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• #WSTA25 Conference on Science Education

  • Start
    Saturday, October 25, 2025
  •  
    8:00 AM
  • End
    Wednesday, April 15, 2026
  •  
    5:00 PM
  • Location
    UW Tacoma

  Registration is closed

  Register for Washington State's Only Science Education Conference!

  
  

  
  

  October 25, 2025

  UW Tacoma

  Tacoma, WA

  Join us for exciting presentations, field trips, social gatherings, amazing featured speaker, STEM clock hours, prizes, vendors, and great learning about science and environmental education. We will have pre-events scheduled on the Friday night preceding the conference. More information coming soon! 

  We have many different ticket options and a special deal for districts who can send 5 or more of their teachers or >50% of their science teachers from a single school. If you're interested in the district deal, you can read more here and/or email WSTACommunicationsTeam@gmail.com to ask questions or get started on registering teachers!

  Head over to our conference page for updates including events, schedules, list of vendors, and more!

  General questions? Contact our conference team!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• WSTA Presents Bite-Size PL - Problems of Practice with WSTA

  • Start
    Thursday, January 08, 2026
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, May 07, 2026
  •  
  • Schedule
    5 sessions
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  
  

  WSTA Presents: Bite-Size Science Professional Learning

  Problems of Practice with WSTA

  January 8, 2025, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, In Zoom

  A New Monthly Series

  Clock Hours Available

  Join our WSTA Region 9 (ESD 114) Representative Marcia Garrett as she leads a discussion on problems of practice in education.  This is an interactive discussion with teachers to solve educational issues. Please bring your problems of practice to the discussion and be ready to provide input on problems you would like to see addressed so the facilitators can research and focus on those issues and discuss solutions in a collaborative group setting.

  

  Marcia Garret, WSTA Region 9 Representative

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Take a Load Off!
  WSTA Presents Bite-Size Problems of Practice sessions to help you find a community of like-minded, inquiry science educators.  Trouble getting kids to speak up when student discourse is essential.  How can you REALLY assess what students got out of that lesson? Can you invite a sense of excitement into your classroom and still meet standards? Each one-hour monthly session will focus on one or more problems of practice that you bring to the group. We will use a protocol to share problems and explore solutions. The first Thursday of every month. One hour max. This series is for all teachers, from small and large districts. This series is sure to inspire hope.

  Register at the Washington State Science Teachers (WSTA) website under Event Calendar or at the following link: https://wsta.wildapricot.org/EventCalendar Clock hours are available for a fee.

  After you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to attend. To obtain clock hour information or questions, contact Don Pruett, WSTA Professional Development Coordinator at: wstaose@gmail.com.

  
  

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• WSTA Presents Bite-Size PL - A Time Friendly Way to Include or Enhance NGSS in Your Class: Using Earthweek

  • When
    Thursday, January 22, 2026
  •  
    4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom
  • Spaces left
    35

  Register

  

  Mark Watrin - A Time Friendly Way to Include or Enhance NGSS in Your Classroom: Using Earthweek: Dairy of a Changing World

  January 22, 2025, 4:00 – 5:00 pm PDT, In Zoom

  Available to Members Only!

  Membership is $25 for a year of amazing science professional learning.

  Become a WSTA Member here. 

  Join at: https://wsta.wildapricot.org/Join

  Join our WSTA Membership Coordinator, retired science teacher and Dig School Field Educator as he provides suggestion on how to enhance NGSS in your classroom using EarthWeek.

  • Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World is published weekly, featuring data collected in that previous week.  Students can record, analyze and ask questions about that brand-new data just like a scientist when they collect new and original data.  So many of our students learning experiences utilize “known data” or predetermined experiment results, Earthweek is a chance to help students authentically encounter original data to help explain “How and why the Earth is constantly changing.”

    Many schools and districts still struggle to include the NGSS Earth Science domain into traditional course sequences like Biology, Chemistry & Physics.  Earthweek can be an effective tool to integrate and connect the Earth Sciences in existing structures.   In the elementary grades Earthweek can facilitate integration of science with multiple other subjects such as math, geography (social studies) and English.  Understanding the Nature of Science, a prime NGSS objective has often been challenging for teachers.  Earthweek is uniquely structured to model the process of constantly adding new data to existing understandings of our world.

    Mark Watrin facilitates WSTA’s Washington Earth History program for teachers. In 1988, the same year Earthweek debuted, he began teaching full year Geology as an elective at Battle Ground High School one of the few high school level Geology classes offered even before NGSS standards.   Mark is still active as a volunteer bringing science lessons to elementary classrooms.

    During this session we will:

  • Access and use data samples from Earthweek
  • Look at multiple ways to utilize Earthweek, from year-long, class unit or quick lesson.
  • Look at the connections to NGSS standards K-12.
  • Tackle student Earth science misconceptions and how the “News” is often the source.
  • Open a discussion about Earth science learning opportunities for teachers and students

  Register at the Washington State Science Teachers (WSTA) website under Event Calendar or at the following link: https://wsta.wildapricot.org/EventCalendar

  After you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to attend. To obtain clock hour information or questions, contact Don Pruett, WSTA Professional Development Coordinator at: puyalluppruett@gmail.com.

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