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NSSTA News, Updates, and Important Information

Read our latest news and announcements from your NSSTA Governing Board.

Click the three dots in the blue on the left of the Blog Post name to leave a comment. Click the name of the blog post to read the full post.

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  • Tuesday, September 26, 2023 4:31 PM | Virginia Chandler (Administrator)

    Hello High School Educators,

    DRI is once again hosting its annual EnergySmart PSA Infographic Contest! Open to all high school students in Nevada, this contest challenges students to create a call-to-action infographic poster to both raise awareness on local energy usage and ways to save that energy. Winners will receive monetary prizes and for each student that enters the contest, teachers will receive one entry to win a $100 gift card.

    Deadline is December 1st!

    Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Shawna.Witt@dri.edu if you have any questions.

    We look forward to seeing your entries!


  • Tuesday, April 25, 2023 2:12 PM | Sylvia Scoggin (Administrator)


  • Monday, March 06, 2023 12:13 PM | Sylvia Scoggin (Administrator)


  • Sunday, May 01, 2022 3:22 PM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST)

    The Nevada State Science Teachers Association is pleased to recognize the 2020 Nevada National Awardee and the 2022 Nevada State Finalists in Science for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

    2020 National Awardee in Science: Amie Braik

    Amie Braik has been an educator for 17 years. Her first teaching experience was as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South Pacific. Later, she taught sixth and second grade at Whiteriver Elementary School on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona. She then taught for five years at Coral Academy of Science Elementary School in Reno followed by five years at Grace Warner Elementary School. She is currently part of the Nick Poulakidas Elementary School community for two years, where she teaches all subjects for fifth grade.

    Amie loves facilitating different STEAM projects in her classroom. Her students have engineered animal shelters. Amie has set challenges for her students to meet by building and coding robots using LEGO Robotics Kits. Her students have created art using 3-D printers and have created windsail cars, space capsules, and bee hotels.

    Amie is a member of her school district's science cadre. She has co-facilitated Full Option Science System (FOSS) Kit training for fifth grade teachers. She has led school and multi-statewide professional development on NGSS standards and science and engineering phenomena. Recently, she was part of her district's science curriculum adoption committee. She took part in writing her district pacing guides for fifth grade and is helping with district wide teacher training on her district's new curriculum. Amie joined a roundtable discussion with U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen on the state of STEM education in Nevada.

    Amie is a member of the National Science Teaching Association.

    Amie earned a B.S. in anthropology from the University of Oregon and an M.Ed. in elementary education from Northern Arizona University. Amie is certified in kindergarten through eighth grade with a general science middle school endorsement.

    2022 State Finalists in Science

    Steve Gaskill:

    Steve Gaskill is a 6th grade science teacher and science department chair at K.O. Knudson Creative Academy of the Arts. Steve recently led a team of 6th graders named one of 10 national finalists in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow contest, where students are challenged to identify a problem in their community and develop a solution. The students developed thermally insulating concrete made from sunflower stalks to replace steel benches at bus stops and reduce the risk of second degree burns in the summer.

    Jennifer Panczyszyn:

    Jennifer Panczyszyn has been an educator since 2011. She has experience teaching Science at both the middle and high school levels as well as the college-level. She earned certification in the area of Early Adolescent Science from the National Board of Teaching Professionals in 2017 and is currently working towards Maintenance of Certification. She has worked as a Project Facilitator in the Online and Blended Learning and the K-12 Science Departments at the Clark County School District (CCSD). In this role she was responsible for designing and maintaining district-level digital courses and supporting teachers in the classroom implementing blended learning. Currently, she is teaching Science 6 and Science 7 online at Nevada Learning Academy. Jennifer has participated in numerous district cadres, Math and Science Partnership grants, and served as a teacher leader presenting professional learning for teachers across CCSD as a workshop facilitator and a Professional Learning Education (PLE) Instructor. She served as the Science Department Chair at Lawrence Junior High School and as the Science 7 Technology Leader at K.O. Knudson Creative Academy of the Arts. At the state level, she has worked with the Nevada Department of Education regarding standardized science tests on both Item and Bias Review and Standards Setting committees. She also served on the Office of Science, Innovation, & Technology (OSIT) STEM programs review committee and as a Digital Ambassador as part of the Nevada Digital Learning Collaborative. Currently, she is on the board of the Nevada State Science Teachers Association, serving as the Region 1 Representative. Jennifer has presented at numerous local, regional and national conferences on science education. She is privileged to have attended the Convocation on Enhancing Teachers’ Voices in K-12 Engineering Education in Washington D.C. in 2016 hosted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Additionally, she works at the national level as an EdReports Science Content reviewer.

    Jennifer’s other professional affiliations include: National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) and the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES).

    Jennifer operates with the deep belief that all students can learn science. She structures her classroom to honor student experiences and ideas using an asset-based mindset. This has been a recipe for success creating a safe and respectful learning environment in which student agency and collaborative sense-making drive learning.

    Jennifer holds a B.S. in Biological Science and a M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction.


  • Monday, March 28, 2022 3:44 PM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    Are you going to NSTA in Houston this week?  If so, make sure to check out your fellow Nevada Science educators. 

    Click here to see a summary of sessions from presenters from Nevada: Nevada NSTA Houston 22 presentations.pdf


    Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook !

    NSSTA Secretary Catherine Connolly will be hosting a Nevada get-together on Thursday, March 31 from 5-7 at MKT Bar, 1001 Austin St, Houston, TX 77010.  DM us on Twitter for more info!  



  • Friday, March 25, 2022 3:42 PM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    For more information, click here. 



  • Friday, December 03, 2021 6:30 AM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    New Governing Board Positions


    We are excited to announce our SIX new Governing Board Representative positions are open to applicants.  These new positions are statewide positions.  Please see the flyer below and click here to learn more and download an application form.



  • Friday, December 03, 2021 6:25 AM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    *New* Committee on Ensuring Equitable Access to High Quality Science Learning Opportunities for All Nevada Students

    We are also excited for our new Committee on Ensuring Equitable Access to High Quality Science Learning Opportunities for All Nevada Students. One of our goals as an organization is to ensure Science Teacher voices are in the conversations happening at the state level around science education. We know we can't have high quality STEM or STEAM in Nevada without high quality Science learning opportunities for ALL students, so we want to take a deep look at what is on teachers' "plates" and how useful these things may be in providing that high quality science learning experience for our students.  Please see our flyer below for more information and visit the Committee page to join!



  • Monday, November 01, 2021 2:07 PM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    To meet the current needs of our Organization, we will be changing our fee structure starting 1/1/22.  

    The new fee structure is:

    • $25 for one year of NSSTA membership for all Regions. 
    • $20 for one year of NSSTA membership IF signing up with joint-membership with NSTA.  

    This will allow us to continue to grow the organization and provide Professional Learning and other members-only events throughout the year.  

    Please visit: https://nvscience.org/JoinUs to learn more. 

  • Sunday, October 10, 2021 6:29 PM | OPEN Executive Director (Administrator)

    The changes to the NSSTA Constitution were passed by those members who voted.  To see the current NSSTA Constitution, please visit the About Us - History page. 

    Please be on the lookout for information on the new Governing Board positions that were created by these changes. 

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Nevada State Science Teachers Association
P.O. Box 90761

Henderson, NV 89009

admin@nvscience.org 

The Nevada State Science Teachers Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and an official chapter of the National Science Teaching Association.

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