High school trips
In May 2019, Alix Conway (Education coordinator) traveled to Baker Lake and taught a grade 7/8 class at the Jonas Amitnaaq Secondary School about sampling techniques. On a piece of paper the students had a mock landscape of emojis (acting as different plant species) to practice calculating sample frequency and density using quadrats. The students learned that environmental sampling is a balance between sampling effort (ie., time it takes to count emojis) and accuracy of sampling (ie., the more quadrats they used, the more accurate their estimate of how many emojis there were).
Many jobs in the environmental sector require employees to work outside to record information on soils and plants. Due to the large landscapes that this work must be done on, sampling techniques are used to gather environmental information without having to survey the entire landscape.
The landscape-emoji activity is great for indoor learning focused on using quadrats to sample a landscape. To start, have the students connect the tick marks along the outside of the handout to create a grid over the landscape. For guided activities and questions, feel free to use our Sampling Activity pdf, attached here. A brief hand-out on sampling techniques and measurements is also included.
Sampling Activity: activities and questions relating to measuring frequency and density of emojis
Sampling Technique Hand-out
Mock landscape of emojis
If any of the educational resources provided here are used, please contact Alix Conway (alix.conway@usask.ca) to let us know how it went and in what capacity the resources were used.
Summer programs
In the summers of 2020 and 2021, the University of Saskatchewan will teach youth (ages 13-18) in Rankin Inlet about tundra ecology and restoration. The course will last three to four days and cover topics such as soil composition and chemistry, invertebrates that live in the soil and among tundra vegetation, tundra plants and bryophyte identification and collection methods, as well as the tundra ecosystem as a whole and thinking about disturbance restoration through photography.
If you are interested in attending the program, interested in collaboration with other summer programs, or have any questions please contact education coordinator, Alix Conway.
Below are example of hand-outs and activities youth will receive in our summer programs.
Plant identification and dichotomous key hand-out
Dichotomous key activity to identify three species of Vaccinium
Soil characteristics and importance hand-out
Summer programs will, for the majority, take place outdoors and include hands-on activities. Along with hand-outs and activities, like those above, students will learn through information presented in posters. Examples of posters we have created thus far for the education program are below.
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