Outdoor Learning Conference 2025: Full Schedule

Welcome to the 2025 Outdoor Learning Conference

3:15pm MDT

Everyday Curriculum in the School Garden LIMITED

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT

Dive into the world of classroom gardening! Join us for a hands-on workshop on how to set up your school garden and how to teach the curriculum in it. This workshop is designed for elementary school teachers and educators. Discover the joy of gardening at school, perfect for beginners eager to start but unsure where to begin. Let's cultivate curiosity together!

Speakers

Karine Cere

Indigenous Education Outdoor Learning Curriculum Coordinator, School District 93

Karine is a K to 12 teacher who specializes in outdoor learning and Indigenous education. She has worked as a classroom teacher, a teacher librarian, curriculum coordinator, and university instructor. She is passionate about outdoor learning, well-being and inclusion in education... Read More →

Marie-Pascale Brown

School District #93 - Conseil Scolaire Francophone de la Colombie-Britannique

Marie-Pascale is an elementary school teacher with experience in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia. She focuses on outdoor education and multi-grade classrooms, with a passion for place-based learning and classroom gardening. Marie-Pascale led the creation of a school garden for... Read More →

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT
Deer

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop, Environmental and Climate Education

11:00am MDT

Compost and Climate: The Environmental and Emotional Benefits of Community Engaged Composting LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm MDT

Deer

"In this hands-on workshop, we will engage in various compost-related activities and lessons to explore how the environmental benefits of composting. Additionally, we will embrace composting as a ritual to help our communities emotionally process the anxieties of climate change. Together, we will learn how to build compost, the science behind composting and climate impact, and ways to facilitate composting as a healing practice amidst climate crisis. We will lead participants through a series of composting activities centered on four key themes:
Compost as habitat: building home
Compost as nutrient cycling: creating closed loop systems
Compost as death and rebirth: processing grief, cultivating emergence
Compost as gift: reciprocity and interconnection
Workshop participants will deepen their technical skills on how to manage composting systems and broaden their understanding of the efficacy of compost as a learning tool to assuage climate doom-ism and foster climate hope."

Speakers

Tamika Whitenack

Garden Educator, The Edible Schoolyard Project

Tamika Whitenack is a lifelong student of the outdoor world! As an educator with The Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkeley, she designs and facilitates experiences that promote students' connection to each other and our ecosystems. Tamika believes that gardens and food offer exciting... Read More →

Sophia Maria Fox

Garden & Cooking Educator, The Edible Schoolyard Project

Sophia Fox loves teaching out of doors with her favorite co-worker, Mama Earth! She holds a MEd and has been working in education for 20 years, teaching and learning in diverse settings including wilderness camps, horticultural therapy, ranch programming, and currently at The Edible... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 11:00am - 12:15pm MDT
Deer

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop

2:00pm MDT

Storied Landscapes: Strategies and activities for place-response teaching and learning LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT

Deer

As we accept the reality that we are in the opening act of an environmental polycrisis, educators are often looking for ways to instil hope and agency in their students, and doing this with a connection to the wisdom of the land. How can we develop confident practices of inquiry with our students that embrace nature as co-teacher? How can we re-introduce ourselves to our earthly home while finding outdoor solutions to classroom problems, not to mention global challenges? Participants will explore experiential tools for introducing climate change to students, practice restorative sensory interaction with the landscape, and weave their stories together with those of others to build a vision for place-responsive learning that contends with environmental anxiety and apathy.

Speakers

Glen Thielmann

University of Northern British Columbia (School of Education)

After a short bear-chased career/careen as an ecosystem geographer and a longer career as a high school Social Studies and Geography teacher in Prince George, BC, Glen has found his way into teacher education (lecturer) and environmental studies (PhD candidate) at UNBC. He is involved... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 2:00pm - 3:15pm MDT
Deer

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop

3:15pm MDT

A Curriculum of Connection: How Outdoor Education can help move the needle on Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals LIMITED

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT

Deer

Ultimately outdoor education is about building connections - helping participants connect to self, others, and the more than human world. As Outdoor & Environmental Educators we are passionate about taking people outside because we experience the value of it in our work every day. We know that our work can build resilience and social skills, foster a deep care for nature, and inspire curiosity, creativity and an environmental ethic in our participants. There is also an growing body of research that makes direct links between nature connection, combatting tech addiction, and improved mental and physical health outcomes. However, we are not always great at communicating the value of what we do to larger goals and impacts. In this interactive and experiential workshop we will explore the links between Canada’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the outcomes of outdoor learning.

Speakers

Fiona Hough

Outward Bound Canada

Fiona Hough is the Senior Manager for Curriculum and Research at Outward Bound Canada. With over 30 years of experience in outdoor, environmental, & experiential education, she specializes in social-emotional leadership development as a central component to the work of outdoor educators... Read More →

Friday May 9, 2025 3:15pm - 4:30pm MDT
Deer

Environmental and Climate Change Education Workshop