The Lawrence Hall of Science
The public science center of the University of California, Berkeley.
Wednesday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Animal Discovery Zone 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
We’ll bring our science programs to you.
We partner with school districts to support science learning. We offer district-wide elementary, middle, and high school programs, either virtually or in-person.
We collaborate with a range of partners to innovate in science education. Together, we go further.
Search
This paper examines the role and value of professional learning and organizational capacity building in outdoor science education by investigating several questions analyzing the Better Environmental Education, Teaching, Learning, and Expertise Sharing (BEETLES) Project
This brief shares (1) the underlying goals and design principles for the BEETLES project, (2) a summary of the field-testing process, and (3) program leaders’ insights about how BEETLES supported their organizational capacity building to provide professional learning for their educational staff.
More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States and forced widespread lockdowns, closures, and social distancing, the field of outdoor science education continues to be fragile, with many organizations teetering on the brink of collapse. Despite easing restrictions and with new concerns about coronavirus variants, the challenges facing the field persist.
During April 2020, the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted a survey to learn about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environmental and outdoor science educations field nationwide. 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.