Documentation and Assessments
Guest Presenter: Hannah Lindner-Finlay
Inside-Outside: Nature-based Educators of New England (Name Change!)
Present: Joan Carey, Jess Arrow, Caylin Gans, Landere Nesbit, Hannah Lindner-Finlay, Emily Champigny, Maira Arteaga, Eric, Liza Lowe, Sarah Wilson
Zoom: Emily Calhoun, Mindy Beltramo, Emma Hallowell, Ellen Doris
Meeting Notes:
4:30-5:15 coffee hour (introductions, check-in, snacks and drinks)
5:15-6:00 Learn what tools are being used for documentation and assessment in the field and in the classroom. What’s working? What’s not?
When does documentation happen in a productive way?
Using the children’s notes/voices (quotes) as documentation
Not just reflecting the child’s growth, but shifting conversation around a topic/theme.
Utilizing floorbooks: sitting in a circle/semi-circle, children are talking about learning and explaining the photos that are pasted in the book. (Tip: take pictures and share pictures the next day with children rather than the same day.) Children see themselves doing the activity/the learning.
Provide the children with a slide show of their activities on your computer screen.
How do you share learning with families?
Provide a weekly blog that gets shared with families including children’s quotes and photos.
E-mail families
Utilize social media
→ include a paragraph of the experience, the connection to the standard, a photo log
Documentation:
Video and audio recordings and cell phones (please check with your school’s/organization’s rules and guidelines around the use of personal devices for recording and documenting).
Nature Journals: having children keep their own nature journals on a regular basis.
Evernote (an app for note taking, etc.)
Naturalist Notebook (Emily Calhoun): We saw… We explored… We wondered...
Rite in the Rain notebooks
→ When there is no indoor space in your program you could laminate photos to share/show documented learning.
Assessment Tools
Comprehensive Self-Assessment Rubric
Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale - a formative evaluation tool to help programs improve nature education for young children
Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and ASQ Social Emotional (ASQ: SE)
Assessment Tool for NbE Curriculum
Other Helpful Resources:
You’ll find the Dimensions Nature Notes and Key Skills observation forms in appendix A (pg. 91 and 92) Child Initiated Experiences in NEC
Tools and Tricks for Nature-based Documentation and Assessment - NAAEE recorded webinar
The Documentation Studio at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
Upcoming Open Studio: Wednesday, March 27th
Some examples of documentation in this article: Playing with Nature
Next meeting time/date? Please access the Doodle poll
* Mark Your Calendars for these upcoming PD opportunities!
In Bloom Conference
Brattleboro, VT (Sat. March 23rd)
Kittery, ME (Sat. April 27th)
Amherst, MA (Sat. June 8th)
ECO Institute at the North Branch Nature Center - Registration is now open!
The Art of Mentoring with Vermont Wilderness School - Registration is now open!
