Thanks for Connecting With Us at UtSTA: Classroom Resources and Next Steps

If you stopped by the Switch Classroom booth or joined one of our sessions at the Utah Science Teachers Association conference, thank you for spending part of your day with us. This was Switch Classroom’s first time at UtSTA, and it was full of great conversations, thoughtful questions, and hands-on learning.

Whether you came to a session, chatted with us between presentations, or learned about Switch Classroom for the first time, this post is your UtSTA follow-up hub. Everything we shared is right here.

A Familiar Face from UtSTA: April Thompson

If you attended UtSTA, you almost certainly met April Thompson, the Switch Classroom Teacher Advisory Council member who represented us at the conference. April is a high school science teacher at Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs, and she brings so much energy, creativity, and classroom experience into everything she does.

Many of you also met her daughter, Brooklin, who helped out at the booth and made the weekend even more fun. We loved seeing teachers connect with April and Brooklin, swap classroom stories, and dive into real, practical conversations about teaching energy and environmental science.

April’s UtSTA Sessions

April led two hands-on sessions at UtSTA, and both were packed with ideas you can take straight back to your classroom.

Play-Doh Electric Circuits

This session explored electric circuits in a creative, tactile way. Using Play-Doh to model circuits helps students visualize current, conductivity, and problem-solving, especially when they’re wrestling with abstract concepts for the first time.

Fuel for Thought: Energy Trade-offs and Transformations

This session focused on energy resources, transformations, and trade-offs, with a strong connection to real-world decision-making. It fits beautifully into middle school and high school energy units, including AP Environmental Science.

UtSTA Conference Resource Collection

To make things easy, we created a UtSTA Conference Resource Collection that pulls everything together in one place. If you want a single link to bookmark, this is it.

Inside the collection, you will find:

• Links to both session presentations
  
• Classroom-ready lesson plans we discussed at the conference
  
• Our seasonal favorite, the Valentine’s Day Energy Matchmaking Gallery Walk, is a fun and engaging way to get students thinking about energy resources and relationships
  

New to Switch Classroom?

If UtSTA was your first introduction to Switch Classroom, welcome. We are really glad you found us.

Switch Classroom is a nonprofit organization that creates free, teacher-trusted lesson plans and activities focused on energy and environmental topics. Our resources are designed to be practical, engaging, and realistic for real classrooms with real time constraints.

Everything we share is built by teachers, tested with students, and made to support meaningful science learning.

Alignment Guides to Make Planning Easier

One of the most common questions we hear is, “How does this fit into what I already teach?” That is exactly why we created our Alignment Guides.

These quick-start guides show how Switch Classroom lessons connect to specific courses and content areas. You can find your class, scan the guide, and quickly see where our resources can plug into your curriculum.

We currently offer Alignment Guides for:

• AP Environmental Science
  
• Upper Elementary
  
• Chemistry
  
• Energy Fundamentals
  
• Physical Science
  
• Physics
  
• Earth and Environmental Science
  

Join Us Again: APES Unit 6 Intensive on January 29

If you enjoyed learning with April at UtSTA, we would love to see you again soon. April is one of the hosts for our upcoming APES Unit 6 Intensive webinar on January 29.

This session is designed to help APES teachers feel confident teaching energy resources and consumption. You will walk away with clear explanations, classroom strategies, and ready-to-use ideas you can implement right away.

Stay Connected

Conferences are just the start. If you want fresh lesson ideas, seasonal activities, and professional learning opportunities sent straight to your inbox, make sure you’re on our newsletter list.

Thanks again for connecting with us at UtSTA. We’re always inspired by the teachers in this community, and we’re excited to keep supporting your work in the classroom.