IRSET Resources

On this page, we have curated resources about each characteristic in the Instructional Resource Self-Evaluation Tool (IRSET). These resources may be helpful as you and your team work through the IRSET to self-evaluate your program, and/or they may offer inspiration and practical tools for growth once you have selected one or more characteristics that you would like to target for improvement.

You may find our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Glossary helpful as you use the IRSET and the following resources.

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  • How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking? (Daniel Willingham, American Educator Fall 2020)
    • In this article, Dr. Willingham provides an overview of research on critical thinking - especially about “general” vs. domain-specific critical thinking - as well as tips for teaching students to think critically. 
  • Social-Emotional Learning at Outdoor School (OSU Extension Service Outdoor School)
    • What might it look like to support students’ social-emotional learning at outdoor school? Our recorded webinar and Social-Emotional Learning and Outdoor School document are intended to provide an overview of social-emotional learning as well as practical tools for supporting it before, during, and after outdoor school.

  • Environmental Education and Indigenous Knowledge (Megan Bang, NAAEE webinar)
    • There are many ways to engage with, learn about, and understand the natural world. In this webinar, Dr. Bang offers ideas for questioning your assumptions, thinking about other ways of knowing and learning about something, and shares some example activities.
  • Group Agreements for Science Discussions (BEETLES)
    • In this lesson, students discuss group agreements that will support their and their classmates’ discussions and participation in outdoor learning. The Instructor Support section (beginning on page 9) describes how group agreements can support students’ outdoor learning experiences and offers example group agreements.

  • Ecoregions of Oregon Map (EPA, USFS, USDA, USGS, Oregon Natural Heritage Program)
    • This map shows the 65 (!) ecoregions in Oregon and provides a brief summary of each one.
  • Ecosystem Literacies and Exploration Guides (BEETLES)
    • In this guide, find tips for exploring five types of ecosystems/features that you might interact with during outdoor school (streams and ponds; intertidal/rocky shore; under logs and rocks; bushes, shrubs, and grasslands; plants). The guide offers observation techniques, safety considerations, and particular ideas students might explore with that ecosystem/feature.
  • Focusing on the Strengths of Outdoor Science Learning Experiences (BEETLES)
    • Chapter 1 (page 7) in Creating Effective Outdoor Science Activities describes how using “nature realia” offers opportunities for engaging students in intriguing, exciting activities that take advantage of the natural assets of a site.
  • Learning Frameworks: Phenology (Learning in Places)
    • Phenology (the study of seasonal impacts on organisms) offers many opportunities for engaging students in learning about their environment. This brief describes why phenology is important and contains a “phenology wheel” that includes 10 cyclical rhythms of the natural and social world.

  • What’s in our Backpack? (BEETLES) 
    • This list of handy outdoor education equipment/materials is broken into two lists: one of basic items that will be useful in almost any outdoor education setting and one of “swanky” items that could be nice to have.

  • Oregon Senate Bill 439 (Oregon legislature)
    • This legislation outlines the basic legal requirements for outdoor school programs supported by Measure 99 funds.

  • A Guide for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning (Rethink Together)
    • This guide describes why interdisciplinary learning is important, outlines frameworks for implementing interdisciplinary learning into your teaching, and provides examples of what those frameworks look like in practice.

  • The Culturally Responsive-Sustaining STEAM Curriculum Scorecard (Leah Peoples and colleagues, Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools at NYU)
    • This curriculum scorecard is designed to help you determine how culturally responsive your curriculum is, within four major areas: Representation, Social Justice, Teacher's Materials, and Materials/Resources.
  • I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of (BEETLES)
    • This exploration routine guides students through making deep observations of natural objects. On pages 14-15, the authors describe how this activity supports students in connecting their own experiences and perspectives to what they are observing during a field experience. There is also a video available showing the activity in action! 
  • Three Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive (Zaretta Hammond, Cult of Pedagogy)
    • In this article, Hammond says, “In reality, culturally responsive teaching is less about using racial pride as a motivator and more about mimicking students’ cultural learning styles and tools. These are the strategies their moms, dads, grandmas, and other community folks use to teach them life skills and basic concepts long before they come to school and during out-of-school time.” She then offers three tips for how to transform lessons to do this.

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  • Curriculum Development for Nonformal Education (Anna Otto, 4-H Center for Youth Development)
    • This article provides considerations for preparing for curriculum development, developing curriculum, and evaluating curriculum.
  • The Learning Cycle Explained (BEETLES)
    • The Learning Cycle is a model that structures a learning activity based on research about how people learn. This two-page overview of the Learning Cycle outlines each phase and describes what the teacher might be doing during that phase. For more on the Learning Cycle, check out the resources associated with the Teaching and Learning professional learning session, especially Applying the Learning Cycle Lens to Outdoor Instruction.
  • Nine Ways to Plan Transformational Lessons: Planning the Best Curriculum Unit Ever (Todd Finley, Edutopia)
    • In this short article, the author offers strategies for planning lessons based on research about teaching strategies and learning strategies.
  • Understanding By Design (Ryan Bowen, Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching)
    • This teaching guide provides an overview of “backwards design,” where instructors think about the goals of an instructional activity and work backwards from there to develop the activity itself (rather than the common approach of using an activity as the starting point for curriculum design).
  • Deep Dive: How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (National Research Council)
    • If you are interested in reading research about how people learn, this book is for you! A PDF copy of the full text is downloadable for free.

  • How to Differentiate Instruction (Liana Loewus, Education Week Teacher)
    • This article highlights two videos describing strategies for differentiating instruction for diverse learners.
  • Twenty Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples (Marcus Guido, Prodigy)
    • This list offers practical examples of what it could look like to use instructional approaches that meet the needs of a wide range of learners.
  • What is Differentiated Instruction? Examples of How to Differentiate Instruction in the Classroom (Cathy Weselby, Resilient Educator)
    • This article describes differentiated instruction and offers four approaches to differentiating instruction (content, process, product, learning environment).
  • Deep Dive: Differentiation Strategies and Examples (Jessica Hockett, Tennessee Department of Education)
    • Grades 3-5
    • Grades 6-12
    • These handbooks provide extensive information about differentiation, including misconceptions about differentiation, a process for planning differentiated lessons, and many examples of differentiation strategies.
    • Though the handbooks are not specific to outdoor education, many of the strategies apply to instruction at outdoor school.

  • How to Teach Nature Journaling (John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren)
    • This comprehensive guide to teaching nature journaling includes 31 journaling activities you can do with students! Each activity offers teaching notes, discussion prompts to guide your conversations with students, and follow-up activities, among many other resources. Throughout, the authors describe how the use of words, pictures, and numbers contributes to deeper observations.
  • Multiple Intelligences Theory: Widely Used, Yet Misunderstood (Youki Terada, Edutopia) 
    • Have you ever thought (or heard someone else wonder): “Wasn’t the theory of multiple intelligences debunked?” This article provides an overview of how the theory of multiple intelligences has been misunderstood and misused in education. It also offers a “Do” and “Don’t” list to support evidence-based application of the theory when teaching.
  • Universal Design for Learning Guidelines (CAST)
    • Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to teaching that uses research about how people learn to optimize learning for everyone, not just those with exceptional needs. The guidelines focus on using multiple modes of engagement, representation, and action and expression.

  • A Comprehensive Guide to 21st-Century Skills (Jenna Buckle, Panorama Education)
    • This guide describes what 21st-century skills are, why they are important, and how to support their development. 
  • Group Work That Works (Emelina Minero, Edutopia)
    • This article offers tips for ensuring that group work meaningfully engages all students rather than just a few, extroverted students.
  • Using Positive Interdependence (Nancy Frey and colleagues, ASCD)
    • This chapter from Productive Group Work focuses on how to support students in seeing their success in a group as intrinsically linked to the success of others in their group. The authors offer specific strategies/routines and examples.

  • Discussion Map (BEETLES)
    • The discussion map offers a broad structure (and specific teacher prompts) for guiding students through investigations of the natural world.
  • Exploratory Investigation (BEETLES)
    • This lesson plan guides students through an investigation of observable natural phenomena. The instructor chooses a basic topic (e.g., where fungi live), and students develop questions, make observations, and discuss how their investigation could be improved in the future.
  • Instructor Support for Guiding Explorations (BEETLES)
    • This tool offers specific questions and discussion prompts you can use to support students in making observations, developing explanations, and more!
  • Learning from Science Investigations (National Research Council)
    • Chapter 7 in Ready, Set, SCIENCE! (full-text PDF available as a free download) focuses on how to support student learning in science investigations, for example by creating meaningful problems and supporting students in constructing and defending explanations.

  • BFF (Best Friends Forever) Questions (BEETLES)
    • This list contains questions that you can use to encourage wonder, exploration, discussion, and reflection in a variety of contexts.
  • Broad Questions and Narrow Questions (BEETLES)
    • These two short guides describe the differences between “broad” and “narrow” questions and offer examples of each.
  • Metacognition (Nancy Chick, Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching)
    • In this guide to using a metacognitive (thinking about thinking) approach, the author offers specific strategies and example questions for incorporating metacognition into your teaching practice.
  • Social-Emotional Learning Routine (BEETLES)
    • This social-emotional learning sequence is designed to integrate with the activities you’re already planning on doing, rather than as a standalone social-emotional learning activity.
  • Talk Science Primer (Sarah Michaels and Cathy O’Connor, TERC)
    • In this guide, the authors describe the benefits of discussion and offer specific examples of how educators can support productive talk.
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