Get to Know Your Wild Neighbours
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Description
Get to Know Your Wild Neighbours focuses on educating and preparing students for a rich and stimulating experience of observing plants and animals in the outdoors. It is designed to help students develop a personal connection with organisms that live in their local ecosystems.
Students will:
- Draw sketches of plants or animals
- Conduct research and report on natural subjects such as plants and wildlife
- Learn to use digital cameras to take creative and descriptive images of natural subjects
- Gain insights into the diet and biology of owls through an analysis of the contents of an owl pellet
- Learn to identify several tree species by sight, touch, and smell
- Draw a map showing the location of objects on a small patch of natural landscape.
- Practice the use of sight, hearing, and other senses to observe birds
- Identify several mammals by their tracks, droppings, and other signs
- Describe the importance of mammals as a factor in the ecology of a natural area
The Get to Know program has been inspiring connections between youth and nature, focused on encouraging youth to go outdoors and "get to know" their wild neighbours, the program's initiatives include the writing and art contest, the interactive CD, products, and the school program.
General Assessment
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| What skills does this resource explicitly teach? |
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| What important, related ideas/issues are not addressed in this resource? |
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| What important ideas are implied by the resource, but not taught explicitly? |
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| To enhance this resource the following changes are strongly recommended: |
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Sustainability Education Principles
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Bias Minimization Presents as many different points of view as necessary to fairly address the issue(s). | Good |
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| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions The resource effectively addresses multiple dimensions of problems and solutions. These should include the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored. | Poor/Not considered |
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| Respects Complexity The complexity of problems is respected. A systems-thinking approach is encouraged. | Poor/Not considered |
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Action Experience Provides opportunities for authentic action experiences in which students can work to make positive change in their communities.
| Mediocre |
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| Action Skills Explicitly teaches the skills needed for students to take effective action (e.g. letter-writing, consensus-building, etc.). | Poor/Not considered |
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| Empathy & Respect for Humans Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | Poor/Not considered |
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| Personal Affinity with Earth Actively encourages a personal affinity with non-humans and with Earth. For example, this may involve practical and respectful experiences out-of-doors. | Very Good |
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| Locally-Focused Encourages learning that is locally-focused/made concrete in some way and is relevant to the lives of the learners. | Very Good |
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| Past, Present & Future Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. | Poor/Not considered |
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Pedagogical Approaches
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Ended Instruction
Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | Good |
|
| Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Learning Multidisciplinary= addresses a number of different subjects Interdisciplinary= integrated approach that blurs subject lines Good: The resource provides opportunities for learning in a number of traditional 'subject' areas (eg. Language Arts, Science, Math, Art, etc.). Very Good: The resource takes an integrated approach to teaching that blurs the lines between subject boundaries. | Good |
|
| Discovery Learning Learning activities are constructed so that students discover and build knowledge for themselves and develop largely on their own an understanding of concepts, principles and relationships. They often do this by wrestling with questions, and/or solving problems by exploring their environment, and/or physically manipulating objects and/or performing experiments.
| Good |
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Values Clarification Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.
| Poor/Not considered |
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| Differentiated Instruction Activities address a range of learning styles/different intelligences. They teach to both cognitive and affective domains. Accommodations are suggested for people with learning difficulties. | Mediocre |
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Experiential Learning Direct, authentic experiences are used.
| Good |
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Cooperative Learning Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| Mediocre |
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| Assessment & Evaluation Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | Mediocre |
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Peer Teaching Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| Good |
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| Case Studies Relevant case studies are used. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events in real situations that can be used to examine concepts in an authentic context. | Poor/Not considered |
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| Locus of Control Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. | Poor/Not considered |
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Relevant Curriculum Units
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