STAO 2008 Annual Conference

November 13-15, 2008
Doubletree International Plaza Hotel
655 Dixon Road, Toronto

Visit the STAO website for more information:
http://www.stao.org/stao-conference/conference.htm

Join Nelson and our exciting presenters!

November 13, 2008

Bring the town hall meeting to your classroom

Participate in a real town hall, voicing questions, conerens, and opinions to a panel of students who will model a role-playing exercise. Layered with pedagogical support, you'll leave with practical ideas to setup your own classroom town hall!

Maurice DiGiuseppe
8:00 a.m.– 9:00 a.m.
Room International B

New Nelson Resources for a new science and technology curriculum

Learn about the key changes in the curriculum, what approaches/perspectives are different, and how it can be implemented most effectively with the new Nelson Science and Technology Perspectives 7 & 8!

Maurice DiGiuseppe and Jeff Major
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Room Harry’s Bar

How to facilitate STSE debating teams that score a knock out!

Meet the debaters! In this facilitated debating session, two teams of students will duke it out over hot STSE topics relevant to grades 7-10 science. Attendees will leave with practical tools to replicate similar event back in the classroom.

Maurice DiGiuseppe
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Peel Room

Linking science and technology to literacy

With limited time to teach S&T each week, teachers need effective strategies to address cross-curricular expectations. This session offers practical ideas and applications from the new Nelson Science and Technology Perspectives 7 & 8 resources.

Jeff Major and Vicki Lucier
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
London Room

Earth's Climate System: in balance or out of balance?

This workshop introduces Nelson's new Grade 10 unit, which combines hands-on activities and conceptual text so that students learn the science of climate change, how we are affecting it and what can be done.

Doug Hayhoe and Catharine Hayhoe
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Room Toronto B

Inquiry-based hands-on, mind-on activities for the grade 8 classroom

Discover new ways to keep your kinesthetic learners engaged with active learning. Featuring engaging, practical and easy-to-prepare inquiry based hands-on activities drawn from Nelson's new Science Perspectives 9 and 10 resources.

Jeff Major
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
New York Room

November 14, 2008

Lesson Study: Improving Teacher Effectiveness and Student Success

Maurice DiGiuseppe, Doug Hayhoe and Isha DeCoito

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Toronto A

Inquiry-based hands-on, minds-on activities for the gr 9-10 classroom
Milan Sanader
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Room Toronto B

Technology solutions from the blackboard to the Smartboard

Technology in the classroom is an integral tool in today's classroom to reach a wide range of learners. Experience first hand and leave with practical ways to make the best use of the technology available in your school. From low-tech to high-tech.

Luciano Lista
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Peel Room

How to create and moderate your own classroom student panel

Looking to keep your students engaged in STSE and developing communication skills? Come observe a facilitated group of student panelists take a stand and defend their reasoning on hot STSE topics. Faciliated and layered with pedagogical support.

Maurice DiGiuseppe
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Hamilton Room