It’s Time for Science Podcast Episode 20: Outdoor Learning: Taking FOSS Outdoors

It's Time for Science, and it's time to talk again about science learning outdoors! Host Tom Racine talks with Dr. April Holton and educator Elisa Slee about outdoor professional learning and the value of getting both kids and teachers outside. Then Tom talks with Erica Beck Spencer about the history and importance of Taking FOSS Outdoors and weaving outdoor experiences directly into the FOSS curriculum.

 

Dr. April Holton has dedicated over 30 years to science education, serving as a middle school teacher, instructional coach, curriculum specialist, and professor. Currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Arizona State University and science education consultant, she bridges academia with classroom practice. Her work focuses on transforming science instruction through teacher development, emphasizing phenomena-based, three-dimensional learning that puts students at the center. Dr. Holton believes students learn science best through hands-on exploration, meaningful discourse, and real-world connections. She equips educators with research-backed, practical strategies that make science engaging and accessible.

Elisa Slee is a longtime educator and former science curriculum specialist. She currently works as a FOSS consultant and science professional development provider, supporting teachers in bringing hands-on science experiences into the classroom. Her passion for outdoor education began as a child while walking to school and was further shaped by a pivotal experience—spending a week at Yosemite with her high school chemistry class. Ms. Slee loves collaborating with teachers and families, emphasizing the role of hands-on investigations in fostering sensemaking in science.

Tom begins the discussion with Dr. Holton and Ms. Slee talking about a professional learning summer camp that they conducted with teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In collaboration with LAUSD, they conducted a two day science camp with teachers, working to expand thinking on getting kids outdoors and off screens post-lockdown; highlighting how to work with kids outdoors—getting fresh air and making science connections; and focussing on outdoor learning not as something extra to do with the kids, but as an integral part of learning. They describe taking teachers through group activities, rotating just as if they were students; undergoing several sessions learning about different aspects of outdoor learning, such as nature journaling, using FOSS investigations (possibly ones that teachers might have skipped because they were worried about management); how teachers were able to be in the role of the learner and imagine what they could do with their own kids—working to help get teachers over any obstacles in taking kids outdoors. They discuss how outdoor activities are not something extra, but already built into FOSS. Dr. Holton and Ms. Slee worked to focus on ultra-local phenomena with teachers; walking around their own campuses; seeing how just a bit of dirt and some plant matter can be just as engaging as large open space; helping kids become citizen scientists every time they walk around the school. Dr. Holton and Ms. Slee share some of their own "ah-ha!" moments, with their own learning and with teachers. They discuss how FOSS helped engage students and families during lockdown; how FOSS Home/School Connections bring families into the learning; how simulations just aren't the same for student engagement; and how when you do science outside you begin to ask, what else can I do outside?

 

Erica Beck Spencer is a former curriculum specialist with the Full Option Science System (FOSS) and spearheaded the Taking FOSS Outdoors initiative. In addition to being a curriculum developer, she collaborated with over 50 districts and guided tens of thousands of educators on implementing the FOSS program. She has instructed thousands of formal and nonfo