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Conference 2006 – Workshops

Last updated: March 19, 2006

See also: Conference 2006 program schedule

Click to download the complete 2006 workshop descriptions:
geoec-conf2006-workshops.pdf
(Acrobat PDF file - ~40K)

Click to download the Conference 2006 Schedule:
geoec-conf2006-schedule.pdf
(Acrobat PDF file - ~30K)

Here is a list of the workshops that are offered at this regional event. All take place on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006.

Once you have reviewed the workshops available, please complete your registration form and fax it to:

Etta Pace, Alberta Teachers Association
(780) 455-6481

Note: Before filling in your workshop registration form, check this page to ensure that all of the workshops you wish to sign up for are still available. Workshops for which the maximum number of registrants have signed up will be marked SESSION FULL. From time to time, previously scheduled workshops must be cancelled, and those will be marked as such – CANCELLED.

Saturday Full Day Workshops

 
SF-1. Backcountry Ski Touring
with The Banff National Park Warden Service

This full day workshop will take participants on a backcountry tour through Banff National Park from the Sunshine Village boundary. The emphasis of the day will be on travel techniques, group management, recognition and avoidance of avalanche terrain, and options for leading custodial groups in National Parks. Participants must arrive self-equipped for backcountry ski touring. This includes: appropriate clothing for a full day out in the mountains; touring skis and bindings, skins, poles, avalanche transceiver, collapsible shovel, avalanche probe, lunch, drink, and sunglasses. Participants should have intermediate skiing abilities as a minimum.

Note: An additional workshop will be added if required.

 
SF-2. Snowshoeing and Winter Ecology
with Guy Pollard and Warren Lake

This session will give you the “why” and show you the “how” to take your students on a winter field trip. Spend the day exploring the Sunshine Meadows on snowshoes. We will discuss preparatory activities to do with your students, demonstrate activities and games to do in the snow, analyze snow pits and snow tracks, and put your mind at ease about locations, safety, and curriculum connections. No prior snowshoeing or winter experience required. Please come prepared to be outdoors for the entire session. Snowshoes will be provided.

Guy Pollard is an experienced outdoor educator who has taught in Canada and Australia. He was a co-founder of RiverWatch and currently operates a woodworking company called Wildwood.

Warren Lake is a teacher at Canmore Collegiate.

 
SF-3. Winter Camping
with Scott Thompson

Winter camping and the associated skills needed for students to enjoy the challenge of winter activities are often avoided as teachers wait for “good weather”. Wintertime offers a tremendous opportunity to teach a variety of skills and build positive attitudes towards our best season. Come prepared with back-country ski clothing including gaiters, back-country skis, skins, avalanche shovel and sitting pad. Stoves and cook sets will be provided, however, you are welcome to bring your own.

Scott Thompson teaches environmental and outdoor education at Bishop Pinkham Junior High School in Calgary. Scott has organized trips involving winter skills development, shelter building, cross-country and back-country skiing.

Saturday Morning Half Day Workshops

 
SA-1. Daily Physical Activity in Winter
with Sue Mills and Shannon Miller, the Health and Physical Education Council

Come and join us for a collection of daily physical activities to try outside in the winter when the gym is in use and you need to be active! Come prepared to laugh and have fun and get some great ideas for waking up and motivating the masses as well as incorporating all subject areas.

Sue Mills and Shannon Miller are both PE teachers who currently teach in K-9 schools with the Calgary Board of Education. They come with a wealth of experience of dealing with large classes, no gym and lots of cold and snowy weather.

 
SA-2. Are Your Students Prepared?
with Steve Bommer and Dino Mariani

This interactive session will focus on equipment, gear and teaching students what to look for and how to manage these items while on a trip. We’ll explore the concepts of thermodynamics as it relates to the outdoors. This will include the concepts of evaporation, conduction, and convection, the value of different kinds of materials/fabrics, how design ensures the best performance of technical fabrics, how to use technical clothing to stay both warm and dry and technical fabrics and their impact on the environment. There will also be an opportunity to:

Steve Bommer is a consultant to the outdoor retail industry. Amongst his clients are W.L. Gore and Associates Inc., the makers of Gore-Tex™ Fabrics. Steve is also an owner of the specialty outdoor retail and service companies Spirit West, Outdoor Gear Swap, and Outdoor Approach.

Dino Mariani is a local guide with more than 15 years experience in the outdoor industry.

 
SA-3. Adding Adventure to Your Teaching
with Bernie Woods and Alanna Thompson

Company of Adventurers can help you expand your teaching to include exciting and applicable outdoor adventure. CoA provides educational outdoor adventures that address environmental, outdoor education and leadership themes. CoA also custom design programs to incorporate the outdoor environment into any class or curriculum theme. This session will highlight Company of Adventurers programs and how a service provider can assist and support you. Dress for the weather.

Bernie Woods has been educating young people in the Canadian Rockies for the past 30 years. His goal is to teach the next generations to love and value our wild places. He continues to provide programming that appeals to students of all ages in our beautiful landscapes.

Alanna Thompson has been with Company of Adventurers for three years as program director. She has spent many years camping, hiking and exploring the Rockies with young people. She is passionate about teaching the natural and human history of the Rockies and loves Canada's wild places.

 
SA-4. Snowbiking
with the Sunshine Ski School

Are you new to skiing? Are your knees not what they used to be? Or do you just want to try something new and different? This session will introduce snowbikes, a unique way to explore the winter environment. This is an excellent activity for people new to winter environments, who don’t know how to ski or who are tentative about outdoor winter sports, but would like to learn in a safe, supportive environment. Snowbikes and helmets are available for rent at Sunshine Village. Dress for the weather.

Note: Another session will be added in the afternoon if required.

 
SA-5. Wilderness First Aid Scenarios
with Jock Richardson, Sunshine Village Ski Patrol

Preparing to escort students into backcountry environments does have an elevated level of risk attached to it. However, with proper preparation, student training and awareness of what is possible, these challenges can be managed. This session will take participants through a series of scenarios that portray common backcountry first aid situations and provide an opportunity to sort through how to address them. Come prepared to be outside. Bring your first aid kit and whatever backcountry gear you would typically take with you when you go with students.

Jock Richardson is a member of the Sunshine Village Ski Patrol.

Saturday Afternoon Half Day Workshops

 
SP-1. Avalanche Self Rescue
with George Field

Avalanche rescue in a backcountry scenario requires rapid response from within your own group – counting on outside resources to arrive will not save lives. This workshop will teach the skills required to execute a self-rescue, through teaching and scenarios. Participants will practice searching under pressure. Participants will need to dress for the weather and bring their own transceiver, shovel and probe.

George Field is the Public Safety Specialist for Kananaskis Country, and a fully certified ACMG Mountain Guide.

 
SP-2. Water, the Global Perspective: Integrating Environmental, Outdoor and Global Education Across the Curriculum
with Rita Poruchny

In this session we look at developing a unit for water using the inquiry model. You will receive many ideas that can be used in the classroom. We will be going outside to participate in activities that can be used with students. This is a model that can be used for many other subject areas. Students will develop a global perspective and also become familiar with local issues of water management and conservation. Dress to be outdoors.

Rita Poruchny is a grade 8 Math and Science teacher in Calgary. She is a Past President and long time member of the GEOEC.

 
SP-3. Mountain Digital Photography
with Pierre Comty

OK – you’ve got the camera, the USB cable, and you’re tired of having your neighbour help adjust the white balance. So instead of that, why not have a complete stranger do the same thing? This session will focus on using the camera as a tool to capture movement, light, and subjects into a perfect composition. We’ll move throughout the various environments on downhill skis taking pictures and then have a chance to look at your works on a laptop at the Inn.

Pierre Comty is a professional photographer, media technician and film maker with the Calgary Board of Education.

 
SP-4. Indigenous Knowledge: Thinking Ecologically
with Tim Paterson

Students, teachers and others have increased access and opportunities to learn, teach and experience outdoor environment(s). However, the context and texture of outdoor experiences can be overshadowed by technological and isolated ways of knowing; therefore, this session will focus on sources and characteristics of aboriginal ways of knowing that are both sustainable and constructive. Further, issues around authenticity will be outlined. Dress to be outdoors in winter.

Tim Patterson is Swxexmx (“People of the Creeks”) a branch of the Nlaka'pamux Nation of the Interior Salish peoples of southern British Columbia near Merritt. Tim presently resides in Calgary, with his wife, Denise, and five-year-old son, Sebastien. Tim is educated in social and cultural anthropology with a focus on Canadian Aboriginal ways of knowing with an emphasis on oral traditions. Tim is currently employed with the Calgary Board of Education as an Aboriginal Liaison Counselor.

 
SP-5. Team Building With Initiatives
with Jon Olfert and Nicole Wiens

Explore the “challenge by choice” concept as your group works together on various teambuilding and cooperative activities. Learn to foster team cohesion and positive communication while having fun and overcoming challenges. Come prepared to be outside.

Jon Olfert and Nicole Wiens have worked with the Edmonton River Valley Program and have been involved with outdoor education at the camp level in Saskatchewan where they worked as camp directors.

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Last updated: March 19, 2006