The NSTA Fall 2025 National Conference in Minneapolis promises to be an exciting event featuring local teachers as keynote speakers and a whole strand on Outdoor and Place-Based Education: Building Connections Beyond the Classroom. The event provides a perfect opportunity to think about how we, as educators, can connect our professional learning to the places we visit. Conferences are not just about what happens in the convention center or in session breakouts. Consider also how you engage with the ideas and the place that is hosting you. When we approach professional events with a place-based lens, we open ourselves up to deeper connections, more relevant takeaways, and fresh ways to think about our teaching.

Here are three simple ways to think and act in a place-based way while attending the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Minneapolis, or any conference in the future. 

Bring Your Place With You

As you meet people, visit exhibitor booths, and attend sessions, share about your own place, too. Keep your school, your community, and your students in your focus. Conversations at events or in passing can spark meaningful exchanges, especially when your colleagues begin to understand the unique context in which you teach. Think about how your place shapes your pedagogy. What resonates with you because of where you teach? What questions are you asking that are grounded in local needs? As you encounter new frameworks, strategies, and tools, jot down ways they intersect with your context. This helps you avoid the familiar “great idea, but not for us” trap, and instead turn new ideas into place-specific inspiration you can act on once you return home. 

Pick Sessions That Bring Local Contexts Into Focus

Scan the NSTA conference app for sessions that highlight frameworks, project-based learning models, and case studies developed in a specific place. Educators around the country who have tied learning to their places are excited to share their experiences. You might learn from an urban garden project in Philadelphia, a watershed study in Montana, or an Indigenous partnership in Hawaiʻi. Again, try to avoid the trap of “great idea, but not for us.” Instead, as you listen, reflect on how these examples could translate to your work back home. What could be adapted for your classroom or school community? What do you already have in motion to give your project a more place-specific focus? What partnerships or resources would be needed to make that happen? 

A tip—Take notes not just on content, but also on the approach to local engagement. Who was involved? What made it meaningful? How did they connect students to the place? The process is often as valuable as the product, and is often a stumbling block at the start of new opportunities. 

Visit a Local Place That Is Meaningful

Conferences are busy, and it is tempting to retreat to your hotel room after a long day of engagement. However, try to step out of the convention center at least once! Visit a museum, a park, a riverfront, a historical site, or even a neighborhood cafe that can offer a glimpse into the host community’s identity. These experiences do not have to be costly or elaborate. The goal is to create a memory of the place that will remain with you long after the event ends, enriching the stories you bring back to your students.

During the Spring NSTA National Conference in Philadelphia, my colleague and I walked to Rittenhouse Square, a park located a few blocks away from the convention center. Though I had been there once to visit a farmer’s market, on this trip, we challenged ourselves to find at least seven different organisms in and around the gated block. That day, we noticed crows circling a nest atop a tall building, and a cache of nuts in a tree opening likely harbored by a squirrel. This was not a flashy excursion, but a reminder to always look up, look in, and look around when experiencing an unfamiliar place, and is a practice I now do with my students whenever we enter a new space.

In Conclusion

In many ways, our students thrive when their educational experiences mirror their homes and communities. Similarly, we also thrive when we can see how professional learning connects with our own places. When you carry your own place with you, choose locally grounded sessions, and connect meaningfully with the host city, your conference experience becomes more than just a set of sessions. Your conference becomes a richer, more relevant professional journey. For more information on place-based science education, read our new book, Place-Based Science Teaching: Connecting Students to Curriculum, Community, and Caring for our Planet, to be released this month. 

See you in Minneapolis!

Reference

Aragaki, W., and K. J. Milks. 2025. Place-based science teaching: Connecting students to curriculum, community, and caring for our planet. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
 

Dr. Whitney Aragaki teaches science, research, and education courses at Waiākea High School in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Aragaki has received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and is a National Board Certified Teacher. She is the 2022 Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year finalist. Aragaki is a proud NSTA member and 2025 NSTA STEM Fellow. She released her first co-authored book, Place-Based Science Teaching: Connecting Students to Curriculum, Community, and Caring for Our Planet, with Dr. Kirstin Milks in fall 2025.

The mission of NSTA is to transform science education to benefit all through professional learning, partnerships, and advocacy.