Natural Beginnings: A Teacher Training Model for Early Childhood Educators.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper presents a description of Natural Beginnings, an early childhood environmental education teacher inservice workshop. The purpose, content, and format of the workshop are discussed, as are evaluation results. Evaluation results indicate that the workshop was highly effective in increasing teachers' confidence in infusing environmental education into an early childhood curriculum, fostering teachers' own understanding and appreciation of the natural environment, introducing teachers to environmental education materials and other resources in the community, and fostering partnerships between early childhood educators and environmental education resource professionals. One unique feature of the workshop was the development and field-testing of new environmental education materials (i.e., activity kits and instructional units) appropriate for the early childhood level. In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of the workshop, participant feedback was also used to develop recommendations for similar workshops in the future. Additional benefits resulting from the workshop include increasing parents' and colleagues' interest and involvement in environmental education activities. (Author/PVD)