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Sensemaking Resources

 

NSTA Press Book

The Explore-Before-Explain Guidebook for Science Education: Creating High Quality Lessons for the Classroom and Professional Learning

This guidebook uses an Explore-before-Explain instructional sequence to help you facilitate the design of active meaning-making lessons in science....

 

Web Seminar Series

Enhancing Instruction with the NSTA Sensemaking Tool

Join us for a dynamic four-part webinar series, scheduled on March 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET, where educators will explore how to use the NSTA Sensemaking Tool to give actionable feedback on lessons, and support instructiona...

 

Member Web Seminar

Instructional Routines to Support Sensemaking, March 11, 2026

Helping students make sense of complex scientific ideas requires more than just content delivery—it requires purposeful, consistent opportunities for thinking, talking, and connecting ideas. Instructional routines are structured, repeatable str...

 

Web Seminar

Learn and Lead: How to Support Teachers Making the Shift to 3D Teaching and Learning, January 21, 2026

As science education evolves, the shift toward three-dimensional (3D) teaching and learning—integrating disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices—represents a transformative opportunity for educ...

 

Web Seminar

Archive: Learn and Lead: What is 3D Learning? Practical Guidance for Leaders, October 29, 2025

Three-dimensional (3D) learning is at the heart of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and today’s science education reform—but what does it really look like in classrooms, and how can leaders support its implementation system wi...

 

Member Web Seminar

Archive: Transforming Science Learning: Building a Culture of Sensemaking: Creating Classrooms Where Student Thinking Drives Learning, August 27, 2025

What does it take to create a science classroom where students feel empowered to share their ideas, ask questions, and figure things out together? ...

 

Member Web Seminar

Archive: Teacher Tip Tuesday: What Are High-Quality Instructional Materials? Understanding the Essentials for Effective Science Teaching, August 12, 2025

What makes instructional materials high quality—and how can you tell the difference between a resource that simply covers content and one that truly supports deep, three-dimensional learning?...

 

Member Web Seminar

Archive: Sensemaking in the Science Classroom: Building the Foundations for Deeper Learning, November 4, 2025

What does it really mean for students to make sense of science?...

 

Member Web Seminar

Archive: Secondary Classrooms: Demystifying the Practice of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking, February 12, 2026

Because many science educators didn’t experience Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking during their own K–12 education, implementing it in today’s classrooms can feel like venturing into the unknown....

 

Member Web Seminar

Archive: Elementary Classrooms: Demystifying the Practice of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking, February 10, 2026

Many educators didn’t experience Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking during their own K–12 education, which makes implementing it in today’s classrooms both challenging and exciting....

 

Web Seminar Series

Science Notebooks in Student-Centered Classrooms: A Professional Book Study for K-8 Teachers

This web seminar series, scheduled on February 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time, offers an opportunity to K-8 teachers to learn about the use of science notebooks in the classroom....

 

Web Seminar Series

Archive: Making Sense of Meaningful STEM: A Topic Study for K-12 STEM Educators

This web seminar series, scheduled on September 3, 10, 17, and 24 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time, offers an opportunity to develop or deepen your understanding of how phenomenon-driven, three-dimensional teaching and learning form the foundatio...

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