|
Eco-Education
Programs:
The Eco-Centre offers day programs for teachers and
their classes on a variety of environmental topics.
Following the Nova Scotia curriculum, these programs
are environmentally themed and take advantage of our
proximity to the Bras d’Or Lakes and Skye River
Estuary. Teachers can be assured students are
covering topics and learning skills that are
currently set out in curriculum guidelines. These
fun and interactive programs incorporate
environmental knowledge and principles to help
students realize how their actions can impact the
world around them. In addition to the natural
environment, the Eco-Centre has a state of the art
educational facility complete with technical
equipment such as microscopes, measurement probes
and interactive computer programs. The Centre also
houses touch tanks, salt water aquariums, fresh
water aquariums and other terrariums filled with
critters waiting to be discovered.
Visiting Schools to the Whycocomagh Eco-Centre:
»
Felix Marchand
» Louisdale
» Tamarac Education Centre
» Port Hawkesbury
» Guysborough Academy
» Guysborough
» Cabot High
» Neil’s Harbour
» Inverness Education Centre
» Inverness
» West Richmond Education Centre
» Richmond
» St. Joseph’s
» Sydney Mines
» Bayview Education Centre
» Port Hood
Teachers can contact the Eco-Centre to specify what
topics they would like covered. Our available
programs are listed below. Be sure to bookmark this
page as we are constantly developing new programs
and will update this page as programs are completed.
Cost per class is $125 and programs last
approximately two hours.
The Eco-Centre welcomes tourists starting early July
until the end of August. Upon visiting the
Eco-Centre, tourists will be given an interpretative
tour of the Centre’s many animals. We currently have
two touch tanks full of local marine creatures such
as star fish, sea urchins, sea anemone, dead mans
finger, moon snails, crabs and many other
interesting critters! The Centre is also home to
salmon and trout from the local Margaree Fish
Hatchery. The Eco-Centre staff is waiting to tell
you all about the amazing lives of these critters,
plus help you get up close and personal with some
very unique and local species. Tourists can also
explore the Eco-Centre’s greenhouse and take a
relaxing walk along the Bras d’Or Lakes shoreline.
Tourists will have the opportunity to sign up for
scheduled interpretative nature hikes in the nearby
Whycocomagh Park.
The Eco-Camps focus on our environment and include
activities and games incorporating plants, animals,
insects, nature, art, music, etc. The planned
activities rely heavily on the beautiful outdoor
environment and promise to be fun and engaging while
also being a wonderful learning experience for
children.
This summer the Whycocomagh Eco-Centre will run day
camps for youth aged 4-14 years. Please note the
important information below for children;
-
All children are
asked to take their lunches and snacks.
-
Must also bring
sunscreen, hats, proper footwear and clothing.
-
All parents/
guardians are to provide written permission
slips for their children to attend camp
activities. Slips will be available at the
Eco-Centre when children are dropped off.
Cost for Eco-Camps:
$15 a day per child or $60 per week.
Family Rate (maximum 4 children) is $140 per week
($60 first child, $45 second child, $35 third child
and fourth is free).
....................................................................................................................................................................
OTHER
PROGRAMS AVAILABLE:
-
This program is
ideal in the fall as the leaves change colour.
-
Participants will
develop an awareness of the natural changes
around them and explore
the colours of leaves to
discover why they turn from green to golden.
-
The parts of a tree
and seasonal changes will be explored through
drama.
-
Explorations will
be made through art, identification activities
and through the lens of a microscope.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
Through
explorations in the field, forest and on the
Bras d’Or Lakes shoreline outside
the
Eco-Centre, participants will become
micro-trackers to move into the world of
insects.
-
Discovery
activities will illuminate the parts of insects
and their amazing adaptations to
survive as such
small creatures in such a large world.
-
Participants will
circulate to exploration stations in the
Eco-Centre and a Construct-a-bug
activity will
leave everyone with a colourful creature to take
home.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
This program
explores responding to nature through
storytelling and writing.
-
The first half of
the program will be spent hiking in the
Whycocomagh Provincial Park
with stops along the
way to share stories and legends inspired by
places and events in nature.
-
During the second
half participants will return to the eco-centre
to write their own
eco-legend or nature inspired
story.
-
The program can end
with performances and/or sharing of stories.
-
Adding digital
photo images to illustrate stories is an option
for this program.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
Hikes in beautiful
natural areas of Cape Breton can be arranged and
led as Eco-Centre programs.
-
Hikes to Uisge Ban
Falls near Baddeck or Salt Mountain in the
Whycocomagh Provincial Park
are just two of the
options.
-
An Eco-Centre guide
would create a hike that involves nature
interpretation, activities and reflection.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
Come and explore
the amazing touch tanks at the Eco-Centre. The
tanks are full of many
species all local to the
Bras d’Or Lakes including anemones, sponges,
urchins, starfish,
crabs and many other
critters!
-
Properties about
each animal will be explored including habitat
preference, food of
choice, hunting strategies
and much more!
-
Students will have
a chance to experience many of these critters
hands on and will
walk away with a truly
engaging experience.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
In this proram,
participants will be introduced to plankton and
their importance to other life forms.
-
Participants will
have a chance to collect and examine their own
plankton sample from the
Bras d'Or Lakes.
-
A model building
activity will help participants explore the
structure of plankton and
understand its
ecological role.
-
This is a program
that opens a new window to a realm often
overlooked, the plankton world.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
The Bras D’Or Lakes
region boasts the highest population of Bald
Eagles in northeastern North America.
-
Discover the joys
and challenges of being a Bald Eagle and some of
the unique characteristics that have made it a
special part of the First Nation culture.
....................................................................................................................................................................
-
Close your eyes and
envision the animals you’ve seen while camping,
walking or driving
by the Bras d’Or Lakes.
-
This program will
identify the animals that call these shores home
and the weather and
other environmental factors
that challenge them.
-
Students will
experience the adaptations that have helped
these animals survive and thrive, relate
adaptations to changes they make to live in
their own environment and use their imagination
to think through the adaptations necessary for a
‘new’ animal.
|
