Challenge Overview:
The challenge opens August 1st and invites student teams in sixth-12th grade to submit experiment ideas to fly on a high-altitude balloon flight. It Includes teacher professional development opportunities, free educational resources to foster STEM in the classroom and an exciting student virtual field trip in the fall. Sixty winning teams will also receive $1500 to build their experiment, a spot to test it on a NASA-sponsored flight, and technical support from our awesome NASA TechRise advisors. The challenge is a great way to get hands-on with a NASA project this school year, and we encourage teams of all skill levels to apply. Updated challenge resources (including videos, slide decks, and educator pacing guides) can all be found on the challenge website HERE when the challenge opens in August.

NASA TechRise Student Challenge:  NASA is calling on middle and high school students to join the fourth NASA TechRise Student Challenge, which invites student teams to submit science and technology experiment ideas to fly on a commercial high-altitude balloon. Students in sixth to 12th grades attending a U.S. public, private, or charter school – including those in U.S. territories – are challenged to team up with their schoolmates to design an experiment under the guidance of an educator. Administered by Future Engineers, the challenge offers participants hands-on insight into the payload design and suborbital flight test process, with the goal of inspiring a deeper understanding of space exploration, Earth observation, coding, electronics, and the value of test data. The challenge opens at the beginning of August and teams should submit their experiment ideas by the challenge deadline on November 1, 2024. A total of 60 winning teams will be selected to build their proposed experiment. Each winning team will receive $1,500 to bui ld their experiment, a flight box in which to build it, and an assigned spot to test their experiment on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon flight. Winning teams will also receive technical support from Future Engineers advisors, who will help students learn the sk ills needed to turn their experiment idea into reality. No experience is necessary to join the NASA TechRise Challenge!

CHALLENGE WEBSITE: https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise

KEY DATES:

● Contest Opens: August 1, 2024

● Educator Workshops: Click HERE to book a Workshop Time.

● Student Virtual Field Trip: September 20, 2024

● Proposal Help Q&A: October 15, 2024

● Entries due: November 1, 2024, 11:59 PM PT

● Winners Announced & Experiment Build Begins: January 21, 2025

● Experiment Build Period: January-May 2025

● Experiment Showcase: May 13, 2025

● Experiments Shipped: May 14, 2025

● Experiments Launch: Summer 2025

WHO CAN ENTER: The NASA TechRise Challenge is for SCHOOLS in U.S. states and territories. U.S. public, private, or charter schools that serve sixth to 12th grade students can assemble a team (or multiple teams) and enter. The minimum number of students per team is four, and there is no maximum per team. Proposals must be submitted by a team lead that is a teacher or employee of the school. Homeschools are not eligible to participate unless they are affiliated with a public, private, or charter school that complie s with the insurance requirements as stated in the RULES.

The Associated Teachers of Mathematics in Connecticut (ATOMIC) is seeking engaging presentations from educators for our 2025 annual conference. We invite you to submit a proposal by clicking the link below and completing the Call for Presenters form.

We are looking for presentations that focus on:

Elementary, Secondary, or Higher Education

Diving into Deep Mathematical Understanding

Implementing Equitable Classroom Instruction

Assessing and Reflecting to Support Student Learning

Attending to Social and Emotional Learning

Building Equitable Structures in Schools and Systems

Supporting, Coaching, and Networking

Building Thinking Classrooms

…and more!

Call for Presenters

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: September 30, 2024

2024 Building Thinking Classrooms Conference

Virtual Keynote: Dr. Peter Liljedahl

September 18, 2024, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm

ACES, 205 Skiff Street, Hamden, CT 06517

Register: www.aces.org/workshops

The 2024 Building Thinking Classrooms Conference will empower educators in implementing Dr. Peter Liljedahl’s 14 practices in new, engaging ways and across different content areas. Such practices include defronting the classroom, developing non-routine tasks, increasing metacognition in the notetaking process, changing the way we think about homework, and much more. By prioritizing Dr. Liljedahl’s practices, educators can move towards student-centered instruction and in turn, allow for deeper thinking, deeper conversations, and deeper reflection.

Audience: K-12 educators across all content areas who are implementing practices from Building Thinking Classrooms or are interested in learning about the practices.

Breakout sessions will cover a variety of topics across content areas:

• Integrating Thinking Classroom practices in all learning environments
• Collaborative planning of Thinking Classroom tasks
• Creating a Thinking Classroom culture
• Using self-evaluation and check for understanding questions
• Designing and facilitating thin-slicing and curricular tasks in math, science, social studies, and English language arts
• Scaffolding strategies to promote thinking tasks for multilingual learners
• Developing language & academic vocabulary in Thinking Classrooms

Call for Proposals

Consider submitting a proposal to share your work around implementing Thinking Classrooms in your school or district. Breakout sessions are 60 minutes and can be aligned to any content area or provide general information. Submissions are due June 30, 2024. Submit your proposal at https://bit.ly/acesbtc2024_proposals

CT STEM Academy is offering PAID STEM Education Professional Development Opportunities.  Teachers can register using the links on the flyers. 

Social Justice and Culturally Responsive Teaching Workshops – June 25 and 26 – In Person 

For more information click this LINK

Technology Cross Endorsement Workshops – July 8, 9, 10, 11 – Virtual 

For more information, click this LINK for the flyer & this LINK for the specific program details.

**15 openings remaining for the July program. This program will close upon reaching 20 registrations or by June 30.**

All questions should be directed to CT STEM Academy at stemleadershipinstitute@ctstemacademy.org

Visual Access to Mathematics (VAM) is a free professional learning course being offered to grades 6 and 7 math teachers who have at least one ML/EL student in their class. The strategies in VAM align with Building Thinking Classrooms. Participants will receive an $850 stipend and travel reimbursement (hotel, mileage, meals) is available for teachers who live more than 30 miles from the August workshop location in Chesire, CT. Spots are filling up, and the registration deadline is June 3^rd at 5pm.

Grades 6 and 7 mathematics teachers must register by June 3^rd by following these two steps:

1. Attend or view a recording of an information session (if you have not already done so):
   1. Upcoming Zoom information sessions times are: Tuesday, May 21^st at 3:45pm; Thursday, May 23^rd at 3:15pm; Tuesday, May 28^th at 3:15pm; Wednesday, May 29^th at 3:45pm; and Thursday, May 30^th at 8:00am. Sign-up for one of these information sessions using this info session sign-up form.
   2. Alternatively, you can watch this information session recording. (Note that there is travel reimbursement available for the summer workshop that is not mentioned in the recording.)
2. Then, register to participate using this registration form. The registration form, and the associated consent form, must be completed by June 3^rd at 5pm. (Note: if you have previously attended an information session and then registered then you are all set!)

Participation in VAM will enable you to:

·        Engage in mathematics tasks to deepen your understanding of using visual representations for proportional reasoning content.

·        Integrate mathematics problem solving and language strategies to benefit all students, and in particular English learners/multilingual learners.

·        Learn about interactive online tools to enhance mathematics learning.

·        Explore strategies aligned with Building Thinking Classrooms by attending to student grouping, rich mathematics tasks, using data formatively to support students, and supporting students to explain their thinking.

Benefits:

• Receive an $850 stipend for completion of project research and professional development activities.
• Option to earn graduate credit for a fee.
• Recently added: travel reimbursement available for those traveling more than 30 miles to Summer Workshop (Chesire, CT) component of course.

ATOMIC is excited to present

Dine, Discuss, and Learn

Thursday, May 2, 2024

5:00-8:00 PM

Thompson Brook School

150 Thompson Road

Avon, CT

Did you miss the 2024 ATOMIC Conference?

Were there sessions you wish you had attended but did not have space in your schedule?

We will be offering the following repeat sessions from the conference! Don’t miss out!

Sessions for All Educators

Access for All: Providing Entry Points for MLs into Problem Solving

How We Grade in a Thinking Classroom

Sessions for Specific Grade Bands

Thin Slicing in a BTC Classroom (6-12)

Struggling for Success (K-5)

(Click below to register:)

REGISTRATION

Registration will close on April 29, 2024.

There will be no registration at the door!

Schedule Details:

  5:00 – 5:30     Check In and Dinner

  5:30 – 5:45     Opening Program

  5:55 – 6:55      Breakout Session #1

  7:00 – 7:55      Breakout Session #2

Cost and Registration:

This is a free event for ATOMIC members and $25 for non ATOMIC members

Your payment will provide you with a one-year ATOMIC membership

Event Flyer

Please join us for this awesome event.