Welcome to the
FAST Conference Registration, Field Trip, Social Event and Workshop page!
All attendees will receive a free membership into the FAST organization for one year starting 11/1/2023 and ending 10/31/2024.
Please read all the important information below before proceeding to register! You must register for the conference first and receive a confirmation before registering for any event. Then you can either add a new registration or return to the event page to add an event. You must register for all events separately.
To Register, Click on the
<----------register button to the left at the BOTTOM of the Column
(The types of registration will appear after clicking register. Below is a list and description of each registration type).
This will walk you through the registration process.
Early Bird Registration is opened until October 6, 2023
General Conference (presenters do not use, see presenter)
Early Bird $75 (ends October 6, 2023)
Regular $100 (After October 6, 2023)
Life members
Early Bird $40 (ends October 6, 2023)
Regular $55 (After October 6, 2023)
This is for life members ONLY. If you would like to become a life member, click on the JOIN US button on the homepage or it is also available from our Main Menu on our website.
Presenter
Presenter $75
This registration button is for PRESENTER and CO- PRESENTER registration ONLY
NOTICE: registering and paying by September 20, 2023 will confirm an approved presenter's slot.
Field Trip:
Busch Gardens $ 5.00
Social Event:
Meet and Greet Free
Workshops:
#1 - #10 $ 5.00
#11 $ 15.00
For Vendor information pertaining to the Exhibit Hall, please contact Sharon Cutler: cutlersharon@mac.com
If paying by check, it must be postmarked by October 1, 2023, otherwise you will not be registered at the early bird price and your registration will be canceled on October 6th, 2023.
Please make check payable to Florida Association of Science Teachers.
Mail your check to:
Nancy Besley
P.O. Box 67
Goldenrod, FL 32733
Credit Card payment must be received by October 6, 2023 or your registration will be canceled.
Presenter Registration is to be PAID in ADVANCE by September 20, 2023 using the PRESENTER REGISTRATION button or your session will be canceled.
No Refunds!
Field Trips, Social Events and Workshops are for CONFERENCE ATTENDEES ONLY. You must register for the conference.
If you and your guest fail to register for the conference, you and/or your guest's field trip, social event and/or workshop registration will be voided.
Field Trip
Busch Gardens SOLD OUT
Special STEM/Science program at Busch gardens
Start the day with a light breakfast with Busch Garden’s Educational Staff. Your training begins with a guided expedition through their Safari grounds followed by a tour of the Animal Care Center. Become aware of rollercoaster physics by having a front of the line experience on a coaster! Afterwards, you will be allowed to roam the grounds on your own. Lunch is on your own. Transportation will be provided to the park but you will have to access the free shuttle to return to the hotel. Meet in lobby at 8:45 for a 9:15 start at Busch Gardens. Cost: $5.00.
Social Event
Meet and Greet!
Sponsored by FPL & Accelerate Learning
Date: Thursday, October 19, 2023
Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Cost-FREE! Pre-registration required
Even though the cost is free to everyone, you MUST REGISTER by October 6, 2023 to ATTEND! Your registration allows us to order enough food and drink so all attendees will have a great time! You must be registered for the conference to attend.
Come as you are and enjoy snacks, beverages and the company of your colleagues.
WORKSHOPS
Thursday, October 19, 2023
We are pleased to offer 11 exciting workshops on Thursday, October 19th. Pre-registration is required for these workshops which are 2- or 3-hour in-depth sessions. The cost to attend a workshop on Thursday is in addition to the conference registration fee.
Any workshop not meeting minimum capacity will be cancelled.
Workshop #1
#1: Food Waste-to-Energy: Using Anaerobic Biodigesters for Authentic STEM Research in the Classroom
Audience: Middle and High School Biology, Chemistry, Engineering and Environmental Science Teachers (Grades 6 - 12)
Presented by: University of South Florida - Allan Feldman, Emeritus Professor of Science Education; Rita Ortiz, Science Teacher Education Doctoral student; Natalie AmRhein, Environmental Science and Biology Major; David Wright, Master’s degree student, Public Health ; and KebreAb Ghebremichael, Associate Professor of Instruction, Patel College of Global Sustainability
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 AM Maximum: 30
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 8
Have you been looking for ways to engage your students in authentic STEM activities that build their interest in studying STEM, help them learn important concepts found in the NGSSS, and teach them the methods that scientists and engineers use in their work? In this workshop you will learn to implement an activity in which students investigate how microbes transform organic wastes to biogas (a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide) and fertilizer using anaerobic biodigestion (ABD) in biodigesters.
You will work in teams like your students, by first learning about ABD and its importance to reduce waste and produce energy. You will then develop research questions and plan investigations about how to improve the biodigesters to produce more methane. In your teams you will each build a biodigester model using inexpensive and easily obtainable materials (e.g., plastic water bottles, flexible tubing, and rubber stoppers) that are the same that your students would use in your classrooms. You will also learn how to measure the biogas and methane production using the same methods that your students would use.
We will provide with background information about the science and engineering of biodigesters, and complete curriculum materials for implementing the activity. When you do the activity, your students will be able to have live Q&A sessions with scientists and engineers who are studying ABD, and we will be available during the school year to provide any help you need. [This activity was developed using funding from the National Science Foundation.]
Workshop #2
#2: Designing and Implementing Groupwork to Improve Collaboration and Increase Participation and Engagement from All Students
Audience: K-12 Science Teachers
Presented by: Anna Monteiro, Associate Director of Senior Fellows Program, Knowles Teacher Initiative
Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Maximum: 30
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 6
This workshop aims to acquaint participants with Complex Instruction (CI), a collaborative learning strategy developed at Stanford University and widely employed in mathematics education. Utilizing CI in science classrooms can effectively engage a broader range of students in groupwork tasks. The session will primarily focus on a specific aspect of Complex Instruction, namely the influence of actionable norms on student engagement in cognitively demanding tasks, consider how social and academic student status influences participation in groupwork, and learn strategies to disrupt status differentials and encourage participation from all students during collaborative work. This session will also include connections to the practices of science and support teachers in thinking about ways to promote these practices by leveraging curiosity through groupwork.
Teachers will engage in two tasks as learners and experience and describe the different strategies applied by the presenters to promote productive collaboration such as, multiple abilities treatment, participation quiz, assigned roles, and stamp quiz. The goal for this session is for participants to leave with several strategies they can employ in their classrooms on Monday to make groupwork a more effective and meaningful collaborative learning experience. Teachers will leave with a groupwork planning tool to support the development and implementation of groupwork in their classrooms.
Workshop #3 CANCELED
#3: Independent Research and Sharpening Data Visuals in Student Research
Audience: Middle and High School Science Teachers
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Maximum: 30
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 6
Presented by: Jenn Cotton, Program and Outreach Manager, Headwaters Science Institute; and Aaron Reedy, Co-founder and CEO, DataClassroom
Headwaters Science Institute and DataClassroom have teamed up to bring you an interactive research experience. Design your own research project and collect data to investigate your question in this mini field experience. Learn the general strategies for helping students go from question to graph and show how those ideas are built into the technology that can bring data (and even statistics!) to life for your students. You will learn how to implement this training in your classroom so you can make science come alive with your students.
Workshop #4
#4: Interactive Word Wall Workshop: Experience Building a Visual Scaffold that Supports Speaking and Writing About Science
Audience: K-12 Classroom Teachers, Science Supervisors, and Science Coaches
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Maximum: 40
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 5
Presented by: Julie Jackson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Science Education, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Reading, interpreting, and producing domain-specific text are fundamental practices of science. Interactive word walls help develop students’ ability to read and produce the genres of texts that are intrinsic to science. They resemble graphic organizers, strategically target academic vocabulary, are planned by teachers, and built by students. Interactive word walls support developing scientific explanations, build academic vocabulary, and provide an overview of each lesson and/or unit.
Interactive word walls organize science content and academic vocabulary. The CER Framework helps student use claims, evidence, and reasoning statements to structure science talk and science writing while creating and using scientific explanations. Individually, interactive word walls and CER statements are very effective. In combination, these practices enable robust instruction and simultaneously enhance and improve scientific understanding, scientific explanations, and scientific discourse.
Participants will build an interactive word wall and use the CER Framework to construct scientific explanations to justify placement of items on the interactive word wall. We will experience using the interactive word wall to support speaking and writing about science. Participants will have access to a Google drive folder that contains the handouts and materials used during the session.
Workshop #5 SOLD OUT
#5: Moving the Needle: Highly Engaging Activities to Incorporate Nature of Science throughout the School Year!
Audience: Elementary, Middle, and High School Teachers (3-9)
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Maximum: 25
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Jeff Dudukovich, STEM Education Consultant with S.T.E.M. PROS, LLC and Seminole County Public Schools Physics Bus Teacher
Join our dynamic workshop for science educators, grades 3-9! Discover a treasure trove of highly engaging activities and engineering design challenges that will seamlessly integrate Nature of Science standards into your classroom year-round! From exploring the principles of motion and force to investigating the properties of materials, teachers will learn how to transform their classrooms into hubs of scientific exploration. Through these hands-on experiences, students will not only develop a solid foundation in STEM but also cultivate scientific inquiry as habit.
The workshop will showcase various engineering design challenges, including the construction of a stomp rocket using a simple yet versatile stomp rocket launcher design and building vehicles and creating diverse testing criteria will allow students to apply the scientific method in a fun and practical manner. Participants will learn how to guide their students in identifying variables to be tested, making predictions, and analyzing data to draw conclusions.
Join us to unlock the potential of hands-on STEM experiences to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators. Teachers will receive numerous lesson ideas that they can implement immediately.
Workshop #6
#6: Engaging Students in Science through Eliciting Ideas about Phenomena
Audience: Secondary (Middle and High School Teachers)
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Maximum: 36
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Dr. Ellen Granger, AAAS Fellow, Director FSU Office of STEM Teaching, Co-Director, FSU-Teach and Todd Bevis, Director, Professional Development Programs, FSU Office of STEM Teaching Activities
Interesting phenomena can readily engage students in science and ignite their curiosity; such phenomena are often called “anchoring phenomena” for lessons and/or units. Once one has an anchoring phenomenon, what are the best strategies for eliciting student ideas about the phenomenon and getting them to do the heavy lifting of sense-making about it?
This workshop will engage teacher participants in a hands-on science activity as an exemplar of such instruction and then unpack the pedagogy and teacher moves that underpin it. The activity itself can be used as part of a unit on climate science or in a physical science class (chemistry or physics) or even a biology class as it engages students deeply in thinking through a fundamental big idea in science. Through the activity and discussion about it, teachers will learn techniques for scaffolding activities and productive classroom discussions to transform classes from places where students are “learning about” science ideas to places where they are “figuring out” science ideas.
Workshop facilitators, Ellen Granger and Todd Bevis, are well-known for their professional development workshops that engage science teachers in cutting-edge, research-based teaching strategies and classroom activities. Both have been recognized with awards for their work with teachers and their Bio sketches are available upon request. The Office of STEM Teaching Activities at Florida State University supports teachers and students throughout Florida with engaging science programs and activities, many of which were developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Academy of Sciences, among others.
Workshop #7
#7: Igniting Curiosity Through Science and Children’s Literature
Audience: Elementary Teachers
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Maximum: 20
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Patricia Phillips, Media Specialist, Newberry Elementary and Dr. Ric Ledbetter, Santa Fe College, Retired Professor
This two-hour workshop engages participants in a robust infusion of science, literature, social studies, and art, culminating in a variety of challenges designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and confidence, devised to equip students with a sense of empowerment to explore the investigative process through their own unique exploration of materials.
In this cross-curricular experience, we will focus on three non-fiction children’s books: The Wonderful Towers of Watts, by Patricia Zelver, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by Bryan Mealer and William Kamkwamba, and The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, by Barbara Kerley.
We will build background knowledge of Simon Rodia and his Watts Towers, William Kamkwamba and his windmills, and natural history sculptor, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, through relevant children’s literature, as well as Google Earth visits around the globe. Discussion topics will also include the Engineering Design model, conventional versus unconventional materials, and reflective self-assessment. Participants will investigate the stories’ underlying science through challenges such as building stable free-standing structures, designing electric circuits, and addressing common misconceptions.
This quick-paced, activity-based workshop offers elementary teachers a variety of hands-on, literature-based, science explorations to easily share with their students using a variety of readily available materials. We will also be giving great door prizes!
Workshop #8
#8: Climate Conscious Classrooms: Using Environmental Data to Improve our Communities
Audience: Middle and High School Teachers (Grades 6-12)
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Maximum: 30
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Karolyn Burns, Education and Curriculum Manager, the CLEO Institute, and Christy Folk, Orlando Program Manager, the CLEO Institute
Join us for an inspiring and practical workshop offered by the CLEO Institute, designed to empower educators in addressing climate change in their classrooms. In this workshop, you will discover innovative approaches to teaching about climate change and its impact on our planet. From air quality to tree cover, this workshop, facilitated by experts from the CLEO Institute, will equip you with the knowledge and tools to engage your students in meaningful discussions and actionable solutions. Gain insights into environmental parameters, explore hands-on activities, and learn effective communication strategies to inspire and empower your students to become agents of change. Join us as we navigate the complexities of climate change together and shape a sustainable future for generations to come.
Workshop #9
#9: The Pharmacist: An Interactive STEM Event
Audience: Middle and High School Teachers (Grades 6-12)
Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Maximum: 40
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Dr. Amanda Clark, Associate Professor, & Denise Freeman, Instructor, Natural Sciences Department & School of Education, Chipola College
Come help us create curiosity within yourselves and your students! Freebies included! This will be a presentation where the educators will be shown how to create a mini classroom STEM event by solving the mystery of THE PHARMACIST.
This interactive workshop involves three lab activities: DNA/Tissue analysis (with or with our electrophoresis machines), fingerprint analysis, residue chemical analysis and even a computer lab activity using Cyber security techniques to analyze documents from the suspects computer. These lab activities are done in three groups concurrently and then they come together to solve the mystery based on the now analyzed clues and lab experiences. This part illustrates collaboration in nature of science and the analysis of data and evidence. These lab activities can be done in a fully equipped school or in classrooms with no equipment. We provide modifications that can be used in any situation.
Workshop #10
#10: Junior Solar Sprint (JSS) Car Building Workshop
Audience: Elementary and Middle School Teachers (Grades 4 – 8)
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM Maximum: 32
Pre-registration Required $5 Minimum: 10
Presented by: Susan Schleith, Program Director, K-12 Energy Education, Florida Solar Energy Center, University of Central Florida
The Junior Solar Sprint (JSS)* is a hands-on, project-based program for 4th- 8th grade students emphasizing STEAM knowledge and skills. It also introduces students to solar electric (photovoltaic) technology - a growing industry in America.
The goal of JSS is for teams of 2-4 students to successfully design, build and race a model-sized vehicle, powered by photovoltaic (PV) technology. JSS competitions are held throughout Florida and the United States, with a national event held annually in conjunction with the National TSA Conference.
This 3-hour teacher workshop introduces the process for implementing a JSS program. Participants work in teams as the students would, designing, building, and then testing their vehicle in a “mock” race, reflecting the engineering process. In addition to building a vehicle to keep, each attendee will receive a JSS solar panel and vehicle motor. Free give-aways and door prizes provided, too!
*JSS is a program created by Argonne National Laboratory and was implemented by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado. The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) has coordinated JSS races in Florida in cooperation with NREL since 1992. The program is endorsed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and is currently one of the STEM programs supported by the Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) and the Technology Student Association (TSA).
Workshop #11
#11: Creating Curiosity with Projects for Organization and Development of Organisms – Cells and Body Systems
Audience: Teachers Grades 5, 6, and High School Life Science
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM Maximum: 32
Pre-registration Required $15 Minimum: 10
($15 includes: Each attendee will receive choice of Guts or Cell-ebrate Science apron project, a box of ten permanent fabric markers, and instructions for all the projects in session description above.)
Presenter: Jody Hodges, an award-winning Science Educator and creator of ScienceWear.net
In this session you will learn project ideas that can be used to create curiosity and assess student understanding of Florida NGSSS science standards relating to the organization and development of organisms. Your students will look forward to creating these projects to demonstrate their understanding of cells and body systems and will want to keep them to share what they have learned with others!
The projects include newspaper bones (and assemble a life-sized skeleton), customized and labeled axial/appendicular pasta skeleton, and an articulated hand model to demonstrate interaction of the musculoskeletal system. Participants will also design their own “Guts” or “Cell-ebrate Science” apron. Your guts apron will identify organs/functions of the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems. Or create a Cell-ebrate apron to illustrate (your choice) the cell theory, cell cycle, mitosis, homeostasis, prokaryotic vs eukaryotic, organelles and functions, or uncontrolled cell growth/disease. The aprons can be worn in the classroom and serve as a wearable anchor chart when teaching cells and body systems and will inspire students to want to create their own wearable science project. Wait, there’s more… You’ll also learn “Single Cells” and “The Mitosis Song” to help teach cell division, receive event descriptions for the Human Body Olympics, and gain ideas for publicly sharing your student’s models to increase motivation and spread science literacy in your community.
