Prairie Learning Centre
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Imagine yourself in a classroom that stretches from horizon to horizon. At the Prairie Learning Centre (PLC), the native prairie is our classroom, including the 900 sq. km of Grasslands National Park. The PLC promotes excellence in education for youth and teachers across Canada by engaging individuals and communities within the mixed grass prairie landscape. The Prairie Learning Centre (PLC) provides innovative learning opportunities for youth through the combined efforts of educational partners (Grasslands National Park and Chinook School Division) and community partners (Village of Val Marie, SK). The Prairie Learning Centre offers a number of workshops for highschool students. Teachers can book a program for their class. Program topics range from Prairie Ecology to Yoga to Prairie Art to Astronomy. Programs take place in Grasslands National Park and students have the opportunity to learn from Park Biologists, Wildlife Specialists and Park Wardens and Interpreters. Prairie Learning Centre Workshops are linked to the Grade 9-12 curriculum. All of our workshops are designed to support and complement various curricular outcomes. However, we encourage you to talk to the Program Manager about your needs.
History
In the spring of 2004, Val Marie and surrounding communities expressed concern regarding the declining rural school population and the reduction in educational and work experience opportunities for youth. The Val Marie school community and Grasslands National Park of Canada created a working group in April of 2004 to explore an educational initiative that would promote meaningful learning experiences through a rich connection to the natural and cultural wonders of our native prairie landscape. In June 2005, Grasslands National Park of Canada (GNP) and Shaunavon School Division No. 71 (SSD No. 71) signed a Memorandum of Understanding that described the commitment and principles of this new educational partnership. Also, a half-time Program Manager was hired to initiate and develop the project. The Prairie Learning Centre represents the first provincial or federal effort to develop learning opportunities for students through a formal partnership with a school division and a national park of Canada. The Prairie Learning Centre now represents a partnership between Grasslands National Park and the Chinook School Division. In April 2008, a full-time Program Manager/Outdoor Educator was hired to continue reaching out to students in the Chinook School Division and allowing youth to make connections to the native prairie of Grasslands National Park.
Mission
We will offer educational opportunities that are characterized by six key principles: place, connections, sustainability, uniqueness, excellence and community development. We will promote stewardship of the native prairie in youth by fostering creativity, critical inquiry, experimentation and lifelong learning with the grasslands as our primary resource and classroom.
Vision
The Prairie Learning Centre will foster a rich connection to the natural and cultural wonders of our native prairie through innovative learning opportunities.
Key Principles
Place: The regional native prairie landscape is the fundamental learning resource that enables PLC students to develop a deep, rich connection to the natural and cultural wonder of this global significant landscape. Our classroom and learning lab is the native prairie grassland.
Uniqueness: PLC programs will have an exciting blend of physical education, arts, social science and science components. Building upon an environment rich with artists, biologists and other resource professionals, PLC provides a learning environment for all learners including educators to experiment in results-based, experiential education specifically using the native prairie as our classroom.
Excellence: PLC will always promote passionate engaged learning through the use of experiential processes, top facilitators and well-respected resource people.
Connections: Bridges will be nurtured between urban youth drawn to the uniqueness of the programs and the landscape and rural youth excited to share their home with others and in turn have their world expanded. Further, ongoing connections will be encouraged between Grasslands National Park and the youth participating in PLC programs.
Sustainability and Community Development: Rural schools and their communities will be enhanced through the educational and work experience opportunities for local youth supported through PLC programs. The Prairie Learning Centre’s structure will facilitate students’ involvement in community. As students participate in the PLC program and connect to community projects and volunteering, and as the students receive a unique educational opportunity, then the community becomes a better place.
Accomplishments 2005-2010
Through the support of all of our partners, the PLC has: • Reached over 1800 students through delivering curriculum linked workshops on the native prairie; • Developed an International Grasslands Education Project (IGEP) for schools in Saskatchewan and Montana. • Conducted 100 hours of “Prairie Skills” Special Credit Course for Grade 9 Students; • Developed four cornerstones for outdoor studies program: prairie skills, prairie ecology, prairie community, prairie arts; • Developed course “Prairie Management and Conservation Studies 20/30 and given formal approval to pilot the course in four schools. • Hosted three teachers’ institutes for professional development. • Facilitated Biology 20 (Grade 11 Biology) course with a grassland ecosystem focus to students in the Chinook School Division through four outdoor excursions to Grasslands National Park. • Engaged First Nations Elders to assist in learning more about the prairie landscape. • Hosted over 50 students to witness the First Black-Footed Ferret Reintroduction in the Canadian. (Grasslands National Park on October 2nd, 2009). • Partnered with Saskatchewan Watershed Authority to deliver Project Wet and Project Wild for educators. • Developed an annual Spring/ Fall Outdoor Learning Program and Marketing Brochure;
References