KUGLUKTUK/COPPERMINE - Many kids return home after a week at summer camp knowing some campfire songs and how to roast a s'more. Eleven-year-old Kassidy Koaha-Laube returned home knowing how to butcher a caribou, how to identify edible plants and how to use a GPS system.

"We learned about caribou habitat and how the muskox protect their babies and they taught us how to cut up a bearded seal," said Koaha-Laube from Cambridge Bay.

She was one of about 24 youth from across the Kitikmeot region that participated in the first Science on the Land camp which took place the week of Aug. 16 in Basil Bay outside of Kugluktuk, organized by Science for Kitikmeot Youth and Educators (SKYE).

Elders, wildlife officers, teachers and other educators taught lessons and led activities that incorporated both traditional and modern science, according to Tanya Connors, a SKYE board member.

Campers dried fish and looked at fish eggs under a microscope, visited an ancient camp site, went seal and caribou hunting and learned how to make igunaaq (aged meat), among other activities.

Sharina Dodsworth, environmental education specialist with the department of environment, said the activities were planned by a working group that included conservation officers, CLEY members, elders and the department of education. She said all activities incorporated traditional knowledge and conventional science.

"We looked at fish eyes and scales under a microscope, which was simultaneous with preparation of food," she said.

For some students, it was the first time they had ever performed traditional activities such as skinning a caribou, said Albert Grimes, vice-principal of Kugaardjuq School in Kugaaruk.

"Some had never done these activities," said Grimes. "Some had seen them done, but hadn't done it themselves."

For other students, it was a chance for teachers to witness them perform traditional skills teachers wouldn't normally get to see.

"It was amazing to see skills they exhibited so readily that you don't see in a classroom environment," he said.

Kugaaruk students Desmond Inaksajak and Brandon Nartok both said they had fun at camp.

Inaksajak said he enjoyed the bonfires and Nartok said he enjoyed fishing with elders.

Two students also acted as instructors. Grade 12 student Dale Klengenberg from Kugluktuk taught students plant identification. Campers learned how to identify plants, learned about their traditional uses and then pressed the plants to make herbarium plant collections.

"We all got together in groups and went out on the land and identified plants," he said. "We found out what their uses were then we taught them how to press the plants."

Students identified various plants including bearberries, the leaves of which were traditionally used to make tea, Klengenberg said.

Kugluktuk teacher Maurice Randell said the camp allowed students to speak traditional languages while learning from elders.

"It brings elders and youth together, talking in Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut," Randell said. "We were doing quantitative studies with plants but we also had elders there telling us what the plants were used for."

Trina Sallerina, a teacher chaperone from Gjoa Haven, said all of the food at camp was prepared by elders, who were assisted by camp participants.

"It was all traditional food," she said. "There was no junk; no chocolate, chips or pop."

Sallerina's son, 13-year-old George Sallerina, reached a personal milestone at camp.

"I got to skin my very first caribou," he said. "It was the first time I ever skinned one."

Dodsworth said another camp is expected to take place in Kimmirut in early September.