Dive In: New summer workshop shows educators how to bring ocean science and careers into the classroom
Janice Williams used to travel 16 hours across three provinces to show her Toronto-area students the Bay of Fundy and to teach them about its diversity of marine life.
She loved it so much she moved here and now works with local teachers to deepen their understanding of the power and opportunity the ocean offers to both their professional practice and to their students.
As the K-12 Science Specialist with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Williams is passionate about deepening New Brunswickers’ understanding of the natural world.
Which is why she’s so excited for the launch of ‘Taking Making into the Classroom’, a new three-day summer professional development workshop for educators focused on ocean-based learning.
Teachers will spend July 23–25 at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews learning and working alongside researchers and experts in ocean science and technology such as renewable energy, robotics, sensors, aquaculture and ship/boat building.
The workshop is funded by EECD and Engineers and Geoscientists New Brunswick, with support from Cooke Aquaculture, the latter of which will provide tours of its Charlotte County operations.
It is modelled on a similar professional development opportunity offered to Nova Scotia educators in July 2018, and which Williams attended. She returned intent on bringing the program to New Brunswick.
In addition to the three-day workshop ‘Taking Making into the Classroom’ also includes a teachers toolkit, developed by the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) and supported by Irving Shipbuilding.
“We are too close to the water to ignore that this is a fantastic opportunity to reconnect educators with the ocean and encourage them to get their students reconnected to the ocean rather than just driving past it,” said Williams.
The summer workshop will be co-led by Dr. Sherry Scully, COVE’s Director of Learning and Organizational Development and coauthor of the ‘Taking Making in the Classroom’ toolkit, and Dr. Susan Crichton, associate professor emeritus with the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education. Crichton is an expert in how to teach design thinking and the Maker movement to students.
Educators will also be introduced to a cool new 3D immersive online learning experience, Ocean School, which is a partnership between ocean scientists and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
“As educators we tend to be think we’re isolated. It’s on us to reach out. I know my teaching launched into the stratosphere when I reached out to the community, when I accessed the skills and expertise of real people working in the world that my students were going to enter and face,” says Williams.
“If teachers live the experience [through this workshop] this summer, when they stand at the front of the class to talk to students, their students will feel the energy and the excitement that they’re bringing forward and those students will start looking at different study and career pathways.”
For any inquiries or to register for Taking Making into the Classroom please contact EECD Learning Specialist, Janice Williams at Janice.Williams@gnb.ca.
Lisa Hrabluk is a writer and owner of Wicked Ideas Media. Find me on Wicked Ideas’ Facebook page or on my personal LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
School Works is a solutions journalism project and partnership between Wicked Ideas and the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD).
