Seeds Teaches More than Just
Plants
A new classroom curriculum, Garden Adventure SEEDS (Science
Exploration, Education and Discovery Series) for kindergarten
and first grade, premiered last spring to select educators
with resounding success. SEEDS teaches about plant parts while
strengthening inquiry, literacy, and numeracy skills. Subsequently,
SEEDS rolled out to more than 30 schools, close to 100 curriculum
units were sold, and approximately half a dozen teacher-training
sessions were conducted.
To broaden its reach beyond the
pilot program, SEEDS was presented at several local and regional
conferences, including Science Council of New York, the New
York City Museum Educators Roundtable, The Science Teacher’s Association of New York State,
the New York Statewide Conference on InService Education, the
Elementary School Science Association, and the Garden’s
Teacher Open House.
According to Dr. Christina Colón, Curator of Curriculum
Development and Evaluation, “There is such positive teacher
response and they are overwhelmingly enthusiastic when they
come for their training.” In addition to professional
development sessions, teachers receive materials to use in
the classroom and two class trips to the Adventure Garden. “I
can’t begin to tell you how much I learned today,” exclaimed
Ms. Brenda Macri, International School At Dundee (ISD) Greenwich
teacher, after completing an intensive training. “We
researched different options of teaching plant science in an
inquiry-based way and found out about SEEDS. There is an alignment
with our overall approach, and we appreciate the Garden’s
education philosophy—particularly how children are encouraged
to discover things on their own.”
The energy and momentum generated
from the first SEEDS curriculum unit is enriching the creation
of the second unit, Plant Adaptations, targeted for second
and third grades. Teachers learned about the first unit’s
success and are offering insight and expertise in the development
of the lesson plans, as well as to field-test pilot units
to meet its 2005 scheduled launch. The third unit, Plant
Animal Interactions, for fourth and fifth grades is slated
for a 2007 introduction.#
For more information
call (718) 817-8743 or visit http:/www.nybg.org/edu
