Teachers recently got a taste of what their students experience during the Redboine Watershed District’s annual environmental issues competition.
Thirteen teachers from across the province made their way to Kiche Manitou Lake in Spruce Woods Provincial Park in late September for a three-day boot camp of water science and outdoors skills training. Activities were based on the itinerary of the Manitoba Envirothon, an environmental education competition held each year for high school students.
“All this is to get the teachers the experience, so they get interested and they sign up a team —[to] spread the word,” said Jennifer Corvino, project manager with Redboine Watershed District.
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Why it matters: The Redboine Watershed District hopes to inspire participating teachers to register their own student teams for the Manitoba Envirothon.
Each Envirothon is broken into teams of five, who first study topics like soil and land use and forest and plant ecology through their schools. Teams then face a series of corresponding practical tests along a two-kilometre trail on the day of competition.
Winners of the regional competition can go on to compete in provincial and international events, Corvino said.
“This approach to environmental education helps students develop the skills necessary to address environmental issues, such as teamwork, problem-solving, critical thinking, and public debate,” the Redboine Watershed District said in a news release.
Student competitors often continue their science studies after high school, Corvino said. Four of the Envirothon’s steering committee are previous competitors who went on to work in fields like biology. One of her coworkers at the watershed district is also a former Envirothon participant, she said.
Learning the outdoors
Teachers who attended the camp got hands-on learning in wildlife scat, tracks and furs, how to identify animals by their skulls and teeth and how to estimate the population of an animal species in a region.
They were trained in canoeing and how to use a GPS. Teachers then had to make presentations to the “class.” They also took a shortened version of the Envirothon, one that skipped the trail.
Unlike the students, who usually stay at a more built-up camp, the teachers had to rough it in tents, Corvino said.
The group heard from David Scott, an elder from Swan Lake First Nation. He spoke on combining Indigenous ecological knowledge with western science, Corvino said.
“Learning the history of Indigenous ways of protecting and respecting the land can reveal that great change has occurred and that many otherwise unassuming places have more significant meaning than we think,” Scott said in the news release.
“It is too late for our older generation to fix our mistakes. We need to teach our youth to take care of our Earth and make a difference.”
For more information about the Manitoba Envirothon, contact the Redboine Watershed District.
