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Programs for Teachers and Students

Teacher Education

Teacher Education Programs are offered at BBG year-round and are designed to help you integrate plant studies in your own classroom and extend your lessons to the Garden and other green spaces in your community.

BBG is approved by the NYC Department of Education to provide science professional development services to individual schools, regional districts, and parent/teacher associations.

Professional Development Workshops for Individual Schools or Educators' Groups

For more information and to arrange for a program designed to meet your needs, call BBG's Teacher Education Coordinator at 718-623-7381.

We will gladly work with your staff to develop a program tailored to support your professional development goals for science and other areas of study. Programs may include inquiry-based classroom explorations, guided tours of the Garden's indoor and outdoor plant collections, and hands-on "potting-up" horticultural activities.

Some suggested workshop topics include the following:

Professional development courses are offered at BBG for individual teachers in collaboration with the NYC Department of Education. Check our menu of programs below. For more information, call BBG's Teacher Education Coordinator at 718-623-7381.

After-School Professional Development Program In-Service Course/NYC Department of Education

3P-credit course/30 hours/Pre-K—12 Teachers

Registration must be completed online with the After-School Professional Development Program.

What Did A Plant Ever Do For You?

Offered Spring 2010, Summer 2010

This course provides an introduction to the science and art of botany and horticulture taught in the context of the extensive indoor and outdoor plant collections of BBG. An understanding of the value of plants in natural and human history will complement an inquiry-based approach to learning how plants are built, how they work, and how they interact with the living and nonliving components of the diverse environments they inhabit.

Title II Professional Development Program for Nonpublic School Educators

Pre-K—6 Teachers

Registration must be completed through the Bureau of Nonpublic Schools; call 718-935-4975.

Kitchen Botany: The Plants We Eat

Offered Fall 2009

Enhance your understanding of basic botany and the role of plants in your everyday life through a hands-on workshop and guided tour of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, focusing on plants we eat. Participants will plant a kitchen windowsill garden, have the opportunity to register for a free school workshop at BBG, and receive printed materials.

Starting With Seeds: Beginning Investigations Through Inquiry

Offered Spring 2010

What do seeds need to grow? Participants will record observations, share prior knowledge about seed germination, and design and construct their own experiments to answer this question. Working in teams, they will follow the scientific method to generate their own answers to the questions they pose in this workshop. Participants will take home their seed experiment materials, a seed-starting kit for the classroom, printed materials, and have the opportunity to register for a free school workshop at BBG.

Urban Composting Workshops for Teachers in
New York City

Pre-K—12 Teachers

For more information on this and other workshops offered by the Brooklyn Compost Project, call 718-623-7290.

Worm Composting in the Classroom

Working with worms in the classroom offers a great hands-on way to teach ecology, recycling, and gardening. Learn how to set up a worm bin, feed worms with food scraps, and maintain the system successfully. Activities, curriculum ideas, and ways to incorporate worm composting into science, math, and language arts for students of all ages will be introduced. This class will be held at your Brooklyn school for a group of ten or more teachers. Teachers will receive the activity guidebook Worms Eat Our Garbage, by Mary Appelhof, and a coupon redeemable for a pound of red wiggler worms and a plastic worm bin at a reduced price.