They are: conservation, research, recreation and education.
- Conservation
- Recreation
- Research
And now, in our 11th year, we are building the education tenet.
Our Objectives and Desired Outcomes over the next 5 years:
- Nature Education, Physical Fitness, Team Building with primary school age children.
- “Teach the teachers!” Give pre-service teachers a hands on experience of outdoor education in order to build the future team, use the conserved land for research with local universities
- Physical Well-Being with outdoor education, build community participation and sense of belonging with adult and family education programs
- Support active family life by creating more incentives for families to experience quality time together in nature.
We ran a pilot project in the Spring of 2022. What did we find?
- There are no outdoor education programs in the local region
- The main obstacle for school trips is the cost of buses
- Outdoor education can be intimidating for teachers not trained in outdoor education
- Having a facilitator run the class is key to its success
- Children share their outdoor experiences with their families
- Children can become advocates for conservation, the environment and possibly become citizen scientists from a young age.
We are taking small steps to start. We have invited 8 regional schools to join us at Scowen Park with educator Jessica Adams (Nature Nerding).
- Curriculum aligned outdoor education aimed at primary school children.
- The Massawippi Foundation and Massawippi Conservation Trust will pay for each outing and will supply the pre and post outing materials, transportation, the facilitator and a healthy snack. Each school is invited to come 3 times (Fall, Winter and Spring) to experience the seasonal changes.
Look out for our sandwich board at Scowen Park. It will be up when the students are visiting.
Stay tuned for more educational developments.
