C&NN 2017 International Conference and Summit: Full Schedule

Our 1-day Summit on Connecting to Nature in an Urban World, April 19, features a morning plenary and roundtable sessions followed by interactive workshops and walkshops in the afternoon. Building on the Summit is our Conference, April 20-21, featuring keynotes speakers, hands-on workshops and networking opportunities.

Please note: Schedules are now locked from being changed. If you would like to make changes to your schedule, please come see us at the registration desk. See you in Vancouver!

10:00am PDT

Activating Youth Voices and Action

Limited Capacity seats available

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

How can youth serve as leaders in getting people outdoors, advocating for natural places, and being stewards of natural places? This roundtable session will explore strategies for amplifying the role of young people in connecting communities to nature.

Moderator

Juan Martinez

Senior Advisor, Children & Nature Network

Juan is a nationally-recognized and award-winning environmental justice activist whose childhood was transformed by the power of nature. He is a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Ambassador for The North Face, and serves on the Wilderness Society Board of Directors.

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Stanley Salon 3 (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Designing Nature into the City

Limited Capacity seats available

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

How can we integrate nature into our urban spaces and plan for all children to have access to nature? This roundtable session will explore ways that children in cities can be immersed in nature in their everyday lives.

Moderator

Gil Penalosa

Founder & Chair, 8 80 Cities

Gil Penalosa is passionate about cities for all people. He advises decision makers and communities on how to create vibrant cities and healthy communities for everyone regardless of age, gender and social, economic, or ethnic background. His focus is on the design and use of parks... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Cypress (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Emerging Strategies for Engaging City Government in Equitable Access to Nature

Limited Capacity seats available

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

What are the opportunities and strategies for leveraging city government leadership to connect children to nature? This roundtable session will explore ways that city government policies and programs can increase equitable access to nature.

Moderator

Priya Cook

Principal Associate, Connecting Children to Nature, Institute for Youth, Education, and Families National League of Cities

Andrew Moore

Director, Youth & Young Adult Connections, National League of Cities, Institute for Youth, Education, and Families

Cities Connecting Children to Nature initiative, now in 18 cities with tools and lessons available to still more cities

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Seymour (Ground Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Engaging Community Leadership from the Inside Out

Limited Capacity filling up

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

How can we move beyond “outreach” to deeply engage urban community-based leadership? This roundtable session will explore the power of grassroots efforts to empower local leaders and amplify the children and nature movement.

Moderator

Carmen Harris

Chief of Social Impact and Strategic Partnerships, GirlTrek

Carmen is chief of GirlTrek's Social Impact and Strategic Partnerships team where she monitors the social, psychosocial, and behavioral impact of GirlTrek's program on African-American women and communities. Carmen is also charged with identifying and engaging national and international... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Marine (Ground floor towards the Spa)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Health Equity: The Role of Nature in Improving Physical and Mental Health

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

How can we leverage efforts addressing health disparities for increasing children’s connection to nature? This roundtable session will explore the health benefits of time in nature and strategies for increasing the relevance of programming and policy to the health field.

Moderator

Matilda van den Bosch

Asst Prof, Dept of Forest & Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia

Matilda is a doctor in medicine as well as in landscape planning and public health. Since July 2016 she is an assistant professor at The University of British Columbia, Canada, where she holds a shared affiliation between the School of Population and Public Health and the Department... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Stanley Salon 2 (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Learning Outdoors: Growing the Movement In and Out of School

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

What will make it possible for nature-based learning to go to scale? This roundtable session will explore policies, programs, and advocacy strategies that amplify the need and benefits of children learning outdoors on school grounds and in nearby nature.

Moderator

Bill Kilburn

Program Manager, Back to Nature Network

Bill Kilburn is the leader of the Back to Nature Network, Ontario’s provincial organization representing the international children and nature movement. Among achievements, Bill co-chaired the creation of the Ontario Children’s Outdoor Charter with Ontario’s provincial government... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Stanley Salon 1 (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

People to the Parks: Activating Urban Green Space

Limited Capacity filling up

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

What strategies can be used to bring urban communities to parks and green spaces? This roundtable session will explore the ways in which barriers can be overcome to make parks part of the everyday lives of children, families and communities.

Moderator

Jesús Aguirre

Superintendent, Seattle Parks and Recreation

Jesús Aguirre has served as the Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation since June 2015. Aguirre began his career as a middle school science teacher in Los Angeles in the 1990s and most recently, served as the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia... Read More →

Amanda O'Rourke

Senior Advisor & Board Liaison, 8 80 Cities

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Oak (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Urban Stewardship to Foster a Sense of Place and Belonging

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Roundtable sessions focus on strategies for nature connection in urban areas for children, families and communities.

How do people come together on urban public lands to forge community connections through stewardship? This roundtable session will explore the ways in which stewardship fosters a sense of belonging among children, families and communities.

Moderator

Cecil van den Bosch

Professor, Dept of Forest Resource Mgmt, University of British Columbia

Cecil is a professor of urban forestry at the University of British Columbia. Research and education on the importance of nature to urban residents are his passion, with specific focus on the role of trees and forests. He has authored several books, including 'The City and the Forest... Read More →

Cheryl Charles

Co-Chair #NatureForAll, IUCN Commission on Education and Communication

Cheryl Charles, Ph.D., is an innovator, author, organizational executive and educator. Cheryl is international co-chair of #NatureForAll, a global campaign of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN.org) and a member of the IUCN's Commission on Education and Communications... Read More →

Milton McClaren

Professor, Simon Fraser University

Environmental Education, Effective Communication about Environment Topics and issues, Urban Experiences for Children and Adults, Graduate Studies in Environmental Education and Research related to Children in Nature and EE in general

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:30am PDT
Mackenzie (Ground Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

10:00am PDT

Community Based Partnerships: Connecting with Your Local Zoo or Aquarium

Limited Capacity filling up

Join us as we walk over to the Vancouver Aquarium to learn about how you can team up with your local zoo or aquarium to offer unique opportunities to connect children with nature in your community. As connecting to nature has become a priority for zoos and aquariums, community partnership opportunites abound. You will learn about the exciting nature play programs for families available through the Nature Play Begins at Your Zoo & Aquarium initiative — and then you can experience it first-hand at the aquarium. (The Association of Zoos & Aquarium’s initiative, Nature Play Begins at Your Zoo & Aquarium is supported by the Walt Disney Company.)

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Stephanie Chong

Coordinator, Curriculum Programs, Vancouver Aquarium

My current interests are in inquiry-based learning, both in curricular and non-curricular programming in museum settings. I am passionate about increasing science literacy for students, families, and communities, particularly through conservation, stewardship, and citizen-scientist... Read More →

Heidi Faris

Chair, MN Children & Nature Connection

Heidi Faris is the Nature Play Begins Grant Coordinator for AZA, serving on the AZA Nature Club Task Force Committee. Heidi received her MEd. in EE with a focus on Fostering Attitudes of Empathy in Children through Play Experiences in a Zoo Setting. Over the past 10 years she connected... Read More →

Megan Malaska Medley

Curator of Bronx Zoo Education, Wildlife Conservation Society - Bronx Zoo

Megan Malaska Medley is the Manager of Bronx Zoo Education, part of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She has worked at the Cape May County Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo, and SEA LIFE Aquarium at LEGOLAND California Resort before returning to WCS as Manager of Education at the Prospect... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 10:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Vancouver Aquarium

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

12:30pm PDT

Walkshop: Engaging Students with Nature through Environmental Stewardship Projects

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Discover a step-by-step process that effectively leads teachers and students through project-based learning in the schoolyard, from identifying a testable environmental question to transforming it into research, testing to collect and analyze data, and conducting a student-designed intervention. Participants will visit near-by Stanley Park to explore and compare Coal Harbor and Lost Lagoon, investigate conditions and impacts, sample water quality, determine whether any problems exist, and develop a project that is specific to this location. Case studies of exemplary class projects will also be shared, and participants will gain tools and techniques to facilitate student-driven investigations and environmental stewardship. The session will be jointly presented by the Kwiaht Center for the Historic Ecology of the Salish Sea and the CPF Institute for Transformative Teaching.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Russel Barsh

Exec Director, Kwiaht Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea

Russel Barsh studied human ecology and law at Harvard, where he studied with biologist Stephen Jay Gould and psychologist Jerome Bruner. He taught at the University of Washington, Dartmouth, and New York University; worked as an adviser to United Nations agencies; represented American... Read More →

Laura Turner Seydel

Chairperson, Captain Planet Foundation

Laura Turner Seydel is an international environmental advocate and eco-living expert dedicated to creating a healthy and sustainable future for our children. Laura is chairperson of the Captain Planet Foundation, which promotes hands-on environmental education projects worldwide... Read More →

Karan Wood

Director, CPF Institute

Karan launched and manages the CPF Institute at Captain Planet Foundation, the mission of which is to foster transformative change in science education that inspires, prepares, and empowers today's children to become the next generation of environmental stewards. The CPF Institute... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 12:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
Seymour (Ground Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, indoor/outdoor dress for weather

1:00pm PDT

Accepting Louv's Challenge! Make Your Local Schools-Your Community-The Best in the Nation in Connecting Kids to Nature!

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Imagine your organization leading your community to recognition as “Best in the Nation for Connecting Kids to Nature.” This is the challenge Richard Louv issued to the world! Ohio Miami Valley Leave No Child Inside Collaborative has accepted and is, in-turn, challenging schools nationwide to BE THE BEST SCHOOL FOR CONNECTING KIDS TO NATURE WHERE KIDS ARE HEALTHIER, HAPPIER AND SMARTER! Explore how Ohio is motivating schools to get kids outside putting the Ohio Outdoor Children's Bill of Rights to work. Imagine schools assigning homework to explore outside and get academic credit. Discover how this homework transforms families into bonding together outdoors. Imagine schools where every grade level has outdoor learning incorporating outdoor exploration, music, art. Imagine parks, libraries supporting this challenge providing outdoor play spaces and storybook trails. This interactive presentation will give you tools to lead schools in your community to be the BEST connecting kids to nature.

Max Capacity: 60

Speakers

Cinda Hanbuch-Pinkerton

Director of Environmental Education, Miami County Park District

Known as “Cinda Wind~ the gentle breeze~” by those who join her for fun, frolic, and learning in the outdoors, Cinda has been creating exciting learning experiences connecting people to nature as director/naturalist/educator for four decades. She is honored to have been recognized... Read More →

Douglas Horvath

Education Coordinator, Five Rivers MetroParks

Presentation; "Accepting Louv's Challenge! Make Your Local Schools-Your Community-The Best in the Nation in Connecting Kids-Nature!" As a young child I had the good fortune to have parents that brought us camping, canoeing and sailing on many family outings around Huston Woods and... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Stanley Salon 1 (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Conducting an Outdoor Learning Resource Inventory at Your School

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

In this workshop, participants will explore basic theory around outdoor and experiential learning, including how outdoor learning and outdoor education differ. Participants will venture outdoors to conduct an audit of outdoor spaces and consider how these spaces may be used by teachers (in/no/formal) for outdoor learning experiences to tie into the curriculum and pedagogy. By the end of the workshop, participants shall be prepared to return to their own schools, or learning contexts, and conduct an outdoor learning resource inventory with students, teachers, and administrators.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Hartley Banack

Lecturer, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, UBC

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Discover How Educators Are Motivating Students and Families to Explore Nature Together!

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Join the Canadian Wildlife Federation, National Geographic, and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre for a mini-BioBlitz experience. We’ll spend 10-15 minutes discussing what a BioBlitz is, then we'll walk to beautiful and diverse Stanley Park to explore several habitats: forest, pond, and intertidal. We’ll look for birds, insects, invertebrates, and more. Who can find the most critters? We’ll have BioBlitz kits on hand, and we’ll be showing participants how to use the iNaturalist app. Enthusiasts: download iNaturalist on your smartphone or tablet and try it out today! This adventure will take place rain or shine, so come prepared.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Mary Ford

Director of Education Programs, National Geographic Society

community and citizen scienceenvironmental education professional learning for educators

Andrea Gardner

Education Program Coordinator, Canadian Wildlife Federation

Jonathan R Hultquist

Manager of Public Programs, Vancouver Aquarium

Ocean conservation. Experiential education. Nature play. Fundraising. Collaboration.

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Mackenzie (Ground Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, indoor/outdoor dress for weather

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Emammal: Exploring Nature with Students through Camera Trapping

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Curriculum-linked, outdoor, citizen science projects offer the dual benefits of getting students outside exploring, and increasing their academic achievements. The project eMammal takes students outside, exploring places to position camera traps in forest patches within local neighborhoods. They predict animal species, observe cover, and look for signs of human impact. Later, students retrieve the camera, download the images, and identify the animals photographed. After sharing images to a database, students ask deeper questions about the natural world, leading them back to reposition the camera. Project participants gain a deep understanding of their local natural world and become supporters of conservation efforts. Join us to try your hand at positioning a camera trap, examining camera trap images and exploring the outdoors near the conference site. This group, featuring a scientist, a teacher using the project, and a museum educator, will provide concrete examples from eMammal across North Carolina, India, and Mexico, over the past 3 years. This project can be used as a model for new curriculum linked to outdoor activities as well as curriculum being implemented in other settings such as parks and backyards.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Elizabeth D. Baird

Chief, School and Lifelong Education, NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Cathy Belair

Teacher, Valley Springs Middle School

Experiential education is essential to students' learning. Discovering concepts through guided exploration and self-reflection is effective and builds long-term understanding. Spending time outdoors is good for the body, mind and soul and needs to be a priority among educators.

Stephanie Schuttler

Postdoctoral Research Associate, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Stephanie Schuttler is a mammalogist with strong interests in animal behavior, molecular, and movement ecology, especially applied research that impacts the conservation of threatened and endangered species. She is working with North Carolina teachers under the Students Discover program... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Exploring a Sense of Place - How to Create Your Own Local Program for Reconnecting with Nature

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Exploring a Sense of Place will help you with your own process of discovery and reconnection with the natural world where you live. You will gain an understanding of every ecosystem as having its own deep time geologic story and weather and climate patterns resulting in the particular plant and animal wildlife as well as indigenous wisdom from people living connected to place over thousands of years.

The session shows how Exploring a Sense of Place progresses through every season, in every weather — and how by doing this program together, we form community, deepen our roots with those around us and create new patterns of awareness in our lives.

Our time together includes an immersion experience in near-by Stanley Park with a naturalist and your own copy of an Exploring a Sense of Place guidebook that will deepen you in your own process of awakening to the place where you live.

Max Capacity: 20

Speakers

Karen Harwell

Director, Exploring a Sense of Place

As an explorer of places where we live, I have become aware that we have oriented ourselves as a species ignoring our relationship with our fuller context - our ecosystem, which supports our living here. We did not come into this world. We came out of it, like buds out of branches... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, indoor/outdoor dress for weather

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Hands-On Stewardship: Service Project at Stanely Park

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

The Stanley Park Ecological Society and C&NN's Natural Leaders invite you to join us in hands-on stewardship! By participating in this volunteer service project, you will learn about and make an important contribution to habitat and wildlife conservation efforts in Stanley Park, all while working in a beautiful outdoor setting. You will learn about Vancouver's invasive species and the important role of invasive species management. Most importantly, you will take action to promote biodiversity, creating valuable habitat for native wildlife by removing invasive species.

Max Capacity: 30

Speakers

CJ Goulding

Manager, Community Leadership Development, Children & Nature Network

CJ is a passionate, creative, and energetic professional working to develop connections in and between people, and the connection between communities and the outdoors. As the Lead Organizer for the Natural Leaders Network, he strives to support a national network of over 330 millenial... Read More →

Kari Pocock

Stewardship Coordinator, Stanley Park Ecology Society

Kari is the Stewardship Coordinator with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES), where her passion for environmental sustainability and collaborative problem-solving drives her to connect people with nature through mindful stewardship and creative engagement. She studied Environmental... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

Tags service project

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Hands-on-Nature Anarchy Play

Limited Capacity filling up

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Ever hear of those wild "adventure playgrounds" of Europe filled with loose parts, mud, fire, playworkers, and mess? Well, we’ve created a pop-up version in the nearby park and you are invited to get messy with us! Together we can build forts and dens, fairy huts and gnome homes, nature sculptures, obstacle courses and more with a variety of easy-to-come-by natural materials like logs, stumps, dirt, leaves, etc. You’ll remember how fun it is to be free and creative with natural stuff and see how easy it can be to create low-cost nature play zones like this for the children in your own community. We’ll also talk about the benefits of risk in play and how you can find new ways to say "yes" to children’s adventurous play in nature.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Rusty Keeler

Earthplay

Over the past 20 years, Rusty Keeler has worked with hundreds of community, school, parks, university, and childcare leaders to dream, design, and construct beautiful outdoor environments for children in more than 30 states and throughout Canada, Europe, China, Australia, and New... Read More →

Sponsors

TD Friends of the Environment

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Hike it Baby Urban Stroll Experience

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Hike it Baby is an organization dedicated to getting families with birth to school age on trails and into parks from the youngest age possible. Our crowdsourced hike experience can be found in 300 cities around North America. The structure of the hikes create a safe and supported hiking experience for everyone with babies and little children to get outdoors. We support freeunstructured play and creative outdoor experiences with little ones.

For the Children & Nature Network Hike it Baby experience we will be doing a 4KM urban stroll/hike to Stanley Park. This will be lead by Hike it Baby Founder, Shanti Hodges and local Hike it Baby Branch Ambassadors Yazmin Vasquez and Catherine Gutzbrenner.

Max Capacity: 25

Speakers

Shanti Hodges

Founder, Hike it Baby

A few years ago I had a baby and suddenly I found myself on a new path in life and I realized I had to make new friends quickly. But how does one make new friends with a newborn in tow? I asked a few women to hike with me and then more and more showed up every week. Now I have a network... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Indigenous Plant Use

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Walk through the forest with an experienced First Nation guide of Coast Salish descent and learn about the traditional and present-day indigenous relationships with local flora and fauna. While there will be no collecting on these tours, Vancouver's Stanley Park offers a perfect setting to learn about sustainable harvesting. Join us on this walking tour to nurture yourself with nature and harmonize your well-being with the natural world.

Max Capacity: 20

Speakers

Lauraleigh Paul

First Nations Ecology Programmer, Stanley Park Ecology Society

Lauraleigh is of Coast Salish, Interior Salish, and Carrier First Nations descent. In spring 2016, Lauraleigh joined SPES via her environmental monitoring practicum. She passionately offers us her invaluable indigenous life experiences and integral teachings about Coast Salish... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Nature Education throughout the Seasons

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

The average child spends more than seven and a half hours in front of a glowing screen and less than 20 minutes per day engaged in unstructured outdoor play. Children today are more likely to remember the names of dozens of corporate logos than to identify even just a few local plant and mammal species. In this interactive workshop, educators Drew Monkman and Jacob Rodenburg will offer up examples of fun, hands-on strategies for reconnecting children to nature throughout each of the seasons. We’ll dance like bees, sing like frogs and learn how to become "bird whisperers.” These are just some of the ideas that can be found in Monkman and Rodenburg’s award winning new “Big Book of Nature Activities,”which will be featured in this workshop.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Drew Monkman

Nature writer

Drew Monkman (dmonkman1@cogeco.ca) is a retired French immersion teacher, naturalist and writer whose nature column, “Our Changing Seasons,” appears regularly in the Peterborough Examiner. He is the author of three books. Two explore what is happening in the natural world each... Read More →

Jacob Rodenburg

Executive Director, Camp Kawartha

Jacob is an award-winning educator, a qualified teacher with a master’s in education, who has taught in the field of Camping and Outdoor Education more than three decades. His passion is to find creative ways to connect children with nature. Known as the “nature sommelier,”Jacob... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Risky Play: Part 1

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

This will be a valuable, introductory, two-part workshop for anyone who views children as competent, curious and capable and hopes to bring this value into how they support children’s outdoor play, with it’s inherent risks.This workshop is ideal for nature-based educators, early childhood educators, professionals in the recreation and camping sector, community developers, parents, playworkers, and grandparents.

Part One (Wednesday): The first workshop will focus on the evidence-base and philosophy of risk in children’s outdoor play. We will define “risky play”, examine the benefits of children having freedom in their play from an evidence-based perspective, and explore our ‘duty of care’ while supporting children to navigate risk. Part Two (Friday): [Prerequisite Wednesday workshop]

Max Capacity: 30

Speakers

Marlene Power

Executive Director, Child and Nature Alliance of Canada

Marlene Power founded the Carp Ridge Forest Preschool, Canada’s first outdoor, nature-based Forest Preschool, and created Forest School Canada, a national initiative to promote nature-based education through Forest School training, policy and research. Marlene first developed Forest... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Stanley Park: Restoration Highlights

Limited Capacity filling up

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Take a tour of highlights of the restoration work taking place in Stanley Park including a mowed lawn-turned-wetland and a restored stand of native trees in the heart of the park. Your hosts, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, will take you on a five km (three miles) loop past iconic ocean vistas and ecologically significant features in Vancouver's most well-known park.

Max Capacity: 20

Speakers

Dana McDonald

Environmental Stewardship Coordinator, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation

Nick Page

Biologist, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: The Floating Classroom: Academic Engagement through Outdoor Learning

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

This workshop will help educators explore the options for integrating outdoor education with traditional classroom learning in their own communities. Wilderness Inquiry offers outdoor learning programs to schools, and works with districts and teachers to offer academic credit for students. Students deficient in content-area coursework engage with materials through outdoor place-based learning to recover missing credits in math, science, English, social studies, and physical education. Workshop attendees will learn strategies to implement outdoor education and work with schools/districts to develop place-based curricula.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Meg Krueger

Wilderness Inquiry, Wilderness Inquiry

Meg Krueger is the Education Programs Manager at Wilderness Inquiry, a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Meg has over ten years of experience in education and a lifetime love for outdoor adventures; she has found a happy marriage of the two through her work... Read More →

Julie Storck

Associate Director, Wilderness Inquiry

Julie Storck is the Associate Director for Wilderness Inquiry leading development and program initiatives to make the outdoors accessible to all. She brings great perspective to the intersection of education, inclusion, and the outdoors. In addition to her work at Wilderness Inquiry... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: The Xwaaqw’um Project (Burgoyne Bay, Salt Spring Island)

Limited Capacity seats available
A sustainable vision is being developed to support a Coast Salish cultural learning hub at Xwaaqw’um as we strengthen our reciprocal relationships to the land (and sea). The focal point of the project is Indigenous youth mentorship as taught by local Hul’q’umi’num and Coast Salish Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

Watch two five-minute films that highlight summer youth camps, student-based cultural days and community gatherings that have taken place at Xwaaqw’um over the last two years. Discussion will focus on how you can better understand and support local culturally appropriate learning in your classroom and community.

Max Capacity: 40

A sustainable vision is being developed to support a Coast Salish cultural learning hub at Xwaaqw’um as we strengthen our reciprocal relationships to the land (and sea). The focal point of the project is Indigenous youth mentorship as taught by local Hul’q’umi’num and Coast Salish Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

Two five-minute films will highlight summer youth camps, student-based cultural days and community gatherings that have taken place at Xwaaqw’um over the last two years. Discussion will focus on how you can better understand and support local culturally appropriate learning in your classroom and community. Indoor/Outdoor

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Joe Akerman

Project Lead, Xwaaqw'um Project

Joe is of Cowichan and European descent. In his work with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres (BCAAFC), and as a leader of the Protect Grace Islet Group and Xwaaqw'um Project on Saltspring Island, he has incorporated grassroots leadership, inclusivity and cultural... Read More →

Hwiemtun (Fred Roland)

Elder, Xwaaqw'um Project

Born and raised in Khowutzun (the ‘Warm Land’) by a Coast Salish mother and Hawaiian lineage father, Hwiemtun (Fred Roland) received many teachings of his Coast Salish culture. Through spending many years with elders of his territory, Hwiemtun learned the cultural and spiritual... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Stanley Salon 2 (2nd Floor)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, indoor/outdoor dress for weather

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop: Youth-Led Nature Adventures

Limited Capacity seats available

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

Scouts Canada offers youth from ages 5 to 26 opportunities to experience new things, have more adventures, and develop into confident and capable individuals better prepared for success in the world. Discover the simplicity of how we engage youth in "Learn by Doing" activities. Some of which are STEM-based while others are focused on self-exploration of our natural world and how youth understand their role within it.

Max Capacity: 40

Speakers

Marc Chamberland

Director of Program development, Scouts Canada

Having worked with children and youth since my teen years. I always love to hep our young people find a passion for the outdoors. As a scouter, I find myself lucky to help create a movement of youth inspiring other youth to get outside!

Caitlyn Piton

National Youth Commissioner, Scouts Canada

I am 23 years old and the National Youth Commissioner for Scouts Canada. I also Chair the National Youth Network and am an Officer on the Board of Governors. I'm currently working towards a degree in Child and Youth Care and plan on pursuing Child Protection. I believe in the power... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Walkshop:The CHANGE Adventure Camp - Building Life Skills by Going Outside

Limited Capacity filling up

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

In the past, children and adults would spend several hours each week outdoors. This is no longer the case. The lure of technology and television, combined with longer work hours and busier schedules has created a problem. The CHANGE Adventure Camp was created to re-connect families with nature and each other through a range of outdoor adventure activities. During this highly interactive session, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in the best of a CHANGE Adventure. Results of the evaluation and resources will be shared. Come outside and find your adventure!

Max Capacity: 25

Speakers

Doug Klein

Family Physician

I am a family physician and researcher with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta in Canada. I am interested in the area of nutrition, physical activity and the health benefits of nature for both children and adults. I currently lead the research team CHANGE... Read More →

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Outside

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, OUTDOOR

1:00pm PDT

Working at the Intersection of Social Justice and Environmental Education

"Walkshops" and workshops provide hands-on opportunities to learn strategies and techniques for connecting urban children to nature.

The session will engage participants in considering the new possibilities for environmental programming in urban areas by looking at the nature OF the city and how educators can leverage the complexities to promote stewardship. IslandWood's M.A.Ed in Urban EE prepares educational leaders with innovative approaches to navigate the intersection of social justice, socio-ecological well-being and education in cities. The program is committed to educating a diverse cadre of educational leaders who engage urban youth in place-based transformational learning and culturally responsive learning within a complex urban ecology.

Speakers

Jaime Chong

Student/Urban Programs Educator, Islandwood

Jaime is currently residing on Bainbridge Island and completing her M.A. Ed in Urban Environmental Education with Islandwood in partnership with Antioch University Seattle. She believes in a life full of adventure, exploration, creative pursuits and getting outdoors as much as possible... Read More →

James King

Student, Antioch University/IslandWood

James E. King Jr has more than 9 years of experience coordinating environmental stewardship projects throughout the United States. Through his work, he has engaged and inspired well over 10,000 people to be active in outdoor recreation, sustainability, and environmental justice issues... Read More →

Cynthia Thomashow

Co-Director of Urban Environmental Education, IslandWood and Antioch University

Wednesday April 19, 2017 1:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Marine (Ground floor towards the Spa)

Summit on Nature for an Urban World, INDOOR