Events

October 2013:

The Soil4Youth Program presented the annual conference of the BC Science Teachers’ Association – Catalysts 2013, held at the H.J. Cambie Secondary in Richmond, BC on October 25, 2013. The conference was attended by couple of hundredths of science teachers from across the province of BC.

Lesson plan (entitled “Protect Your Soil”) that our Soil4Youth team presented at the conference is now featured at that the “Catalyst for Science” web-based depository maintained by the BC Science Teachers’ Association and Science World, Vancouver, BC. (No longer available. Old site: http://catalystforscience.ca/life-science/blog)

Participants:
Julie Wilson
Maja Krzic

September 2013:

The Soil4Youth Program presented a Soil Erosion activity at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, UBC booth at the “Day at the Farm” event. The event was hosted by the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust, at Westham Island Herb Farm, Delta, BC.

This event featured various food producers, wildlife and environmental groups and educational groups who connected with people of all ages from the rural and urban communities.

Participants:
Julie Wilson,
Dru Yates (graduate student),
Gladys Oka (graduate student), and
Brianna Thiel (graduate student)

July 2013:

Soil4Youth participated in the Summer Institute organized by the Think&EatGreen@School Project at The University of British Columbia. This project promotes change in how K-12 students learn about food, health and the environment. The Summer Institute is an opportunity to share and find collaborative solutions to understand how education of health and environment can be incorporated into school food systems.

Soil4Youth presented three fun, hands-on activities to teachers and high school students from various school districts across the Lower Mainland, BC in the session, “Healthy Soil, Healthy Food”. Aspects including soil texture and organic matter were related to processes such as stability and erosion, and also to food nutrition.

Participants:
Maja Krzic, Julie Wilson, Dru Yates (graduate student) and Alisha Hackinen (graduate student).

November 2012

TEDx Terry Talks has been a venue for University of British Columbia’s (UBC) most fascinating students to share their ideas and visions with UBC and the world. Using a format similar to the TED conference, the TEDx Terry Talks draws students, alumni, faculty, and staff for a day of idea sharing. “Dirt is not the same as soil.” With this phrase, Alisha Hackinen, a Master’s student in Faculty of Land and Foods Systems, UBC takes us on a tour of some of the wonderful nuances of soil science, and in doing so, presents this subject as a way to view complex problems through a much needed interdisciplinary approach.

http://www.terry.ubc.ca/2013/01/25/tedxtt-2012-soil-its-not-a-dirty-word-alisha-hackinen/

Conferences:

Scientific conferences and professional workshops provide excellent opportunities to spread a word about importance of soil and local high school teachers and students are always welcomed. The Soil4Youth team gave the following presentations about our program:

Team members of the Soil4Youth program have presented about Soil4Youth at various scientific and education-focused conferences. See the list below:

• Krzic, M. and J. Wilson. Soil4Youth Program promotes Soil Science in Canadian High Schools. Catalyst 2013: BC Science Teachers Association. October 25, 2013. Richmond, BC, Canada.

• Krzic, M., N. Basiliko, A. Bedard-Haughn, E. Humphreys, G. Price, L. Dampier, S. Grand, S. Dyanatkar, and C. Crowley. Cyber shovels in high school: An online soil science resource for educators. Conference of the European Geoscientists Union, Apr 22-27, 2012. Vienna, Austria.

• Krzic, M., N. Basiliko, A. Bedard-Haughn, E. Humphreys, G. Price, L. Dampier, S. Grand, S. Dyanatkar, C. Crowley, and A. Hackinen. Cyber shovels in high school: An online soil science resource for educators. Conference of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA), July 2012. Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

• Krzic, M., N. Basiliko, A. Bedard-Haughn, E. Humphreys, G. Price, L. Dampier, S. Grand, S. Dyanatkar, C. Crowley, and A. Hackinen. Cyber shovels in high school: An online soil science resource for educators. Workshop of the Pacific Regional Society of Soil Science (PRSSS), March 2012. Vancouver, BC, Canada.

• Krzic, M., N. Basiliko, A. Bedard-Haughn, E. Humphreys, G. Price, L. Dampier, S. Dyanatkar, R. Strivelli, J. Shabaga, C. Winsborough, T. Sackett, D. Gillis, and C. Crowley. Charting new territory in high school soil science education in Canada. Conference of the Soil Science Society of America. Oct 16-19, 2011. San Antonio, TX, USA.

• Strivelli, R.A., M. Krzic, C. Crowley, S. Dyanatkar, N. Basiliko, J. Shabaga, C. Winsborough, A. Bedard-Hughn, M. Pare, G. Price, D. Gillis, E. Humphreys, J. Vandewint, and L. Dampier. Soils: charting new territory in high school education. Conference of the Soil Science Society of America. Oct 31 – Nov 3, 2010. Long Beach, CA, USA.

• Krzic, M., and R.A. Strivelli. Emerging approaches to soil science education. Conference of the Canadian Society of Soil Science. Jun 21-24, 2010. Saskatoon, SK, Canada.