2020

Project objectives:

To use citizen science and experiential learning to encourage students and communty members to enjoy the outdoors through actively monitoring birds and animals found in local natural habitats.

The development of EcoSpark’s Science in the City program continues during the ongoing COVID -19 disruptions for schools and community groups. Recognizing the human need to spend time in nature, EcoSpark is developing options for program delivery that can shift based on evolving public health guidelines. EcoSpark has the tools and capacity to combine online citizen science training and projects – through webinars and Google classroom assignments – with simple activities that can be done with families at home or in community green spaces. EcoSpark is also working with teachers to adapt current lesson plans to include outdoor education research projects as part of their student’s remote learning packages.

Science in the City continues to bring together EcoSpark’s core programs in multi-year, community-level engagement projects designed to assess ecosystem health from a variety of perspectives. In keeping with our motto: “Discover – Act – Change”, we begin with habitat mapping and monitoring followed by stewardship activities, follow-up monitoring and community reporting. The activities are designed to create a sense of community ownership, to identifying areas in need of remediation and to build partnerships and local teams to address them.