Lesson Plan, Teacher Section

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Overview • Learning Outcomes • Curriculum Connections • Topics • Duration • Materials and Equipment • Essential Information • Background for Teachers • Procedure • Extension Activities • Assessment Rubric • Lesson Plan, Student Section

Overview
Students plan an environmentally responsible trip to several national parks. In small groups, they use information from a variety of sources to learn about each park’s significance to Canada, as well as its ecosystems, species at risk and recreational opportunities. They then assess the parks’ ecological health and apply their findings to their trip planning. Students conclude by preparing and presenting an itinerary of their trip, explaining how they plan to visit the parks as good environmental citizens who will help maintain a balance between using and protecting national parks.

Learning Outcomes
Students will:

• be able to describe the organization of the national park system and its protected areas;
• gain and apply knowledge about national parks, the National Parks System Plan and the role of national parks in protecting natural areas;
• assess key indicators of ecosystem health in national parks and interpret related issues;
• develop competencies in team work, interpreting quantitative data, communication, making presentations, and conducting research using a variety of sources;
• demonstrate how they can be responsible national park tourists, stewards and global citizens; and
• identify actions they can take to help protect national parks and other protected areas or territories.

Curriculum Connections
Select your province or territory to see detailed curriculum links to secondary level natural sciences and geography. This lesson plan and its related activities also support curricula in other subjects, including math, language arts, media arts and dramatic arts.


Topics
Alien species • Canada’s national park system • Biodiversity • Biomes • Ecological integrity • Ecological regions • Ecology • Ecosystem health • Ecosystems • Ecozones • Environmental ethics • Extirpated species • Human impacts on the environment • Native species • Protected areas • Resource Conservation • Species at Risk • Stewardship • Sustainability • Sustainable tourism

Duration
Five or more 45-minute periods
The lesson plan is adaptable and can be divided into shorter segments or spread out over longer periods.

Materials and Equipment

• One Internet-connected computer for each student or pair of students (for No. 9 in the procedure, below ), and one printer.*
• A projector and the National Parks Spreadsheet printed onto 2 transparencies (for No. 9 in the procedure below).
• 39 small sticky notes in two colours (11 notes in colour A and 28 notes in colour B), to be used in No. 7 in the Procedure, below.
• To consult the Parks Canada Photo Gallery for images.

*If no printer is available for student use, print one set of Essential Information for Students per group and one worksheet per student. If Internet-connected computers are not available, ask students to do the Internet research at home, in the library or in the computer lab.

Essential Information
Print out and review the following documents before proceeding:

• National Parks Glossary
• The “ Completing the National Parks System” map
• National Parks Spreadsheet (PDF 35Ko) (Excel Spreadsheet 24Ko)
• National Parks Spreadsheet Information Sheet
• Student worksheet: “All About My Park”
• National Parks Database Information Sheet
• Assessment Rubric for the culminating activity of this lesson

Background for Teachers
This activity uses a variety of resources to help students discover Canada’s national park system, natural regions and the diverse ecosystems within them. Students use quantitative data to assess the health of several national parks and identify issues facing the parks. They then choose several national parks and plan a visit to them, detailing what actions they would take to ensure they visit the parks in a sustainable way. As part of the activity, students examine the questions: What are national parks? Why are they important to Canada and the world? Why are they important to me?

To prepare for this lesson, familiarize yourself with the Parks Canada Mandate and review the definition of ecological integrity in the National Parks Glossary. Use the "What is Ecological Integrity?" fact sheet for ideas on how to explain the concept to your students.

You should also familiarize yourself with the National Park System Plan, which describes each of Canada’s 39 natural regions, as defined by Parks Canada, and the parks that represent the regions so far. As new national parks are created, information will be added to the Parks Canada Web site.

Consult the National Parks Spreadsheet and associated Information Sheet. This table provides data on 13 variables that students will be required to use in assessing the ecosystem health of each park.

Ensure your students have a basic understanding of ecosystems and ecosystem health. Steps 1 to 3 in the Procedure of the National Parks’ Challenges lesson detail one way to introduce ecosystem parts, processes and stressors.

Stewardship is an important concept to introduce during this activity, and to build upon throughout all True to Our Nature activities. You’ll find a definition in the National Parks Glossary.

Procedure

1. Facilitate a discussion about student experiences with national parks and other parks and protected areas.
Pre-class: To prepare for the discussion, gather images (photos, brochures, books, magazines, posters) of national and other parks to show students. Ask students to bring in photos or posters of parks they have visited as well. Note: to find hundreds of downloadable photos to use during this discussion, visit the Parks Canada Photo Gallery.

During class: Display the images you have gathered and give a brief presentation on them to the class. Ask students to share photos they have brought in, and to identify the Canadian parks and protected areas or territories they have heard of and/or visited. Create a chart on the blackboard with four columns listing:

• the names of parks,
• the province or territory in which it is located,
• the type of park or protected area (municipal, regional, provincial, territorial, national, global (such as UNESCO World Heritage Sites), and
• what they saw and did (or could see and do) in each park.

Appoint a student to record the information on the chart, and have the students point out the locations of the parks on the “Completing the National Parks System” map or a map of Canada.

Ask students to identify the difference between these different types of protected areas is. Discuss what purpose the protected areas serve, locally, nationally, and globally.

2. Review the Parks Canada mandate and discuss what makes national parks different from other parks.
Write the Parks Canada mandate on the board, and explain that a mandate is a description of the purpose or mission of the Parks Canada Agency. Ask students to use their own words to explain the meaning of the mandate.

Introduce the concept of ecological integrity to the students, referring to the definition in the National Parks Glossary and the “What is Ecological Integrity?” fact sheet. (Note that "commemorative integrity" refers primarily to cultural rather than natural heritage, so you may prefer not to focus on this term in this activity). Now return to your question about the differences between national parks and other parks. Have the students interpret what they have learned to determine what purpose national parks serve.

3. Focus on the role of national parks in protecting and presenting Canada’s natural heritage, and discuss what this means.
Ask students to identify and highlight the words in the mandate that are related to the protection of our natural heritage. Then do the same with the words related to presenting and providing opportunities for Canadians to experience this heritage. Discuss the relationship between providing opportunities for Canadians to visit, enjoy and learn about national parks, and efforts to protect parks for the future. Focus on the following points:

• Cultivating understanding of national parks through providing visitor experiences is fundamental to maintaining and restoring ecological integrity.
• By experiencing the wonders of our national parks, Canadians will develop a greater value and appreciation for parks and will better support Canada’s efforts to protect them.

As a class, come up with some examples to illustrate both points.

4. Identify some of the problems and challenges involved in protecting national parks and still providing opportunities for people to visit and enjoy them.
How can people "understand, appreciate and enjoy" these places while ensuring ecological integrity "for future generations"? In groups or as a whole class, brainstorm some approaches to achieving balance between use and protection of national parks. Refer to the list of what students have seen and done in their own visits to parks (Step 1., above), and have students think about the impacts of those and other activities on the parks.

Some examples of approaches include:

• limiting public access to sensitive ecological areas at specific times;
• restricting the types of activity permitted in certain areas (low-impact camping, snowshoeing); and
• encouraging local community involvement in monitoring ecological health (participation in winter bird counts, animal census projects, water quality seasonal measures, school projects).

5. Introduce the concept of sustainable tourism.
One of the primary ways to achieve the mandate is for all Canadians—including you—and other tourists to visit national parks. To keep impacts to a minimum, however, everyone must visit in a sustainable fashion. Discuss the definitions of sustainable tourism in the National Parks Glossary and then, as a class, extract the most important concepts and create your own definition.

You can also introduce the concept of stewardship at this point. It is defined in the National Parks Glossary.

6. Introduce the Student Challenge.
Now the fun begins! Your students get to plan a trip… but not just any trip. It will be the trip of a lifetime, paid in full by an anonymous patron of national parks—just imagine! The only stipulation is that it must be an environmentally responsible trip to several national parks that is based on thorough research of the parks and their ecological health.

7. Setup the group work..
Before starting this activity, take the “Completing Canada’s National Parks System” wall-sized map and the sticky notes listed in the Materials and Equipment section and organize them as follows:

• The 11 notes in colour A will identify natural regions without a national park on the map. Write one of the following numbers on each of the 11 notes: 3, 7, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28 and 38.
• The 28 notes in colour B will identify regions with one or more national parks on the map. On these notes, write the following numbers: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8-13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 24, 26, 27, 29-37and 39.
• Place each of the coloured sticky notes onto the corresponding region on the map, and put it up in the classroom.
• Divide the class into groups of four or five.
• Have students choose the natural regions they will study by directing them to each choose one of the numbered, Colour B sticky notes from the map. Colour A sticky notes (regions without national parks) should not be selected for this activity. In addition, because regions 5, 12 and 29 have many national parks, ensure that one group does not select all three of these regions.

9. Introduce the National Parks Spreadsheet (PDF 39Kb) (Excel Spreadsheet 24Kb)
Explain that Parks Canada is constantly monitoring and assessing the ecosystem health of each national park. This spreadsheet shows some of the variables used for this purpose.

• Write the variables on the board or project them on the wall. Use the Information Sheet for your own reference and to explain the spreadsheet to students.
• Review each variable from the spreadsheet by asking what it is and how it relates to ecosystem health. What issues could each variable bring to light?
• Ask your students how having this information can make them more responsible travellers.
• Have them develop criteria for an environmentally responsible trip.

10. After the discussion, ask students to continue their group and individual work using the Student section of this lesson plan.
Tell students how long their itinerary presentations should be, and in what formats they can present them (the oral presentation should be accompanied by a visual piece: Powerpoint, brochure, etc.). Depending on the number of groups, each presentation could last 5 to 10 minutes. Inform students that they must also hand in their worksheets to be evaluated.

11. Groups present their itineraries.
Each group presents its itinerary, identifying each park’s unique features and ecosystem health issues, and how they plan to visit as responsible environmental citizens.

12. Students reflect on the experience.
After all itineraries have been presented, encourage students to share their thoughts and actions, either in writing or as part of a discussion.
Questions to consider:

• What was the most interesting thing they learned about their own group’s national parks? Other groups’ national parks?
• What did they think of the other itineraries?
• Where would they really like to go and what would they do there?
• If they were to plan a real trip, would they do anything differently, now that they know about sustainable tourism?

13. Students replace the sticky notes and continue their reflection.
Ask students to replace their numbered sticky notes on the system plan map, one by one. As they do so, ask each student to name his/her region and answer two questions:

1. What is the most important thing I learned about my national park?
2. Why is this important to me, both as an individual and as a global citizen?

14. Make a national parks resource binder.
At the end of class, collect all the written answers to the ”All About My Park” Worksheet questions, arrange them in order by region, and place them in a binder as a future classroom resource.

15. Brainstorm and act on ways the students can inform others about what they have learned.
Create a Web page, invite other classes to visit your classroom and hear your presentations, or hold a lunch-hour slide show. Convince other students to visit national parks and natural areas as environmentally responsible visitors. See Extension Activities and the Get Involved section for other ideas.


Extension Activities

1. Focus on national parks closest to your school. Plan a class trip as environmentally responsible visitors. How would you satisfy the interests of all class members? If possible, actually visit the park or parks on your itinerary.
2. Include regions that are not yet represented by national parks (sticky notes, Colour A). Ask students to research each region, and report on its significance. Consult the 2003 State of Protected Heritage Areas Report to find out about progress in establishing national parks in these regions. Discuss some of the challenges involved in establishing new national parks, why the process is time-consuming, and why it is important to complete the national parks system.
3. Ask students to create an itinerary for a group of travellers other than themselves. They could create profiles of several different visitors with specific interests and special needs, and develop an itinerary that includes the national parks that best address these interests and needs. For example, the visitors may be scientists (lepidopterists, ornithologists, underwater archaeologists, geologists and geomorphologists, silviculturists, environmental scientists, bryophycologists, limnologists and carnivore physiologists—students can research what these terms mean); they may be naturalists interested in native wildflowers, butterflies, birds and ferns; or they could be foreign tourists or seniors on a sightseeing trip, and the group may include people with special needs. Recreational interests could include hiking, mountain biking, alpine skiing, rock and ice climbing, birding, white water kayaking, wildlife photography, cross-country skiing, diving, or northern travel.
4. Conclude the activity by asking students to write a poem, song or advertising slogan that sums up what they learned about the national parks in their region. Could they use this creation to market their region, and entice others to visit responsibly?
5. Delve more deeply into the issue of sustainable tourism in national parks. Read "Facilitate Visitor Experience", a Parks Canada discussion document written for the Minister’s Round Table in March 2005. With students, examine how experiential tourism, as described in this document, might affect national parks negatively? Determine ways for national parks to ensure that increasing tourism in this way is sustainable.

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