WYTeacherCon25: Full Schedule

Join us for Wyoming’s inaugural statewide teacher conference, bringing together educators, administrators, and educational leaders from across the state. As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, TeacherCon25 celebrates our educational heritage while embracing the future of teaching and learning.

10:45am PDT

Wyo Wonders: Minerals & Energy LIMITED

Monday August 4, 2025 10:45am - 11:30am PDT

Salon E

This session samples three lessons from the Wyo Wonders Minerals & Energy curriculum, designed for grades 2-5. We will engage in and discuss three activities that relate to Wyoming's natural resources, everyday products we all use to make the impact of minerals more relevant, and conservation.

Speakers

Darci Petersen

Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom

Darci Petersen became an Education Advocate for Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom in 2023. She enjoys educating about the non-profit's programs of Wyo Wonders, Bookmark & Beyond, and Educator of the Year. She is a former high school English teacher and athletics coach who has always... Read More →

Monday August 4, 2025 10:45am - 11:30am PDT
Salon E

Science

2:00pm PDT

We’ve brought the stream inside: Learn along with Nature WY LIMITED

Monday August 4, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT

Salon A

Nature WY is a winner with a Regional Emmy, and a National award as an “Educational Resource for the Classroom”! Fun, free, educational resource made in Wyoming, with Wyoming’s real kids and real educators. Created for kids ages 6-8, with successful adaptation for kids from pre-K through 6th grade.
Hands-on learning with Nature WY and live creatures from Wyoming’s streams.

Take back to your classroom:

11 Nature WY short-format videos with lesson plans aligned to state and national standards.
11 Nature WY activity guides for parents/guardians.
A publicly-available, free app called SEEK to support your learning and the learning of your students.
Confidence to get outdoors with your students learning in the sciences!
Stickers and more, of course!

Speakers

Julie Rieder

Executive Director, Science Kids

Julie Rieder’s two passions of science and education intersect in her role as Executive Director of the nonprofit Science Kids, an organization that gets kids outdoors, where great science learning happens. Julie is a broadly trained ecologist, with a bachelor’s degree in biology... Read More →

Monday August 4, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT
Salon A

Science

2:00pm PDT

Wyo Wonders: Agriculture LIMITED

Monday August 4, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT

Salon C

Picture your ideal farm or ranch—what does it look like? Don't just imagine it—come to this session and illustrate this farm or ranch! Dive into the fascinating history and science of Wyoming’s crops and livestock through engaging Wyo Wonders lessons. Once you're equipped with valuable insights about agriculture in our state, you’ll design your dream farm or ranch and calculate its economic impact. And to top it off, we’ll end with an exciting, friendly competition to see who’s vision stands out the most. This is your chance to learn, create, and have fun—don’t miss out!

Speakers

Michelle McCormack

Education Advocate, Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom

Michelle McCormack joined Wyoming Agriculture in the Classroom as an Education Advocate in 2021. Michelle enjoys collaborating with teachers around the state to support them in sharing the message about the Wyo Wonders curriculum. She loves that Wyo Wonders teaches elementary students... Read More →

Monday August 4, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT
Salon C

Science

3:15pm PDT

Messy Data in the Classroom LIMITED

Monday August 4, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm PDT

Salon F

Perfect dataset verses professional work (i.e., messy) dataset. My session is about my experience of bringing realistic data sets, that are uncertain and messy, into my classroom to have my students work with, connect to, draw conclusions from, and apply to a bigger context. Attendees will be able to see the data that I worked with, experience interactions with the data, graphs, and prompts, then review a student answers. I will also share my implementation process and my reflection on bringing in messy data. Attendees can then collaborate with others to visualize how they can implement messy data in their own classrooms.

Speakers

Chelsea Lund

I have been part of a Teacher Researcher Knowledge Exchange cohort the last two years and this year, I decided to bring messy data into my classroom. The data can be very overwhelming, especially to some of the lower level students, and I wanted my students to interact with something... Read More →

Monday August 4, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm PDT
Salon F

Science

10:45am PDT

Get Students Outdoors with Game and Fish LIMITED

Tuesday August 5, 2025 10:45am - 11:30am PDT

Salon C

Wyoming Game and Fish Department offers a variety of conservation education programs for schools. Our programs meet science, social studies, math and PE standards, are low-cost or free, and emphasize hands-on learning and getting students outdoors.

Speakers

Ashley Leonard

Education Supervisor, Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Nish Goicolea

Tuesday August 5, 2025 10:45am - 11:30am PDT
Salon C

Science

2:00pm PDT

3D Science Assessments and Rubrics LIMITED

Tuesday August 5, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT

Salon D

The three dimensions (3Ds) of science teaching and learning (practices, big ideas, and content) clearly engage our students in relevant and transferable learning, but assessing 3D learning is complex and challenging. In this session, you will explore two science assessment examples to consider a research-based and 3D approach to assessment rubric development. You will have time to consider and discuss how these rubrics could be used and adapted to your needs and your district assessment expectations while fully assessing the 3Ds of the Wyoming Science Content & Performance Standards. You will walk away with two examples of high-quality assessment and rubric examples for science, as well as ideas for how to bring similar work into your setting.

Speakers

Clare Gunshenan

Professional Learning Facilitator, University of Wyoming

Clare Gunshenan is an Outreach Science Educator for the Science and Mathematics Teaching Center at the University of Wyoming. She brings a background in non-formal science education instruction, coordination, and research, including how non-formal science learning can support the... Read More →

Tuesday August 5, 2025 2:00pm - 2:45pm PDT
Salon D

Science

3:15pm PDT

How to make learning experiences in science more meaningful, rigorous, and equitable for students LIMITED

Tuesday August 5, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm PDT

Salon F

Students often see science as terms to remember or procedures to follow. The workshop will introduce an instructional model called Argument-Driven Inquiry that can be used to create learning experiences that are meaningful, rigorous, and equitable from the perspective of students by giving them opportunities to use science to figure out how and why phenomenon happen in the world around them.

Speakers

Victor Sampson

Associate Professor of STEM Education, The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Sampson's research examines how culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students participate in the practices of science, engineering, and mathematics and how to organize the interactions that take place between students, materials, and ideas in ways that promote and support... Read More →

Tuesday August 5, 2025 3:15pm - 4:00pm PDT
Salon F

Science