Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers

 

Content Detail

The Morton Arboretum is dedicated to supporting the educators that are teaching the tree stewards of the future. In addition to providing the materials and resources, the Arboretum hosts teacher workshops that align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards, and when applicable Common Core State Standards. Additionally, these workshops provide CPDH credit for participating individuals.

Teachers and educators, expand your knowledge and skills with workshops that foster a connection to nature and the environment for your students.

In addition to workshops and courses within our professional development framework of offerings, we also partner with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to offer ENTICE (Environment and Nature Training Institute for Conservation Education) workshops throughout the year. For more information on these offerings, and to learn more about other ENTICE programs in your area, visit this webpage.

 

Leafing Through History: Arboretum primary sources for students

Saturday, November 19, 2022 | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Branching together science, history, and language arts, uncover how your students can become historians by leafing through local historical photos, herbarium specimens, and artifacts available at The Morton Arboretum. Navigate the Sterling Morton Library's digital archives and utilize Arboretum primary sources while learning how to utilize free loaning resources. Participants will visit the Herbarium and explore how herbarium sheets give insight into the trees of the past. Participants will also create their own Herbarium sheet with local flora, and explore writing and research activities centered around DuPage county and Arboretum history. This workshop is aligned to Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and Illinois Social Science Learning Standards. Content and activities are geared to educators of grades fourth through eighth. Come prepared to spend some time outdoors and explore the Arboretum's past and present treasures.

  • Recommended audience: fourth through eighth grade educators

    Continuing education: 5.5 hours or 5.5 CPDHs

    Register online now!

    This workshop will focus on the following Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

    • 4.LS1.1: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
    • 5.ESS2.1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
    • MS.LS1.4: Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.
    • MS.LS1.5: Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
    • MS.LS4.1: Analyze and interpret data for patterns in the fossil record that document the existence, diversity, extinction, and change of life forms throughout the history of life on Earth under the assumption that natural laws operate today as in the past.

    This workshop will focus on the following Illinois Social Science Learning Standards:

    • SS.H.1.6-8.MdC: Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
    • SS.H.2.6-8.MC: Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.
    • SS.H.3.6-8.LC: Classify the kinds of historical sources used in secondary interpretation.
  • $20; Registration includes access to the Arboretum grounds and handouts.

    Registration opens on August 1, 2022.

    Registrants must dress appropriately to spend part of the day outdoors.
    Registrants must bring their own brown bag lunch; there is not a facility to purchase food where the program will take place.