Chapter 6: Implementation Examples

What are challenges and successes others have had with implementing BEETLES that we can learn from?

How have organization leaders approached aspects of program improvement that we haven’t addressed in this Guide?

In this chapter:

Vision and Reality

Distributed Leadership

Organization Policies and Priorities

Contextual Conditions

Professional Learning and Instructional Practices

Learning Experiences and Instructional Materials

Equity and Justice

Comprehensive Organizational Transformation

Supporting Social Emotional Learning

Using BEETLES Resources and Approaches

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Outdoor Science Education in Classrooms, Schoolyards, and Districts

Working with Subnational Networks

Thoughts from the BEETLES Team

You’ve made it this far? Great! That was a lot, wasn’t it? You might be wondering, Well, that was all helpful, but what might it actually look like to do all this in my program? Luckily, many organization leaders have gone down this path before you, tried different approaches, and learned a lot. Over the years, we’ve interviewed many of these organization leaders and collected some of their stories to offer real-life examples of how they’ve used information in this Guide to successfully reach their goals. They share their successes, challenges, and some approaches that didn’t work out as well as they’d hoped. We think you’ll find them to be intriguing short stories of real-life implementations of the approaches described in this document.

You have already seen some of our Tales from the Field throughout this Guide. The following section is a collection of links to 40+ Tales from the Field and briefs, organized thematically to help you find real-life examples that are most relevant to you.

Some Tales from the Field are specifically about implementing approaches described in this Guide, such as professional learning, making changes to program policies to support instructional practices, or revising program curriculum to be more learner-centered and nature-centered. Other Tales from the Field focus on important aspects of program improvement that we haven’t touched on as much in this Guide, such as using BEETLES activities to support social emotional learning or bringing outdoor learning to classrooms and schoolyards. We also have Tales from the Field written by people in different positions of leadership within organizations, including instructors, program managers, and executive directors. A few are written by the BEETLES team on topics such as adapting student activities for young children, reflecting on the true history of the National Park Service, or engaging school districts in supporting environmental literacy.

These Tales from the Field cover a broad range of topics, and we hope they will be helpful to you in working toward your goals. Thanks for reading (and using) this Guide, and thanks for all the hard and thoughtful work it takes to keep a program vibrant and moving in the direction of increasing quality and effectiveness.

Stay in touch.

If you want to stay in touch with BEETLES and other programs that are engaged in this journey, go to beetlesproject.org and click on Connect where you can sign up for newsletters, join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or send us an email. Click on "What's New" on our home page to see blogs and announcements.

To help you find topics relevant to your needs and interests, we’ve grouped all of our Tales from the Field in categories below. The first seven categories match the categories in the Capacity Framework section of this Guide. Included in this list is a short description of the kinds of stories you’ll find in each category. Some Tales from the Field that speak to multiple topics may appear in more than one place.

Tales from the Field from the original PDF.

Are you familiar with the original Guide for Program Leaders that we published in 2017? Looking for the Tales from the Field that appeared at the end of that PDF? Those Tales from the Field are marked with an asterisk (*) to help you find them.

Vision and Reality

These Tales from the Field are from leaders who grappled with how their organization’s vision wasn’t necessarily reflected in the reality of their programming and how they made shifts to move toward a more unified vision and reality.

Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 1 and Part 2
Improving Teaching and Learning Through Shifts in Program Policies, Part 1 and Part 2
Building Towards an Inclusive Organizational Culture: Insights and Lessons Learned from YES Nature to Neighborhoods

Distributed Leadership

Tales from the Field in this section offer perspectives on working with a distributed leadership team. They address aspects of organizational leadership including reflecting on the role outdoor science organization leaders can play in working toward racial equity in the field of outdoor science and environmental education.

Organization Policies and Priorities

These are Tales from the Field of how organization leaders made shifts in their program policies and organizational priorities to better support their goals of supporting high-quality student experiences.

How YMCA Camp Seymour Started Revising Curriculum
How We Changed Our “Tone-Sets” to Inspire Students for Inquiry*
BEETLES in a Day Program
Making a “Destination Hike” Optional to Give Instructions More Flexibility*
Improving Teaching and Learning Through Shifts in Program Policies, Part 1 and Part 2
Intentional Hiring and Recruitment Through the Lens of Equity and Inclusion: Insights and Lessons from Crissy Field Center

Contextual Conditions

These are Tales from the Field about engaging with local communities and responding to conditions external to organizations that nevertheless affect operations and programming, such as local and national policies and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional Learning and Instructional Practices

These are Tales from the Field on the role of professional learning in working toward program improvement and specific ideas about successful and less successful approaches for facilitating professional learning.

Learning Experiences and Instructional Materials

This section includes Tales from the Field that speak to integrating best practices for learners, through teaching and learning experiences as well as instructional materials.

Offering I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of As a Tool for SEL
Connecting BEETLES Approaches and Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices
Celebrating Black History, Rooted in Plants, At the New York Botanical Garden
BEETLES in a Day Program
How YMCA Camp Seymour Started Revising Curriculum
Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 1 and Part 2
Nature Exploration With Young Students

Equity and Justice

This section includes Tales from the Field that detail efforts on working toward equity, inclusion, and cultural relevance from different angles within organizations.

Comprehensive Organizational Transformation

These are Tales from the Field about using BEETLES resources and approaches to make large-scale shifts in an organization.

How We Transformed Our Program Through BEETLES*
BEETLES in a Day Program
Designing a Custom 4-Day Curriculum with BEETLES, Part 1 and Part 2
Improving Teaching and Learning Through Shifts in Program Policies, Part 1 and Part 2

Supporting Social Emotional Learning

These Tales from the Field share stories of instructors and organization leaders using BEETLES activities and approaches to support social emotional learning (SEL) in the outdoors.

Using BEETLES Resources and Approaches

These Tales from the Field include a range of examples of how instructors and organizations have used specific student activities or approaches to support teaching and learning in their program.

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

These Tales from the Field include stories of how organizations modified their approaches to offer safe, in-person programming during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and thoughts from the BEETLES team on designing effective outdoor science distance learning experiences.

Outdoor Science Education in Classrooms, Schoolyards, and Districts

These Tales from the Field capture ideas about implementing BEETLES activities in classrooms and schoolyards, as well as working with school districts to support environmental literacy at scale.

Working with Subnational Networks

These Tales from the Field feature firsthand experiences of regional networks of outdoor science and environmental education organizations that met regularly. Each group chose specific goals to work toward, including collaborative professional learning, centering Indigenous voices in curriculum design, and working toward equitable and just organizations.

Thoughts from the BEETLES Team

These are short pieces written by BEETLES team members that offer perspectives on a variety of topics relevant to outdoor science and environmental education programs.

Click to download the Chapter 6 PDF

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