Student Centered Instruction

A guide to how student and nature-centered teaching approaches offer opportunities for the development of Social Emotional Learning competencies.

Claire Maguire shares some common challenges of engaging students in investigations, and how “letting the messy in” can lead to meaningful teaching moments.

Two examples of organization leaders changing policies to support learner-centered instruction.

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.

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.

The Ocean Institute reflects on how BEETLES approaches apply across disciplines, describing how student and nature-centered teaching strengthened their history programming.

Luana Rivera Palacio shares how she implemented BEETLES in a day program and their approach to hiring instructors that reflect the communities they serve.

Sarah Johnson writes about introducing several foundational BEETLES student activities and Exploration Routines.

This is an example of how the Islandwood Graduate Program structures their post-program debrief meeting to maximize reflection and learning.

Tara Fuad shares how BEETLES materials and approaches transformed teaching and learning at her site– and how changing program policies helped make it happen.

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.

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.

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.

James Taborda-Whitt of Camp Bovey describes intersections between student and nature-centered teaching practices, and trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches

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.

Arvolyn Hill of the New York Botanical Garden describes a program she designed on the influence of the African diaspora on the plant world.

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.

An educator describes using I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me of to support stress relief and Social Emotional Learning with classroom students.

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.

Heather Molloy describes a program that offered childcare and outdoor learning to children of Santa Cruz County school district employees during the pandemic.

Korena David of Foothill Horizons Outdoor School shares tips and techniques for engaging groups of 30+ students in student and nature-centered learning.

The AEES shares how convening statewide and regional summits strengthened relationships and the quality of teaching among organizations in Alabama.

How 12 environmental education nonprofits and two school districts in San Diego built a network focused on professional learning and relationship building.

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.

This Guide is a planning tool to support leaders to successfully implement change in their organizations and programs.

Check out this article in Clearing by Kevin and Craig, introducing environmental educators to the BEETLES Project.

This brief shares impact results from the BEETLES project’s 2011-2015 Field Testing process.

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.

Discussion is an essential part of learning. This session provides valuable knowledge, strategies, and discussion practice to help instructors develop their discussion-leading skills.

This session explores how any activity that provides evidence of student thinking can be used to inform instruction and promote further learning.

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.

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?”

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.

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.

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.

This short summary offers context about the Next Generation Science Standards and opportunities for supporting NGSS-aligned instruction in outdoor science schools.

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.

A set of tools to support organization leaders in creating a reflective learning culture on staff, and in coaching instructors to improve their practice.

What can effective virtual outdoor science experiences look like? This blog post offers examples and ideas.

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.

This activity is a routine that can help develop such a reflective learning culture on your staff.

This series of video offers ideas on building a culture of discussion, responding to students, engaging students in argument, and supporting language learners.

This series of short videos of BEETLES student activities is meant to be used with the Guide to Using Videos for Reflective Process.

Establishing reflective structures, like watching instructional videos together and discussing them, can help nurture a culture of reflection and growth among staff.

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.