Openings into Collective Learning
CRS Provides Time for Teachers to Learn & Plan Together
October 2022
On a warm, breezy afternoon, after the students have been dismissed from class for the day, a half dozen women and men gather around some poster papers spread on a classroom floor. They peer closely at a pile of dried beans, jot down notes in the notebooks balanced on their open palms, and make a prediction: What will happen when a marble is dropped onto the pile of beans?
The teachers erupt in “ah”s and bright laughter after the first test drop. Eager to dig in and do more test runs, they change variables, discussing with one another until they arrive at a satisfactory explanation for the results they observe.
Just as they will do later with their own students, the teachers allow curiosity to drive their exploration of a phenomenon, during a CRS Fall professional learning session called “Fun with Physical Science.”
It’s just one of many workshops and collaboration sessions CRS is facilitating, engaging hundreds of East Bay elementary and middle school teachers in opportunities to deepen their own understanding of science topics and effective teaching strategies.
“Time to talk together, to try things out, to share ideas - this is exactly what I need!” said one Richmond 2nd grade teacher. Whether in person or in a virtual workshop, teachers regularly tell CRS that connecting with one another and with actual STEM professionals is what helps them to become stronger, more confident teachers.
CRS has been instrumental in turning me into a science teacher. Science was never my strongest subject in school and, as a teacher, I did not feel particularly competent to teach science to my students. However, the training I received from CRS has made me feel confident about teaching science. I realized that I did not have to know everything about a topic or be able to answer all students' questions. Science is about curiosity and exploration; it is about approaching problems with a certain mindset; it is about careful observation and critical thinking. Now, my students do science every week and we learn together.
- Richmond Teacher
“We appreciate the partnership of many foundations and donors who make this work possible,” explains CRS Executive Director Teresa Barnett. “We focus on schools that often do not have extra funds for science training and materials – so without community support, those students would miss out on the critical early science learning opportunities.”
Recently, CRS was awarded a major grant from Impact100 East Bay, to scale up efforts to empower teachers to coach and support their fellow teachers in integrating joyful math and science explorations in their classrooms.