ASTA Conference 2025

Calling all elementary school teachers! Join us for an engaging and enlightening workshop that explores the powerful intersection of science education and the Science of Reading initiatives. Discover how teaching science can support and enhance students' reading and writing abilities, creating a comprehensive approach that fosters academic achievement across disciplines.

Raise environmental literacy while creating a 3-D model of land use, engaging in a simulation of carrying capacity in a habitat, and participating in an interactive history of a local river. Presented lessons deepen students’ understanding of “Earth and Human Activities” and “Ecosystems. Receive lesson plans, data sets and more.

Intentional planning and collaborative opportunities open the door to cross-curricular instructional practices including STEM through the engineering design process.

Join our interactive science workshop where literacy meets
exploration! Immerse yourself in a world of discovery as we blend scientific
concepts with the power of language. Through engaging activities, such as
designing a hand pollinator, students will not only see how to unravel the wonders of
science but also enhance their literacy skills. Leave with classroom resources.
Smithsonian Science for the Classroom (K-2) received an All-Green rating from
EdReports.org.

Learn how to use the Save the Baby Penguins curriculum in your elementary STEM classroom. Students build little shelters for color-changing penguins to keep them cool in the hot sun of Boulder's Beach, South Africa. Complete classroom kits will be given to 8 lucky teachers.

This presentation explores the synergistic integration of science education, literacy instruction, and language strategies to enhance learning outcomes for all students, with a particular focus on multilingual learners. By combining 3-Dimensional learning sequences with principles from the Science of Reading, we present a novel approach to science education that simultaneously bolsters literacy skills. Our research demonstrates how this integrated method creates a more inclusive and effective learning environment, particularly benefiting students navigating multiple languages. Through a case study, we illustrate the positive impact on science comprehension, reading proficiency, and language acquisition. The findings suggest that this multifaceted approach not only aligns with current best practices in education but also addresses the unique challenges faced by diverse student populations. This work contributes to the growing body of research on interdisciplinary education and provides practical strategies for educators seeking to create more equitable and effective science classrooms.

In today's fast-evolving educational setting, content literacy has emerged as an essential skill that enables students to access and comprehend subject-specific materials effectively. This session will explore innovative strategies for integrating content literacy into various disciplines, equipping educators with the tools necessary to facilitate deeper understanding and engagement among their students.