A new free curriculum created by a pair of Saanich educators builds on a nationwide, nature-based initiative to keep students immersed in outdoor wonderment.

While many lesson plans 鈥� that adhere to B.C. Ministry of Education requirements 鈥� come at a cost to teachers, the BC Urban Streams and Watersheds is a free resource. UVic postdoc researcher Maleea Acker and St. Margaret鈥檚 School teacher Jennifer Walton created the free curriculum as part of the Engage with Nature-based Solutions Initiative, funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada and led by Acker, under Canada Research Chair Kris Dubrawski.

The team is developing a cross-Canada look at nature-based solutions from urban greening in Montreal to stream keeping on the Saanich Peninsula. The initiative also features science storytelling, a resource library, and an artist commission program.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to build a toolkit from various perspectives,鈥� Acker said, noting it covers the gamut of student, community, scientist and teacher. It ties together an artist connection, including nationwide artworks as part of the resource library filled with science and storytelling. 鈥淚 really believe in breaking down those silos between science and arts.鈥�

For the curriculum portion, the pair focused on local waterways to develop climate-aware lesson plans and supplementary materials for middle schoolers and Grade 12 students, with a Grade 7/8 curriculum expected this summer.

鈥淚 think we share a very similar teaching philosophy, which is getting our students out in the community,鈥� Watson said.

Now in her fifth year teaching outdoor education, Watson saw St. Margaret鈥檚 campus as an ideal place to start, with Garry oak and Douglas fir overlooking Blenkinsop Valley.

鈥淚 think you need to be in it, so we have a lot of outdoor education incorporated,鈥� she said.

Lesson activities include creating puppets of the salmon life cycle, on-location nature journaling and designing solutions using biomimicry. Earlier grades explore the topics through keystone salmon and other aquatic species, providing an engaging way to connect students to their local watersheds. Later grades explore local case studies, and apply their knowledge to global scenarios and the United Nations鈥� Sustainable Development Goals. Students collaboratively connect Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing to scientific evidence, as they contribute to finding solutions to local watershed issues.

鈥淚t encourages teachers to take their students outside and actually get into our watersheds, and create opportunities for students to connect and want to protect or restore watersheds as they鈥檙e learning about them,鈥� Watson said.

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