Nearly 200 people attended the statewide Nebraska K-12 Science Education Summit on Dec. 12, 2016, at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. This event provided an opportunity for science education stakeholders, including Nebraska Department of Education officials, school district science directors, ESU science staff developers, science teacher educators, K-12 science teachers, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and students, to learn about the Next Generation Science Standards and engage with members of Nebraska’s science education community.
Cory Forbes, associate professor of science education and the coordinator of the IANR Science Literacy Initiative at UNL, led the event along with Sara Cooper, the science education specialist at NDE. Cooper presented a workshop on applying lessons from the Next Generation Science Standards.
Josh McDowell, chief academic officer at Grand Island Public Schools, gave his perspective of NGSS and creating science standards for a district during lunch.
Presenters in the afternoon included: UNL Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Engineering, Sociology, and Science Education; the Groundwater Foundation; the University of Nebraska State Museum’s virtual tour; the Nebraska Games and Parks Commission; and STEM 4U at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Visit http://go.unl.edu/sci-ed-summit
to see all of the presentations’ abstracts and email addresses for the presenters if you are interested in more information or to view their slides.
The Summit concluded with remarks from Chancellor Ronnie Green and a NGSS wrap-up with Cooper.
Summit leaders thanks its sponsors the Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education, IANR Science Literacy, NebraskaSCIENCE, Nebraska 4-H, Nebraska Collaborative for Food, Energy, & Water Education, and its partner, the Nebraska Department of Education.