SLEA: Education Outreach Programs
Going With the Flow to Promote Improvements - Local partnership helps students appreciate water
Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow to improve the environment.
It’s a practical philosophy that is helping the SLEA send an important
message about water conservation to hundreds of young people across
Sarnia-Lambton each year. For close to 10 years, the SLEA has given
financial support to the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority’s Go
with the Flow Program, a series of inclass activities designed to help
students fromgrades 4-8 learn about our water resources and the need to
manage them wisely.
During
2008, conservation educators presented the highly popular program to
close to 850 young people, including visits to 24 schools across Sarnia-
Lambton. Teachers appreciate the program, because it gives them direct
access to knowledgeable conservation authority technical personnel, who
can provide the required water and soil curriculum lessons to the
students in a manner that is accurate, effective and with a local
context. The hour-long lessons comprise of a variety of
grade-appropriate and hands-on activities. From the students’
perspective, the important environmental lessons are fun to learn.
Participating students learn about water’s role in the hydrologic cycle,
aquifers, photosynthesis and the transformation of rocks and minerals
into soil. Through experiments, role playing and discussions, the young
people discover how factors, such as drought, flooding and human
demands, affect our water resources. Most importantly, the young
participants discover how they can apply a variety of measures, ranging
from planting trees to daily conservation practices, to help protect
water quality and quantity.
In
addition to providing post-presentation worksheets, conservation
education staff has also built a program evaluation component into the
Go with the Flow activities. Through a water-related game show-type quiz
conducted at the end of each class visit, young participants have
consistently confirmed that they have understood and are able to apply
the program’s conservation messages.
