MnSTA Newsletter

It is a time of pivots! This past November we debuted our first-ever virtual MnSTA Conference on Science Education! We were able to serve hundreds of teachers through this live event online over six days. We partnered with Whova, a company specializing in digital conference engagement to pivot the model we’ve used for years where educators gather together to share in the art and science of science teaching. Through their platform, we welcomed attendees from 296 different affiliations at the event. Sessions began with a welcome and kickoff by Deputy Commissioner of Education Heather Mueller followed by the presentation of the MnSTA Awards and recognition of our Presidential Awardees all on Thursday evening, Nov 12th. After some ‘how-tos’, participants jumped into 95 different online sessions spanning nine time slots over six days.

Our event was ‘stranded’ to help participants focus on first ever areas of interest. Each strand was organized and facilitated by a strand leader that also served as host and moderator for each session. Our team of 8 strand leaders spent hours recruiting, organizing, and hosting the presentations. It was their dedication that helped engage participants in the new format. More than 100 speakers created the heart of this event. We welcomed Science Communicator “Hip Hop M.D.” Maynard Okereke on Friday evening to focus us on “Engaging Diverse Voices in STEM” through his keynote presentation.

Saturday was its own unique event - as MnSTA created an UnConference on the fly! Here educators joined first to brainstorm what they wanted to learn about - and then set out to share discussions throughout the morning. We set aside time on Saturday for a featured keynote entitled “Mental Health and Coping in COVID for Educators” by leading MN Psychologist Dr. Jules Nolan. In our event, 232 participants created personalized agendas. More than 330 people downloaded the conference app. Over 800 messages were sent and received between participants. And so far our sessions have had over 1700 views. One of the most unique features of our new format is that MnCOSE20 can still be available to you. If you attended, you know you can now watch any of the sessions from the conference right in our app or online. And - if you still want to experience MnCOSE, it's NOT too late! All of the content created at the event will remain accessible via our website until June 1, 2021. For the member conference rate of $50, you can still gain access to all of this content. For student members and retired members of MnSTA, the event is still FREE! Our exhibitors are easy to reach! Check the virtual booths to connect with our 27 exhibitors and learn about their products and services. We’re especially grateful to Amplify Science, our Gold Sponsor for MnCOSE20! Do you have colleagues that could benefit from lots of science Professional Development? Do you need to learn about how teachers across MN are growing into our new science standards? Would you like to dig into the sessions in our first-ever “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Science Education” strand? What about “3-Dimensional Science Teaching and Learning”? It’s all there! Our experience with Whova led us to commit to using their tools again for our 2021 MnSTA Conference on Science Education. While we have not yet committed to a particular event format for 2021, we are committed to bring you, the members of MnSTA, the best opportunities we can to help you Foster Excellent Science Education in Minnesota for All. Together with the tools of Whova and our experience from our first fully virtual event, we’re excited to move ahead! It was my pleasure to step into the role of Conference Coordinator for this event. Working closely with Mark Lex and Joe Reymann we led our team to bring together all the pieces of this new style of event. I am very grateful for the dedication and hard work of the entire MnCOSE team for their attention to detail and passion for science that brought this event together!

Eric Koser

MnCOSE Coordinator

webmaster@mnsta.org