Minnesota Earth Science Teachers Association
  • Home
  • About Us
    • MESTA Board Contacts
    • Meeting Minutes
  • 2026 MESTA Conference
    • 2025 MESTA Conference
    • 2024 MESTA Conference
    • 2023 MESTA Conference
    • 2022 MESTA Conference
    • 2020 MESTA Conference
    • 2019 MESTA Conference
    • 2018 MESTA Conference
    • 2017 MESTA Conference
    • 2016 MESTA Conference
    • 2015 MESTA Conference
    • 2014 MESTA Conference
  • Teacher Resources
  • Links

2025 MESTA Conference

 Date: Friday, February 7, 2025

Time: 8:00am - 3:35pm
​
Location: District 287 Conference Center. ​1820 N. Xenium Ln, Plymouth, MN 55441
Keynote Speaker, Break-out Sessions, Activity Share, Free Resources, Breakfast and Lunch included
​

Hotel Accommodations
These hotels are near the conference facility.
Call for prices and to make your own arrangements:
Comfort Inn Plymouth: (763) 559 -1222
Crown Plaza Minneapolis: (763) 559 -6600
Ramada Plymouth: (763) 553 -1600 

Optional Thursday Night Activities
Take a tour of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) at the University of Minnesota.
​2 SE 3rd Ave, 
Minneapolis @ ​5:00pm
$10 - Register for this event with your conference registration
​


Location

District 287 Conference Center
​1820 N. Xenium Ln, Plymouth, MN 55441

Thursday Evening Event

Take a tour of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) at the University of Minnesota.

SAFL was built as a hydraulic research laboratory from 1936-1938. For over 80 years, SAFL has evolved its research program to include overall fluid mechanics research versus just hydraulics to solve real-world problems. With its unique position on the historic Minneapolis waterfront, the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) garners a lot of attention from the local community and visitors to the area. Many people ask what makes SAFL unique. Participants will be able to see for themselves!

2 SE 3rd Ave, Minneapolis
​5:00pm

View a tour preview at https://cse.umn.edu/safl/public

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Belinda Jensen
Chief Meteorologist, KARE11 News, KARE-11 Saturday Anchor, and Author

MESTA is excited to welcome meteorologist Belinda Jensen as our keynote speaker. Ms. Jensen, a recipient of the AMS Seal of Approval for broadcast meteorology, has been a meteorologist at KARE-11 since 1993 and was promoted to Chief Meteorologist in 2005. Before moving to Minnesota, she worked at the National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City, Utah and produced and co-anchored a sunrise news program.

Ms. Jensen has been visiting classrooms and educating children about the weather for more than twenty-five years. As a child, she was fascinated by science. Today, she is passionate about inspiring children with the wonders of weather as the author of the Bel the Weather Girl series of children’s books that introduce children to key weather phenomena. To learn more about her books, follow the link below.

https://lernerbooks.com/series/10429-bel-the-weather-girl

concurrent session presenter information

Behind The Scenes Meteorology
Laura Lockwood, Meteorologist and Director of Operations, Weatherology
  • Weather is intertwined with the earth sciences, social sciences, and many others fields of study and career paths. Meteorologists in the education, government, and private sectors help us to understand the weather and aid us in being better prepared for not only everyday life, but the unexpected as well. We will hear about some of the main concepts and fundamentals of the field, including where to find valuable resources for teaching.

Gold Rushes and Minnesota State Geologists
Dr. Kent Kirkby, University of Minnesota
  • Although Minnesota has a particularly diverse bedrock geology, gold rushes are not a common theme in Minnesota history, yet two of the first three Minnesota State Geologists played pivotal but disparate roles in the gold rushes that altered our state and nation’s history. In both cases, the reports of gold in economic quantities were grossly overstated but played out in separate ways. It is a lesson we need to remember in a world where resource exploitation is exponentially expanding and often occurs on the lands of highly vulnerable communities.

The Care and Keeping of a High School Earth Science Teacher: How To Make It All Work!
Anna Karsten, Earth science teacher, Lincoln HS
  • Converting to a new way of teaching with a new curriculum can seem overwhelming. This session shares a personal philosophy of teaching using the 5E model and some units to use as you incorporate the new science standards. This session will include examples of units with ready-to-teach lessons and ways to modify them for your personal style.

Splendid Sands
Kate Clover, Geoscience Educator
  • Sands, the grains you casually walk on at the beach or on a desert, vary greatly around the world. They are story tellers that chronicle regional geology and marine ecosystems. Here, we will discuss sands and have time to use microscopes to examine the grains in sand samples. We'll be identifying some rocks, minerals and the skeletons of marine creatures. Expect to learn about sands from the shores of Lake Superior, garnet-rich heavy mineral sands and the biogenic organisms in sands from Puerto Rico.

Contact Us

Conference event information:
Stephanie Erickson
[email protected]

Conference registration questions:
Jess Strom

[email protected]

MESTA LIST-SERV Subscribe

Submit
Proudly powered by Weebly