Katya Golubovsky is a Master’s student at the Yale School of the Environment researching biogeochemical cycling in Western grasslands. She is interested in environmental education within the field of science communication and hopes to expand the range of people she can reach with environmental education. Katya is interested in identifying the best ways to assess the needs and desires for environmental education within a community and effectively involve people in these efforts. She also wants to learn how to apply the skills she’s gained from working with preschoolers to a broader audience.
Through her experience in science communication, she has spent several years involved in outdoor education, including teaching at a nature-based preschool for ages 2-5. She believes fostering an early love for the natural world is crucial for developing a strong relationship with ecology, conservation, and science.
For her outreach project, Katya created a natural science curriculum consisting of four lessons, one for each season, designed to encourage both children and adults to learn together outdoors. Each lesson supports the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core. Some lessons also include puppet shows, as she believes it’s important to teach children about the natural world around them to spark their passion for the environment.
