Educator Institutes at NBNC
O ur Educator Institutes provide week-long nature immersion courses for teachers, assistants, and administrators. Our institutes feature inquiry-based, outdoor learning through intensive experiential lessons, activities, and discussions.
Led by NBNC staff and veteran public-school teachers, participants will move beyond the classroom and engage with nature as a learning partner. Participants will develop a nature pedagogy and learn to incorporate VELS, NGSS, and Common Core into their design of nature immersion curricula.
Summer 2025 Offerings
(Click each title to expand)
Nature-Based Routines for Outdoor Classrooms
Instructors: Ken Benton & Guests
For Elementary and Middle School
Educators | July 7-11 | $1300 ($1750 with three graduate credits)
This introductory ECO (Educating Children Outdoors) Institute course acquaints participants with the routines and protocols that structure a successful outdoor learning and play experience. Participants will:
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Develop a knowledge base and skill set to incorporate nature immersion practices into your program in a way that meets the needs of your students.
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Learn how to conduct site assessments and how to manage hazards and risks within an outdoor classroom space.
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Explore foundational math and literacy skills in nature with nature. Learn how to partner with the natural world to bring the curriculum outdoors and nature indoors while meeting NGSS, Common Core and Vermont Early Learning Standards.
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Build upon existing strengths and opportunities within a school community to support learning with nature.
Natural History Fundamentals for Educators
Instructors: Ken Benton and Ash Kerby-Miller
For Elementary and Middle School Educators
July 21-25 | $1300 ($1750 with three graduate credits)
- Build a framework for viewing the land and its inhabitants that relieves the discomfort of not knowing how to identify everything.
- Become familiar with common birds and their song, basic tree and plant identification, wild edible safety, geology, and stream ecology.
- Practice seasonal lessons and routines that deepen a partnership with the land and align with NGSS and Common Core.
- Practice strategies for bridging the gap between learning that takes place outdoors and in the classroom.
Vermont Master Naturalist for Educators
Instructors: Sean Beckett & Alicia Daniel
For Middle and High School Educators
August 4-8 | $1300 ($1750 with three graduate credits)
This unique collaboration between NBNC and Vermont Master Naturalist is a place-based, integrated training in interpreting the local landscape and applying that training to the middle and high school classroom and curriculum. This course will:
- Practice identifying characteristic species and natural communities that contribute to Vermont’s signature natural heritage.
- Recognize and interpret patterns and processes in the local ecological landscape.
- Practice activities, tools and routines for incorporating nature curriculum at the middle and high school level.
- Explore alignment of biodiversity and nature-based curriculum with Next Generation Science Standards and Proficiency-based Learning.
- Cultivate relationships with educators and conservation professionals to enrich student engagement in the field and the classroom.
** All courses qualify for 3 graduate credits through Vermont State University Center for Schools. **
Financial Aid: Vermont residents are encouraged to apply for a VSAC Advancement Grant. Please contact us ([email protected]) to inquire about other financial aid options.
Cancellation Policy: While we realize that unexpected circumstances arise that are out of our control, NBNC cannot guarantee refunds for registrations cancelled within 30 days of the course. If a cancellation occurs within this window, NBNC will, if possible, attempt to fill the space from our wait list and provide a full refund.
Purchase Orders: It is the participant’s responsibility to submit a purchase order request to their school immediately upon registration, and to provide a purchase order number to NBNC within 14 days of registration.
More about Educator Institutes at NBNC
NBNC has been facilitating outdoor professional development courses for teachers and educators through its ECO Institute since 2013. We have trained and worked alongside over 100 teachers who strongly believe that nature has a place in the heart of education. Our work is inspired by the nature kindergartens found in Scandinavia, Forest Schools in the UK, the nature-based mentoring movement, and the teachers and children we work with. In the past five years, we have seen an incredible increase in the desire to move beyond the classroom walls into natural spaces to help students develop independence, learn social and emotional skills, and cultivate caring for others and the natural world. The mission to reconnect children and adults to the natural world is valued and growing!
Teacher Resources
"Mother Earth needs us to keep our covenant. We will do this in courts, we will do this on our radio station,
and we will commit to our descendants to work hard to protect this land and water for them.
Whether you have feet, wings, fins, or roots, we are all in it together."
—Winona LaDuke
713 Elm Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
(802) 229-6206
Hours: Center Open Monday-Friday 9-4
Trails Open 24/7
