New Earth Science Regents Labs: The Sky's the Limit

KEY INFORMATION

• Date/Time: Sunday, Dec 7, 2025, 9am-3pm
• Location: City College of NY, NAC Building
• Workshop Leader: Kristina Coker and Liza Blackman (bio(s) below)
• Appropriate for: Any NY City/State Regents Earth Science teacher
• 6hrs of CTLE credit offered

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The NYS Regents Earth Science labs were introduced in 2024, and we want to help you learn them! This workshop builds on strategies and structures we have been using with all four of the Regents Science, and explores active learning strategies for deepening your students’ understanding of crucial conceptual models and help you effectively implement a student-centered, NGSS and NYS Regents-aligned approach tailored to physical science education. To do this, you will engage with the state-required experiments and activities designed to help students build a critical understanding of these models.

On December 7th, we will run the Weather and Climate: The Sky is the Limit – Decoding Weather Conditions (PE: HS-ESS2-8). You will work in both “student mode” and “teacher mode” so you can experience the lab through both lenses, and add practical tools to your teacher toolbox. We will include structured discussions about the new changes in the New York State Regents curriculum and test, strategies for accommodating district-specific curricular requirements, various student populations, laboratory resources, what changes you can (and cannot!) make to the lab, and more. We welcome all teachers and administrators, both new and experienced, to join us for this engaging workshop!

WORKSHOP LEADERS

Kristina Coker is in her 9th year of teaching Earth Science at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. She is a Math for America Master Teacher and Mentor Teacher for the MAT program at the American Museum of Natural History. Kristina enjoys developing new dynamic elective classes, like Space Engineers and advising the Dungeons and Dragons club at her school.

Liza Backman is in her 8th year of teaching high school science, and her 5th year of teaching at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women (UAI). She earned her B.A. in Chemistry and Geology from the College of Wooster, her M.A.T. in Earth Science Education from the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, an advanced certificate in Teaching Students with Disabilities from Relay Graduate School of Education, and holds additional NYS teaching certifications in Chemistry and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. As the current Science Instructional Lead at UAI, Liza is passionate about the importance of building teacher collaboration to navigate ever-changing curricula, student needs, and pedagogy.

ABOUT STEMteachersNYC

Since 2011, STEMteachersNYC has delivered professional development workshops for teachers, by teachers, about teaching. We are an approved CTLE and NYCPS MTAC vendor. All workshops over 2hrs offer CTLE. Below is some important information, but please see our official Registration FAQ on our website for full details and policies.

Pricing: workshop/event pricing reflects a desire to offer affordable professional learning experiences. Some workshops are subsidized and offered at a discount or for free.

CUNY & other partner campus pre-service students: If you are training to be a teacher, we want to welcome you to attend our workshops for free! Please email registration@stemteachersnyc.org for details and to see if you qualify.

Want to pay by invoice or purchase order? We encourage you to ask your school or organization if this is a possibility. Please see the Registration FAQ for the process.

Are there discounts available? Often, yes! In the summers, we offer Early Bird and Teacher discounts alongside a Full Price ticket meant for those whose school or organization is funding their ticket. In the summer, we also have full scholarships, and a Fellowship available. All year, we announce specials and discounts on our social media (@STEMteachersNYC on Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Facebook), and in our Weekly Newsletter – sign up here. Additionally, we partner with several organizations and CUNY to offer free tickets to teachers and pre-service teachers involved, and if at any time price is a barrier to you purchasing a ticket, please contact us at registration@STEMteachersNYC.org

Refunds, cancellations, and other registration/ticketing policies or changes: Please see the full Registration FAQ for details and policies.

Please note: We take screenshots, photographs and record video of our workshops in order to publicize a positive image of science teaching, and of STEMteachersNYC – a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – and to support future teacher leaders. If you register, you are agreeing to be photographed and to have your voice and image video-recorded. You are also agreeing to relinquish all your rights to the photographs and video recordings.

If you do not wish to be photographed or video-recorded – you must inform us before the workshop starts. For in-person workshops, we may take one photograph of your face so that we can erase your image if we happen to catch it by chance during the workshop, and we will do our best to avoid you.

Have more questions? Please see the full Registration FAQ for further details and policies, or contact us directly:

• Registration or ticketing questions - registration@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Questions about invoice/PO issues - bookkeeper@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Any other questions - info@STEMteachersNYC.org