Ecology North aims to engage students
New curriculum provides Northern-based resources to NWT teachers
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Ecology North has launched a science-based hands-on web portal with the hopes of getting young people more engaged with the environment via traditional education.
A truck makes its way through melting ice to get onto Yellowknife Bay earlier this month. Ecology North's new science-based hands-on web portal aims to get more young people engaged in environmental
science in the Northwest Territories. One theme of the portal is Naturewatch, which encourages students to monitor freezing and melting water in the North to help scientists document climate change in Canada. - Robin Grant/NNSL photo |
Called NWT Science Focus Teacher's Portal, the interactive portal for teachers and educators encourages them to use its lesson plans and incorporate certain scientific topics into their classrooms.
There are six themes within the science focus curriculum: ecology and animals, water, energy, waste, climate change and Naturewatch, a community that engages Canadians in collecting scientific information on nature in order to understand a constantly changing environment.
"We want to provide lots of hands-on activities for kids because we find that for learning experiences, students enjoy going outside the classroom to get experience with land and nature," said Marissa Oteiza, Ecology North's office manager, based in Hay River.
Northern-based science
The material in the portal focuses on environmental issues in the Northwest Territories and, Oteiza said, provides Northern-based resources for a curriculum largely influenced by the Alberta public school system.
"We try to connect environmental science to some more Northern-based content to make it applicable for the students here," she explained.
For example, under the ecology and animals themes, there are lesson plans which discuss how cold temperatures, freezing water and high winds affect local plants and animals.
The lesson plans also discuss the specifics of how animals and plants have adapted to life in the North.
The climate change lesson plans instruct students how to take action against greenhouse gases, rising temperatures, melting permafrost and other impacts of climate change on the environment in the North.
"Teachers might not necessarily be experts in these topics so we provide a little bit of information and maybe different ideas that they wouldn't think of themselves," Oteiza told Yellowknifer.
Ultimately, the project is about fostering knowledge and good environmental practices.
According to the Ecology North website, the portal aims to prepare youth to be strong leaders, decision makers and stewards of the North and its cultures and economies.
"I think it is important to get students connected with their environment," Oteiza continued.
"Being in the classroom, you are kind of disconnected from your environment and what's going on around you, and it's good to get students aware of how nature is affected by our warming temperatures, especially because climate change is happening at a rapid rate in the Northwest Territories.
"It's just a way of getting kids thinking about the outside world and how it is affected by the decisions that we make."
The teacher's web portal is funded by the Natural Sciences as well as the Engineering Research Council of Canada's PromoScience Program.
