberly Middle SchoolRobotics Coach
This session invites educators to reimagine science instruction through storytelling, hands-on exploration, and inquiry-driven learning. In this interactive session, participants will experience how their narratives can spark curiosity and provide meaningful context for science content in their classrooms. We will engage with simple, adaptable models that make abstract ideas tangible and accessible for all learners. Grounded in the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate), the session will demonstrate practical strategies for guiding K-8 students from initial wonder to deeper understanding and application. Educators will leave with classroom ready approaches that foster student questioning, critical thinking, and ownership of learning. Whether teaching elementary or middle school students, participants will gain tools to create science spaces where curiosity drives discovery and students begin to see themselves not just as learners of science, but as scientists.
Become part of an amusement park design team as we explore the laws of repulsion and attraction through magnetic experimentation! Participants will experience a simulated elementary lesson using magnetic poles to exert pushes and pulls onto an object without touching it.
None of the above; Conference Exhibitor, Imagine Learning: Twig Science
I’m Cameron Barger, and I’ve spent the last 20 years teaching STEM in K–12 classrooms in Kansas. Most of my work has focused on helping teachers create classrooms where students are actively thinking, problem‑solving, and making sense of learning together. I now work as a... Read More →
This session will explore practical strategies and resources for teaching AI literacy to students. I will share a range of open-source curriculum materials suitable for grades K–12, including those I use in my own classroom, as well as our schoolwide “Hour of AI” curriculum we designed for grades K–6.
Please note: this session does not focus on using AI tools to streamline teaching tasks. Instead, it centers on helping students understand what AI is, how it works, and how it will shape their future. Participants are encouraged to bring a computer for hands-on exploration.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with educators who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
Connect with others who share your role, interests, or experiences! These interactive sessions are a chance to network, swap ideas, tackle challenges, and spark new inspiration with colleagues from across the STEM community.
