You are listening to episode 30 of Ready, Set, Science! On today’s episode we will discuss my recent trip to PETE & C. I am going to review what I heard, learned and my reactions, good and bad. So are you ready? Get set. Let’s teach science!
Welcome back! After a much needed break, we are back with season 2 of the podcast and today I am going to start with my reactions to my recent trip to PETE & C.
First up, PETE & C is the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference and I was so blessed to be able to attend along with my entire 8th grade curriculum team and my principal. I have never been to this conference before but I have always wanted to go. We went because they had a big STEELS Summit on the second day of the conference. For those none PA teachers, the STEELS Standards are PAs version of the NGSS and they go into effect in July 2025. We are about half way through the state’s 3 year implementation plan and in my district we have been tasked with planning, executing and reflecting on one unit, fully STEELS aligned by March. My team had done our STEELS implemented unit in January on the Earth, Sun & Moon Systems. So following up with this conference made total sense to us. I am going to have a ton of upcoming episodes diving deep into the STEELS.
So what did I see…
The conference itself is very technology based but since the STEELS includes technology standards, it made sense for them to have the STEELS Summit. The first part of the summit was a keynote from the 3 state experts in the areas of science, technology & engineering (T & E) and Environmental Literacy & Sustainability (ELS). Essentially these three people are the states “go to” people who helped to develop the standards and are supporting schools with implementation. A little background on me is that I was on the Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association Board from 2017 to 2021 so I was very active and involved in the STEELS development. That being said, when I tell you that everything the state’s representatives told us, I already knew, minus one or two small things. I don’t think that everyone in the room felt that information was obvious, the only thing that I can think is that the others in the room were mostly administrators and technology specialists who truly might not know. Science teachers who have been pushing so hard for this switch to NGSS like standards for years, should not find any of this shocking. But to break it down…
The STEELS goes into effect July 2025 so curriculum in schools should be COMPLETELY transitioned to start the 25-26 school year. This means you have about a year and a half from this recording to change your units to be phenomenon based units.
The PSSA & Biology Keystone will transition in the 25-26 school year. BUT there will be pilot questions on the tests during the 24-25 school year.
The 4th grade test is moving to 5th grade in 2025 so the students who are current 4th graders will take the science PSSA 2 years in a row.
The 5th and 8th grade science PSSA will include all science (life, physical & Earth/space), technology, engineering, environmental literacy & sustainability standards on the test (YIKES!)
Biology Keystone will ONLY have the life science standards
My principal asked an awesome question regarding PVAAS data and whether or not teachers other than science teachers will be given PVAAS data based on the PSSA. Such as technology and tech ed or engineering or STEM teachers. They did not have an answer for that but I plan to follow up.
Everything about the STEELS can be found on the STEELS Hub AND you can find a STEELS resource section on my website. I will link both in the show notes.
So no surprises in anything they said. Remember that if you need help with planning and preparing for the STEELS standards, I have tons of resources. You can reach out to me on Instagram for extra support.
After the Keynote I went to a great session about the SEPs, aka the science and engineering practices. Shout out to Abbey Lichtenberg & Nicole Bond from Lincoln IU #12. They were so engaging and had the best information. The SEPs are the MOST IMPORTANT part of the STEELS, no arguments. If you are not sure where to start with the STEELS the SEPs are your go to. You can check out my resources on SEPs using the link in the show notes. They talked about a great activity that administrators or instructional coaches can do to introduce the SEPs and I will be using it this summer while I work with our 3-6 teachers on developing curriculum.
ADVERTISEMENT: I am interrupting this episode to remind you of all of the STEELS implementation resources on my website. If you are an administrator, curriculum director or a teacher who wants more support with the STEELS transition, you can check those out (the link is in the show notes). I am offering a FREE 1 hour consultation meeting (within 1 hour) or video call to help you get your teachers on the right track. The meetings will be scheduled starting in April 2024 and will run through the summer but spots are limited. DM me on Instagram or email me to snag your spot TODAY!
I have to say that my next session of the day was not as great. I will not go into a lot of detail but it was a curriculum director explaining the implementation of STEELS in their district. I really thought that I would get a lot out of it BUT they talked about so many different ideas that my brain was overwhelmed. I did take a look at the slides afterwards and there were some valuable resources. I will link all of the resources in the show notes.
The next day I attended some other great ones about AI and a curriculum coaches round table and one on personalized learning. But I have to say that my favorite one was with Andrew Kuhn who works as the Montgomery County IU. He had a lot of great thoughts about AI and he also has a podcast called ChangEd or Changed depending on which of the hosts you are talking to. I will link their podcast in the show notes.
Overall the sessions at PETE & C were great but I have to say that the networking and deep discussions that I had with other educators about science were truly the best part. For me conferences are almost always about the ideas you get from other educators and the connections that you make.
So next year…yes I would love to go back AND I would love to present. I just need to get my curriculum team on board because we are a dynamite group and work best together. Oh my gosh, I almost forgot the best part. I won a $250 gift card to Amazon at the opening night social! If you were there and you saw a crazy lady with curly hair jumping up and down and screaming, that was me!
I want to thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. I have a give-a-way happening right now on Instagram and it is so easy to enter. All you have to do is follow me @MrsBadessoTeaches and @ReadySetSciencePod. Share the link to this episode in your stories and tag me! For every share between today (February 14) and Monday (February 19), you will be entered in a drawing to win a $25 amazon gift card. The drawing will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on 2/19 and the winner will be announced Wednesday 2/21 on Instagram! So until next time, have an awesome week.
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