Vision

This is an innovative project as the students themselves identified the need for more Outdoor Education opportunities that do not involve going away to some sort of exclusive and costly space. They identified that they would like to make outdoor education a regular part of the student experience at Immaculate Conception. The students also identified the need to support the pollinators in our community after learning about the Monarch Run, and the need to support pollinators. This project is already underway, having already completed a physical survey of the school grounds and having identified the pros and cons of the various options available to us. The students are always eager to talk and to learn about this and ask to do more work on it when they see it is not on our daily schedule. Student well-being is very much affected by 1) Being connected to the school and the curriculum, 2) Seeing the real-life application of their efforts in class 3) Time spent outside. My plan is to continue to engage in a Deep Learning Inquiry Project, with small groups of students taking on different responsibilities. It will be very community connected as I will leverage my many community contacts. It will also be research driven as I am actually completing my own research in this area as I complete my PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at Trent University in the area of Environmental Education and Sustainability pedagogy.

Action

Students have been and will continue to be engaging in Inquiry Learning. They have already been surveying the school grounds for the best spots for 1) Outdoor Learning Space and a 2) Pollinator Garden. They will be the ones contacting the community partners, surveying and engaging with the other stakeholders (other classes, teachers, admin, neighbours), researching best practices for Outdoor Learning Spaces and Pollinator Gardens, Writing letters and emails and making phone calls to potential sponsors, Completing all necessary math (budget, lumber, mulch, soil, plants, seeds, etc.), Documenting their learning, and then sharing their learning. They will be doing as much of the construction as is safe in conjunction with community partners.

Reflection & Celebration

The students are very proud of their work, both in creating the garden and the outdoor learning space. We have seen several other classes and community members admiring the garden. As we are watering the garden each day, we’ve had many positive comments and thanks. We have also seen many classes using the Outdoor Learning Space items to get outside more often for a variety of learning opportunities.