ACLIPSE The ACLIPSE university course instructional materials, and associated grades 6-12 teacher professional learning opportunities and materials, engage participants in climate science activities while using data in authentic and locally-relevant ways.
BEETLES Adaptation & Evolution This session focuses on developing adult-level understanding of the concepts of adaptation and evolution for instructors.
BEETLES Adapting our Pre-Program Classroom Visits A summary of how changing pre-program classroom visits to emphasize observation instead of memorizing facts led students to be excited to engage with nature.
BEETLES After a Leadership Institute When Jamee Puccio and Paige Marley returned to their organization after participating in the BEETLES August 2017 Leadership Institute, they got right to work.
Approach to Walking Field Trips An approach to create school site maps that highlight walkable destinations and routines organized for K–5 from Green Schoolyards America!
BEETLES Assessing for Learning This session explores how any activity that provides evidence of student thinking can be used to inform instruction and promote further learning.
BEETLES BEETLES Guide for Outdoor Science Program and Organization Leaders This Guide is a planning tool to support leaders to successfully implement change in their organizations and programs.
BEETLES BEETLES in a Day Program Luana Rivera Palacio shares how she implemented BEETLES in a day program and their approach to hiring instructors that reflect the communities they serve.
BEETLES BEETLES Strategies in History Programming The Ocean Institute reflects on how BEETLES approaches apply across disciplines, describing how student and nature-centered teaching strengthened their history programming.
BEETLES BEETLES: An Evaluation of a Capacity Building Model to Support Outdoor Science Programs This brief shares impact results from the BEETLES project’s 2011-2015 Field Testing process.
Birding on the Trail At Shady Creek Outdoor School, it is not uncommon to have a kid screaming with delight when they identify a bird.
BEETLES Building Regional Networks: Lessons Learned in Collaboration and Community A series of implementation stories about how subnational networks in Sierra Valley, San Diego, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Alabama, and Minnesota worked together to strengthen regional collaboration among environmental education organizations.
BEETLES Building Towards an Inclusive Organizational Culture: Insights and Lessons Learned from YES Nature to Neighborhoods This brief highlights how YES Nature to Neighborhood shifted organizational culture to intentionally foster the promotion and retention of BIPOC in the organization.
BEETLES Celebrating Black History, Rooted in Plants, at the New York Botanical Garden Arvolyn Hill of the New York Botanical Garden describes a program she designed on the influence of the African diaspora on the plant world.
BEETLES Centering Equity and Inclusion in Cultivating Community Drawing on our first-hand experiences, the goal of this brief is to bring awareness to the ways that white supremacy culture has shown up in the field of environmental education.
BEETLES Collaboration Spotlight: BEETLES and Social Emotional Learning at the BOOST Conference An interview with Arthur Pearson about how three organizations used their experiences with BEETLES as a way to approach facilitating Social Emotional Learning in a conference presentation.
BEETLES Connecting BEETLES Approaches and Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices James Taborda-Whitt of Camp Bovey describes intersections between student and nature-centered teaching practices, and trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches
BEETLES Constructing Understanding There is a large amount of research on how people learn. This session breaks that information down and shows instructors how they can apply that knowledge to their teaching.
MARE COSIA: Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences Prepare future scientists (undergraduate & graduate students) to communicate their science knowledge more effectively to the public and other diverse audiences
BEETLES Creating Effective Outdoor Science Activities This resource can help programs create effective new outdoor science activities for use by multiple instructors across a program and adapt and revise existing activities.
BEETLES Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 1 In 2019, Waskowitz Outdoor Education Center hired BEETLES to develop a curriculum for their 4-day residential outdoor school program focused on ecosystems, science practices, sense of place, and connection to nature.
BEETLES Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 2 Meredith von Trapp of Waskowitz Outdoor Education Center describes a 4-day residential outdoor school curriculum focused on ecosystems, sense of place, and connection to nature.
BEETLES Designing Outdoor Science and Environmental Education Distance Learning Experiences What can effective virtual outdoor science experiences look like? This blog post offers examples and ideas.
BEETLES Discussion Strategy Videos & Guides This series of video offers ideas on building a culture of discussion, responding to students, engaging students in argument, and supporting language learners.
BEETLES Emerging Leaders Cohorts: An Affinity-Based Model for BIPOC in Environmental Education Hear from Professionals of Color about the impact of the Emerging Leaders Program, an initiative to advance equity and inclusion within the outdoor environmental science field through the BEETLES Learning Institutes.
BEETLES Encouraging Student Discussion & Productive Talk Discussion is key to learning. These resources provide ideas, tools, and routines to support instructors to develop skills required to lead productive, meaning-making discussions.
BEETLES Engaging & Managing Students in Outdoor Science A guide on how to engage students positively from the beginning by creating an environment in which they can be the best versions of themselves.
BEETLES Engaging and Managing Students Applied to Teen Outdoor Experiences Xander Tartter shares how key concepts in the BEETLES Guide to Engaging and Managing Students in Outdoor Science apply to his work in youth leadership development.
BEETLES Engaging Staff in Creating New Site-Based Activities and Improving Existing Activities David Gardner describes how he got staff excited to develop new activities that made better use of the plants and animals on their site.
Environmental Literacy Curriculum Connections This resource helps you identify units in your curriculum that emphasize environmental concepts and add outdoor learning experiences to classroom routines.
BEETLES Evidence & Explanations Teaching outdoor science as a process of discovering mysteries ignites students’ wonder and curiosity about interacting with nature. Those strategies are modeled throughout the session.
BEETLES Examining Equitable & Inclusive Work Environments in Environmental Education This study, led by the Research Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science, explores the design of a professional learning workshop series for outdoor science organizations.
Example California Env Lit Implementation Watch Craig Strang discuss how California is approaching the systemic implementation of environmental literacy into state-wide education systems. For more information, check out: https://ca-eli.org/.
A Field at Risk: The Impact of COVID-19 on Environmental and Outdoor Science Education This policy brief describes the importance of this field, the findings of our survey, and recommendations for mitigating the potentially devastating threats facing this field.
BEETLES Field Journaling with Students Field journaling is a powerful practice that supports observation, thinking, and learning. This session explores how field journaling can be used to support learner engagement and science learning.
BEETLES Focusing on the Long Term: How We Overcame Resistance How Santa Cruz Outdoor Science School shifted program policies and approaches to generate instructor buy-in and support for student and nature-centered teaching.
BEETLES Getting Better at Letting Go as an Instructor The first time I led NSI: Nature Scene Investigators, it was a total flop.
BEETLES Guide for Outdoor Science Chapter 1: Working Toward Equitable and Just Outdoor Science Organizations How can we create and sustain equitable and just working and learning environments?
BEETLES How Implementing BEETLES Transformed Our Program Jenny McGuigan of Tremont shares how BEETLES professional learning sessions helped reveal where their organization wanted to be, and how student activities offered ways to get there.
BEETLES How Our BEETLES Implementation Was a Learning Experience for Everyone Involved A story of using BEETLES approaches and resources to transform an organization’s curriculum and approach to teaching and learning.
BEETLES How Our Two Programs Conducted BEETLES Professional Learning Collaboratively Organization leaders from Expedition Yellowstone and Yellowstone Forever describe how conducting shared professional learning among their instructors supported collaboration and reduced competition.
BEETLES How to Use Videos for Building Reflective Practice Establishing reflective structures, like watching instructional videos together and discussing them, can help nurture a culture of reflection and growth among staff.
BEETLES How We Changed Our “Tone-Sets” to Inspire Students for Inquiry Seth Weinberg of Westminster Woods describes how changing daily “tone-sets” led students to be more excited and prepared to proactively engage in their education.
BEETLES How YMCA Camp Seymour Started Revising Curriculum How Jill and Becca of YMCA Camp Seymour took their time and to effectively work towards student and nature-centered teaching and curriculum design.
Impacts from COVID-19: Resilient Outdoor Science Programs Need Support as Challenges Persist This brief investigates how a network of outdoor science programs has fared during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Improving Outdoor Science Teaching and Learning: The Implementation of a Capacity Building Model in Outdoor Science Programs This paper examines the role and value of professional learning and organizational capacity building in outdoor science education.
BEETLES Improving Teaching and Learning Through Shifts in Program Policies Tara Fuad shares how BEETLES materials and approaches transformed teaching and learning at her site– and how changing program policies helped make it happen.
BEETLES Inquiry Fever With Students Sarah Johnson writes about introducing several foundational BEETLES student activities and Exploration Routines.
BEETLES Intentional Hiring and Recruitment through the Lens of Equity and Inclusion Insights and Lessons Learned from Crissy Field Center, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
BEETLES Inter-Institute Collaboration on Professional Learning for Elementary School Teachers Sarah Johnson of Wild Rose Education and Sara Monson of Walking Mountains Science Center worked together to plan and lead a workshop for 11 elementary school teachers.
LCAP toolkit Find out more about what you can do to be an advocate for science education and environmental literacy in your community!
BEETLES Letting the Messy In Claire Maguire shares some common challenges of engaging students in investigations, and how “letting the messy in” can lead to meaningful teaching moments.
BEETLES Making a “Destination Hike” Optional to Give Instructors More Flexibility Sometimes program policies or structure unintentionally hinder high quality student experiences. Learn how San Mateo Outdoor Education changed policies to better support high-quality teaching/learning.
BEETLES Making Observations How we can help learners make careful observations while encouraging wonder and curiosity? The session explores methods and activities to strengthen learners’ skills in making observations.
BEETLES Matter & Energy in Ecosystems This session focuses on developing adult-level understanding of the concepts of matter and energy and how it relates to ecosystems.
BEETLES Meet the BEETLES: Bringing Wonder, Curiosity & Science to Residential Outdoor Schools – news article Check out this article in Clearing by Kevin and Craig, introducing environmental educators to the BEETLES Project.
Model Field Journal Pages Student journals should require original student thought and direct engagement with the environment. We recommend these pages be the bulk of a program’s journal.
BEETLES Nature & Practices of Science This session explores 3 questions: “What is science?,” “How do scientists actually do science?,” and “How can we help young people think like scientists to answer questions about the natural world?”
BEETLES NGSS & Environmental Education This short summary offers context about the Next Generation Science Standards and opportunities for supporting NGSS-aligned instruction in outdoor science schools.
MARE Ocean Literacy – National Marine Educators Association Ocean Literacy is the understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean.
BEETLES Offering I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of as a Tool for Social Emotional Learning An educator describes using I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me of to support stress relief and Social Emotional Learning with classroom students.
BEETLES One Teacher’s Journey Towards Implementation Kirsten Franklin, a classroom teacher, makes a case for why environmental literacy should be essential to classroom instruction.
BEETLES Oops! How I Wish We Hadn’t Introduced BEETLES to Staff, and What We’re Doing Now Paul Raia reflects on the value of moving slowly and intentionally when implementing organizational changes.
BEETLES The Other Side of the Coin: Supporting Districts to Implement Environmental Literacy at Scale A summary of some of the opportunities and value of cultivating partnerships outdoor science education programs and school districts.
BEETLES Outdoor In-Person Learning: Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight Series In this series of blogs, written in 2021, the BEETLES team heard many stories about how the environmental education community is adapting to the Covid pandemic.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: McCall Outdoor Science School McCall Outdoor Science School describes how their existing partnerships K-12 school district led to the creation of an in-person outdoor learning program during the pandemic.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: North Cascades Institute The North Cascades Institute describes how they partnered with several organizations to offer in-person outdoor learning for elementary students in three school districts during the pandemic.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: Portland Public Schools Brooke Teller of Portland Public Schools shares how she leveraged CARES funding and support from local businesses to implement district-wide outdoor teaching during the pandemic.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: Santa Cruz Outdoor Science School Heather Molloy describes a program that offered childcare and outdoor learning to children of Santa Cruz County school district employees during the pandemic.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: Sierra Nevada Journeys Sean Hill shares about Sierra Nevada Journeys’s approach to establishing a partnership and weekly outdoor education program with a local elementary school.
BEETLES Partnerships in the Pandemic Spotlight: Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center Joe Walewski of Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center describes a partnership to offer outdoor, in-person education during the pandemic.
Peaks and Valleys: A landscape study of environmental literacy implementation in and out of California’s TK-12 Classrooms
BEETLES Preparing Chaperones for Outdoor Science Chaperones are integral parts of outdoor science programs. This short guide includes three versions of what an instructor or program leader could do with chaperones to prepare them specifically to support outdoor science learning and the group’s nature exploration.
BEETLES Professional Learning at Scale Mass Audubon, a nonprofit with 20 nature centers throughout Massachusetts, shares how they built a professional learning system to support high-quality teaching and learning across their state.
BEETLES Promoting Discussion Discussion is an essential part of learning. This session provides valuable knowledge, strategies, and discussion practice to help instructors develop their discussion-leading skills.
BEETLES Questioning Strategies This session focuses on how to use questions to encourage student exploration and learning, and how instructors’ behaviors may encourage or discourage student exploration and learning.
Racial Equity and Inclusion in United States of America-Based Environmental Education Organizations: A Critical Examination of Priorities and Practices in the Work Environment This study sought to explore how Environmental Educators of Color experience and are impacted by workplace culture, practices, and policies.
BEETLES Reflective Teaching & Coaching Tools A set of tools to support organization leaders in creating a reflective learning culture on staff, and in coaching instructors to improve their practice.
BEETLES Regional Network Tales from the Field: Alabama Environmental Education Summits The AEES shares how convening statewide and regional summits strengthened relationships and the quality of teaching among organizations in Alabama.
BEETLES Regional Network Tales from the Field: Forming Community Partnerships to Inform Curriculum Design with the Native Voices Project A description of the Native Voices Project, a regional collaborative in the Upper Feather River Watershed between local educators and leaders from the Mountain Maidu community.
BEETLES Regional Network Tales from the Field: Philadelphia A regional network in Philadelphia brought informal educators and school administrators together for professional learning and reflection on equity within the field of environmental education.
BEETLES Regional Network Tales from the Field: San Diego How 12 environmental education nonprofits and two school districts in San Diego built a network focused on professional learning and relationship building.
BEETLES Regional Networks Tale from the Field: Minnesota Collaborative Five residential environmental learning centers in Minnesota describe working together to evaluate their capacity for equity and prioritized collaboration over competition among their organizations.
BEETLES Regional Networks Tale from the Field: River Cities The River Cities Environmental Education Learning Community shares what they learned as a regional cohort, and how this can advance justice and equity in environmental education.
BEETLES Setting a Tone: How We Develop a Learning Culture Among Staff Ray Cramer describes how Islandwood has developed a culture of learning and reflection among their instructional staff.
BEETLES Shifting Program Policies to Support Teaching and Learning Two examples of organization leaders changing policies to support learner-centered instruction.
BEETLES A Structure for Reflection: How We Organize Our Post-Program Debrief Lunch Meeting Routine This is an example of how the Islandwood Graduate Program structures their post-program debrief meeting to maximize reflection and learning.
BEETLES Student Activity Videos & Guides This series of short videos of BEETLES student activities is meant to be used with the Guide to Using Videos for Reflective Process.
BEETLES Supporting Social Emotional Learning in Outdoor Science A guide to how student and nature-centered teaching approaches offer opportunities for the development of Social Emotional Learning competencies.
BEETLES Teaching & Learning Learning is an active, social process. This session focuses on the Learning Cycle, an approach to sequencing phases of activities based on how people learn.
The Value of Outdoor Environmental Education Programs for Girls and Youth of Color: Cultivating Positive Dispositions Toward Science and the Environment
BEETLES What Would You Do? This activity is a routine that can help develop such a reflective learning culture on your staff.
BEETLES What’s in Our Backpack? Learners should engage directly with nature as often as possible during outdoor science experiences. Here’s things we recommend instructors carry that help learners do that.
BEETLES The Whole Enchilada: How We Transformed Our Program Through BEETLES Gregory Bahr of San Joaquin Outdoor Education shared how he used BEETLES approaches and resources to shift organizational practices to support student-centered and nature-centered teaching.
Working Toward Racial Equity Publication Series We are pleased to share the Working Towards Racial Equity publication series, summarizing the work we’ve done, key findings, and lessons learned from the Working Towards Racial Equity project from 2020 through 2024.
BEETLES Working Towards Equitable Organizations: Evaluation Report A Pilot Workshop Series Summative Evaluation Report From 2018 through 2020, with funding support from the Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr….
BEETLES Working with Large Groups: Interview with Korena David Korena David of Foothill Horizons Outdoor School shares tips and techniques for engaging groups of 30+ students in student and nature-centered learning.