Teachers Bring Torngat Experience Back to Classrooms

Ten teachers who took an educational journey to Torngat Mountains National Park this summer are now bringing that experience into junior high and high school classrooms across Newfoundland and Labrador.

To celebrate their centennial, Parks Canada, in partnership with the Department of Education, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA) and the Nunatsiavut Government offered a professional learning institute, entitled Ten Teachers in the Torngats, from August 6-13. It provided the teachers with the opportunity to experience and to connect with the story of the Inuit and their Torngat Mountains home.

“The institute allowed social studies and environmental studies teachers to engage in science and monitoring activities, and to hear first-hand from elders and youth as they shared their stories and experiences about living in their Inuit homeland,” said the Honourable Joan Burke, Minister of Education. “This is knowledge they are already passing along to their students, while teaching them more about the possibilities that exist in the many fields of science.”

Since 2007, the Department of Education has partnered with Parks Canada and provided $30,000 annually to support summer institutes. The Ten Teachers in the Torngats institute was supported through an investment of $15,000 from the Department of Education, $25,000 from Parks Canada, $5,000 from the NLTA and $6,000 from Torngat Mountains National Park.

Gus Pike, a science and math teacher at Mealy Mountain Collegiate in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, said the teachers were introduced to scientists in fields as diverse as glaciation, botany, and geology.

“These were mostly young people making a career of research in this remote and beautiful part of the world – and students need to know these possibilities exist,” said Mr. Pike, who noted that one part of the Grade 8 science curriculum examines water systems and the role played by glaciers in our store of fresh water. “The dramatic effects of climate change are being felt right here in Labrador, and glaciers and sensitive ecosystems in the Arctic are feeling the hit. I am telling my students about a scientist I spoke with who has spent four summers in the Torngats setting up experiments to observe climate change and its impact on the north.”

Darla O’Reilly of Holy Trinity High School in Torbay said the experience was fascinating.

“We listened to stories from the elders, spoke to world-class researchers about their projects in the Torngat Mountains and participated in some of these activities,” she said. “The knowledge that I can give to my students will hopefully inspire them to investigate unique career opportunities.”

Ms. O’Reilly compiled a video of the trip which can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGnQ8NIf_Qs. To learn more about the base camp used as part of the Ten Teachers in the Torngats initiative, go to www.torngatbasecamp.com/home/. 

- 30 -

Photo: Participants in the Ten Teachers in the Torngats learning institute were, from back left: Darla O'Reilly, Peter Bishop, Gus Pike, George Tucker (NLTA), Stefan Way, Rae Dicks, and Fred Sheppard (Parks Canada). From front left are: Kimberly Gilbert, Craig White, Jacinta McGrath, Barbara Brooker, Marsha Young, and Matthew Grant.

Media contact:
Heather May
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 697-5061
heathermay@gov.nl.ca 

2011 10 17             10:25 a.m.