Educator Workshops
Come see how the world of automobiles opens doors to learning. Each Educator Workshop will provide an in-depth look at curriculum for your classroom (K-12) to create meaningful connections for students. Earn clock hours as you tailor lessons to meet the needs of your students and walk away with materials to immediately implement in your school.
***POSTPONED*** Full STEAM Ahead: A K-12 Educator Workshop | March 4, 2023 | 9 am – 4 pm
Tacoma’s Museum District brings you creative new ways to incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics into your classroom. Educators from America’s Car Museum, Foss Waterway Seaport, Museum of Glass, Tacoma Art Museum, Washington State History Museum, and Slater Museum of Natural History will provide engaging, hands-on workshops for both primary and secondary teachers, offering lesson plans and supplementary materials for educators to utilize in their own classrooms.
Registration includes lunch, cross-curricular lesson plans, parking and admission to each museum. Participation in the program qualifies for 6 clock hours.
Registration fee: $60
* Please note that refunds cannot be issued following the close of program registration. In order to receive a refund prior to the close of registration, all cancellations must be made in writing.
Please check with your school district regarding reimbursement for professional development.
SESSIONS & LOCATIONS
Session 1 | 9:30 am – 11:15 am
Nature in the Classroom
Presented by Slater Museum of Natural History
Bring the incredible biodiversity of the Puget Sound right into your classroom with the Slater Museum of Natural History’s Nature in the Classroom kits! With the direction of educators from the Slater Museum of Natural History, you’ll learn how to properly teach these free multidisciplinary science-based curriculum kits that allow students to explore the biodiversity of the Puget Sound using real-life museum specimens.
OR
Junior Curator Academy
Presented by Museum of Glass
Join educators from the Museum of Glass to learn more about Junior Curator Academy, an engaging program offered both in-person and virtually. Experience this social-studies centered educational program as your students would and consider how you might bring these interdisciplinary lessons back to your school and your classroom!
Session 2 | 11:30 am – 1:15 pm
Materials Matter: 3D Printing and Innovative Applications
Presented by LeMay-America’s Car Museum
Join educators from LeMay – America’s Car Museum to explore 3D modeling and printing and discuss how new materials and innovative applications are changing the world of the automobile. Learn more about how engineers are choosing materials as they consider sustainability. Then, experiment with light-weighting as we investigate renewable power sources and the implications of electric vehicles. This session will offer lesson plans that can be modified to meet the needs of elementary, middle, and high school students.
OR
Exhibit Design: What Stories Can Objects Tell?
Presented by Washington State History Museum
Turn your classroom into a museum! Join educators from the Washington State Historical Society for this workshop where you will learn what goes into planning a successful museum exhibit, and how to help your students act as curators, designers, and engineers to create exhibits of their own on any topic—from salmon, to steam trains, to storytelling. Plus, you’ll get the chance to tour and evaluate a museum exhibit for yourself.
Session 3 | 1:45 pm – 3:30 pm
Visual Thinking Strategies
Presented by Tacoma Art Museum
In this session, presented by Tacoma Art Museum, educators will learn about Visual Thinking Strategies, an inquiry-based method of teaching with works of art. Visual Thinking Strategies provides ways for teachers to make learning more community based and more accessible for students from all different backgrounds and promotes critical thinking/problem solving/empathy building within classrooms and schools. Practice this method with your fellow teachers and participate in a hands-on art project to explore how to apply this method in your classroom. You’ll leave the program with creative ideas of how to invigorate curriculum, how to facilitate engaging dialogue with students, and how to integrate more accessible and inclusive practices in your teaching styles.
OR
Dream Stream
Presented by Foss Waterway Seaport
Teachers will be able to understand what a healthy riparian zone means, what salmon need in order to thrive in a stream, and how to multiple biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors can have an impact on our local salmon health.
“Dream Stream” is a hands on activity that gets students thinking about human impacts on our environment and what that means for other living beings. Incorporating the “Riparian Zone” by Northwest Treaty Tribes opens up a conversation on how salmon are not only a food staple for current peoples but that they hold a cultural significance for local tribes across the Northwest.
Event Details:
When: Saturday, March 4, 2023 | 9 am – 4 pm
Where: LeMay – America’s Car Museum
Contact: Education Department – education@americascarmuseum.org | 253.683.3978