Exploration Naturally
NEW! Secondary School Outdoor Education
Due to the overwhelming success of our Education Naturally elementary school program, The Riverwood Conservancy is proud to provide secondary schools with a similar outdoor program, Exploration Naturally, generously supported by The Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Exploration Naturally is an environmental-based education program structured to bring the classroom outside. We want students to become sensitized to the world beyond their four-walled classrooms to build a respectful relationship with the outdoors.
Candra Schank, an energetic, passionate science researcher and enthusiastic field naturalist, is the instructor for Exploration Naturally. Candra earned an M.Sc. in Conservation Ecology at the University of Alberta where she studied the effects of trout-stocking on native amphibians in the boreal foothills of Alberta. She is delighted to have the opportunity to inspire, guide, and educate secondary school students about the wonderful world of nature.
Candra, along with an advisory panel of educators, has developed the secondary school program offerings, focusing on biology and environmental science concepts. All programs mirror and complement the Ministry of Education secondary science curriculum guidelines.
Exploration Naturally brochure 2010
Program Descriptions
Beginning in January 2010, seven core Exploration Naturally programs are available to secondary teachers and students. If you have a unique program need not covered by one of these core programs, please contact the Exploration Naturally Instructor to discuss your classroom's requirements.
These outdoor environmental programs allow students to participate in hands-on scientific field studies, use field equipment, execute sampling techniques and collect, analyze, and interpret and communicate scientific data. Students can collect environmental data or aquatic and terrestrial organisms from a pond, creek, river, meadow, or forest. Using various identification tools (e.g., field guides, identification keys, binoculars) and morphological characteristics, students learn to place organisms into groups and identify them down to genus and species level. Students learn how the living environment and its natural systems interact and how natural and human factors influence the wonderful world of nature.
All Grades
Citizen Science: Winter Bird Count: Winter should not scare you indoors but entice you outside. There is so much to learn and discover during the winter that you simply cannot see during the other seasons. Why not get your students out of the cramped classroom and bring them to Riverwood and allow them to stretch their legs and minds and learn by participating in our citizen science program, Winter Bird Count. Citizen science programs are ongoing scientific programs run by individuals, groups, or volunteers. Programs promote public engagement with research and science as well as promoting outdoor awareness and appreciation.
This program is based on and expands on the century-old Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. By using identification tools such as binoculars, field guides and birding experts, students learn to identify birds and discover how morphological features of colour, form, and structure, habitat choice and behaviours distinguish species from one another and play a huge role in survival. Data on thousands of birds species collected during the weeks leading up to Christmas contribute to an International Bird Inventory, allowing us to assess and monitor bird species population sizes, distributions, and ranges.
Grade 9
Habitat and Ecosystem Sustainability: Students conduct their own ecosystem study by visiting different ecosystems (forest, meadow, pond, creek, or the Credit River). In each ecosystem, students look at soil profiles, environmental parameters (temperature, precipitation, soil pH, soil moisture, light intensity, etc.) and the diversity and biodiversity of the area. Students assess what makes these systems similar yet different. Through this hands-on study, students learn how these systems are sustained naturally, artificially, or modified through human involvement.
Students see first-hand how species diversity and biodiversity change from one habitat to another. These changes can be attributed to natural environmental limitations such as availability of food and shelter or the effects of direct or indirect human interference, for example, logged areas or contaminated water.
This program informs the students about past and present agricultural and forestry practices and their effects on the economy and the sustainability of ecosystems. In the fall, students have the opportunity to study how humans contributed to the collapse of the Credit River Atlantic Salmon population.
Grade 10
Climate Change: The consequence of climate change is at the forefront of a worldwide environmental movement. We can obtain historical climate change information around the world by gathering direct evidence from our distant past (e.g., glacier ice, lake bottoms), recent past (e.g., tree rings), or indirect evidence through oral and written traditions (e.g., interviewing elders, writings, scripture). Better yet, we can do this in our backyard. Through an investigative forest field study, students explore the effect of climate change on trees and other plants. To understand the relationship between climate change and tree growth, students investigate recent climate change events by studying tree rings. Tree rings can reveal a hundred years or more of climate history. They can tell us stories about relative temperatures, precipitation and growing seasons and about extraordinary events, such as fires, that may have affected tree growth.
Using tree cross sections and tree cores, students observe tree rings and determine tree age, health and past climatic events. In addition, students identify various deciduous and coniferous trees, shrubs, and low-growing plants and learn about their past and present distribution. This enables them to consider whether climate change enabled these plants to push northward or whether there are other reasons for this range expansion.
Grade 11
Water Studies: No matter the season, students can see how water is used and filtered through the ecosystem. Natural and human impacts affect the way water infiltrates both plant and animal lives. Through biological and physical water analysis, students compare water quality (e.g., temperature, pH, conductivity, turbidity, etc.) from three different natural water bodies–pond, creek and river–and a man-made water cleanser called a bioswale. In addition to observing water chemistry, by determining aquatic species assemblages we can assess water quality. This is because many aquatic invertebrates and amphibians, known as bioindicators, are extremely sensitive to changes in water quality because they simply cannot survive in poor water quality.
Students follow the path water takes from a high elevation location to a low elevation location, assessing water quality and biodiversity among different water bodies. As an added interesting factor, the high elevation water body is adjacent to a large parking lot. This parking lot is a classic example of how humans have altered the landscape. Parking lots hold vehicles and, unfortunately, vehicles tend to leak chemicals like gas, oil, windshield fluid, etc. These fluids are all toxic to aquatic species. If the water is contaminated, would you expect to see a lot of different species there?
Urban Forest Management: Mississaugans are lucky to have Riverwood, an urban forest, right in their back yard. To ensure that this beautiful woodland and community garden persist into the future, we must manage it sustainably. This program introduces students to the ways in which a charitable organization manages an urban forest and its natural resources. The program also showcases “a day in the life of a forester” by providing students with hands-on activities, knowledge, and skill-sets based on what a forester does and how a forester assesses forest economic-benefit, health, and integrity. Students learn to identify trees, determine tree height and diameter, assess forest health and participate in stewardship activities such as invasive species management, mountain bike control and trail maintenance. In addition, students participate in one of two studies to assess how humans impact a forested area: 1) Assess the effect of clearing paths through a forest or 2) Assess the effect of clearing a forested area for an agriculture site.
Plants: Our Life Line: This program focuses on the plants of Riverwood, their varying forms, functions, and structures, and how they grow and adapt to their environment. Topics such as seasonal adaptations, succession, niche breadth, and ways in which plants sustain themselves and their ecosystems are discussed. Issues and consequences of invasive species are also covered. These programs can incorporate either an outdoor plant study or a greenhouse activity such as plant propagation or water contamination.
Grade 12
Geology: By
taking part in a hike through time, students discover how the current landscape
came to be. By observing Riverwood’s eroded cliff faces, evidence of past
glacier events and collecting ancient fossils (over 400 million years old),
students become aware that Riverwood was once the bottom of a magnificent sea.
Students learn about sediment, rock formation and type, minerals, formation of
landscapes, erosion and weathering processes, historical dating, glaciation,
and fossils. Who knew that playing with rocks and dirt could be so fun?
Population Ecology: This is a great program for students looking to be intellectually and physically challenged. It brings together and expands on everything they have learned in their grades 9 through 12 ecology science classes while learning to think critically. Students critically observe and assess the stability of an ecosystem by monitoring species richness, evenness, assemblages, interactions, and populations of plants (e.g., trees) and animals (e.g., grasshoppers). Students learn about the scientific method of investigation, how to sample an area using transects and quadrates, collect data subjectively, identify species (e.g., trees), and determine relative abundance using mark-recapture methodology. This program introduces students to concepts, procedures, and instruments they will use in the workplace, college, or university.
