When & Where:  This free workshop for educators was held  on Saturday March 24, 2018 from 10:00am to noon in the confeerence room of the Museum of International Cultures. Participants had interesting discussions and hands-on experience with a few simple activities.

The Workshop: The Chemical Eduation Foundation (CEF)  You Be The Chemist Essential Elements℠ program is a professional development workshop designed to provide K–8 educators—our “essential elements” in education—with methods for teaching chemistry concepts through hands-on learning and real-world connections.

Essential Elements is based on the 5E learning cycle approach to teaching, which is based in the theory of constructivism. Through this cycle, students build their own understanding of new concepts from both prior and new experiences. Each part of the cycle describes a phase of learning: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.

During an Essential Elements workshop, the instructor will lead educators through a full 5E learning cycle utilizing a lesson from the CEF Activity Guides. Educators then get a chance to collaborate and plan their own 5E lesson from additional Activity Guide lessons.

The Presenter:   Andrea Dagley is a Texas State Certified Teacher, specializing in grades 6-12 education.

She has been teaching at Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill for four years and with Texas schools for the last 12 years. Her favorite school activities include coaching junior high volleyball – which she has done for the last 12 years – and going to watch her students play at other sporting events and activities. In her free time, she loves spending time with her husband and two kids! She received her Master’s Degree in education from Dallas Baptist University and is looking forward to starting her doctorate sometime in the future.