Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Students from Wellington Catholic District School Board built birdhouses for hands-on learning outside of their science class

Local birds will have a new home from elementary school students in the Wellington Catholic District School Board who built birdhouses for their community.

Students from St. Joseph Catholic School and St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School in Guelph, along with St. John Brebeuf Catholic School of Erin participated in making birdhouses.

Ryan Lawrenson, experiential learning instructor for Wellington Catholic District School Board, provided the building materials, tools and safety equipment.

“We met with people in the industry to learn about appropriate material and design specifications for these students. Then students from another school prepared the kit for the students to make them,” said  Lawrenson.

Chris Lane, teacher at St. Joseph Catholic School in Fergus had his students help build the birdhouse kits.

Originally, the students in Carolyn Brown’s science class at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School wanted to make nesting boxes for barn owls, an endangered species. David Lamble, bird banding specialist, and former teacher informed them the boxes would have to be placed high up in order to be successful. 

The students pivoted to make birdhouses with a blueprint provided by Lamble.

In Brown’s Grade 6/7 science class she taught them about biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats and endangered species. The students wanted to help support birds so the birdhouses were a way for students to engage more with what they learned in class.

“To see their ideas come to fruition and for them to know that this type of learning is possible is motivation in and of itself. School doesn’t always have to be about textbooks, worksheets and google slideshows. It can also be about hands-on experiential learning,” said Brown.

When voting started to name Guelph’s official bird Brown’s students researched all of the birds on the list. 

Her students learned there were particular specifications for the birdhouses. The hole couldn’t be too big so other predators couldn’t swarm into the house. The inside of the birdhouse shouldn’t be sanded down so baby birds can grasp onto the walls to get out.

“I think students had an extra skip in their step as they were leaving today knowing that they are in fact making a difference for our local bird population and that their conservation efforts are important,” she said.

Oliver van Gerwen, a Grade 7 student in Brown’s class said his family is a big fan of birds and he has had experience building birdhouses.

“A couple bird populations in Canada are decreasing so there is a lot of additional stress on the bird population,” he said.

Brown hopes she can have students in future years build birdhouses too.

Now the birdhouses have been built, students will place them around outside of the school in a nearby trail. 

By admin

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