Beetles Project Ask the BEETLES Archives

Creating Learner and Nature-Centered Videos

October 14, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

Featuring Examples from Westminster Woods and Warner Park Nature Center By Emilie Lygren Note: Huge thanks to Rachel Anderson and her colleagues at the Warner Park Nature Center, and Rebekah Jones and her colleagues at Westminster Woods, for creating the videos featured below and for sharing ideas and expertise in the interview at the end […]

Partnering to Develop Equitable, Inclusive, and Culturally Relevant Student Activities

August 31, 2020: Ask the BEETLES | News

By Emilie Lygren and Jedda Foreman Over the last couple of years, the BEETLES team has been working to revise our professional learning system, including our guiding principles, student activities, professional learning sessions, and other implementation support materials, to better reflect equitable, inclusive, and culturally relevant teaching practices. When we first started BEETLES, we thought […]

Racial Equity in Outdoor Science and Environmental Education: Re-Establishing the Field with Intention

August 6, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

By Jedda Foreman, Rena Payan, Laura Rodriguez, and Craig Strang “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the […]

Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter

June 19, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

We want to acknowledge the recent racist events and killings in Minnesota, New York, Georgia, Kentucky, California, and other locations around the country. These events are not by any means isolated, nor is the racism that underlies them. We stand, unequivocally, in solidarity with the protests, marches, and global momentum that has come in response, […]

BEETLES Collaboration With Youth Outside

May 26, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

Check out the content of this post here.

Designing Outdoor Science and Environmental Education Distance Learning Experiences

April 28, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

By Emilie Lygren, Kevin Beals, and Jedda Foreman What can effective virtual outdoor science experiences look like? Amid school closures and the suspension of in-person programming, this is a pressing question in the field of outdoor science and environmental education. Like many others, we are just starting to dip our toes into best practices in distance […]

FAQ’s About BEETLES

April 28, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

Below, we’ve assembled answers to some of the most common questions we get over email about the use of BEETLES resources, and other BEETLES-related things. Questions About Using BEETLES Resources Can I present a BEETLES Professional Learning Session to my staff? Yes!! Anyone is welcome to download and teach a BEETLES Professional Learning Session (whether […]

Reflections on Black History Month

February 24, 2020: Ask the BEETLES

How can we honor Black History Month within the context of outdoor and environmental education? There is a lot of work to be done to fully acknowledge the history and contributions of Black leaders in outdoor spaces, and to support Black leadership in the present moment which means addressing issues of equity and inclusion more […]

A Reflection on Black History Month

February 25, 2019: Ask the BEETLES

How can we honor Black History Month within the context of outdoor and environmental education? There is a lot of work to be done to address issues of equity and inclusion, and to acknowledge the history and contributions of black leaders in outdoor spaces. Below are some actions we commit to, and that we encourage […]

Integrating Territorial Acknowledgments Into Outdoor Science Programs

November 20, 2018: Ask the BEETLES

**Note: This blog post has been re-published as a resource page. Please click here for the most updated information and to view more example acknowledgments.** Special thanks to BEETLES Emerging Leader Erica Ellis and other Cheakamus Centre staff for their contributions to the development of this blog post. As environmental and outdoor science educators, we have […]

Ask the BEETLES: Nature Exploration With Young Students

September 25, 2018: Ask the BEETLES

Question from a Program Leader: “I run an outdoor education program for families with children ages 2-5. I love everything you all do and am working on incorporating the learning cycle strategies onto our lessons more. I am reaching out to see if you could suggest any resources or have examples of utilizing ‘I notice, […]

Reviewing Leadership Institute Applications

June 9, 2017: Ask the BEETLES

As many of you know, over the winter we wrapped up the application process for two of our upcoming Leadership Institutes, in August and December 2017. (Applications will open this fall for the next Institute in August 2018!) First, a huge thank you from the entire BEETLES team to each of the many, many program leaders who […]

Tales from the Field: Using Games

August 25, 2016: Ask the BEETLES

The following is an exchange between two program leaders currently using BEETLES Professional Learning Sessions and the BEETLES team. The most effective use of games is a topic that regularly comes up at BEETLES institutes and workshops, and that we hear in many other science education settings. Read on to hear some of our thoughts […]

Kids participating in BEETLES activity at stream

Content vs. Process: A False Dichotomy

March 1, 2016: Ask the BEETLES

The following is an exchange between a program leader currently using BEETLES Professional Learning Sessions and the BEETLES team. The content vs. process “debate” is one that folks have raised many times in BEETLES institutes over the last four years, and that we hear in many other science education settings. You can bet it will […]