Science and Teaching for Field Instructors
Read the blog posts below to find out what’s new with BEETLES. We regularly feature new resources, promote upcoming events and news, and share “Tales from the Field”–stories of folks like you using BEETLES materials in interesting ways. If you’d like to contribute, just be in touch!
December 17, 2019: News
Overview The BEETLES project announces a new funding opportunity designed to advance and strengthen the field of environmental and outdoor science through regional capacity building. BEETLES, with the support of the National Science Foundation, is accepting proposals to fund 2-5 small grants for region-building efforts among environmental and outdoor science education organizations for up to […]
Read More »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 […]
Read More »September 25, 2019: News | Uncategorized
By Craig Strang, NMEA Past President In the wake of the controversy around the conflicting information released by National Weather Service scientists, NOAA administrators, and the President about the path of Hurricane Dorian, Rear Admiral Jonathan W. White, USN, who is the President and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, wrote the following letter, […]
Read More »September 25, 2019: Tales from the Field | Uncategorized
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 […]
Read More »August 25, 2019: News
Today, August 25th, is the 103rd anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service. While it’s important to recognize the beauty, grander, and value that NPS adds to many of our lives, let’s not forget to acknowledge that this beauty and grandeur has come at a cost, particularly to the indigenous people who were displaced […]
Read More »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 […]
Read More »July 24, 2019: News
In a few short weeks, 50 program leaders and 9 emerging leaders will meet in Portola, CA for our BEETLES Leadership Institute. This will be our biggest Institute to date, and we are excited to be joined by such impressive programs and leaders who are working hard to make an impact in the communities they serve […]
Read More »June 27, 2019: Uncategorized
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, […]
Read More »June 27, 2019: Uncategorized
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 […]
Read More »June 10, 2019: Featured Resource | News
In 2017, the Lawrence Hall of Science received a planning grant from the Pisces Foundation to convene partners in the environmental education (EE) field, including Youth Outside, YES Nature to Neighborhoods, Crissy Field Center (at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy), and José Gonzaléz (independent consultant and founder of Latino Outdoors). Specifically, the planning grant focused [...] Read More »