On September 22, I attended the Project Wild workshop at the St. John’s Outdoor Centre in St. Catharines, Ontario instructed by Bert Murphy. There were approximately 30 Teacher’s Education students from Brock University that attended. We gained insight on how to incorporate the environment in our lesson plans for subjects across the curriculum, and learned many ice-breaker activities that could be used in our future classrooms. Bert directed a very educational environmental workshop for us - even on the rainiest day that it was.
Summary and Critical Evaluation of the Project Wild Workshop
To begin the Project Wild workshop, Bert introduced a scavenger hunt ice-breaker activity. He provided us with a list of events and we were responsible for finding a peer that had experienced that event (i.e. seen a moose, owns something made of fur, etc.) All of these events were related to the environment. It was an effective ice-breaker activity because it encouraged conversation and inquiry into getting to know another person in the room.
Once our page had a name beside each event, Bert instructed us back into our seats and he spoke about breaking the stereotypes that people have about activities in the environment. He mentioned that some people are against wearing furs; however, up north, people use all of each animal they hunt and therefore don’t leave the fur behind (making the most of the natural resource and not wasting any part.) Also, selling furs can sometimes be the only source of income for people who live in the north, and therefore it is a part of their survival. In addition, planting trees isn’t always the best thing for the environment. He spoke about a situation in Ontario where a lot of pine trees were planted in one area after trees were removed from another forest. After the new pine trees were planted, an entire species of butterfly were killed off because the environment for them was now unsuitable and unlivable. This area was the only place in Canada that this particular specie of butterfly existed. After environmentalists discovered the disappearance of the specific butterfly, all of the pine trees were cut down, and the specie of butterfly was re-introduced into the area to flourish once again. By explaining these circumstances, Bert provided us with the opportunity to understand that what we may think is best for the environment, may not actually be what is best; and what we think isn’t an ethical activity (wearing furs) may be necessary for people in certain environments. It was stressed that challenging our beliefs about the environment is an important part in learning about our role in the environment.
Once it stopped raining outside, Bert took us onto the lawn area where we participated in a game called “Oh Deer!” To help us understand the concept of population growth in animals, the food chain, and population control of animals, this game was a great activity that involved everyone. One group had to choose to be either food, shelter, or water through body positions, another group were deer, and a third and final group were wolves. The wolves hunted the deer, and the deer chased after their basic necessities to live. After hunters were introduced to hunt the wolves, we noticed that at the end of the game, the deer population was enormous and Bert explained that this was the current problem with the deer population in the Short Hills. This was such a fun and educational game that I could use in the classroom to teach my students about population growth, control, and the food chain. It was also effective because it showed the problem that environmentalists are currently experiencing within a local wooded area. As a group, we brainstormed solutions that were humane yet effective, and the brainstorming activity would even be useful in the classroom as well. It would allow for students to think of concrete ideas that could actually be put in place in real life, outside of the game.
After eating our lunch in an old school house from the 1800s, Bert brought us into a wood workshop and split us into groups of five. Here, we built a blue birdhouse as a group to be put up in the Short Hills forest. He taught us the philosophy behind the specific measurements and construction of the birdhouse (i.e. the 1-inch hole allows for the blue bird to enter the house, but not squirrels; and the cracks in the bottom floor of the birdhouse were for water drainage so that the baby birds inside the house wouldn’t drown if it rained.) I feel as though building a birdhouse with an age-appropriate class would be exciting for them and would motivate the students, because they would know that it would be placed in the forest and would actually be a space for birds to live and have baby birds.
At the end of the wood working activity, Bert gave us all a book of 100+ activities and lesson plans that incorporate the environment into student learning. The activities and lessons are for subjects across the curriculum, and emphasize the importance of preserving our environment and learning about our place in the world as human beings. It is such a helpful resource because all of the activities teach students how we negatively and positively effect the environment, and how we can ensure we are doing our part to preserve the space around us.
Evaluation of Activity: “Polar Bears in Winnipeg” (145-6)
One activity from the Project Wild activity book that would be useful in the classroom is “Polar Bears in Winnipeg.” In this activity, students learn about polar bear adaptation as well as wildlife living in captive conditions. They are given a scenario where they are required to design an appropriate enclosure for polar bears that will be moved from Northern Canada to a warmer climate in Winnipeg. They must consider the necessary conditions in which polar bears could happily survive and strive. This activity would be very effective because it addresses a multitude of scientific topics: adaptation, survival requirements, problems with animal captivity, characteristics of the polar bear, etc. The activity is labeled to work best for grades 2-6 in the areas of Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. I would even add an integration of Visual Arts as well because of the visual articulation of the enclosure. Even though it mentions grades 2-6, after looking through the curriculum document, it best suits the grade two expectations. This activity touches upon the following Science curriculum expectations under Growth and Changes in Animals: 1.2, 2.1, 2.5, 2.8, 3.1 and 3.2. This activity would be engaging for students because it would play into their own creativity and problem solving. Sharing their ideas with the rest of the class may be of interest as well. Planning a school trip to a zoo would be a great way to close this unit. Therefore, this one activity could span across many lesson plans and many days.
Evaluation of Activity: “Visual Vocabulary”(161-2)
A second activity from the Project Wild activity book is called “Visual Vocabulary.” In this activity, the teacher prepares a container with grade-appropriate scientific vocabulary on pieces of paper (i.e. habitat, pollution, extinction, predator, prey, etc.) Students in small groups (2-3 students) are to pull a paper, look up the definition of the word on the paper they pulled, and pantomime the definition for the rest of the class. This activity would be effective in a classroom because it is a fun and interactive way to learn definitions. Instead of writing out definitions over and over again in their workbooks, they are able to act out and see others act out the definitions for each word. This is a great activity because it incorporates other curriculum subjects such as Physical Education (and therefore the Daily Physical Activity,) Dramatic Arts, and Language Arts. The activity states that the best grades for this activity are 4-7. Modifications for grade level changes would be easy because the teacher would only have to provide easier words for younger grades, or more difficult and involved words for older grades. The activity touches upon the following Science curriculum expectations: Grade 4 – 2.5, 2.6, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 and similar expectations for understanding vocabulary and using a variety of forms to express this understanding across older grades. Lastly, I especially like this activity for the extensions that it provides. The teacher would be able to write out the definitions on the board once all groups have presented their pantomimes. This would work best for a review for the students, but also would save a lot of paper from every student not writing down each definition. Therefore, this activity also helps our environment, yet still provides education to students.
Conclusion
The sign of a useful teacher’s education workshop is the lessons and ideas that a teacher is able to walk away with to bring back to a classroom. Fresh ideas and new resources are always a great help for any teacher because they provide new ways to approach teaching and therefore new opportunities for students to learn. Unfortunately there wasn’t any technological equipment used in this workshop; however there are many ways that technology could be incorporated into the lesson plans provided in the resource book. For example, for the first lesson I evaluated, “Polar Bears in Winnipeg,” students could use the internet to research characteristics of polar bears and what they require in order to live. They could use a variety of programs to develop their bear pen as well. For my second activity I evaluated, “Visual Vocabulary,” the teacher could incorporate the white board to present the vocabulary instead of providing hard copies to the students. Overall, The Project Wild workshop was a very educational seminar because I was able to walk away feeling even more confident in teaching about the environment and incorporating it into my future classrooms.
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