2026 Breakout Sessions

Take a deeper dive into the topics that matter most. 

Scroll down to explore each breakout session, meet the incredible educators and leaders behind them, and start mapping out the conversations that will shape your summit experience.

Tiny House Showcase Session 

Presenter: Nancy Fritcher, Millard Hawk Elementary School, Central Square 

The Tiny House Showcase session will be an interactive presentation offering a space for attendees to engage with a truly authentic learning experience from inception to fruition. In this session, facilitators will demonstrate how students transitioned from "learners" to "lead architects" by showcasing their design portfolios, architect clipboards, and their tiny house models. Fourth grade students will be invited to attend, bring their Tiny Houses, and discuss the authentic learning experience. Educators will have the opportunity to engage with facilitators and students alike. This session aims to share actionable strategies for project-based learning, allowing colleagues to leave with an action plan and sustainable design for their own classroom.

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Invent It Forward 

Presenter: Rick Beal, Terra Science Ed

Terra Science and Education provides innovation, invention, and entrepreneurial learning to instill problem identification, problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and creativity skills for life. Our purpose is to inspire young people to become innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs over the course of their K–12 careers.  K-12 students can compete at local, regional, state, and national levels in Invention Convention events for awards, prizes, patents, and even the chance to be on Shark Tank.

Terra offers a free curriculum that teaches the invention process, creativity, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship, guiding students from idea generation to a working prototype. Professional development opportunities are for schools, teachers, and educators of all types. Our workshop will include hands-on lessons to help inspire your students to be inventors and to take part in the Invention Convention network.  Terra can also help your school to host their own event.

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From Curosity in Action to Conservation in Action

Presenter: Kim Arnold, Rosamond-Gifford Zoo

This interactive session explores how curiosity-driven learning can move students from the classroom to meaningful environmental stewardship. Using education strategies grounded in real-world science and empathy principles, participants will engage in hands-on inquiry, systems thinking, and instructional design challenges aligned with the New York State Portrait of a Graduate climate science expectations. Educators will experience how structured curiosity can deepen student engagement, strengthen scientific reasoning, and support the development of environmentally literate, action-oriented learners across grade levels and disciplines. 

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Tough Empathy Pedagogy in Action: Supporting Student Growth Without Lowering the Standard

Presenter: Kayla Akbar, LeMoyne College C-STEP Director

Tough Empathy in Action explores how educators can support students with both high expectations and high levels of care without lowering standards or removing accountability. Too often, support is mistaken for rescue, while rigor is mistaken for toughness alone. This session challenges that mindset by introducing tough empathy pedagogy, a relational and purpose driven approach that helps students build confidence, self-efficacy, and long-term success. Through an interactive reflection activity, real practitioner examples from student success programming, and practical strategies that apply across K–12, higher education, and workforce development spaces, participants will examine how purposeful support helps students navigate barriers, discover identity, and take ownership of their pathways. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to strengthen advising, mentoring, and student engagement practices while helping students rise to meet high expectations, not lowering the bar, but helping them reach it.

Grade levels: 7-9, 10-12, Pre-College, 2 year college, 4 year college, Higher Education, Not for Profit

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Adaptable Arthropods: Build-an-Insect

Presenter: Dan Collins, SUNY ESF, Associate Director of ESFHS & K-12 Programs

In this session, I will walk participants through the synapomorphies of insects, and then some of their variations/adaptations. This will allow participants to take notes and design their own insect with the provided worksheet. Examples of scaling this activity up and down based on grade level, as well as extensions into language and writing will be provided.

Grade levels: 3-6, 7-9, 10-12, Pre-College, 2 year college, 4 year college, Higher Education

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STEM Community Partnership 

Presenter: Brian Heffron, CiTI BOCES

A sharing of the work being done through work as a  Micron Fellow with the MOST Museum.

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Using Gallup CliftonStrengths to Help Students Tell Their Story

Presenter: Paul Muench, President of Daneli Partners

Daneli Partners has partnered with K–12 schools and numerous colleges across the state to develop students’ strengths and prepare them for success in the workforce. Using Gallup CliftonStrengths, students gain a clear understanding of their natural talents and how those strengths shape them as they intentionally work toward the attributes outlined in a Portrait of a Graduate. This approach helps them build confidence and articulate their unique story meaningfully, whether in the classroom or future career paths. By focusing on what they do best, students learn to lead with authenticity and communicate their value with purpose and clarity.  

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AI Friend, Foe, or Tool

Presenter: Lisa Blank, Watertown CSD

Navigating the AI Paradox in STEM Classrooms

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Animate to Innovate

Presenter: Bryan Zevotek, Watertown CSD

In this hands-on workshop, educators will explore accessible animation tools and discover how student-created animations can transform the way learners engage with and demonstrate understanding. Rather than simply regurgitating information, students become creators, designing animations that visualize concepts, tell stories, and reveal genuine comprehension.

We’ll explore how animation crosses curriculum lines, from illustrating a scientific process to retelling a historical event or representing a math concept in motion. No prior animation experience needed — just a curiosity for rethinking how students show what they know. You’ll leave with beginner-friendly tools, cross-curricular project ideas, and a fresh perspective on student creativity as a powerful learning strategy.

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3-D Modeling and Printing Across the Curriculum

Presenter: Bryan Zevotek, Watertown CSD

In this hands-on, collaborative workshop, educators will explore 3D modeling tools like TinkerCAD and other accessible design software while getting their hands on real printed examples they can bring back to their classrooms. The focus isn’t just on the technology — it’s on what the technology makes possible: spatial reasoning, tangible problem-solving, and concrete comprehension for every learner, in every subject. Together, we’ll move 3D printing out of the maker space and into everyday instruction, discovering how this tool can deepen learning across disciplines — from math and science to history, art, and beyond. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have some design experience, you’ll leave with practical project ideas, software confidence, and a clearer vision for how hands-on, visual learning can transform your classroom.

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City & School Synergy Program

Presenter: Karen Noel, representatives from Fulton CSD

The vision of the program is that students will take an active role in their community by taking ownership of various areas around the city throughout their Junior High and High School careers. This will build the habits necessary to become active citizens in our community and to make Fulton an even better place to live.

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Brain STEM Curriculum: Addictions and Concussions

Presenter: Leigha Burkhalter, Clarkson University

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Question Formulation Technique

Presenter: Leigha Burkhalter, Clarkson University

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Portraits with a Purpose: Using AI to Transform Student Identity and Readiness. The Brockport Story.

Presenter: Brockport CSD

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Atomic Habits and Making Small Everyday Changes to Achieve a Moonshot Goal

Presenter: Adrienne Turbeville, Teacher, Pine Grove Middle School

Grade levels: K-12, Pre-College, 2 year college, 4 year college, Higher Education, Not for Profit

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Communication Workshop 

Presenter: Syracuse Stage

Clear communication is the backbone of any successful team, and theatre offers a powerful, hands-on way to build it. In this interactive workshop, participants step into the roles of directors and designers, challenged to communicate a specific visual concept using only written email style messages—no images, no sketches. With just a few back and forth exchanges, teams must refine their language, clarify intent, and navigate misinterpretation before the designer brings the idea to life. Inspired by the collaborative process of theatre props artisans, the exercise reveals how easily meaning can shift and how precise, thoughtful communication can bridge that gap. The result is a dynamic, eye-opening experience that strengthens clarity, collaboration, and creative problem-solving in fast-paced professional environments.

Grade levels: K-12, Pre-College, 2 year college, 4 year college, Higher Education, Not for Profit

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