School Programs

LICA offers FREE educational programming for your classroom and community events. LICA—Environmental Stewards teaches students about our airshed & watershed. We give students an inside look at how we utilize the environment, along with ways in which we can protect it. Each program is specifically aligned with the LearnAlberta curriculum and designed to provide hands-on learning while promoting environmental awareness. Each program can be adapted to meet the learning level of your group.

To inquire about our programming, or to request a visit to your classroom, contact the Education and Outreach Coordinator at 780-812-2182 or email Outreach@lica.ca.

Programming for All Age Groups

Grades

All

Vermicomposting (1 hour) - Students lean about food waste and the importance of composting. Each classroom receives a starter compost bin, including worms. Students will build the bin together and will learn how to care for their new class pets.

K-1

Wildlife Discovery (1 hour) - Students are introduced to animals that live within our watershed and the adaptations that help them to survive. Afterwards, students get to match the animals with our collection of pelts, skulls, tracks and scat.

2

Wetlands (1 hour) - Students learn about their role in our ecosystem, and how human actions impact wetland ecosystems. Students work as groups to build their own wetland in a pan.

3

Plants in Our Watershed (1 hour) - Students learn about the importance and many uses of plants found in our region. Students work together to identify plants that are helpful or harmful to humans and finish up the presentation with a trivia review game.

4

Wastewater (1 hour) - Students learn about the watershed they live in and how we deal with our wastewater. After learning about where our water goes, and how it is treated, they will work in groups in a water allocation game of “Water Wise or Water Wasteful?”

5

Air, Water & Climate (1 hour) - Students explore how humans affect air, water and the climate. They learn about sources and effects of greenhouse gases on our ecosystem. Afterwards, they play a trivia review game.

6

Trees & Forests (1 hour) - Students learn about how trees clean our air and water, and about impacts to forests. They will learn about Canada’s forestry industry, and the importance of disturbances for forest health. Students observe tree cookies to determine impacts on their growth.

7

Ecosystems (1 hour) - Students learn about interactions between plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria within ecosystems. They learn about how ecosystems can change due to human impacts. Students then work together to create an interactive food web.

8

Water Quality (1 hour) - Students learn about how human actions can affect water quality. Human impacts on air and water are explored, and solutions for mitigating these impacts are presented. Students work in groups to perform hands-on water quality testing – they will learn about dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrates and salinity.

9-12

X-Stream Science (3+ hours) - X-Stream Science is a citizen-science based program offered in early fall and late spring. This program gives students hands-on field experience in biology and chemistry. Scientific protocols are followed to conduct water quality tests, and to collect benthic macro-invertebrates. Students will then analyze the health of the stream based on their findings. The program starts with an hour-long in-class lesson/safety briefing and is followed by a field trip to a local stream. LICA supplies all of the equipment, with transportation provided by the school.