STEMAZing Summer Institute Green Thumbs, Powerful Plants & Wiggly Worms- Using School Gardens to Cultivate STEM Minds

Are you looking to grow and sustain a school garden? Do you want to start small with a worm composting bin using red wigglers you can keep in your classroom? Are you looking for teacher-tested ideas for developmentally appropriate school gardening activities? Do you want to help your young scientists make careful observations about how the plants around your school and our desert change from season to season? Look no further! This strand will be facilitated by national recognized school gardeners who have started and supported many school garden programs. Get your hands dirty as you learn from these experts and make a plan for where you will start and how you will grow and sustain your own school (or classroom) garden. No gardening experience or green thumb required. Wear the student hat as you explore how to integrate science and other subjects into school garden activities and then put on your teacher hat to consider modifications and adjustments for your particular school/classroom situation and the gardeners you teach.
STEMAZing Kit: All participants will have a kit waiting for them at Escuela Manzo on the first day of the institute on June 13th. Some components of the kit will need to be taken home for use during the virtual afternoon sessions. At the end of the final in-person session on Thursday, June 15th, participants will take all components of their kits home with them.
Audience: PreK-12th Grade Teachers
Facilitators: Moses Thompson – Associate Director at UArizona Community & School Garden Program and Stacy Evans - garden educator at Escuela Manzo and their amazing team
Location: HYBRID - this strand will be held in person (and mostly outside) in the mornings and then there will be a virtual session on Zoom in the afternoon.
Cost: $75 for three days of world-class professional development AND a STEMAZing Kit valued at more than $350.
Course Dates: Tuesday, June 13 - Thursday, June 15, 2023
Register: https://schoolspimagov.wildapricot.org/event-5281798