This August, Education Director Whitney Wurzel and Interpretive Programs Manager Wren Smith participated in the BEETLES Leadership Institute. A University of California at Berkeley program, BEETLES (Better Environmental Education, Teaching, Learning & Expertise Sharing), is a collection of passionate science and environmental educators devoted to improving the quality of outdoor science education.
The Bernheim education team will implement BEETLES approaches to reenergize two long-standing programs. One, to adapt the Volunteer Naturalist training program into a model that can easily be shared with community partners. And two, to integrate more learner-centered and
“thinking like a scientist” activities into Pre-K-12 field trips.
As one of 20 teams selected through a competitive application process, Whitney and Wren engaged in professional development, expertise sharing, community building, in-depth discussions, and thoughtful reflection at the week-long institute. They also tested and gained access to BEETLES learning materials and field activities, which seek to deliver outdoor science programs that are powerful and transformative experiences.
The Bernheim education team will implement BEETLES approaches to reenergize two long-standing programs. One, to adapt the Volunteer Naturalist training program into a model that can easily be shared with community partners. And two, to integrate more learner-centered and
“thinking like a scientist” activities into Pre-K-12 field trips.
Over the next year, Bernheim will receive ongoing support for program implementation and will participate in research to examine how BEETLES materials are implemented. Study results will become part of a larger dataset supported by National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal Science Learning (NSF-AISL) program
