If you have partcipated in this workshop before, please refrain from registering. We will be priorizing registered teachers who have not taken this workshop in the past.
Workshop Date: Saturday, February 21st, 2026, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Workshop Location: Cooper Center for Environmental Learning
Workshop Cost: FREE - $150 Stipend for Full Participation
Provided in collaboration with Partners for Equitable Science Instruction
Join us for a day of inquiry, writing, and art, all stemming from a nature journal.
Nature journals are a place to generate, expand, document, and explore observations, ideas, and reflections. They can help students create, test and refine their understanding of scientific explanations of the natural world. Nature journaling requires no special artistic talents and no special scientific knowledge, just a desire to slow down, look carefully, question, and wonder.
In this day-long workshop, participants will be introduced to basic drawing techniques, ideas for recording observations, and possibilities for extending journals into deeper explorations across multiple genres and disciplines, including literacy and math. We’ll spending time exploring how nature journals provide opportunities to develop the Cross-cutting Concepts and the Science and Engineering Practices in life sciences, and how they allow the process of inquiry to flourish for students of any age.
Our Instructors
Caryl Crowell is a retired classroom teacher with over 40 years of experience as an educator. Caryl also serves as a Docent at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and is a founding member of Partners for Equitable Science Instruction.
Esther Witt is a retired teacher. She worked for TUSD as an elementary school educator for 27 years. She taught in dual language, special education and regular classrooms. Since 2019, she has been an active member of Partners for Equitable Science Instruction, advocating for science instruction in southern Arizona schools.