EARTH RANGERS

Brings Project Learning Tree School Site Investigations to Canada

Earth Rangers School Clubs Program and Clubs Missions

Why This Project Matters

Eco Clubs are popular in schools across Canada. However, they sometimes lack a clear mandate or direction and they often tend to focus on sustainable behaviours within the school rather than conservation beyond the school grounds. Teachers are also usually left with the full burden of creating and planning all club activities, which can be overwhelming and lead to a less active club. This project will leverage Earth Rangers’ extensive reach into schools through a new school clubs program that teachers and students can engage with year-round.

Why is SFI Involved?

The SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program is supporting this project. Project materials will focus on sustainable forestry and the role Indigenous Peoples play in conservation, both of which are key areas of work for SFI.

The project will also spread the word about Project Learning Tree (PLT) Canadato teachers across Canada. PLT Canada is an initiative of SFI that uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase youth understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. There is also a natural fit with PLT GreenSchoolsand Earth Rangers through GreenSchools Investigations — a set of five investigations to engage K-12 students in greening their school around energy, water, waste and recycling, school site, and environmental quality. This project will repurpose the school site investigation, with the intent of establishing a turnkey way of integrating Earth Rangers programming and promoting the existence of PLT to teachers in Canada.

How the project builds SFI community engagement

Earth Rangers will reach out to SFI Implementation Committees in order to leverage the members’ local connections to schools, increasing the reach of the clubs program in those communities. To encourage increased education and engagement in the natural world among students in schools, Earth Rangers will provide teachers with an easy-to-use and customizable platform. It will encourage learning and action on a variety of environmental and conservation issues, including those related to sustainable forest management and Indigenous values.

Partners

This partnership includes educators, researchers, conservationists, and industry.

• Project lead: Earth Rangers
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative
• Forest Products Association of Canada
• The Schad Foundation

Related Information

• Earth Rangers School Assembly Program Delivery
• Nature Conservancy of Canada, Earth Rangers and SFI Want to Make Life Less Scary for Amphibians at Halloween and All Year Round
• Teaching our children to conserve wild spaces

About Earth Rangers

Earth Rangers is the kids’ conservation organization dedicated to educating children about biodiversity and conservation and empowering them to protect animals and their habitats. The Earth Rangers’ School Assembly Program is offered completely free of charge to elementary schools across Canada. It introduces students to four of the Earth Rangers Animal Ambassadors, including animals like Kateri the Peregrine Falcon, Gizmo the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and Quillow the Prehensile-tailed Porcupine. The 45‑minute assembly takes place in the school’s gym and features:

• An immersive HD multimedia experience
• Live Animal Ambassadors demonstrating their amazing natural behaviours
• A fun and interactive game that gets students and teachers involved
• Educational, curriculum-linked information appropriate for grades 1-6