Lehigh Valley Early Care & Education Hosts Sixth Annual Professional Development Day for Early Childhood Educators

Almost 200 early childhood educators from Northampton and Lehigh counties participated in the sixth annual Lehigh Valley Early Care & Education Professional Development Day on Monday, October 8, 2012 at Lehigh Carbon Community College. These educators teach in child care centers, group homes and family day care centers throughout the Lehigh Valley.

The theme of this year’s one day conference was “Leading Children to Discovery.” Early childhood educators earned credit hours while learning to engage children in developing an appreciation for scientific inquiry. The teachers will bring back the information they learned to children, birth to age five, whom they care for in early learning centers. 

Participants engaged in hands-on sessions with instructors from Da Vinci Science Center, The Lehigh Valley Zoo, Wildlands Conservancy, and Penn State Cooperative Extension. These organizations support the use of the environment as a tool for the education of young children. Insects and animals were part of the workshops, with a snake, sloth, rabbit, Screech-owl, Leopard gecko, Madagascar hissing cockroach and skunk (descented!) all used to demonstrate inquiry and problem solving in the art of teaching science to children.

Child care center directors and early childhood educators also heard keynote speaker Katharine Beals, PhD, author of "Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at Home and at School" Katharine has taught math, computer science, social studies, expository writing, linguistics, and English as a second language to students of all ages, both in the U.S. and overseas. She is currently a lecturer at the University Of Pennsylvania Graduate School Of Education and an adjunct professor at the Drexel University School of Education.

After lunch conference attendees were encouraged by David Smith, Chief Scientist at Da Vinci Science Center, to build with the bins of KEVA planks placed at each table. Each plank is made of maple wood and each piece is the same size: ¼ inch thick, ¾ inch wide and 4 1/2 inches long. According to the KEVA website the planks can be used to teach science, technology, engineering and math to children and adults, “From the simplest counting exercises to the most complex bridge challenges, KEVA can change abstract concepts into tangible form. Children can get a "feel" for numbers and a first-hand understanding of the physical forces acting on the planks.” The early childhood educators came up with some artistic and architectural wonders by either working together, or individually, during the hour long exercise.