Watch Out for RiverWatch

Published in Connections
The Newsletter of the Environmental and Outdoor Education Council
of the Alberta Teachers' Association
Volume 20 Number 2
Winter 1995/96

By Gareth Thomson

RiverWatch is a new field trip experience: a one-day raft trip on the Bow River. This tour, organized by Calgary teachers with the Beyond Books Institute of Alberta, can accommodate up to 60 students. During the trip, students make observations and perform fieldwork to help them complete the requirements of the Grade 9 Science Environmental Quality Unit or the Biology 20 Ecosystems Unit.

Students view their river and community from a great perspective!

This is an important initiative taken by Beyond Books, enabling teachers to practice a truism of education: people learn best by doing. There are many ways to teach the Environmental Quality Unit, but few, if any, enable students to see the concepts embodied in the unit as clearly as when they observe a great river from just a few centimeters away, look for signs of pollution along the bank, or observe and measure trends in water quality while floating downstream. Students also realize that a delightful adventure lies just outside their door, that they don't have to go to the mountains for recreation; it can be found where they live.

An important resource produced by Beyond Books is ViewPoints, a selection of commentary involving different stakeholders trying to reach consensus on a different issue: how to manage the Bow River. This guide can be used to complement and expand on learning following the raft trip, or it can be used alone.

For more information about the GEOC, contact the Alberta Teachers' Association Global, Environmental and Outdoor Education (GEOEC) Specialist Council.