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MARCH 2004

Seeds Teaches More than Just Plants

A new classroom curriculum, Garden Adventure SEEDS (Science Exploration, Education and Discovery Series) for kindergarten and first grade, premiered last spring to select educators with resounding success. SEEDS teaches about plant parts while strengthening inquiry, literacy, and numeracy skills. Subsequently, SEEDS rolled out to more than 30 schools, close to 100 curriculum units were sold, and approximately half a dozen teacher-training sessions were conducted.

To broaden its reach beyond the pilot program, SEEDS was presented at several local and regional conferences, including Science Council of New York, the New York City Museum Educators Roundtable, The Science Teacher’s Association of New York State, the New York Statewide Conference on InService Education, the Elementary School Science Association, and the Garden’s Teacher Open House.

According to Dr. Christina Colón, Curator of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, “There is such positive teacher response and they are overwhelmingly enthusiastic when they come for their training.” In addition to professional development sessions, teachers receive materials to use in the classroom and two class trips to the Adventure Garden. “I can’t begin to tell you how much I learned today,” exclaimed Ms. Brenda Macri, International School At Dundee (ISD) Greenwich teacher, after completing an intensive training. “We researched different options of teaching plant science in an inquiry-based way and found out about SEEDS. There is an alignment with our overall approach, and we appreciate the Garden’s education philosophy—particularly how children are encouraged to discover things on their own.”

The energy and momentum generated from the first SEEDS curriculum unit is enriching the creation of the second unit, Plant Adaptations, targeted for second and third grades. Teachers learned about the first unit’s success and are offering insight and expertise in the development of the lesson plans, as well as to field-test pilot units to meet its 2005 scheduled launch. The third unit, Plant Animal Interactions, for fourth and fifth grades is slated for a 2007 introduction.#

For more information call (718) 817-8743 or visit http:/www.nybg.org/edu

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