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Bats are valuable members of our communities.They are good neighbours because they can consume their body weight in mosquitos! They are natural predators of many of the night flying insects that bite us and carry disease.They also help to maintain the balance of nature because they consume many lawn and garden pests.
There are a number of small birds that used to live in our meadows, marshes, and forests. Now that we have built our homes and communities in their former habitats, we need to enjoy those small birds to return and live amongst us. Small birds, like the House Wren (https://www.birdvancouver.com/b_house_wren.html), are valuable friends. They help control the spread of weeds by eating the seeds and they maintain a balance of nature by eating pests such as bugs, worms and mosquitos.
There are millions of litres of water wasted each day in schools across North America. Think about how much water is wasted when you take a drink from a water fountain, flush a toilet, or wash your hands. A recent statistic suggests that almost 95% of the water that enters a home is wasted. We know, “783 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. 6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases”. Clean water is related to health and wellness, and water usage directly impacts water quality and quantity.
Developers are becoming increasingly interested in designing structures that are properly suited for their environments. Structures that are not designed this way are prone to damage from catastrophic environmental events such as flooding. According to the Alberta Provincial Flood Damage Assessment Study (https://www.alberta.ca/albertacode/images/pfdas-alberta-main.pdf), damage from flooding in Alberta has cost billions of dollars over the last decade. Without proper mitigation, cities must repeatedly repair and rebuild structures in flood areas at great expense.
Because of children’s natural curiosity, they begin to explore electricity by watching thunderstorms, flipping light switches on and off, and other exploratory and potentially dangerous ways. Electricity is everywhere and absolutely useful, but it also can be very dangerous and electrical accidents may occur.
Consider the impact landfills have on society and what alternatives might be. Globally, the world’s cities are struggling with what to do with their daily trash. In 2014, it was reported that 3 billion of the world’s 7 billion population live in cities, producing more than 1.3 billion metric tons of sold waste per year. As you look through the pictures on the website Trash Cities: The World’s Worst Garbage Problems, try to identify the types of trash and how it might have found its way into those settings. The trash illustrated in the pictures does not just make the environment look unattractive, it is potentially dangerous to us all!
When educators create rich learning experiences for their students, they engage in the complex act of curricular interpretation and planning. The act of moving from curriculum as written to curriculum as embodied through learning requires thoughtful consideration and continuous design, iteration and revision. Research informed by the learning sciences (Bell, Lewenstein, Shouse, & Feder, 2009), growth mindset (Dweck, 2012), and PISA results (Programme for International Student Assessment, 2012) has shown that what we know about learning and how students learn has changed. As well, the needs of Canadian society, especially in terms of what constitutes a skilled workforce, have changed over the last few decades. These changes require educators to reconsider how students might engage differently with mandated curricular intentions, suggesting a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to instructional delivery focused on active learning and problem finding and problem solving situated in real world contexts is appropriate.
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. In Canada, agriculture is often a business that operates on a large or small scale. Increasingly, agricultural operations have some aspect of their work that is automated in some way, regardless of the size of the operation.
We live in an interconnected world; our actions and activities impact living conditions for others both locally and globally. In 2000 the United Nations drafted initial Millennium Goals (https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) to improve quality of life. Recently, these goals were revised, focusing on issues of environmental sustainability, happiness, and well being.
In 2012, many residents of the Fraser Valley experienced, or were threatened by flooding. River levels along the Fraser corridor were at their highest in 40 years. Water eroded berms and caused flooding in many areas along a 600 km stretch from northern BC to the Fraser Valley. Natural disaster is just one reason a family may have to unexpectedly vacate or abandon their home on short notice.