Beetles Project Tales from the Field Archives

Tales from the Field: Letting the Messy In

April 21, 2017: Tales from the Field

By Claire Maguire (Note from BEETLES: We’re incredibly grateful for the feedback provided to us by SCCOSS Naturalists and others as we were developing this activity. The story below illustrates some of the potential pitfalls of engaging students in investigations, but also the magic when one can “let the messy in”. It also illustrates the […]

Tales from the Field: Using Games

August 25, 2016: Tales from the Field

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 […]

Tales from the Field: How YMCA Camp Seymour Started Revising Curriculum

May 4, 2016: Tales from the Field

Jill and Becca left the BEETLES leadership Institute in August of 2015, inspired, full of ideas, and ready to implement new professional learning sessions at their staff training only two weeks away. Jill had an immediate opportunity to implement BEETLES with students herself, loved the results, and became even more excited. For two weeks they […]

Kids participating in BEETLES activity at stream

Content vs. Process: A False Dichotomy

March 1, 2016: Tales from the Field

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 […]

Tales from the Field: Getting Better at Letting Go

July 5, 2015: Tales from the Field

by Amelia Rosenman The first time I led NSI: Nature Scene Investigators, it was a total flop. We were studying a piece of scat on the trail – which usually is pretty exciting! The students kept looking at me with “Am I doing this right?” expressions on their faces. Some just got bored and literally […]