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Conference Tracks

Conference Tracks and Session Formats

Proposals that align with national standards and conform to the range of pedagogical areas and session formats are a regular feature of the Life Discovery – Doing Science Biology Education Conference. These serve as tags intended to inform participants about the nature and content of presentations.  For information about this year’s theme, please visit the homepage: www.esa.org/ldc.

Alignment with national standards

We invite submissions of proposals that will engage conference attendees in collaborative discussion, especially those that help educators address the core concepts and practices contained in the following documents:

The conference accepts proposals for three formats and four pedagogical areas. Please review and determine which option best fits the information for your presentation. Please note:

  • While your presentation may be focused on a particular audience grade level, please be prepared to address all grade levels in your session.
  • Of special interest are ideas that engage underrepresented populations in organismal and environmental biology.
  • We are also happy to consider innovative proposals that advance organismal and environmental biology education that do not strictly fit into the rubric shown here.

Session Formats

Pedagogical Focus

Session Formats

The Life Discovery – Doing Science conference welcomes proposals in the following formats:

Hands-on workshops (1.5 hours or 3 hours)

This session format is designed to give participants hands-on experience to implement a particular technique or activity or develop innovative approaches to curriculum design. Workshops are 1.5-hour or 3-hour sessions. 3-hour sessions may be offered as a pre-conference activity.

Short Presentation (20 mins + 10 minutes Q&A)

This session format is designed for presentations that enhance understanding of key concepts, or project activities that feature effective ideas and approaches. Presentations should be limited to 20 minutes to allow for 10 minutes of Q&A.

Education Share Fair (30 minutes) 

This session is designed for educators to create or revise lesson plans or activities with a peer working group. Proposals can be submitted for ideas and lessons at any stage of development. This allows for individuals to develop new lessons or to work on modifying currently existing lessons to a new grade level, teaching style, or learning objective(s). Each lesson or idea will be presented by the author at a roundtable with up to 9 other participants.   Authors should spend about 15 minutes describing their lesson idea. Discussions will follow where participants are invited to provide feedback and ideas regarding the core concepts addressed, methodology, misconceptions, assessment, or educational extensions.

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Pedagogical Areas

  • Active Learning: Content, curriculum, and lesson plan resources.
  • Hands-On: Field studies, lab investigations, and data exploration.
  • Assessment: Education research, formative assessment, and proficiencies.
  • Collaboration: Team learning, interdisciplinary approaches, and partnerships.

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Submit Your Teaching Idea to the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library!

All presenters are highly encouraged to submit their final products for formal publication in the digital library. Authors retain copyright. Presenters will choose to submit through one of the four portals of the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library (LDDL), managed by LDDL partner societies.