Nature & Biodiversity

Nutrients for Life provides a library of resources for teaching sustainable agriculture and soil science to middle school and high school students in Canada. The webpage includes detailed downloadable lesson plans, an investigation for high school students into water quality challenges in Lake Erie, FREE posters that you can order for your classroom which include the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and online games to help reinforce concepts. 

Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science app that anyone can use to take pictures of bumble bees to help contribute to bumble bee science. The pictures are automatically accompanied by information about time and location, are then identified by bee experts. The images become part of a scientific library of information about what species of bees, and roughly how many, are found in different places — including many that scientists can’t easily get to — at various times of the year.
 

By using the app, you can help scientists learn where to find and protect rare bee species, what kinds of plants different bees are using for food at different times of year, and whether some bee species are declining with time and factors such as climate change.

Developed in partnership by NASA and Salish Kootenai College, Living Landscapes contains valuable learning units for teaching high school students about climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities. The resource also contains a ten-episode video series explaining the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities through the eyes of two high school students. 

In the high school learning unit, students can select a region to explore the climate science of that region. Although the regions are in the United States, the resource still provides valuable insight on the ways in which climate change impacts land and culture. 

Find tutorials for using the resource here, and gain quick access to the high school learning unit by clicking "Understanding Climate Science" on the home page. 

Edmonton & Area Land Trust has a collection of fact sheets and activities about species at risk and nature conservation in the Edmonton area.

Located near Hinton, William A. Switzer Provincial Park provides field trip programs and in-class presentations for Grades K-6. Topics include wetlands, forests, art, animals, and bugs. 

The interactive, inquiry-based programs at the Jurassic Forest and Learning Centre will take students and teachers back in time to discover prehistoric flora and fauna, while highlighting the beauty and diversity of the modern forest ecosystem. The educational programs at Jurassic Forest were designed to meet Alberta Curriculum science and social studies targets for Grades 1-7. 

Elizabeth Lahl, Langdon School, Grade 9 - Rocky View Schools

This year long inquiry revolved around the inquiry question: “Are the oil sands sustainable for all Albertans?”

Through in-class research, class discussions and meeting with different stakeholders, students explored their ideas and perspectives on the Alberta Oil Sands. Students became aware that decisions made regarding the oil sands have a multitude of impacts on a variety of areas of life (health, politics, environment, rights, first nations etc.).

Students  travelled to Fort McMurray to see the Alberta Oil Sands for themselves, met with different stakeholders and discussed multiple perspectives.  Throughout the year, various experts were invited into the classroom to deepen the student's understanding of what the students were researching.

Project Overview, including curricular connections, design, and resources.

Watch the video featuring interviews from students about the inquiry project. 

Students used ArcGIS to determine the route that they propose the pipeline to follow, while considering environmental and social impacts. Watch the video to learn about the inquiry project and get ideas for enacting it in your own classroom! 

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the BC Teachers’ Federation have teamed up to create free classroom-ready materials that help students engage with the two great inconvenient truths of our time: climate change and rising inequality. And we don’t stop at small-scale personal choices, climate justice looks to how we can re-imagine the systems around us to make a better life for everyone. 

The Canadian Energy Museum offers school tours with programs aimed at different grade levels. You can also download program kits on geology and energy topics. The kits come complete with lesson plans, curriculum links, powerpoint presentations, videos, and activities.​

Located at 50339 AB-60, Leduc County.