A Fantastic Fall for UTRCA Community Education
As the seasons start to change, we like to look back at all that Community Education staff have accomplished this fall term. Since September, education staff have worked with over 2,000 students in the watershed. This includes a variety of programs hosted on-site at our conservation areas (CAs) and in schoolyards.
One of the new programs we added this year includes Team Building, a new and exciting program for Grades 6 to 8, which aims to help students support each other and strengthen their connections to one another. Through team-building and leadership activities that are centered around understanding their local environment, students are able to work on listening, communication, and trust-building skills. We look forward to offering this program again in the spring!
Additionally, we hosted four Specialist High School Majors programs, Compass/Map/Global Positioning Systems, and Species Identification programs. These are just two of the seven specialist programs that are offered at Fanshawe and Wildwood Conservation Areas.聽
Staff also hosted seven classes at Fanshawe Conservation Area for Grade 7 and 8 Watershed STEM. This program highlighted how CA staff in STEM careers survey and evaluate local ecosystem health. The program included a guided tour across the top of Fanshawe Dam, and a series of hands-on activities that mimic the water quality monitoring undertaken as part of the Watershed Report Cards, including identifying benthic invertebrates and conducting a habitat assessment. We also explored coding using Ozobot robots, and discussed threats to aquatic species at risk. This program is offered in the fall and spring and is a great opportunity to explore careers in STEM for youth!
Fall also marked the beginning of our Primary Outreach Program, which involved providing professional development opportunities for teachers through a schoolyard asset and assessment report and lesson demonstrations in their schoolyard. The first visit for this program occurs in the fall. We follow up with teachers in the winter with a virtual visit, and a final visit in the spring. The program aims to help teachers explore new ways to utilize their schoolyard assets for outdoor learning for a variety of subjects.
We also hosted a variety of on-site programs at our CAs, including a revitalized program called Climate Change in our Watershed at Fanshawe. Students learned about the local impacts of climate change and analyzed how extreme weather and water quality are impacting habitats and species. At Wildwood, we hosted a specialty Wilderness Survival program about fire-making and shelter-building that helps Grade 7 and 8 students build confidence and a “leave-no-trace” mindset in the outdoors.聽
The Community Education team is so grateful to all of the students and teachers who came to Fanshawe and Wildwood this fall and are excited for the year ahead!