Teacher Training By Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski

Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski had the wonderful pleasure of sharing her expertise and enthusiasm for sharing nature with children during the Cherokee Nation Annual Conference held in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Over one hundred Cherokee Nation early childhood teachers were introduced to numerous hands-on-minds-on environmental and life science explorations to implement within their early childhood classrooms. Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski placed emphasis on connecting simplistic methods of connecting the young child with nature on a daily basis. Teachers were actively engaged throughout the teacher training sessions:

• Using eye-loupes to observe specimens from nature;
• Using simple microscopes to observe leaves;
• Making leaf, tree bark and tree ring rubbings;
• Observing and touching live pill bugs, earthworms, and garden snails;
• Observing rocks, pebbles, and sand;
• Observing how rocks break down via mechanical weathering- teachers placed sedimentary rocks inside of containers and shook the containers back and forth. This resulted in the rocks breaking down;
• Observing, comparing, and sorting seeds;
• Making paper helicopter models that depict how certain seeds travel; and
• Observing and comparing animal coverings (fish scale, bird feathers, synthetic animal fur and more.

In addition, to exploring life and environmental science concepts Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski introduced early childhood teachers to over 70 children’s literature that can be used in the classroom and at home to reinforce life and environmental science concepts. The list of books used during the workshop can be seen on the book page, as well as ordered from Amazon via the book page on this site,  at no extra charge. This was a timely teacher training professional staff development experience for the Cherokee Nation early childhood teachers since outdoor education/ exploring the natural world has been designated as a major focus of their early childhood science curriculum for 2010-2011. On the national level “The No Child Left Inside Act” is now listed as one of four key pieces of legislation in the reauthorization of ESEA on the Ed & Labor Committee. For a good read Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski recommends the book “Last Child In The Woods” by Richard Louv. Last Child In The Woods is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults (from official website of Richard Louv).

All of the teachers enjoyed the training session, many were heard discussing how they were going to implement what they had been introduced to immediately within their own classrooms. Many of the teachers overcame their pre-existing fears of touching common school yard invertebrates (pill bugs, earthworms, and snails). There is nothing that makes a teacher training facilitator smile more than seeing that they have had an immediate and positive impact on their audience, and more importantly the students of the teachers will benefit immensely from their teachers willingness to spend a Saturday exploring and learning about the natural world.

Seventy Seminole Tribe of Florida early childhood teachers attended a full-day hands-on science inquiry-based teacher training professional staff development workshop to learn how to teach science through children’s literature conducted by Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski. Teachers were actively engaged in exploring early childhood science concepts through hands-on explorations. Additionally, teachers were introduced to early childhood children’s literature that can be used to teach early childhood science concepts in the classroom and at home. Teachers conducted hands-on explorations to investigate:  the nature of matter, floating and sinking, plant and animal kingdom concepts, how rocks break down into smaller pieces, mathematical concepts including patterns, shapes, and sorting. The teacher training workshop was a great success. Participants left the workshop with increased content knowledge, motivated, confident, and ready to implement what they had learned in the teacher training workshop within their own classrooms. All of the children’s literature used during the teacher training workshop can be viewed and ordered from Amazon via this site at no extra charge (see book page).