Mountains to Mole Hills
Illuminating Stories in Science
The University of Calgary’s Biogeoscience Institute (BGI) is a leader in field-based research. We are located at the door to Kananaskis Country and serve as the only research station for the Canadian Rockies and Foothills. We give students access to world-class research and promote science through an award-winning integrated program of experiential education and inquiry-based learning.
BGI has started the Mountains to Mole Hills: Illuminating Stories in Science program, which gives students an opportunity to engage with local primary research and develop skills in translating science to a broad audience.
What's Involved
In the second iteration of this project, the goal is to update an existing Interpretive Trail that highlights the forest ecology around the field station. The trail features 18 stops, and each stop highlights local research from the Canadian Rockies.
As participants in this program, pre-service teachers will translate local, primary scientific research papers into easily digestible, plain language stops for an interpretive walk. Students will have the opportunity to build skills in taking complex primary research and making it accessible and relevant to a wide audience while working individually on a collaborative project. They are welcome to incorporate images or other graphics if they wish. A major goal of the project is for students to make connections between science, society and culture- taking the research further.
Program Requirements & Outcomes
The minimum requirement for this project will be to update 2 stops of the interpretive walk within a semester. We will provide a list of relevant research papers to draw information from, as well as access to the previous version of the walk. The trail is publicly accessible and following the completion of the update, students will be able to visit the trail with friends, family or their future students to share the work they have done.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Develop stronger connections to the professional community and specific organizations
- Examine a variety of approaches to teaching and learning in non-traditional educational settings
- Examine how teaching and learning take place in other contexts
- Lead or co-lead the component of at least one project within the program
- Navigate new challenges as an educator with the support and guidance of a mentor in a similar field
Apply for Mountains to Mole Hills
- Go to Elevate and click on Werklund School of Education
- Click My Werklund Experiences
- Go to Courses/Program
- Select the Mountains to Mole Hills program and click Apply
- Complete the the questionnaire and we will contact you for next steps!