Web Seminar Series

Are your assessments capturing the rich science sensemaking already happening in your classroom? Join us on October 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET, to build your skills in designing 3D assessments with generative AI.

Designing assessments for three-dimensional learning can be challenging: How do you create tasks that are not only aligned with the standards but are also meaningful, usable in classrooms, and supportive of all students? In this four-part web seminar series, you will learn a practical process for designing meaningful, three-dimensional assessments aligned to the vision of A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards, while exploring ways generative AI can responsibly support assessment design.

Grounded in the Next Generation Science Assessment (NGSA) Design Framework, the series will guide participants through the process of unpacking Performance Expectations, developing Learning Performances and Evidence Statements, designing assessment blueprints, and designing assessment tasks and rubrics that provide evidence of student thinking. Participants will work with a Performance Expectation relevant to their own classroom and gradually build an assessment that can be adapted for use with their students.

Learning Targets

By participating, teachers will develop:

• The ability to design knowledge-in-use assessment with GenAI using a systematic, evidence-centered approach.
• The ability to refine and implement knowledge-in-use assessment in their classrooms to support their students
• The knowledge of how to write and evaluate AI prompts
• The knowledge of judging the quality and risks of AI-generated assessments
• A deeper understanding of how AI can be integrated in instructionally sound and ethically responsible ways

These webinars are especially timely given the rapid emergence of AI technologies in educational contexts. While many AI tools are being introduced as efficiency enhancers or scoring engines, this session positions AI as a tool to empower teacher agency and judgment, not replace it. Teachers are not passive consumers of AI, but active co-designers and evaluators, applying their professional knowledge of students, context, and equity to influence what GenAI tools produce. Moreover, the workshop aligns directly with the goals of the NSTA and NGSS in promoting phenomenon-based and 3D science teaching to provide learning opportunities for all students. It supports teachers in meeting the instructional demands of NGSS while building capacity to adapt to a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Participants will leave with actionable strategies, usable products, and a professional learning community to support continued growth. This session offers an intellectually engaging, practically grounded, and ethically conscious approach to one of the most urgent challenges in science education today: how to design assessments that reflect the complexity of what we hope students will know and be able to do, and how to do so with GenAI tools that are both cutting-edge and grounded in teachers’ and students’ needs.

Who Should Attend:

• Science and STEM educators
• Instructional coaches and science leads
• District and school leaders

Program Dates and Times:

The four live web seminars are scheduled on Wednesdays, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern time. Specific program dates are below:  

• October 7, 14, 21, 28

During the Topic Study Participants Have Access to:

• Digital resources and all NSTA online community tools (My Library, My Profile, Community Forums)
• All archive versions of the web seminars to watch on-demand.

Program Certificates:

Participants will receive a certificate from NSTA after each live web seminar for attending the live program AND completing the post-program survey. No certificates will be awarded for watching the recorded version of the program.

Groups of Teachers:

Science Leaders Can Sponsor Groups of Educators!  Are you a state, district, or school leader working to enhance your teachers' professional learning?  Please consider sponsoring a cohort of teachers to participate in the Designing 3D Assessments with Generative AI Topic Study!  

Cost to Groups:

• $1,500 flat fee per cohort of 25 participants, regardless of their NSTA membership status. Additional participants (beyond 25) will be charged $60 per person.

If you are interested in sponsoring a group of at least 25 individuals, please contact Zoe Evans  via email ([email protected]) for a quote.

Send your questions about the program to ([email protected]).

Final note: The rates below are for individual registration only and include all four web seminars in the series.