Animal Acting
Turning observation into action reinforces learning. This a simple game mimics charades and allows students to display animal behaviour that they have observed by acting it out in a team setting. It is fun and educational.
Turning observation into action reinforces learning. This a simple game mimics charades and allows students to display animal behaviour that they have observed by acting it out in a team setting. It is fun and educational.
This fun activity harnesses and focuses student energy on the beach into a learning experience. Students use full-colour bingo cards to find and identify local beach creatures. All photos were taken in the intertidal zone of Mayne Island, BC by Stephanie Hurst.
This tag-based running game demonstrates the concept of bio magnification using POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) in marine ecosystems as an example.
Students learn to identify the six most common tree species in the Southern Gulf Islands based on physical characteristics.
This lesson introduces students to the study of tree rings, and provides hands on experience with survey equipment used in the forestry industry. This activity quickly became a student favorite and is now a lesson we repeat with each new group of students.
Using real-life insects, students perform a series of experiments to see which environments or food the insects like best. Students learn about the mechanics of insect movement.
On Sept 4th 2015, World Fisheries Trust, Royal BC Museum, and Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation hosted a workshop for educators from Vancouver Island and the lower mainland to discuss ways to deliver environmental education in the new 2015 BC Science Curriculum. Over the course of the day, educators from across the province took part in a number of activities that focused on incorporating environmental education into the new 2015 science curriculum.
A PowerPoint presentation and lesson plan have been produced to introduce many of the common animal species found in the Southern Gulf Islands, and to describe some major differences between birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. This lesson is presented as a rainy day activity that can foster discussion about animals and what they need to survive and reproduce, and recommended to be used as a pre-fieldtrip lesson before going to the beach or on a hike to observe animals in their natural habitats.
Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of taxonomy and the classification of living things (how, why). The concepts are reinforced through the creation and use of their own dichotomous keys, first in the class using a basic example and then outside using local plants.
This activity will introduce the use of digital microscopes and teach the students to use them effectively. Will encourage students to see small details in their surroundings. One of my favorite things to do as a child was to wander the back yard with a magnifying lens, finding cool things to look at; especially insects. Speaking to others, I realized this is a common experience among many people, and possibly an important experience for sparking a life-long interest in nature.