Texas Children in Nature Network Summit 2024

Welcome to the 2024 Texas Children in Nature Network Summit held in Waco, Texas!

After registering for the Summit and making your Wednesday Workshop selection, you will be enrolled in your selected workshop by TCiNN staff. You will see your workshop on your schedule after you have been enrolled.

You do not need to select and add your workshop to your schedule.
All workshops are "frozen" and only staff can manage enrollment.
If you do not see a workshop option on the registration form that is listed on the workshop PDF, that means it is full and no longer available.

Regular registration ends November 30.

Late registration begins December 1.

Once late registration begins, any cancellations will not be refunded.

Thank you for registering for the 2024 Summit!

1:00pm CST

Bringing Texas Schools to Life with Native Plants

Thursday December 12, 2024 1:00pm - 2:00pm CST

Texas North 114

Would you like to create a Texas-native plant garden at your local school or community center? Haeley Giambalvo of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) will show you how! You'll learn from examples of schools around Texas that have successfully brought their school campuses to life with native plant gardens. You will also be introduced to various resources and activities to help educators get the most out of their gardens and engage students in the outdoors!

Speakers

Haeley Giambalvo

VP Communications, Native Plant Society of Texas

Thursday December 12, 2024 1:00pm - 2:00pm CST
Texas North 114

Concurrent Session, Education

2:15pm CST

Interactive Virtual Tours (IVTs) for Demonstrating Childcare Outdoor Design Best Practices

Thursday December 12, 2024 2:15pm - 3:15pm CST

Texas North 114

Presenters: Rebecca Colbert, National Wildlife Federation and Muntazar Monsur and S Y Andalib, Texas Tech University

We are going to show you a virtual tour of a childcare outdoor environment and talk about how you can find helpful information to create an exciting play and learning space with lots of opportunities for children to interact with nature. In the workshop, you will also have an opportunity to wear a headset to experience the space in Virtual Reality (VR)!

Following the session, the audience will be able to 1. Understand the importance of nature-based, active outdoor environments for children’s health and why increased awareness of childcare providers is critical to achieving it. 2. Visualize the role of IVT and associated technology as tools for capturing high-quality 360 imagery required for generating effective professional development platforms. 3. Identify the potential of IVTs as a novel and innovative platform for disseminating learning materials. 4. Experience IVTs of high-quality childcare demonstration sites (located in Colorado, Texas, and North Carolina) immersively using VR headsets.

Speakers

Rebecca Colbert

Senior Director of Design and Engagement, NWF - Early Childhood Health Outdoors

Rebecca Colbert is a licensed landscape architect with 20 years of experience and a doctorate in Design and Planning. She serves as the Senior Director of Design and Engagement for Early Childhood Health Outdoors at the National Wildlife Federation. Dr. Colbert previously served as... Read More →

Thursday December 12, 2024 2:15pm - 3:15pm CST
Texas North 114

Concurrent Session, Nature Administration

3:45pm CST

The Creativity of Outdoor Learning Centers

Thursday December 12, 2024 3:45pm - 4:45pm CST

Texas North 114

Let's take learning outside! Children learn everywhere! The same learning centers we have in our classrooms are the same learning centers educators can design outside. In this session, we will discuss the six basic developmental milestones and 6-8 creative learning centers. We will share ideas for using real objects, creative planning and how to transform the playground as a classroom.

Speakers