Updated March 13, 2012
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Environmental education offers an exciting way to teach your curriculum and make meaningful connections for your students. Thanks to ConocoPhillips Canada, teachers can now access many relevant professional learning opportunities! ACEE and the ATA believe that professional learning can come in a wide variety of formats, ranging from workshops to high quality lesson plans. Below you’ll find a comprehensive list of organizations that have indicated to ACEE that they provide such professional learning opportunities for teachers.
On-line Professional Learning Resources
Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development – A guide to growing school gardens in Alberta.
Alberta Environment – Offers kits and resources that correlate with curriculum and can be ordered for free!
Parks Canada in Schools – The Teacher Resource Centre on the Parks Canada website provides lesson plans, unit plans, student ready activities, on-line interactive tours, contests, stories, and images.
Science Alberta Foundation – Wonderville.ca is Science Alberta Foundation’s award-winning website which features curriculum-linked resources that help to achieve your educational outcomes. Activities include games, videos, word searches, puzzles and comics, all of which make science relevant and meaningful in your classroom and beyond.
Workshops for Teachers
Alberta Park, Kananaskis Country – Delivers workshops to teachers on various topics – some of the 2012 offerings include: Winter Ecology, Bear Safety, and Freshwater Monitoring. Get outside and learn hands-on in the field.
Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society (Cows and Fish) – Provides presentations, written and web-based materials on wetlands and riparian ecology and management, as well as hands-on outdoor training to assess the health of these areas, which can also be delivered to students by our staff. We offer interactive youth games and wetland ‘labs’ on watershed and riparian areas (best for Gr 3-6) and problem-solving case studies for land use and management scenarios (Gr 6-12) related to riparian areas.
ACEE – From environmental storytelling to helping students become environmental citizens, ACEE has several workshops and presentations to choose from!
Battle River Watershed Alliance – Presents the Caring for our Watershed Contest is an opportunity for youth grades 7-12 to win money for themselves and their school through stewardship ideas. Your students could be the 2012 winners!
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Offers training workshops and presentations on various environmental themes, where participants learn about the topic and participate in a demonstration of the activities. Currently offering the following popular workshops: Grizzly Bears Forever, SOS: Save our Species, Five Minute Field Trips, along with personalized programs.
City of Calgary Parks, Environmental and Education Initiatives – Specializes in curriculum-connected environmental education programs for students from K-12. Our wide range of interdisciplinary programs combine natural science, sustainability, fine art and active living, and can be presented at Ralph Klein Park, the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary or right in your own classroom.
Green Learning Canada Foundation – Offers energy and environment programs for grades 4 to 12 – the programs are all available online at no charge to teachers. They also offer PD workshops for teachers at ATA conventions, school district PD events, and school-based PD events. To request a PD session, contact Kathy Worobec at kathyw@greenlearning.ca
Global, Environmental and Outdoor Education Council – Provides lesson plans, articles, websites, professional development information, as well as information on upcoming events such as: ‘Engaging Students in the Outdoors’ Conference on October 1 at the Fish Creek Environmental Learning Centre!
Inside Education – Offers all-expenses-paid, curriculum-relevant Teacher Professional Development tours that give a firsthand look into the people, places and perspectives of Alberta’s environment and natural resources!
RiverWatch Institute of Alberta – Provides award-winning environmental field studies and ride-alongs for grades 8 to 12 at no charge to teachers along with a supporting website, lesson plans, student work booklets and in-class assessment resources.
Safe Drinking Water Foundation – Operation Water Drop webinars help teachers to learn how to use the Operation Water Drop kits most effectively in their classrooms.
Scientists In School – Looking for professional enrichment on discovery-based learning and ideas for classroom-friendly, hands-on experiments for elementary teachers? Please contact us to explore a learning opportunity for your team.
SEEDS Foundation – Supporting societal, environmental and energy learning and leadership in your classroom, SEEDS has a variety of programs that meet CTS, Social Studies, Science and other curricular needs. Professional development opportunities are available to help you get the most out of these resources. Please send inquiries to seeds@seedsfoundation.ca
Yellow Fish Road – Trout Unlimited Canada – ‘Follow the Yellow Fish Road’, through three fun and interactive conservation education programs for Grades K-12: Fish, Pollution and Solution, Frogs, Wetlands and Watersheds, and Journey Down the Bow. The Yellow Fish RoadTM website offers resources and curriculum-based activities for teachers and students that look at the needs of fish and other aquatic life, the importance of our freshwater resources and how human action can change water quality.’
In-School Presentations
We know that teachers learn a lot when they invite guest speakers into their classroom! Here are a few such presentations…
Alberta Science Literacy Association – Our signature program is “Scientists and Engineers in the Classroom” where scientists engage students through class presentations and hands-on activities across all age groups.
City of Edmonton – As a part of the Treat it Right!® Wastewater program, Drainage Services is offering FREE puppet shows to Grades 2 and 4 classes. They also provide waste and storm water teachers’ guides for grades 4, 5 & 8 and grade 5 wetland field trips!
Praxis: The Science and Technology Hotline – Your link to the educational and scientific communities in South Eastern Alberta. They have numerous programs that connect to classrooms from resource kits to the SEiTC program where they find guest speakers for the classroom for free.
For information on more environmental education resources in Alberta, visit the Encana Environmental Education Resource Centre!
