Interface Reflections from @BiermannJd

Interface 2016 kicked off at Tan-Tar-A on Sunday, February 21st. I will be writing about my top 3 sessions from the conference over the two and a half days I was there.

My first session was with John Weis, who is an Education Specialist from NASA. The session was about Physics in the Classroom. This was my favorite and most informational session. It was a very hands-on hour and half. We were able to play with Newton Cars, as well as build a marble roller coaster. While the hands-on experiences were fun I learned about many resources that were previously unknown to me. NASA provides multiple free resources for teachers to use in the classroom. While this isn’t physics related, I am currently using a NASA resource to introduce my 8th grade students to the Water Cycle. All in all a great session to kick off the conference. Next, I attended a chemistry session that focused on making chemistry into an inquiry based learning practice. We completed a couple of neat labs, first trying to make the perfect bubbly drink and then chromatography with candy. On a side note: DO NOT EVER MIX BAKING SODA WITH KOOL-AID!!! Not a good combination. While the exact topics or labs were geared more towards high school students, it made me think about different ways of adding inquiry into the classroom. Finally, I attended an Earth Science/NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) session. Again, lots of hands-on learning. They were showing us ways to make Earth Science more hands-on/project based and in alignment with the NGSS. Teachers leading this session were from Columbia and showed us many interesting activities, from predicting the species of dinosaur based on the fossils (paper) given, to comparing which fossils were on a specific continent during certain time periods. This was used to show continental drift. They also provided many resources to use when we teach this unit next year. Interface 2016 was a great weekend conference. I was able to bring things back to the classroom and use right away with NASA as well as have lessons ready when I teach the unit again next year. It was also a great networking event to discuss the Missouri Science Standards compared to NGSS and how other schools are approaching the transition. Hopefully, I will be able to attend again in the future, possibly as a presenter.