Meeting these beetles will help teachers keep it real

 Sometimes performing the real work of science involves slogging around in real rain, through real mud, while getting whiffs of the pungent perfume of real rotting chicken. Who knew?

On one of last summer’s dreary July days, I met a group, mainly middle-school teachers, on a quest for professional development out at Audubon’s Fisherville Brook refuge in Exeter. With rubber boots, wet-gear and backpacks, we shadowed a field biologist, learning his techniques for collecting data about an endangered species.