UC California Naturalist and our UC Agriculture & Natural Resources statewide program partner Project Learning Tree (PLT) have joined forces to offer a series of workshops in 2020.
Project Learning Tree uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase students' understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. Since 1976, PLT has reached 138 million students and trained 765,000 educators to help students learn how to think, not what to think about complex environmental issues.
PLT's professional development helps educators learn how to integrate environmental education into their teaching and become comfortable teaching outdoors—in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Workshops and online courses teach educators how best to use PLT's instructional materials with their own students in their own setting and how to engage with (and draw upon) their community in learning about and taking action to address local environmental issues. Continuing education credits are available in most states.
In-person trainings include one-day workshops, in-service days, a series of classes spread throughout a semester, week-long institutes, and other sustained and intensive models. These events are planned and conducted by certified facilitators and customized for specific grade levels, topics, and teaching situations. While we love the in-person contact time when facilitating these workshops, an online course can be completed in your own time, wherever you are. The courses for early childhood, K-8, and becoming a GreenSchool include demonstration videos, simulations, planning exercises, and state-specific resources. Learn more.
The second event took place on March 4 at the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden, as day two of a California Naturalist new instructor workshop. New instructors from Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Nature For All, Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, and Community Nature Connection, plus a handful of our existing partners including the Catalina Island Conservancy and the Southern California Mountains Foundation Urban Conservation Corps participated.
Join us to learn about ways to integrate this award-winning curriculum into your programs and teaching. These upcoming events are co-led and sponsored by California Naturalist.
UC California Naturalist and our UC Agriculture & Natural Resources statewide program partner Project Learning Tree (PLT) have joined forces to offer a series of workshops with program partners in 2020. Join us to learn about ways to integrate this award-winning curriculum into your programs and teaching. These upcoming events are co-led and sponsored by California Naturalist. For a full list of PLT trainings, view their website.
Registration is open for PLT Educator Workshop in Mendocino County
Saturday February 29, 2020. 10AM-4PM at the UC ANR Hopland Research & Extension Center. $10. Download a flier.
- Become a Project Learning Tree certified educator
- Be engaged in a hands-on workshop for both formal and non-formal educators
- Investigate environmental topics in the oak woodlands with indoor and outdoor activities adaptable to all ages
- Receive PLT's PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide, correlated to national and state academic standards
Please bring a packed lunch. Coffee/tea and snacks provided. NO DOGS: Due to our management of sheep with guard animals on this site.
Instructors include UC ANR Community Education Specialists Hannah Bird (Hopland Research & Extension Center) and Brook Gamble (UC California Naturlaist Program). Please contact Brook Gamble 707-744-1424 x108 for details.
- Author: Sarah Angulo
The days grow shorter and the temperatures are gradually getting cooler – fall is approaching, and that means it's time for school to start! Teachers are getting their classrooms ready and students are getting fresh supplies to head back to school. For our fall California Naturalist courses, heading into the classroom has a whole different meaning.
The classroom sessions are just a piece of the whole learning experience in a UC California Naturalist course. Take it from this West Valley College certified Naturalist, who explained, “The content presented in class before the field trip helped students understand what they were getting ready to study during our week long trip. The content during the trip helped us expand on the foundation we were left with before the trip. Interacting with others helped me out by talking to people who have visited the areas that we were in before the trip.”
The combination of classroom lectures, field trips, volunteer projects, class citizen science projects, use of iNaturalist, and interacting with guest speakers and fellow students is a unique learning experience that many naturalists describe as “transformational.” This fall, you can join the community of 4,000 people across the state who have become certified naturalists. With California's wonderful diversity in terms of both its nature and its people, there's a course that's right for everyone. We have courses taking place in the Lake Tahoe Basin, along the banks of the American River, up in the redwood forest, amidst the Coast Range's golden hills, adjacent to a National Seashore, in the coastal chaparral, right in the middle of urban space, and more! Find a fall course near you here.
Every teacher undergoes training before entering the indoor or outdoor classroom, and our California Naturalist instructors are no exception. This fall, instructors from potential new course locations have an opportunity to sign up for our instructor training. Taking place at Elkus Ranch November 13 & 14, this two day training includes a special opportunity for both new and continuing instructors.
November 13 is an introduction for organizations who have completed a partner interest form and have initiated plans together with the California Naturalist Program Team to offer the course to their community, volunteers, or staff. The workshop is one required step in the application process to partner with the program. Additional instructor team members are welcome to attend, as well as current instructors who have not undergone the instructor training in 3 or more years to receive updated information on administrative processes.
November 14 is a UCANR Fire Education Workshop- an advanced training professional development opportunity specifically for Project Learning Tree (PLT) instructors working with 4-H or CalNat to enhance their content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and use of technology in the design and delivery of fire education programs in California. The workshop will expose participants to all three elements of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge and include opening and closing presentations providing additional context to the challenges of fire education in California and the role that PLT, 4-H, and the California Naturalist Program play in addressing them. The overarching goal of the workshop is to enhance the capacity of the instructors to deliver high quality programming to their respective audiences.
This training is geared for existing PLT instructors (educators and facilitators) from the California Naturalist program and 4-H program who have or plan to integrate a PLT workshop into their program, CalNat instructors attending the ongoing Northern California Instructor Training, and other interested 4-H participants. Those not currently affiliated with the PLT, CalNat, or 4-H may be considered if space is available.
- Author: Eliot Freutel
Our day started brisk and damp as the sun rolled out behind a curtain of central coast fog. We gathered in the grey light with our morning tea, dressed in warm clothes as the steam from our breath billowed out in front of laughter and conversation on the subject of tide pool safety and ecology.
What followed was a deep dive (pun intended) into the intertidal zone of our California coast.
Most of these organisms move very slow, if at all. To observe them you need a lot of patience, a keen eye and steady footing. Perfectly adapted to this dynamic environment, these organisms often mimic their surroundings. By asking yourself “how does this animal move, eat, and avoid predation?” their biology starts to demystify, and their secrets are revealed.
More than 30 observing naturalists helped to spot, I.D. and record the location of over 40 tide pool species to iNaturalist. Monitoring our tide pool diversity is crucial to its long-term preservation: In 2013, Sea Star wasting disease hit hard along our coast and decimated populations from Vancouver, B.C. down to Baja California. This weekend's mini BioBlitz saw healthy specimens in relatively healthy numbers and cataloged the recovery of at least 3 species of sea star.
The California Naturalist 2019 Regional Rendezvous was a meeting of over 80 naturalists, state-wide staff, and program partners. These passionate observers from across the state visited Camp Ocean Pines (a CalNat course partner) in Cambria for a 3-day immersive and educational experience, complete with field trips, workshops, guest speakers and more. 44 observers made 289 observations of 112 species on iNaturalist.
- Author: Gregory Ira
“Transformational—the class gave me tools to transform intent to application, especially in areas where I've been unsure how best to be effective.”
“I am still aglow with my “new eyes” that can see so much more clearer with a naturalist lens.”
- California Naturalist Course Participant Feedback
Defining transformative learning and identifying elements that contribute to it is complex. There are formal educational theories (developed by Jack Mezirow1 and others) and popular usage of the term transformational experiences. Central to most of these definitions are learning experiences that challenge our existing beliefs, perspectives, and behaviors and force us to reshape our understanding of the world. Clearly, this type of learning doesn't occur often and isn't something that a program can guarantee. However, I believe it is something that all California Naturalist instructors recognize and actively work toward.
While there is no single recipe for creating transformative learning experiences, there are some recognized elements - some within our control and others not. Four that I think hold the most promise are challenging field experiences, discrepant events, reflection through journaling, and capstone projects. Challenging field experiences take us out of our comfort zone, help us break old habits, and allow us to recognize new capabilities. Discrepant events challenge our existing beliefs by producing outcomes that are unexpected. Reflection gives us time to process, synthesize, and ultimately communicate what we've learned. Finally, capstone projects reinforce our ability to combine new knowledge and beliefs into action.
We look forward to hearing your own stories, experiences and practices that have resulted in seeing and walking through the world with “new eyes.” California Naturalist is in the process of collecting stories around the state of transformative learning experiences that were catalyzed by participation in a CalNat course. Click on this link to share your story with our naturalist community.
1 For more info on transformative learning theory see Mezirow, J. (1997). "Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice." New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 5–12. Or this comprehensive overview.
