About me
The presentation will focus on how the Project WET Canada program has strengthened water literacy in Canada and will highlight the recent educational resources that are being introduced to support the delivery of science-based water education in a meaningful, localized, and engaging way. The Project WET (Water Education Today) Canada program is the official youth education program of CWRA. It is delivered to formal and informal educators as a professional development program with supplementary instructional resources in English and French. Program audiences include educators in the Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 system and informal environmental educators, such as staff at nature interpretive centres and those involved in environmental programming. The program is designed especially for educators by educators and water resource professionals to promote teaching youth effectively about water in our environment and to foster a stewardship ethic. Project WET Canada program offers world-class water science resources and expertise for educators to improve their knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for teaching water science to youth. Lessons are structured around multi-level, active learning strategies that accommodate a range of learning styles. Activities engage students in exploring key concepts in water science across traditional disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, and climate science. The program also fosters creativity, critical thinking, and long-term student engagement with science and the environment. The activities are designed to include local and land-based information and ways of knowing, fostering respect for diverse knowledge systems and emphasize the vital connections between human health, environmental stewardship, and sustainable living. Russell Boals is a Profession Engineer and the CWRA National Director for Project WET Canada. He has been involved with Project WET Canada since 1996. He holds a BSc in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Guelph. Russell has extensive international experience in climate resilient rural development and has consulted on international hydrometeorological monitoring, early warning, natural disaster and climate risk assessment, natural disaster risk reduction, and transboundary water resources projects for the Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam), Central Asia (Aral Sea and Afghanistan), South Aisa (Sri Lanka, Pakistan), Nile Basin Countries, and South African Region countries. Many of these projects required an understanding of climate impacts, regional hydrometeorology, and natural hazard management involving the establishment and enhancement of early warning systems and climate adaptation approaches.
