Teachers participating in a MARE workshop.

EDUCATOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Reflecting on Practice:
A Coaching Workshop for Informal Educators

Birch Aquarium at Scripps is inviting two educational leaders/practitioners from Southern California museums, science centers, zoos and aquariums and other informal education organizations to participate in a FREE four-part professional development workshops series designed to introduce and model reflective practices.

Participants will engage in activities that lead to introspections about their practice and draw on current research regarding learning and teaching in informal environments.

Participants are strongly encouraged to attend all four sessions of the workshop series and share the featured practices with their educational team. 

Workshop Highlights:

• Valuable skills and strategies for building reflection into your individual and institutional practices.
• Printed/electronic copies of workshop materials and resources. 
• Hands-on activities used to illustrate teaching and learning theory. 
• Sharing ideas and strategies with peers as a larger community of practice. 
• Use of videotaping and observation instruments to analyze elements of practice. 

This unique learning opportunity is available at two venues:

San Diego Workshop

Long Beach Workshop

For more information download flyer Reflecting on Practice (PDF)

To learn how others have used Reflecting on Practice, read Building Communities of Practice in Informal Science Education (PDF)

NOAA OCEAN EXPLORER: WHY DO WE EXPLORE?
May 5, 2012

NOAA developed the Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection to encourage educators and students to become personally involved in its voyages and discoveries. This workshop focuses on the first volume of the Education Materials Collection Why Do We Explore? (reasons for ocean exploration). Participants receive many curricula and classroom resources while this day-long professional development offering aims to build regional cadres of ocean exploration teacher leaders. Birch Aquarium is excited to host this NOAA workshop in partnership with San Diego County Office of Education through a grant from National Marine Fisheries Service.

RSVP: Contact Adrienne Marriott at creec9a@hotmail.com or (619) 252-3450, or call the Birch Aquarium Education Department at 858-534-7336 TIME: 8 a.m.–3:30 p.m. FREE: If you attend a workshop, you are eligible for a $50 stipend.

Discover MARE: Marine Activities, Resources, and Education

Birch Aquarium at Scripps is the premier Southern California MARE center, providing teachers and schools with science education programs, professional development opportunities, and whole-school Ocean Immersion planning. Developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science, MARE is used in more than 800 elementary and middle schools throughout the United States, Mexico, and Japan, providing challenging professional development base on the most current scientific and educational research. MARE instructors can provide whole-school orientations, help organize an Ocean Week, coach teachers in marine science content, and/or teach day-long single-session habitat workshops that are theme and grade specific. If you would like to introduce MARE to your school, please call the MARE program coordinator at 858-534-8604 or the Birch Aquarium School Programs Coordinator at 858-534-5208.

NATIONAL OCEAN SCIENCES BOWL (NOSB)

High school teachers—gather your most interested science students and join Birch Aquarium at Scripps for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition. Birch Aquarium and Scripps Institution of Oceanography will host the 15th annual La Jolla Grunion Bowl on March 3, 2012. The first place team from our Southern California regional competition will advance to the national competition at Baltimore, Maryland, April 19-22, 2012. The competition theme for 2012 is A Sea of Change: Evolution and Development.

For more information on the competition or advice about how to assemble a team, please visit the aquarium's NOSB page; the Consortium for Ocean Leadership website, nosb.org; or call the aquarium’s NOSB Regional Coordinator at 858-534-5208.

E-RESOURCES

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Explorations e-magazine

explorations.ucsd.edu

Earthguide

earthguide.ucsd.edu

Scripps Library

scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/

Coastal Data Information Program

cdip.ucsd.edu

Ocean Careers

oceancareers.com

MARE

lawrencehallofscience.org/mare

E-NEWSLETTER

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BOOKSHOP

Dive into an ocean of knowledge! A wide selection of marine science books and educational tools are available for purchase online from Birch Aquarium’s Bookshop. Remember, teachers always enjoy a 10% discount at the aquarium bookshop!