Systems Thinking / Organizational Change

How can we create and sustain equitable and just working and learning environments?

Paul Raia reflects on the value of moving slowly and intentionally when implementing organizational changes.

How Santa Cruz Outdoor Science School shifted program policies and approaches to generate instructor buy-in and support for student and nature-centered teaching.

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.

Organization leaders from Expedition Yellowstone and Yellowstone Forever describe how conducting shared professional learning among their instructors supported collaboration and reduced competition.

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.

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.

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

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.

Joe Walewski of Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center describes a partnership to offer outdoor, in-person education during the pandemic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Five residential environmental learning centers in Minnesota describe working together to evaluate their capacity for equity and prioritized collaboration over competition among their organizations.

Ray Cramer describes how Islandwood has developed a culture of learning and reflection among their instructional staff.

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

This paper examines the role and value of professional learning and organizational capacity building in outdoor science 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.

This study sought to explore how Environmental Educators of Color experience and are impacted by workplace culture, practices, and policies.

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.

Insights and Lessons Learned from Crissy Field Center, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

This brief highlights how YES Nature to Neighborhood shifted organizational culture to intentionally foster the promotion and retention of BIPOC in the organization.

Find out more about what you can do to be an advocate for science education and environmental literacy in your community!

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/.

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.

Land acknowledgments call attention to the enduring presence of indigenous peoples– but they’re just one small part of supporting indigenous sovereignty.