Career & Technology Studies
Earth & Environmental Science & Technology
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Meeting at Miami School
Ernie Bart, Career Internship Co-ordinator welcomed everyone and gave a brief overview of the program. Introductions were made.
Fred Colvin, Superintendent Prairie Rose School Division expressed the boards support and understanding of the program and encouraged partnerships with other organizations.
Anita Janzic, Curator of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) at Morden showed a PowerPoint presentation on the CFDC. Anita outlined how the CFDC could be partnered with divisions/schools to provide students with real life experiences in Palaeontology. She outlined resources they can offer:
- Marine Reptile Fossil collection
- Palaeontologist accessible
- Local dig sites
- Working lab accessible to students
- Land accessible for rock geological formations
- Mapping – surveys
- Employment opportunities for students provide hands on field experience
- In house casting & molding – replicating
- Student exchanges – Internationally
- Lectures & symposiums
- Contacts with Ottawa, Drumheller, Regina, Utah, Brandon University, U of W, McGill University to name but a few.
This program fits into several curriculums and can be easily incorporated into History, Geology, Biology, Geography etc.
The CFDC is willing to take interns & provide research and lab projects. Larry Danielson, also of CFDC added that a documentary is being created.
Sandy Debreuil, local Animator spoke of how animation can be infused into the program. He indicated that animation shouldn’t be the focus of the program as the subject content should be more important. He also shared it can however be costly.
Janine Caillier, St. Leon Interpretive Centre shared that they had recently been approved for the grade 4 – 6 program. They will provide tours of the turbines and the Interpretive Centre. They hope to purchase window kits for students to build their own turbines. The program will involve a Jeopardy game to see how much knowledge the students have gained.
Alex Fedorchuk, Pembina Valley Development Corporation indicated that the PVDC has recently revised their focus to include tourism promotion.
Brian Nedohin, MB Agriculture Food & Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) indicated that MAFRI has been a “partner” for a long time. The program allows students to learn from the scientific side of things before leaving school. MAFRI has it’s own Business Specialists, Rural Leadership Specialists, Farm Production Advisors, and Extension Education Coordinators who are accessible to the program.
Derrick Turner, ACC Dean Agriculture & Environment shared that ACC has the Agriculture Training Mandate for the Province. ACC offers several programs that are focused on Agriculture and Environment. The Land and Water Program is articulated with Brandon University so that a student can earn 2 credits at Brandon University towards a Science degree. Derrick maintains that ACC has the best computer lab in the province for GIS software. They provide Distance Delivery Education to schools/students and can act as a resource to teachers – they hope to develop modules for teachers. ACC will be offering the only GIS Skills Competition in Manitoba this year. ACC wants to provide options for students and is very open to Articulation Agreements.
Bob Adamson, MindSet explained how integrating Biotechnology into the classroom provides meaningful learning for students. The Agriculture Biotech Enrichment Program (ABE) provides authentic lab experiences. They want to develop partnerships with other sectors of the Agriculture and Education communities. ABE provides a “travelling” lab that is available to schools and divisions. Some activities include: simulations, DNA extractions and restriction analysis, plant genetics lab, website activities, discussions. Partnering with the Faculty of Education provides learning experiences for students and gives teachers access to training. There are opportunities for students to travel overseas to work in labs and attend school eg. Australia and Japan.
Partnerships can have a huge impact on students and schools. “The program provides direct educational benefits to teachers and students.”
Wanda Stockford, Technology Teacher Miami School, likes the blend of technical skills with many other areas.
Craig Blagden, CTS Teacher Miami School, indicated the program could be infused with many curriculums eg. Palaeontology and English “field journals”.
Terry Beazley, Turtle Mountain School Division, shared that it is important how we look at things – view things from a different angle. Flexibility must be built in to allow the program to happen.
Al Thorleifson, Teacher Nellie McClung Collegiate, explained the program has worked well in Prairie Spirit School Division. Previous partnerships existed - used to be teacher/teacher. Now they can access Pembina Valley Conservation District to come in and act as a support for the teacher. The Biology teacher teaches the Science side of the curriculum and the English teacher teaches the English side. He strongly supports the program and believes the more partnerships the better.
Rick Korman, Killarney School shared that he has experienced some obstacles because of traditions. It is also difficult to accommodate small numbers of students because of lack of funding.
Wil Kalinowski, Teacher Miami School, expressed the need to focus on only 1 area and then forge ahead and put resources into place.
Janice, South West Horizon shared that we need to use our local resources more eg. local Agriculture offices.
Sandra Clark, South West Horizon agreed it is good to share ideas and then figure out how those ideas might apply to our own areas.
Jim Hoger, Prairie Spirit School Division expressed the importance that everyone be willing to accept and embrace new ideas.
Bob Young – explained that traditionally when a teacher with special skill/expertise leaves a school there is a “hole” that can be difficult to fill in small communities. This program would allow the shifting of staff with little negative effect.
Larry Danielson, A Rocha Pembina Valley --noted that this conservation organization is new to Manitoba but is active in 18 countries and benefits from international resources. The Field-Study Centre is located on a 100-acre property adjacent to the Pembina Valley Provincial Park. In the future, staff at the ARPV site might serve as mentors to students interested in studying environmental and conservation issues. The website gives some idea of current activities at A Rocha (http://en.arocha.org/capembina/index.htm).
Colleen Sambrook-Adams, Vice Principal Boissevain – said the trick is to “taylor” the program to individual schools and work from the “grassroots”. She can see many possibilities.
Larry Rainnie, Superintendent Turtle Mountain School Division shared that they do not have the CTS program in their division. He says it sounds good but there is still some confusion. He is willing to explore the idea but needs to know figure out how the program fits into their division/schools.
Don Hurton, Superintendent Prairie Spirit School Division shared that the partnership with Prairie Rose has been positive. There needs to be a change in philosophy in how teachers think because kids are being taken out of the classroom. The program is beneficial to all students, not just those in need of credits. “How else do we provide experience in areas like Heavy Duty Mechanics?” Students can see how things relate to the rest of their life. Resources in each individual community are phenomenal eg. Animator in Miami, MB. Initially Prairie Spirit started with 1 school participating, currently they have 3, and last fall they started with the colonies. Next year 1 more school will be participating. It’s a process that takes time.
Hugh Greaves, Trustee Prairie Rose believes it provides relevant learning for kids. It takes school into communities and communities into schools. He explained it does take dollars to run the program but offered to speak to any other division boards to share information etc.
Fred Colvin, Superintendent Prairie Rose School Division shared that he was encouraged by all the businesses support and willingness to provide these opportunities.
Chris Gamble, Principal Miami School suggested to take it slow and not just jump in. We need to recognize that we will be providing opportunities for students to areas that they many not even have known they were interested in exploring. A WIKI has been created for everyone to post comments/questions on. This will keep the process ongoing and allow sharing of information following today’s meeting. The WIKI link and password will be emailed to everyone.
Ernie Bart – In closing, Ernie encouraged everyone to watch for opportunities to apply for funding. Writing proposals for Government funding is becoming much more recognizable in this area.
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