Community Learning
In addition to teaching children about where their food comes from, the Society also partners with the University of British Columbia on its Community Learning Initiative www.learningexchange.ubc.ca/ubc-cli. ‘Community service-learning’ or ‘service-learning’ is an experiential learning model that combines classroom learning with volunteer work that achieves community goals. Through this approach, university students gain an understanding how their course work relates to critical social issues by linking real-life experiences in the community to academic content through journal writing, small group discussion, writing analytical papers and reflective essays.In 2007, students from Food, Nutrition and Health and Biology, Human Ecology worked with the Society on three projects. They developed educational activities and resources to help local children understand issues related to food security, to learn about urban agricultural issues, and to learn about food, cooking and nutrition.
In 2008, the following three projects were undertaken:
- Children’s Food Security Project: Students created a Food Security Kit to help Grade 5, 6 and 7 students prepare a presentation to Richmond City Council about food security (Food Nutrition & Health 473)
- Exploring Alternative Energy Sources: Students helped re-build the “Living Seat” - a rain catcher made from solar panels that uses alternative energy sources, as a showcase for sustainable farming (Civil Engineering 201/202)
- Sight Impaired Storybook Project: Students helped to design a short story of the Terra Nova project from a child’s perspective. Children will read the story to sight impaired people. (Coordinated Arts Program 111)
