Education

Educator Professional Development

Brooklyn Children’s Museum offers a range of professional development and learning opportunities for Educators that utilize the Museum’s collections and pedagogies. BCM is certified to offer Continuing Teacher & Leader Education (CTLE) credits for participation.

Workshops focus on a wide range of topics, including object-based and inquiry-based learning, early childhood development, experiential and sensory learning, and artmaking. Through interactive exploration and hands-on activities, educators will explore new ideas and share feedback with their peers about practical applications. Our goal is to create an environment that will spark educator’s imaginations and support their lesson planning to meet curricular goals in a creative way. Every workshop includes time spent exploring the Museum’s exhibits and collection of cultural objects and natural science specimens.

Professional development workshops can be customized depending on areas of content interest and learning goals. Content can be scaled to teachers of children of early childhood age through high school and workshops can take place in-person or virtually.

Workshop Structure

Half-day workshop run from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
$85 per participant, includes all materials
Breakfast and lunch catering may be added for an added cost
Full-day workshops also available

Workshop Themes

Learning Through the Senses

Museum Learning Strategies: approaches, tools, and materials for translation into the classroom environment.
Museum Exploration: Using a scavenger hunt guide, teachers navigate the museum and identify exhibit components and interactive experiences that connect with aspects of sensory exploration.

Learning Through Objects

Collections handling, interpretation approaches, visual description and thinking strategies.
Make Your Own Museum: Working in small groups, this hands-on activity combines object-based inquiry strategies with exhibit interpretation and vocabulary building skills as each group makes a mini museum based on everyday objects

Art Exploration

In ColorLab, BCM’s art studio, programs are rooted in the creative works and cultures of Black artists. Teachers are introduced to muse artist inspired projects, community agreements that set the backdrop for art-making, develop language to support children’s art-making experiences, and engage in hands-on art-making.

STEM Learning

In Nature’s Engineers, BCM’s new maker space, explore scientific inquiry through hands-on projects that create opportunities to test, design, and iterate.
Projects include: Making a simple model that mimics seed wind dispersal; Design, build, and test your own structure to see how tall it can be built; and Making your own wind turbine.

To schedule a workshop or for more information, please reach out to Allison Huttick at ahuttick@brooklynkids.org.