Keynotes on Sensemaking, Science Education, and AI

Interactive talks that put audiences inside the learning, then help them see what made the thinking possible.

TJ’s keynotes put the audience to work. Each one builds in a short investigation, then uses what happened in the room to show what sensemaking asks of the people who teach and lead.

Selected speaking and invited engagements

Arizona Science Teachers Association · Rhode Island Science Teachers Association · Idaho Department of Education · Boston University Medical Campus · Washington OSPI · Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers · Chester County Intermediate Unit · University of Cambridge

Signature Talks

Making Sense of Sensemaking: You Keep What You Had to Figure Out

For K–12 science teachers, science conferences, and district professional learning

Students hold on to the ideas they had to work for. In this keynote, the audience works through a hands-on investigation, gets stuck in the useful way, and then takes the experience apart to see what made it work: the phenomenon that started it, the evidence that moved it, and the talk that let ideas get revised.

Drawing on Making Sense of Sensemaking, TJ shows how teachers can design for that kind of struggle on purpose and keep students in it long enough for the understanding to become their own.

Audience members leave with:

• A clearer way to distinguish activity from sensemaking

• Design moves that preserve productive struggle

• Practical strategies for using phenomena, evidence, and student talk

Leading the Shift: From Knowledge Delivery to Student Sensemaking

For principals, district leaders, science coordinators, and leadership conferences

When a science department moves from delivering knowledge to facilitating sensemaking, experienced teachers are being asked to learn new ways of working. Leaders play an important role in whether that process produces growth.

Built around curiosity, evidence, and collaboration, and anchored in the same kind of investigation teachers will lead with students, this keynote gives leaders tools they can use the next week.

Audience members leave with:

• Classroom look-fors for sensemaking-centered science instruction

• A teacher self-assessment for examining practice

• PLC structures organized around phenomena and student thinking

Who’s Doing the Thinking? Protecting Real Learning in a World of Easy Answers

For schools and districts setting direction on AI, higher education, and AI and education conferences

When a tool can produce the answer in seconds, educators have to decide which parts of the thinking belong to the learner and then protect them on purpose.

TJ comes at the question as a builder and researcher. He designed the NGSS AI Coach used by educators across the country and directs Boston University’s graduate programs in AI and Education. Drawing on his forthcoming book from Teachers College Press, the talk moves past both hype and alarm toward design decisions schools can make now.

Audience members leave with:

• A framework for deciding which thinking should remain with the learner

• Ways to distinguish AI that supports learning from AI that replaces it

• Design principles for instruction, assessment, and AI implementation

Every keynote is adapted to the audience, event goals, and local context while preserving the core experience and learning outcomes.

Selected Keynotes & Invited Engagements

2027

• National Science Education Leadership Association Annual Conference, Boston (March 17) · Keynote, “Who’s Doing the Thinking? Charting the Course for Science Learning”

• Massachusetts DESE, MAST & MSELA Statewide Book Study of Making Sense of Sensemaking (March) · Author Q&A

• Connecticut Science Teachers Association Conference (October) · Keynote

2026

• Arizona Science Teachers Association Annual Conference, Mesa (December) · Featured Keynote

• Rhode Island Science Teachers Association Annual Conference, Providence · Keynote & AI Session

• Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers, Marlborough · Invited Half-Day Workshop

• Washington OSPI, Science Speaks WA · Invited Speaker

• Idaho Annual STEM Conference, Idaho Department of Education · Keynote & Grade-Band Sessions

• Chester County Intermediate Unit STEM Fest, Pennsylvania · Keynote

• Boston University John McCahan Medical Campus Education Day · Keynote, “Learning Endures, Tools Evolve”

2025

• Massachusetts Science Education Leadership Association Annual Conference · Keynote, “Leading the Shift”

• University of Cambridge, Workshop on Educational Dialogue Alongside AI · Presentation

2021

• Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science · Keynote

Additional research and professional presentations include ISDDE, ESERA, NARST, NSTA, NSELA, and AAC&U.

Ways to Work Together

• Keynotes, 40 to 90 minutes

• Concurrent sessions and half- or full-day workshops

• Virtual talks and webinar series

• Semester- or year-long district partnerships with on-site and virtual coaching

• Book studies for Making Sense of Sensemaking