BRIT offers place-based workshops in life sciences, earth science, botany, environmental science and ecology for K-12 teachers and other interested educators. During workshops program leaders guide you through background information and activities to help your students reach the National Education Standards and explore concepts and practice skills specified in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Workshops provide a chance for you to prepare for science studies with your students in a relaxed, supportive community of learners after school and during the summer. BRIT organizes and facilitates place-based professional development conferences and retreats for REAL School Gardens. These events focus on inquiry learning in the outdoors. All teacher programs are accredited by the State Board for Educator Certification so that you receive Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit for attending.
BRIT’s professional development models a student-centered, inquiry-based, collaborative approach to learning. The workshops are interdisciplinary and lead teachers through hands-on activities, incorporate methods for teaching in the field, and promote collegial sharing. We encourage you to bring your learning journal or field notebook with you to use in the workshops.
Outdoor Inquiries, a First Hand Learning Workshop
26 June 2008, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
BRIT Education
Firestation #5
503 Bryan Avenue
Fort Worth, TX 76104
Workshop Fee: $30
"The physical environment in and around the school can be used as a living laboratory for the study of natural phenomena. Whether the school is located in a densely populated urban area, a sprawling suburb, a small town, or a rural area, the environment can and should be used as a resource for science study." National Science Education Standards, National Academy of Sciences, 1996
At every stage of development children need direct contact with nature for healthy physical, emotional, intellectual, and ethical maturation. How can we provide this in schools where contact with nature is indirect or vicarious? Through open-ended inquiry we can find wilderness as well as opportunity for scientific investigation in any schoolyard, vacant lot, or local park. Come to our new, very urban environment to engage in close observation, journal keeping, data collection, database development, and formulation of investigable questions as you prepare yourself to engage your students in these same processes of scientific inquiry in your most accessible outdoor setting. Tool kits and the book, Outdoor Inquires: Taking Science Investigations Outside the Classroom are being provided to the participants through a National Science Foundation grant. Enrollment is limited to 25.
Registration
Online Registration
Printable Brochure (pdf)
Registration opens May 15 and closes June 20. Register online or by downloading the brochure, filling out the registration form and sending it along with your $30 workshop fee by fax to 817-332-4112 or mail to BRIT at 500 E. 4th St., Fort Worth, TX 76102.
