Take your teaching outside—connect with community, connect with the land, and bring new life to your classroom!
Join the Waterloo Climate Institute and our partners for an immersive half-day interdisciplinary workshop where we step beyond the classroom and into meaningful, place-based learning. Designed for professors across disciplines, this experience blends practical guidance with hands-on engagement, including a guided bus field trip to local sites where you’ll meet community partners actively working on the land.
Through an Indigenous lens, participants will explore respectful approaches to outdoor and land-based learning while building confidence to integrate outdoor learning practices into their own courses. By the end of the workshop, you’ll be equipped to initiate collaborations with community partners, access resources and supports for planning outdoor learning, and adapt engaging, land-connected activities for your students.
No previous experience is required. Faculty members, education support staff, and sessional instructors from all disciplines are welcome. A light picnic lunch will be provided at our first stop. Space is limited—please register in advance.
Partners: Waterloo Climate Institute, Sustainability Office, Integrated Teaching Support Unit (formerly CTE), Faculty of Environment, Ideas Clinic (Engineering)
Target Audience: Instructors from any discipline as well as education support staff.
Facilitators: Michele Martin, Amanda St. Marie, Steffanie Scott, and Jason Thompson
Location: Meet in the EV3 ground floor lobby at 11:30am. The program will include visits to Columbia Lake with Wisahkotewinowak, Kiwanis Outdoor Natural Area, Pioneer Park with Tekanonhkwa, and Waterloo Park. The bus will drop participants back at UWaterloo by 5pm.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
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Reach out to community partners for potential collaboration on their sites
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Find resources and support to help them confidently plan outdoor learning for their students.
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Adapt and facilitate outdoor learning activities as part of their teaching practice.
This event is part of the Teach Like the Planet Depends on It workshop series.