Beetles Project Tales from the Field Archives

Tale from the Field: Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 2

April 27, 2020: Tales from the Field

In the spring of 2019, Waskowitz Outdoor Education Center hired BEETLES to develop a curriculum for their 4-day residential outdoor school program. The curriculum was to include BEETLES activities connected to the theme of Ecosystems, Matter, and Energy, that would engage students in science practices while building students’ sense of place and connection to nature. […]

Tale from the Field: Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 1

March 25, 2020: Tales from the Field

In the spring of 2019, Waskowitz Outdoor Education Center (Waskowitz) hired BEETLES to develop a curriculum for their 4-day residential outdoor school program. The curriculum was to include BEETLES activities connected to the theme of Ecosystems, Matter, and Energy, as well as engage students in science practices and build their sense of place and connection […]

Tale from the Field: Celebrating Black History, Rooted in Plants, at the New York Botanical Garden

February 18, 2020: Tales from the Field

Arvolyn Hill works at the the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) and attended a BEETLES Leadership Institute in August 2019. This winter, Arvolyn designed and launched a program Celebrate Black History: Rooted in Plants, focused on the influence of the African diaspora on the plant world. We interviewed her to hear more about the program […]

The Other Side of the Coin: Supporting Districts to Implement Environmental Literacy at Scale

January 22, 2020: Tales from the Field

BEETLES has now been supporting outdoor science programs since 2012. Since then, we’ve: Published almost 80 resources, including professional learning sessions, student activities, implementation support guides, videos, research/practice briefs, etc. And 15 more documents are currently in publication pipeline, in some form or another. Conducted 10 weeklong Leadership Institutes, working with over 200 organizations across […]

Tale from the Field: Professional Learning at Scale

November 6, 2019: Tales from the Field

Mass Audubon is a nature conservation nonprofit with 20 nature centers throughout Massachusetts. They also have 75 permanent education staff and hire nearly 500 seasonal educators per year. BEETLES interviewed Education Coordinator Melissa Hansen about the challenges and opportunities that come with working with instructors across multiple sites, and how Mass Audubon is building a […]

Tale from the Field: Making a “Destination Hike” Optional to Give Instructors More Flexibility

September 25, 2019: Tales from the Field

by Emilie Lygren We all want high quality student experiences in our programs, but sometimes the policies or structure of our organization can unintentionally get in the way. We all want high quality student experiences in our programs, but sometimes our program’s policies or structure can unintentionally get in the way. This Tale from the […]

Tale from the Field– Connecting BEETLES Approaches and Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices

July 26, 2019: Tales from the Field

written by James Taborda-Whitt, director of Camp Bovey, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Camp Bovey is a traditional sleep away camp for youth who are underrepresented in green spaces. Camp Bovey staff are guided by the belief that summer camp has the potential to improve how children learn and think about themselves as learners. Although we don’t know […]

Collaboration Spotlight: BEETLES and Social Emotional Learning at the BOOST Conference

June 27, 2019: Tales from the Field

Outward Bound USA first came into contact with BEETLES in 2015, when a team from Thompson Island Outward Bound– the only Outward Bound USA sites with an explicit focus on science– came to a Leadership Institute. They were immediately hooked, and saw potential for wide-reaching implications across the organization nation-wide. Fast-forward a couple of years, […]

Collaboration Spotlight: BEETLES Oregon Leadership Institute

June 27, 2019: Tales from the Field

For some time, BEETLES has been interested in encouraging and helping establish regional “hubs” of outdoor science programs. Part of our motivation is to encourage/promote regional capacity to support professional learning communities for program leaders, educators, and other key stakeholders. We’ve hoped that these regional hubs could collaborate on professional learning experiences, and exchange of […]

Tale from the Field: How Our BEETLES Implementation Was a Learning Experience for Everyone Involved

May 21, 2019: Tales from the Field

By Keith Williams, Executive Director, Richard Garber, Director of Education, and Salena Garber, Education Manager, NorthBay, Elk Neck State Park, Maryland. (Note: This post was originally published in the BEETLES Guide for Program Leaders. Check the Guide for Program Leaders publication out for additional implementation support and Tales from the Field.) When Daksha and I came […]