Standard 6: Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.

I currently have a Bachelor of Science degree from Trinity Western University. I wanted a well-rounded education, and so I chose a degree that let me take a little bit of everything. During my undergraduate degree, I really wanted to experience everything firsthand, so I went on a travel study to Kauai, Hawaii. I studied Tropical Botany and Coral Reef Ecology by hiking through the Alakai Swamp and snorkeling through the local coral reefs.

Fellow Travel Study students and I on one of the MANY botany identification hikes we went on in Kauai, Hawaii.

During my undergraduate degree, I did Environmental Science research, looking at the varying fungi species at Blaauw Memorial Forest in Langley, BC. The forest was donated to the University to preserve Langley’s forested area for future generations. The University has been working with the Township of Langley and other organizations to document the biotic species living there. I had the amazing opportunity to begin the documentation of fungi during the fall season, and began water quality testing in the spring.

From these experiences, I wanted to learn outside as much as possible, so this past year I took on a Forest Pathology research position for a summer, working for the College of New Caledonia. Here I learned a great deal of about local botany, and pathological diseases that affect the local lodge pole pine trees.

Fellow Summer Forest Pathology researchers and I overlooking the plot of lodgepole pine trees we have to assess.

For the most part, my experiences learning outside have shaped a large part of my passion for Place-Based Education. I still look for every opportunity to learn outside my scope, which is why I hold a great appreciation for the Math & Science Curriculum and Instruction courses taught at the University of Northern British Columbia. In these courses, we do a great deal of applicable activities and labs that will translate well to our classrooms. We’ve focused on all disciplines-physics, chemistry, biology, and math, which has really helped me begin to become a more well-rounded educator.

Students working on calculating the Shannon’s Index at a nearby forest in Fort St. James.

This has helped me a great deal in my Education 491 practicum, where I taught Environmental Science 11. In Environmental Science 11, we covered genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity, and I wanted students to dive further into this topic with a biodiversity assessment lab. So, we mapped out an area and students conducted the Shannon Index on tree species, which assesses species richness and species evenness for a specific location. Students greatly enjoyed this experiential learning, and I was able to share my new tree identification knowledge from my summer job with my students.