BEETLES Adaptation Intro – Live This activity offers a brief introduction to adaptations as the group observes a live organism together.
BEETLES Adaptations, Structures, & Function Theme Experience This sequence of BEETLES activities on the theme of Adaptations, Structures, & Function includes additional material to create a cohesive learning experience.
OBIS Animal Diversity In this outdoor activity, learners find, count and compare as many different kinds of animals as they can find in two different areas: a managed…
OBIS Animals In a Grassland In this introductory activity, the participants use sweep nets and pitfall traps to sample the variety of animals living in lawns or other grassy areas.
BEETLES Argumentation Routine This activity helps students practice being curious and participating in respectful discussion using evidence and reasoning.
BEETLES Bark Beetle Exploration After this activity, students will have the skills to identify bark beetle galleries, make explanations about patterns, and interpret what tracks can teach us about…
BEETLES Beach Exploration Routine Many students love to check out cool objects when they’re on a beach! That’s what students get an opportunity to do in Beach Exploration.
OBIS Bean Bugs In this outdoor biology and math activity, learners estimate the size of a population of organisms too numerous to count. In a process similar to…
BEETLES BFF questions These questions will be your Best Friends Forever to encourage wonder, exploration, discussion, and reflection.
BEETLES Bird Language Exploration In this Focused Exploration activity, students pay attention to the birds and bird songs around them, then discuss different messages birds might communicate.
BEETLES Blending In & StandIng Out This activity focuses on how organisms’ patterns and colors help them stand out or blend in with their environment, and how this helps them survive.
BEETLES Building a Culture of Science Talk & Curiosity This short video offers ideas on how to build a culture of discussion, collaboration, and science talk in a group of students at an outdoor…
BEETLES Building Discussion Skills This short video offers ideas on how instructors can build their skills in facilitating discussion, and students' skills in participating in discussions.
BEETLES Card Hike This activity offers students a safe “solo” experience in nature that is often powerful and memorable.
BEETLES Case of the Disappearing Log In this activity, learners observe logs, trees, forests, and ecosystems through a lens of cause and effect and decomposition.
MARE Climate Simulation Activities: Can Climate Change affect Ocean Currents? In this simulation, students learn the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere affects ocean currents by predicting shifts in sea ice, salinity, and ocean currents when atmospheric…
MARE Climate Simulation Activities: Density of Liquids and Ocean Currents In simulations, students explore density of liquids and apply these ideas by predicting, observing and explaining density-driven currents in a model ocean.
MARE Climate Simulation Activities: Heat Energy and Moving Molecules Through simulations, explore thermal expansion of water at macro and molecular levels and compare water’s capacity to absorb/store heat energy in contrast to air.
MARE Climate Simulation Activities: Simulating Changes in the Carbon Cycle Students simulate actions humans can take that effect carbon flows into and out of reservoirs, and predict how they might bring the flow of carbon…
MARE Climate Simulation Activities: The Carbon Cycle and Climate Change Students use a model of the carbon cycle to learn about carbon reservoirs and how carbon flows into and out of these reservoirs.
BEETLES Constructing Explanations & Engaging in Argumentation This short video offers ideas on engaging students in the science practices of Constructing Explanations and Engaging in Argument from Evidence.
BEETLES Creating Effective Outdoor Science Activities This resource helps programs and instructors create new outdoor science activities for use by multiple instructors across a program, or adapt and revise existing activities.
BEETLES Decomposition Mission In this activity, learners can build an understanding of decomposition that is grounded in real-world examples. This prepares learners to understand matter and energy transfer.
BEETLES Discovery Swap This flexible, student-centered Exploration Routine guides students to search for, observe, research, and share discoveries about organisms.
BEETLES Double Take In this activity, students find evidence of the Earth’s spinning through observing the apparent movement of stars.
BEETLES Ecosystem Literacies & Exploration Guides This guide includes short descriptions of environmental conditions, questions for students, and information, techniques, and tools for exploring five common ecosystems.
BEETLES Ecosystems (and Matter) Theme Field Experience This theme field experience is a sequence of activities focused on concepts related to matter, energy, and ecosystems.
BEETLES Engaging and 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.
OBIS Envirolopes In this outdoor activity and observation game, learners hunt for a variety of textures, colors, odors and evidence of organisms in the activity site. The…
BEETLES Evaluating Evidence In this activity, students learn a criterion for evaluating the quality of evidence-based on how connected the evidence is to a claim.
BEETLES Evaluating Sources In this activity, students sort different sources of science information from most to least reliable and discuss their rationale with their peers.
BEETLES Exploratory Investigation Students plan a brief exploratory investigation with the goal of observing basic patterns in nature, and to explore and refine the methods for an investigation…
BEETLES Fire Management Discussion In this activity, students consider the impacts of fires on different types of ecosystems and discuss the merits and drawbacks of possible management strategies.
Flipping Through Nature: Card Decks to Guide Outdoor Exploration ↗ (External link) Flipping Through Nature: Card Decks to Guide Outdoor Exploration (Flip Cards) are designed to be used by learners without the support of facilitation or interpretation…
OBIS Food Chain Game In this outdoor game, learners role play populations linked in a food chain. The resource suggests a chain with plant, grasshopper, frog, and hawk, but…
BEETLES Food Web Students build a food web from their observations, reasoning, and knowledge, then their food webs to make predictions and answer questions about ecosystems.
BEETLES Food, Build, Do, Waste This activity gives students a way to look at how organisms are connected to ecosystems through the cycling of matter and the flow of energy.
BEETLES Fungi Exploration In this activity, students observe fungi, use a simple key to identify types of fungi, and learn about life history of fungi.
BEETLES Group Agreements for Science Discussions Students think about successful teams they’ve been a part of, then discuss group agreements that will support them in participating in the outdoor science discussions.
OBIS Habitats of the Pond In this outdoor activity/field trip, learners locate and study plants and animals in several freshwater pond habitats. Learners take various samples from the pond, identify…
BEETLES Hand Lens Introduction In this Exploration Routine, students learn how to most effectively use their hand lenses.
BEETLES How Big & How Far? Students experience how the distance you are from an object makes it appear larger or smaller, then apply this concept to the night sky.
OBIS How Many Organisms Using homemade sampling gear, the participants estimate the numbers of organisms living in a small section of a pond.
BEETLES I Notice I Wonder It Reminds Me Of Many educators cite this simple Exploration Routine, which sparks student curiosity and offers language tools to engage with nature, as their most effective teaching tool.
BEETLES Indoor Field Observations Students reflect on skills gained during an outdoor science experience, then make observations out loud as they watch a nature video with the narration turned…
BEETLES Interview an Organism In this activity, students enter the world of an organism through observation and questioning.
BEETLES Lichen Exploration In this activity, students focus closely on lichen, observe its different strange and interesting forms, and use a key to identify three types of lichen.
OBIS Litter Critters In this outdoor activity, learners use a "litter-critter" wheel to help them identify different animals they find living in a natural litter habitat. Learners also…
MARE MARE Kelp Forest This 4th grade curriculum engages students in studying kelp forests, which are home to invertebrates, fish, and sea otters.
MARE MARE Life at the Seashore In this 1st Grade curriculum, students examine how living things survive at the seashore.
MARE MARE Marine Wetlands This 3rd grade curriculum is focused on wetlands and includes themes of organism diversity, habitat edges, and animal adaptations.
MARE MARE Open Ocean This 5th Grade curriculum focuses on the open ocean, and themes of natural resources, human impacts on ecosystems, and evolution.
MARE MARE Ponds Students explore real ponds, build, maintain, and investigate a desktop model pond in the classroom, research and share information about pond organisms, as well as…
MARE MARE Sandy Beach This 2nd Grade curriculum, focused on the Sandy Beach, includes themes of the rock cycle, invertebrates and marine mammal adaptations.
MARE MARE Teacher’s Guides to Marine Habitats: K–5 The MARE Teacher’s Guides to Marine Habitats provide an outstanding resource for engaging a whole school simultaneously in the study of a common theme.
BEETLES Mating & Cloning Through observation, discussion, and use of a field guide, students build beginning understanding of the complex concepts of adaptations and natural selection.
BEETLES Matter & Energy Diagram The instructor and students collaboratively draw a diagram based on prior knowledge about matter and energy relationships between plants, animals, air, and soil.
OBIS Metric Capers In this outdoor activity, learners measure familiar objects in nature to practice working with the metric system. The goal is for learners to develop their…
BEETLES Mind Pie Students use a Mind Pie chart to express how comfortable and confident they feel about certain topics and activities they will encounter during the field…
BEETLES 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 Moon Balls In this Night Sky Activity, students use a simple indoor Earth-Moon-Sun model to explore and learn about Moon phases and eclipses.
BEETLES Most Successful Organism Discussion In this fun, casual “mini discussion,” students generate and ideas in a low-stakes setting, helping build discussion skills within a group.
BEETLES Night Hike Scavenger Hunt Students trade and discuss cards that feature different things that can be seen in the night sky, then find and point out the different objects.
BEETLES NSI: Nature Scene Investigators This activity sets an exciting tone of exploration and discovery, encouraging an inquiry mindset in students that helps establish a community of curious, active learners.
OBIS Plant Hunt In this outdoor activity and game, learners collect and sort leaf samples to determine how many types of plants grow in the activity site. Learners…
OBIS Plants Around a Building Participants discover how the environment around a building affects the growth of plants.
OBIS Population Game In this outdoor game, learners simulate a herd of deer trying to survive in an area called the "home range." Learners explore the concept of…
BEETLES Preparing Chaperones for Outdoor Science Chaperones are integral parts of outdoor science programs. This short guide helps prepare them to support outdoor science learning and the group’s nature exploration.
BEETLES Related & Different Are you related to a lizard? This Adaptations Activity gives students insights into how very different organisms are actually related (distantly).
BEETLES Responding to Students How an instructor responds to what students say impacts their participation in discussions. This short video offers ideas and skills for responding to students.
OBIS Seed Dispersal In this outdoor activity and bingo-like game, learners explore why and how seeds spread far from the plants that produce them. To understand natural adaptations…
OBIS Shake It In this outdoor activity that can be combined with a hike, learners try to match a "mystery community" by shaking animals out of different trees…
BEETLES Snow Crystal Exploration Students use hand lenses to observe and draw real snowflake crystals, then discuss, identify, and look for patterns in the crystals they found.
BEETLES Social Emotional Learning Routine This activity supports students in developing Social Emotional Learning competencies and skills as they participate in any environmental education experience, like an investigation or hike.
OBIS Sound Off This activity includes several games about animal sounds. Using their sense of hearing and communicating with various kinds of noisemakers, learners role-play predator and prey.…
BEETLES Spider Exploration Students search for different kinds of webs, discuss their observations and think about how different types of webs help spiders catch different kinds of prey.
BEETLES Spider Investigation In this follow-up to Spider Exploration, students conduct a structured investigation of the quantity of spider webs in two different plant communities.
BEETLES Stream Detectives Students explore a stream, observing how currents move using stick “boats” to track water speed and direction, then learn about stream functioning and dynamics.
BEETLES Structures & Behaviors Students find organisms, observe and record its structures and behaviors, then consider how the structures and behaviors help the organisms survive in its habitat.
BEETLES Supporting English Language Learners This short video offers ideas on how to support English Language Learners in participating in science discussions.
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 Thought Swap (Walk & Talk) Students discuss questions in rotating pairs, establishing a learning community in which students value sharing and listening to one another’s ideas and observations.
BEETLES Tracking Students engage with some basic tracking skills, observing evidence of animals living in the area and making explanations for the animal signs they find.
BEETLES Tree Exploration Students choose a tree to study, record observations in a nature journal, use field guides to identify them, then discuss trees' roles in ecosystems.
BEETLES Whacky Adapty In this name game, students sit in a circle and play a version of tag that includes a short introduction to the concept of adaptations.
BEETLES What Lives Here? Students use evidence and field guides to figure out what lives in an ecosystem, then develop an interaction web to better understand the ecosystem.
BEETLES What Scientists Do This activity engages students in reflecting on core field science practices and how they support learning.
BEETLES What’s in Compost? Students explore the question What is in compost, and why is it there? by searching through trays of compost, using a key to identify what…
BEETLES Worm Exploration What body parts and behaviors help a worm survive? Students explore this question by observing and drawing worms and discussing observations with peers.
BEETLES You Are What You Eat In this name game, students learn each other’s names through a chant about energy and matter, then dance in the spotlight when it’s their turn.