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DUC’s multicultural education resources win international award
Oak Hammock Marsh, M.B., November 18, 2009 – Perfectly timed with International Education Week, Ducks Unlimited Canada’s (DUC) multicultural education project Wetlands and the World received first prize at the 2009 National Association for Interpretation (NAI) Media Award Competition today in Hartford, Connecticut in the Interpretive Curriculum category.
Developed in Ontario with funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, DUC’s Wetlands and the World materials also received the Seal of Excellence by Creative Child Magazine earlier this year.
“We are very pleased with this award as it recognizes the high quality of DUC’s education program that helps teachers across Canada provide their students with understanding and appreciation about the value of wetlands and the importance of conserving them,” said Rick Wishart, DUC’s National Director or Education. “Although most conservation organizations have not yet taken action in reaching out to the growing population of new Canadians, DUC has taken the initiative believing that conservation must cross cultural boundaries to remain a core Canadian value.”
Wetlands and the World is a cross-cultural resource for teachers linked to the elementary science curriculum, which explores wetlands and their values in maintaining a healthy world. The kit includes: a world map poster outlining the many values of wetlands with a quote linking safe drinking water to healthy wetlands in 19 languages; a series of 3-D wetland wildlife models students can assemble into a wetland diorama with nature notes in 11 languages; a 72-page English Language Literacy (ELL) teaching guide with project ideas; an eight-page student Picture Dictionary to help students with vocabulary development and a PowerPoint presentation teachers can use in-class called “Wetlands Around the World”.
“In our delivery of many sponsored wetland field trips for inner city classes, we very quickly became aware of the huge and ever-increasing diversity in the students that were attending our programs,” said Merebeth Switzer, National Education Coordinator for Ducks Unlimited Canada and the project’s coordinator. “In speaking to one of the teachers at an Ottawa field trip I found out that their students spoke over 50 languages – all in a school of less than 400 students.”
This initially pointed out some of the challenges that organizations like DUC are starting to face in reaching new urban Canadians. DUC saw an incredible need and opportunity to engage these new Canadian children and their families in a way that made them feel included and part of their new home. “You never know who will be Canada’s future leaders or conservationists,” said Switzer.
Through the help of the secretariat for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, based in Europe, wetland educators from dozens of countries provided ideas and input for Wetlands and the World, as did numerous Canadian educators and students. The Toronto District School board assisted with much of the translation work as well as provided feedback to improve the materials. In addition, the Indigenous Co-operative on the Environment (ICE) helped obtain translations into Cree and Ojibwe, creating a learning bridge about wetlands with Canada’s first residents.
One anonymous NAI judge’s comments on Wetlands and the World said: “This is an excellent example of a curriculum that successfully balances in-depth content and keeping activities simple and quick enough for a teacher to easily integrate into their classroom. The combination of environmental education and promoting English learning and literacy is really effective on a number of levels, and could have much more universal application, so it is wonderful to have such a high-quality example of its implementation.”
An electronic version of the Wetlands and the World resources can be accessed through DUC’s education website at education.ducks.ca or education.canards.ca.
About NAI
The National Association for Interpretation (NAI) is a not-for-profit, professional association for those involved in the interpretation of natural and cultural heritage resources in settings such as parks, zoos, museums, nature centers, aquaria, botanical gardens, and historical sites. NAI has over 5,000 members in over 30 countries with three international affiliate organizations: NAI-Greece, NAI-Korea, and NAI-China.
For more information, contact:
Karli Reimer, k_reimer@ducks.ca
National Communications Coordinator
Ducks Unlimited Canada
Phone: 204-467-3279
