Introduction

High-quality outdoor science teaching and learning can be defined in many ways. In this context, we don’t just mean instruction that receives positive feedback from your audience. When BEETLES refers to high quality, we mean something very particular that is based on research about science learning. BEETLES materials and approaches are all nature-centered and learner-centered. We see this as the essence of high quality for outdoor teaching and learning. We use five design principles—the first two are nature-centered; the next three are learner-centered—to make sure BEETLES resources help organizations maximize opportunities for learners to:

• engage directly with nature. Just being in nature has many benefits, but when students learn approaches to observe, ask questions, and make connections, their wonder and curiosity increases, and they enthusiastically explore their surroundings. Learning, engagement, and enjoyment are multiplied when learners make their own firsthand, unfiltered, extended observations of details in nature. By devoting time and attention to these firsthand observations, learners also develop compassion and a relationship with nature.

• think like a scientist. Students learn science most effectively when they engage in the same practices scientists use. When students make careful observations, ask questions, and attempt to explain mysteries in nature, their wonder and curiosity become a source of joy, and their relationship with nature deepens. As they come to understand the importance of evidence and how to engage in respectful exchange of ideas, using language of uncertainty, they develop a sense of scientific fairness and humility, open-mindedness, honesty, and integrity. Indigenous people worldwide have engaged in these same practices since long before the word science existed. Engaging in practices of science helps learners become critical consumers of information and grow into responsible and engaged decision-makers. Developing a mindset of curiosity and reasoning helps students learn how to learn in any context in life. It also builds their positive identities as learners and gives them confidence to continue their explorations.

• learn through discussions. Learning takes place when learners make sense of experiences by putting their ideas into words and comparing their ideas to those of others. Effective educational experiences are rich with intentional opportunities for student discourse. When learners engage in discussions that build on prior knowledge, encourage divergent thinking, and challenge the strength of their evidence, they actively deepen their conceptual understanding of complex ideas. In discussion, learners practice clarifying their thinking, communicating ideas effectively, and asking productive questions. For an instructor, student talk and discussion can be a window into learners’ brains, offering a view of their prior knowledge and current understanding. Leading effective discussions takes skill and practice and depends on an instructor’s ability to create a “culture of talk.”

• experience instruction based on how people learn. Research on deep learning shows that learners need to become authentically engaged, connect new ideas to lived experiences and prior knowledge, mess around with ideas and interesting things nearby, make sense of their experiences and phenomena, figure things out, build understanding of concepts, apply what they have learned to new contexts, and reflect on the experiences that helped them learn. The Learning Cycle is an effective, flexible, research-based model for designing learner-centered instruction. Using it to design or improve lessons, lesson sequences, units of study, and organizations ensures that learners have these authentic opportunities for learning and meaning-making. The Learning Cycle can also offer a useful structure that promotes just, equitable, and culturally relevant learner-centered learning experiences.

• participate in inclusive, equitable, and culturally relevant learning environments. Learners learn in the context of their lived experiences, family histories, and cultural identities, including race, socioeconomic status, gender, and other factors. Instructors remove barriers to learning when they affirm learners’ cultures and lived experiences; show genuine cultural curiosity and humility; and recognize, validate, and make space for learners to share their own perspectives, experiences, and expertise. Creating just, equitable, and culturally relevant learning environments requires instructors to reflect on their own lived experiences and unconscious biases that impact how they design learning experiences and interact with learners. Unconscious biases are a normal part of being human and awareness of them can help avoid potential negative impacts on learners. All BEETLES design principles support the goal of creating just, equitable, and culturally relevant learning environments by putting learners and nature at the center of the experience.

Overview of the Chapters in This Guide

This Guide will help leaders use BEETLES resources and materials to bring about regular, consistent, systemic improvements in their program. Following is an overview of each chapter:

Chapter 1: Working Toward Equitable and Just Outdoor Science Organizations. Putting learners and nature at the center of learning experiences strongly supports equity, inclusion, cultural relevance, and, ultimately, justice within teaching and learning; but this is not enough. Our goal is to build equitable and just organizations and an equitable and just field of outdoor science education. This involves examining and adjusting organizational culture, practices, and systems. Each chapter of this guide stands on its own, and you can read them in whatever order suits your needs, but we chose to begin with equity and justice to center their importance as the foundation of everything we do as educators.

Chapter 2: Creating a Professional Learning System. Instructors benefit most from professional learning that builds their understanding of pedagogy and offers opportunities to discuss teaching and learning with both peers and experts. They need time to struggle with how they know what their learners are learning, what is helping learners the most to learn, what ideas about teaching they want to let go of, and what new strategies they want to explore. BEETLES Professional Learning (PL) sessions are designed to inspire this kind of reflection on and improvement of teaching practices. Since ongoing dialogue and follow-through with staff is so important, we also describe in this chapter how to use reflective practices to create a staff culture that develops a supportive professional learning community.

Chapter 3: Supporting High-Quality Learning Experiences. As PL sessions inspire instructors to explore new approaches to teaching, instructors need access to student activities that embody research-based pedagogy so they can put what they are learning into practice. Using such activities will also give them the experience they need to apply what they have learned to revising activities they’ve used in the past. Without high quality, instructional materials and time to try them out and reflect on how they went, instructors may fall back into teaching in the same ways they did before. This chapter offers suggestions for how to use BEETLES student activities as models of instruction, how to support your instructors to create new or revise existing curriculum, and how to think about other changes needed to support improved teaching and learning in your organization.

Chapter 4: Building Capacity for Organizational Improvement. In this chapter, we dig into how to build and bolster organizational infrastructure to support the continuous improvement of teaching and learning. This involves a distributed leadership team from your organization taking a close look at critical capacities that may need some strengthening or restructuring. We offer prompts for discussing your organizational capacity and offer suggestions on how to address organization-wide improvements.

Chapter 5: Power of Networks. Participating in professional networks can be a key strategy for organizations to share and transfer their capacity and expertise with one another in mutually beneficial ways. No organization needs to be an island. This chapter describes different types of networks and the benefits that can be derived from them.

Chapter 6: Implementation Examples. This final chapter is a collection of real “Tales from the Field”; that is, examples and vignettes that offer windows into how some outdoor science organizations have used BEETLES resources to improve their organizations. They were written (or sometimes spoken in interviews) by the thoughtful folks who have used our materials. They represent “warts-and-all” realistic approaches to implementing change, using BEETLES resources. Other examples are also sprinkled throughout the Guide when specifically relevant.

Implementation Cheat Sheet

A reviewer of a draft of this Guide asked for direct guidance for organization leaders who want explicit instructions to start implementing BEETLES quickly. Here is some cautious guidance. Keep in mind that so much depends on your particular circumstances.

1. Go slow to go fast. Take a deep breath. Don’t try to do too much too fast. It can take a lot of work and time to undo the resistance you may get from a too-hasty start. Seriously.

2. Ask lead instructors to teach BEETLES student activities. Ask lead instructors (and program leaders) to watch our online videos, read our student activities, and then start leading BEETLES student activities with learners. Start out with the following: Thought Swap; I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of; and any of the focused explorations that are appropriate for your site (Lichen Exploration, Bark Beetle Exploration, Case of the Disappearing Log, etc.). Ask them to teach the activities as written and then talk with one another and with you about what happens.

3. Set a tone for a staff learning culture. Make it a goal of your organization to be continuously learning and growing and make it a clear and explicit feature of your staff’s experience. Set an expectation for everyone on staff (including yourself) to work hard to improve their effectiveness and to learn how to be more equitable and inclusive instructors. Model openness to new ideas; dedication to equity and inclusivity; humility; and a willingness to share your stumbles, struggles, excitement and successes. Model curiosity about instruction and about learning—but most of all, about learning! Read the “Building a Reflective Learning Culture” section of this guide (in Chapter 2).

4. Be respectful of staff. Be respectful of what your instructors know and of their thoughts and feelings. Avoid announcing drastic changes. Invite staff into the process of change and into ongoing discussion of what it is that helps students to learn. Read the “Additional Considerations For Using BEETLES Professional Learning (PL) Sessions” section of this Guide (in Chapter 2).

5. Lead professional learning (PL) sessions. Lead the Making Observations PL session with your staff. Follow it up with either Questioning Strategies or Field Journaling with Students. Teach each PL session fully as written and resist the temptation to cherry pick certain parts while skipping others. Before leading each PL session, watch the videos and study the write-ups. Team up with someone who can teach the model student activities featured in the PL session. Read the “Using BEETLES professional learning (PL) sessions” section of this guide (in Chapter 2).

6. Facilitate application of the PL session to instruction. Read the “Applying Session to Instruction” section at the end of a PL session and set aside time each week for instructors to apply the pedagogy they have experienced to their instruction. Maintain an ongoing staff dialogue about pedagogy, challenges, and successes.

7. Check in with staff. Check in with staff frequently, as a group and as individuals. Continuously invite staff to share their lived experiences about topics at hand. Elicit staff feedback and needs and listen and respond to it when you receive it. Read the “Creating structures for coaching and mentoring staff” and “The Difference between evaluation and coaching” sections of this Guide (in Chapter 2).

8. Read this Guide. Read the entire Guide and then plan a long-term approach!