Over the past weekend, I attended my first national conference. The National Science Teachers Association had their national conference in Chicago. My first big take away was getting to meet so many awesome people, many of them that were Twitter friends well before a face-to-face meeting in Chicago.
On Thursday, I started the day off with a DNA electrophoresis session. I had done this one other time, but it was a great refresher. What’s more is that I learned that the BTCI, which is a non-profit organization that is tied closely to the Promega corporation offers teachers to borrow the necessary tools in order to do this really awesome activity with students. They even offer a weeklong summer course around high school biology content. This is called the Biology Teacher Academy. If you are interested in something like this, and feel like traveling to Madison, WI, email Barbara Bielec.
Afterwards, I had the opportunity to listen to Neil Schubin speak about our “Inner Fish.” He outlined his career and the process that lead to the discovery of the intermediate species between the ocean dwelling fish and humans. While there are many other intermediate species, this is just another piece of evidence to support the theory of evolution. He also spoke about how he used digital scanning technology (think CT scans) to help visualize different parts of the fossil. These digital files could, someday, be made available to people to 3D print for use in teaching about these intermediate species.
Feeling enlightened, Jessi Anderson (@TriSciCurious) and I went to the exhibition hall and scored some great resources! Then we were off to prepare for our presentation. Jessi, Jeff King (@commander_king) and I presented on Gamification in our classrooms. We had about 30-40 people in our session and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest. Check out our presentation by following this link.
One more session for the day, and I found myself among MANY intrigued educators as we participated in the Building Your Body in Clay: One system at a Time session. While it was a presentation from a vendor, it was a great idea! They used oil based clay and a skeleton to model muscles during the presentation. The skeletons, while expensive, can be used to model the muscles and all of the major organ systems in the body. What a great way to have students learn about muscles! The only thing that I didn’t like is that the presenter was speaking as if he was talking to students in an anatomy and physiology class. Having never taken it, he talked right over my head. It was a good reminder of how some students can feel! I left this session early to meet Jessi for the Bill Nye presentation.
As we walked into the Skyline hall for the presentation, Bill Nye walked right past us. He is MUCH shorter than I thought he would be! Once we found our seats, it wasn’t long before he started talking. He spoke about creationism and evolution, and talked a bit about the upcoming launch of the Solar Sail. My big take aways were these: 1) He is extremely passionate about science, 2) He wants use to CHANGE THE WORLD, 3) He is hilarious, and 4) I swear he has ADD because he bounced around from topic to topic quickly!
Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to meet up with Angela Greene (@AngelaGreene12), Pam Evans, Doug Damery (@rddamery), and other amazing educators that have taken part in the R/V Lake Guardian Ship and Shoreline workshop. We had an enjoyable dinner and walk back to the hotel.
Overall, the day was an amazing learning experience! More to come, stay tuned!
Did I mention that the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago is HUGE?