Facilitator Resources
Building The Capacity Of Educators
Suites of resources on a range of early STEAM topics for facilitators and coaches to use in professional learning with educators.
Preparing for PL Facilitation
This section covers key facilitation strategies for STEAM PL sessions, such as the following:
- building participants’ sense of belonging in STEAM
- setting up materials and the learning environment to maximize participant engagement
- promoting collaboration among participants
- modeling effective STEAM practices
- offering opportunities for feedback and reflection
As you review the CPE Facilitator Resources to plan for STEAM PL, notice how these strategies are embedded in the suites to make sessions engaging and enjoyable for participants. For instance, facilitator guides in the CPE suites include ideas for small and large group discussions that offer opportunities for playful adult learning activities, collaboration, feedback, and reflection.
Build a Sense of Belonging in STEAM
Building participants’ sense of belonging in STEAM supports their interest in STEAM teaching and learning.
- Share your authentic self with participants. Include examples and observations from your lived experiences. Model openness, vulnerability, and willingness to learn new things.
- Connect personally with participants. For example, send or make personalized invitations to attend. Share why an upcoming PL session might benefit participants.
- During the session, engage participants in STEAM explorations using the active, playful learning activities embedded in the CPE Facilitator Resources.
- After the session, follow up with participants. Offer coaching or other supports to build your relationship with participants and their STEAM knowledge and skills.
- Provide opportunities for participants to use their funds of knowledge—skills, languages, and practices based on lived experiences and identities—during STEAM PL (Moll et al., 2009; Moore, 2008).
- Encourage participants to share about their STEAM experiences in different ways. Storytelling can be an effective way to learn about the STEAM experiences of educators, particularly those who identify as women of color, as it makes space for their voices, lived experiences, and ways of knowing that are often marginalized in traditional narratives (Rosa & Mensah, 2016). For example, an educator in a study shared how working at her grandparents’ farm contributed to her interest in the natural world, while her experiences at a university somewhat lessened her connection to science (Avraamidou, 2019).
Reflect:
Consider your personal or professional experiences with STEAM. What experiences might you share in a PL session to build community and contribute to participants’ sense of belonging in STEAM?
For more strategies on supporting participants’ sense of belonging in STEAM, visit the STEAM Identity and Sense of Belonging (coming soon) suite of resources.
Examples of STEAM PL
Observe these images of STEAM PL sessions held in various early learning settings.
Image description: Educators sit around tables while exploring pattern blocks. A facilitator stands at the far end of one of the tables, looking down toward the pattern blocks. Three screens are mounted on the far wall. The screen in the center displays the slides, and the screens on either side display remote participants’ Zoom screens.
Image description: Two educators stand facing each other, each holding a piece of paper. Between them, an anchor chart is taped to the wall. The chart is titled “Table 10” and includes a numbered list of discussion topics related to early math learning.
Image description: Educators stand at a long table with bags of colorful building bricks and different mats taped down to the table. The educators build different structures on the mats.
Image description: A group of educators sit at a table with chart paper in the center. One of the educators writes a playdough recipe on the chart paper.
Reflect:
- What do you notice or wonder about how participants engage with the materials and the learning environment?
- What do you notice or wonder about how the participants engage with each other or the facilitator?
Choosing Appropriate Materials
Facilitators should carefully consider which materials participants will engage with and how the materials may impact participants’ learning experience. Depending on the PL participants and their contexts, facilitators should also consider the cost of materials, how materials are organized, and whether participants can take materials back to their learning settings.
Materials serve a variety of purposes during PL sessions. Here are some examples of how materials support participants:
- Presentation slides, which may require a projector, projector screen, and laser pointer
- Handouts
- Photos
- Video examples
- Books
- Sticky notes
- Chart paper
- Name tags
- Markers and pens
- Virtual note-taking tools, such as Padlet or Google Docs
- Number and counting: collections of small objects, base ten blocks, containers, egg cartons
- Measurement: containers, balls, jars, or blocks of different sizes
- Standardized measurement tools such as rulers, measuring cups and spoons, and measuring tapes
- Nonstandardized measurement tools such as same-sized blocks, sticks, and paper clips
- Force and motion: ramps, tubes, balls, wheeled objects, pendulums, funnels
- Light and shadow: flashlights, magnifying glasses, mirrors
- Arts and crafts: coloring supplies, scissors, tape, recycled products, natural materials (such as sand, sticks, and rocks)
- Camera
- Note-taking sheets
- Big posters or anchor charts
Setting Up an Engaging and Inclusive Learning Environment
The learning environment plays an important role in how participants will engage throughout the session. While preparing for the PL session, facilitators should consider the session format—in-person, virtual, or hybrid—and ways to make the environment inclusive and accessible for all participants. For example, facilitators might consider how to do the following:
- How will you arrange the tables and chairs to support participant interaction and collaboration?
- Do you need any open floor space for session activities?
- Will session activities take place indoors, outdoors, or both? Do you have a backup indoor plan in case of bad weather?
- Will participants remain in one large group or be split into smaller groups?
- How much time will you need to set up the space?
- Where will participants find the materials for session activities?
- Will participants remain in the same space throughout the session, or will they move around the space for different activities?
- Will participants self-select their small groups, or will groups be pre-assigned intentionally?
- How much time will you need to navigate between multiple spaces?
- What kinds of visuals will you provide for participants?
- Will you incorporate music or other audio during any part of the session?
- What kinds of active experiences will participants engage in during the session?
- What additional sensory considerations might participants have? For example, will you provide snacks or beverages? What will the room temperature be?
- How will you gather information about participants’ unique preferences (for example, preferred name, gender pronouns, languages, physical accommodations, etc.)?
- How will you ensure that all participants have access to session materials and resources (for example, printed, electronic, or translated materials and remediated digital documents for use with assistive technology such as screen readers)?
- How will you ensure that all participants are able to participate in session activities (for example, providing modifications for activities that require physical movement)?
- What accommodations or modifications may participants need to participate fully during the session? For example, will you provide translation services or ensure that the space is wheelchair accessible?
Reflect:
Review the considerations related to materials and learning environment. What is one new strategy you hope to try out in your next PL session?
For additional resources on in-person, virtual, and hybrid PL formats, visit the Building Systems to Promote Early STEAM in Your Agency self-study module.
Supporting Collaboration
When participants share their ideas with others, they make deeper connections to their own teaching practice. Review the following vignettes from agencies who provided STEAM PL for educators in their community. Reflect on the unique considerations of each agency and the ways they promote collaborative learning.
Vignette #1
The STEAM leadership team in a school district chooses a “Lesson Lab” PL format to engage educators in life science learning. Lesson Labs are full-day sessions organized by grade level during which educators learn about a new activity in the morning and implement it in the afternoon with children. The team focuses on ways to explore measurement and spatial thinking in the school community garden. The Lesson Lab promotes collaboration as educators learn about plant growth and gardening alongside colleagues, try out new strategies, and reflect together about their implementation experience. After the Lesson Lab experience, coaches meet with educators to more concretely plan how they can integrate these experiences into their classrooms.
Vignette #2
A COE is part of a P–3 alignment network. The COE’s STEAM leadership team uses this network to plan a series of early math and science PL sessions for P–3 educators. Based on data, the COE team selects 30 educators who teach in each of the P–3 grades to participate in the sessions, during which they engage in playful STEAM explorations and explore P–3 math and science standards. Throughout the sessions, educators from different grade levels meet in small groups to discuss the activities in relation to their respective grade-level standards. These discussions help educators build a shared understanding of children’s math and science development across P–3.
Reflect:
What is similar or different about each agency’s approach to collaborative learning? How might each agency’s approach to collaboration contribute to participants’ learning?
Modeling Effective Early STEAM Practices
When facilitators model or show demonstrations of effective early STEAM practices, educators can observe what the practices look like in action. Facilitators can illustrate effective practices for educators in multiple ways:
- video examples
- images or examples of materials and learning environment
- vignettes or written examples
- role-play activities
- children’s work samples
- examples of unit and lesson plans
Educators benefit from having realistic examples to reflect on and apply to their own context. For example, facilitators can share examples and observations from their own lived experiences. Facilitators might also invite educators to share examples from their learning settings.
As you explore the CPE Facilitator Resources, consider the various models of effective STEAM practices embedded in the suites, such as videos, vignettes, and images of educators and children.
Opportunities for Feedback and Reflection
PL sessions should include multiple chances for participants to make connections to their teaching practice. These moments are valuable opportunities for facilitators to learn from the richness of participants’ diverse experiences and offer individualized support.
To support participants in reflecting on and connecting to their practice, consider providing a few open-ended discussion prompts:
- What is something new you learned today that you hope to try in your setting?
- What was a challenge you experienced today? How did you approach or solve this challenge? What further support might you need?
- What is a question you are left wondering about after today’s session?
Review the facilitator guides in the CPE Facilitator Resources for additional examples of reflection prompts and strategies, such as individual reflections, think-pair-share, and small and large group discussions. Consider how these prompts provide opportunities for participants to reflect on their learning and apply new skills in their teaching practice.
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Building Your Capacity
Modules for leaders, professional learning facilitators, and coaches to build their knowledge and skills in how to provide early STEAM professional learning.
