The NESST Speaker Series

Introducing “Building and Maintaining Successful Professional Learning Communities: A Toolkit for Evolving Emergent, Transdisciplinary Communities of Practice” 

June 10, 2025, from 4-5pm Eastern  

This session will provide researchers, educators, and youth leaders with an overview of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and how NESST is a prime example of one. We’ll be introduced to the PLC Guidebook, a resource created by NESST members, that answers the question, “How do we build, maintain, and evolve successful professional learning communities?” Speakers will introduce the guidebook and take us through its development. Then, we’ll learn how to use it and explore case studies that illustrate different approaches to implementing its content that yield strengthened collaborative processes and partnerships. 

PLCs are common in education, and this guidebook was written by a group of educators. That said, the tips and tricks shared will be useful to anyone seeking a collaborative and responsive approach to creating a community of practice. 

Register for the webinar here! 

Educational Research on Emergent Socio-Scientific Thinking: Foundations and Futures for NESST   

Recorded April 24, 2024, 1:00pm Eastern 

This session will offer researchers, educators, and youth leaders a critical perspective on existing Socio-Scientific thinking literature and NESST’s work within ongoing conversations about future directions for SSI research and practice. Speakers will unpack theoretical perspectives that describe ontological and epistemological shifts needed to transform SSI teaching and learning into an asset-based pedagogy that disrupts dominant Western/Northern approaches to science education. Presenters will offer examples to illustrate a vision for a reconceptualized, pluralistic approach to curriculum and instruction that is grounded in complex SSIs and makes space for students to draw on all aspects of their lived experience as they make sense of them. 

This session is ideal for educational researchers, educators, and youth leaders who are interested in engaging at the intersection of research and practice.  

Watch the recorded session here! 

Engaging Youth through NESST: The Necessity of Intergenerational Collaboration 

Recorded March 27, 2024, 1:00pm Eastern

This session is an opportunity for youth involved in NESST to share more about the ways in which thinking differently about the world around them has impacted the work they are doing within their communities. In addition, this session will provide an opportunity for students to discuss the role intergenerational collaboration plays in working towards a more sustainable future, and what are the specific types of support they’ve valued most in previous partnerships and what additional things they need and/or want from their educators, leaders, and other adults to do this work. 

This session is ideal for youth ages 13-19 and the educators who support them.   

View the recording here! 

Introducing NESST: A Network Transforming STEM Education for a Sustainable Future 

Recorded February 28, 2024, 1:00pm Eastern

This session is an opportunity for anyone to learn about NESST: The Network for Emergent Socio-Scientific Thinking. During this session, participants will hear from youth, educators, researchers, and professionals about their experiences with NESST, and learn about opportunities to get involved in the work. 

This session is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about NESST including students ages 13-19, educators, and STEM professionals.  

View the recording here!