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MODULE 1 : TURTLE ISLAND

This module begins with a traditional Indigenous Land Acknowledgement, and then introduces the Urban Explorers program. The lessons here begin to examine the colonial history of North American cities, and how city development transforms landscapes and affects human and non-human populations.

Activities and lessons in this module prompt discussion and further examination of the role of governments and urban planning. This section also briefly introduces the central question or issue addressed by the Urban Explorers’ problem/project-based inquiry: the urban sustainability challenge. Taking into consideration both social and environmental sustainability, this theme underlies the entire program and is thus the central ‘ill-structured problem’ for the project/problem-based inquiry learning.

MODULE 2: KIDS IN CITIES

In this module we will first learn about human needs to survive and thrive, then discuss human rights, children’ rights, and how these are actualized in sustainable and child friendly city planning. There is opportunity to do further inquiry and discussions on Indigenous Rights.

We will then begin to map out the important places and activities of the group. This mapping will guide the field-explorations (fieldtrips) in future sessions.

​MODULE 3 : SUSTAINABLE CITIES

While the last module focused on community assets (activities and places students like in the community), this module allows students to unpack aspects of the community that are not working well. These urban sustainability challenges are the central question or ‘ill-structured problem’ for the Urban Explorer’s project and problem-based inquiry learning. 

The mapping activities in the previous and current modules are designed to guide the upcoming student inquiry. The mapping in this module is essentially group knowledge co-construction that compiles students’ experiences and understandings of their world. The activity follows the constructivist Inquiry Based Learning theory, where student interests, every-day experiences, and knowledge guide their research and learning goals. This group mapping activity also provides opportunity to take a base-line measurement of individual and group knowledge of local and global sustainability concerns. The Inquiry Guide can support students in their research of chosen sustainability challenges and will help teachers assess their students’ learning process.

MODULE 4 : CITY PLANNING

In this module students continue learning about their neighbourhoods’ past, present, and future and are introduced to the current real-world planning project they will be providing input for.  

The first unit in this module explores in depth the history of your community through the deep inquiry assignment for Timeline Stories – Part II. For younger grades (early years, generally K-3) the educator or facilitator may need to fully do this inquiry and create the neighbourhood specific slides for the Timeline slideshow Part II. With older grades (generally grade 4 and up) the educator/facilitator can edit and present the core slideshow, which will then be expanded with a class inquiry project. Here students can work individually or in small groups to add event slides to the existing slideshow. This Timeline Stories Part II deep inquiry assignment is outlined in Module 1 (and reviewed here as well) and students can begin this work any time after the class has completed the Timeline Stories Part I. The class/educator should aim to finish the Timeline Stories slide Part II for this module and present it prior to introducing the city planning project. 

The second unit of this module introduces the specific planning project that the group is engaging in. Therefore, this unit changes every year and with every community based on the school’s location and current city planning initiatives in the community. We included examples of specific City of Vancouver planning projects from last year (2020), and this year (2021). Your class will need to obtain a presentation (from the local planners or SCY’s CYFC staff) on your current project.

MODULE 5 : MY NEIGHBOURHOOD

In this module students will go on a neighbourhood walk or site visit, depending on the type of planning project incorporated into the curriculum. Preparations for this field trip include route planning and instructions on photo documentation (for an optional Photo Voice project). 

Route planning (when not doing a site visit) builds on the favourite places/favourite activities mapping (and Maps 101) unit, which was presented in Module 2, but can also be an activity here prior to route planning, if it hasn’t been completed. Site visit routes will be site specific – the Jericho Lands ‘Jane’s Walk’ with the walking tour talking points is included here as an example.  

Following the route planning guidelines, the module presents instructions for photo documentation instructions and the neighbourhood walk or site visit. For this fieldtrip students are given cameras, clipboards, and a map and may work individually or in small groups. The fieldtrip can be followed by a debrief session with a discussion and activity adding more student feedback to the Sustainability Challenges and Community Assets maps (similar to what was described above, in Module 4).

MODULE 6 : TRANSPORTATION

This module is the first of five ‘Urban Studies 101’ core lessons that complement student-led inquiry. The three units in this module explore sustainable forms of transportation in our cities. First, students are required to research their own modes of transportation and then to compare this with how a parent or elder relative used to get around during their childhoods. 

Next, students learn about how other cities are working towards sustainability and what types of development help address the social, health and environmental impacts of past planning that was focusing on motor-vehicle transportation. Students’ field-based inquiry (including School Active Travel safety assessments and broader transportation/transit audits) will allow them to better understand the challenges in their local environments (their school their neighbourhood) and the larger city as a whole. Projects in this module have a potential to affect local change if the class can work collaboratively with city transportation planners.

MODULE 7 : HOUSING

Module seven begins with an introductory art activity that can prompt a discussion on urban housing forms and housing density. This topic elaborates on the ‘How Cities Make us Sick’ video – specifically the part discussing urban sprawl and single family suburbs. This initial activity is also a helpful way to visualize the housing forms and outdoor area child friendly assets of your class and can be turned into a class poster to present back to city planners for further discussions. 

The second unit in this module presents students with various public or social housing types. This is a great introductory lesson prior to a city housing assessment, especially in urban areas where housing affordability and homelessness are major concerns (and these are expressed in Module 3’s ‘Sustainability Issues Mapping’ exercise). 

The third unit is a city assessment fieldtrip, where the class explores the city with various types (public and private) and different forms of housing. This field exploration is most informative when the class visit and photo document city areas that are significantly different from their own neighbourhood. These may be more inner-city and higher density communities within the city, or if your school is located in a smaller community, they may even be in another nearby municipality.

MODULE 8 : LOCAL GOVERNMENT

In this module students will learn about the various levels of government in Canada today, including Indigenous Band Councils. Students begin with a lesson on governance systems, which includes an interactive ‘Vote-with-your-feet’ groups Q&A activity. Prior to, or following this unit the class may choose to delve deep into the indigenous Curricular Content in order to learn more about traditional First Nations governance systems, and approaches to land and resource management, which can be contrasted with our current Canadian resource and land-use, especially in terms of sustainability.  

In the second part of this module students visit their local Town or City Hall and may have a chance to meet and learn about their local elected officials. As a full-day fieldtrip, the City Hall tour can easily be combined with various other city assessments, such as the transportation, walkability and/or rollability audit in Module 6, the city housing assessment in Module 7, park and urban nature assessment in Module 9, and/or the public space and outdoor play assessment described in Module 10.

MODULE 9 : NATURE IN CITIES

Module 9 focuses on urban nature and biodiversity in cities and looks at how we can co-exist and thrive together with nature. In unit 9.1 students begin with a knowledge co-construction activity (similar to the ‘Sustainability Issues Mapping’ in Module 3), where they compile the class’s existing knowledge of local native, non-native, and invasive flora and fauna. With the help of the educator or facilitator, the class will then group animal species into ‘urban exploiters,’ ‘urban adapters’ and ‘urban avoider’ categories, and will group plant species into native, non-native and invasive plant groups. A more in-depth inquiry of students’ organisms of choice follows.

Next, unit 9.2 leads the class through an urban wildlife ‘Habitat Evaluation’ process with a lesson, followed by landscape drawing practice, and a field exercise. The class can then choose to embark on a local Habitat Enhancement project in their school yard or a local area greenspace, such as the local park or even a street boulevard.

The program’s third major field trip follows, where the class will explore a larger park that has intact wild areas and a relatively functional ecosystem. The fieldtrip can become even more memorable by inviting a local Indigenous Ecological Knowledge holder and a park planner along. You may choose to take your class on multiple park fieldtrips in order to explore urban nature from various standpoints. The Module ends with a fun icebreaker/get-to-know-you game which can be a great way to bring two classes participating in the same program together on a fieldtrip.

MODULE 10 : PUBLIC SPACES AND PLAY

In Module 10 we learn about the importance of public spaces and outdoor play. The module begins with an introductory slideshow explaining what public spaces are. The final three slides of this presentation help with fieldtrip preparations (unit 10.2). Next, students embark in one more applied math activity (akin to the one in Module 6 or transportation modes). Here students can practice fractions, percentages, and visualization of data in bar graphs and pie-charts. Students will use their parent/elder/relative interview in both Module 6 and this module and can bring their findings back home for a family discussion on how childhoods have changed over the generations.  

The second part of this module takes students on a public space and outdoor playability assessment fieldtrip. This trip can be combined with the City Hall tour (Module 8), and other city evaluations, such as the Transportation/Walk-Bike-Roll audits, or the housing assessments.  

Photo documentation is a key part of all field-based inquiry, and student photos are compiled into a ‘Visual Preference Survey’ in unit 10.3. Finally, your class may choose to do a ‘Play Activation’ tactical urbanism action project, for which the last unit provides guidance and resources.

MODULE 11 : MY CITY PROJECT

Module 11 first outlines the final project options for students, inviting them to also contribute with creative ideas on presenting their recommendations. The goal of these projects is to visualize students’ ideas on community sustainability and communicate these to a larger audience. Depending on the planning project your class has engaged with, you may find the project options more or less open to various topics of inquiry. 

In unit two this module presents an ‘Abstract Modelling’ workshop where students can begin testing their 3D design modelling skills. The goal of the workshop is to explain how abstract models differ from regular planning models. 

Finally, unit three is a quick overview of how final projects can be presented back to the city planners and community. While each class organizes this according to their timelines and needs, larger community showcases in the past have brought many classes who were working on the same planning project together. This is a great way to connect with peers in the community and also to make sure young people’s ideas are visible beyond their school community.

Canada’s first youth-led youth rights monitoring project

A People’s Project was Canada’s first youth-lead rights monitoring project led by SCY in partnership with the Coalition for Kids and the Child and Youth Advocate for the City of Vancouver.

The project evolved out of concerns expressed by numerous child and youth serving agencies that changes to provincial legislation governing the delivery of child and youth services not only failed to address this situation, but increased BC’s violations of Canada’s UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This pilot project demonstrated a way to support youth in having a voice on their rights. The final product of this project was A People’s Project Toolkit, which helps youth and community groups lead their own rights monitoring project, is available for download in our resource section.

Monitoring activities were based on the Children’s Rights Monitoring Toolkit produced by the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children.

Increasing the capacity of healthcare professionals to be health advocates​

Treating patients’ ailments isn’t all there is to being a physician. It also means promoting health awareness, collaborating with community & social services, and being an educator on healthy practices. This project explored how to build the capacity of healthcare professionals to be health advocates for children and youth in BC.

Dr. Shafik Dharamsi (UBC Family Medicine), Dr. Bob Woollard, and SCY partnered to increase health advocacy by creating a model for health care professionals to use when taking on the role of a health advocate for children and their families.

Youth Media Training

In 2011 – 2012 we recruited 10 pretty stellar youth who created 6 radio announcements on their rights and issues that were important to them, each based on their personal experience. These PSAs were played on radio stations throughout the province during 2012.

Youth with Disabilities in Conflict with the Law

This multi-year initiative focused on raising awareness of the over-representation of youth with disabilities, particularly ‘hidden disabilities,’ among youth in conflict with the law and engaging stakeholders (youth, families, support professionals, and policy makers) to work towards an integrated community of support and practice model.

A detailed report and discussion paper from this project are available in our resource section.

1. Discussion Paper: “Realizing Rights – Responding to Needs”
2. Community Consultation Report: “Realizing Rights – Responding to Needs”
3. Community Consultation Report, Executive Summary​
4. Springboard for Action – May 2009 Roundtable Report

Youth Taking Action

The Youth Taking Action project was an initiative led by SCY in partnership with the Red Cross RespectED: Violence Abuse Prevention program and the BC Institute Against Family Violence, with the support of the Vancouver Foundation and Vancity. The project engaged youth filmmakers, who were or had lived in care, in two weekend filmmaking workshops with Reel Youth. The youth developed three films to help raise the awareness of the rights of youth living in care.

My Life Through the Lens Youth Photovoice Project

In November 2015, SCY conducted two Photovoice projects with youth in Vernon and Kitimat. The idea behind this project was to empower youth to examine their rights within their communities and take action toward positive change.

In the workshops, youth learned about their rights, grassroots social activism, metaphorical photography, ethical issues related to photography, and developed leadership and planning skills. After the workshops, youth were supported to take their own metaphorical photographs about child rights and their communities and come up with quotes to express their ideas.

Following the completion of the project, photo exhibits were held in both communities where youth were able to showcase their work and speak about their involvement in the project. Local decision-makers, community members, and family and friends of the youth attended.

Youth had the opportunity to share their voices and opinions and make recommendations on how to make their communities better places for youth.

Fostering Change Youth Photovoice Project

In 2015, SCY piloted two youth photovoice projects aimed at increasing youth voice, participation, and action in their communities. Photovoice is an innovative method, which uses photography to tell stories and work towards social change. The objectives of photovoice are to:

• Help those who are often unheard gain a voice, enabling them to record and reflect on their experiences and their communities’ conditions
• Promote critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and community issues through photography
• Bring about change that will improve conditions and lives by reaching and influencing policy makers (Wang and Burris 1997)

The emphasis on social change in this method led SCY to explore further opportunities to engage youth in advocating for their rights using Photovoice. As such, in 2016 SCY began to work on a part of the Vancouver Foundation’s Fostering Change initiative aimed at improving policy, practice, and community connections for young people transitioning from foster care to adulthood.

This project involved the recruitment of 2 groups of youth transitioning out of foster care to participate in the project to express their stories and become agents for change in their communities. These groups were hosted in New Westminster and Abbotsford. Participants learned about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, metaphorical photography, leadership, grassroots social movements, communication, and social media.

With ongoing support from the project coordinator, youth took photos that represented issues related to their transition from care to adulthood and their rights, selected their best photos, and created quotes that expressed the idea in each photo. Youth helped organize photo exhibits and gala events to which local decision makers were invited. Discussion panels were held at these events, during which youth presented the issues that they, and others in their situation, have been experiencing and the solutions they identified during the workshop sessions.

To view the complete library, visit this page.

Youth Art for Change

In 2016, youth in and from government care have participated in arts-based projects where they courageously explored some of the issues they face in their daily lives.

In 2017 the Society for Children and Youth of BC and First Call, in partnership with Vancouver Foundation’s Fostering Change Initiative, invited the artists to exhibit their work for the community to come out and hear their collective voice on issues and solutions identified from their lived experience. We honoured and celebrated their various art forms including paintings, photography, youth film, spoken word, and more. We also heard from a panel of media makers and organization leads who reflected on what is possible when we pair youth art and the quest for positive social change

Quote from participant “I’m excited to be heard, to not have an adult speak for me but to use my own voice to speak.”

Click here to view the gallery of photos from the event.

Fostering Change Youth Led Staff Awareness Training

In 2016, SCY began to work on a part of the Vancouver Foundation’s Fostering Change initiative aimed at improving policy, practice, and community connections for young people transitioning from foster care to adulthood. SCY hosted two youth photovoice projects aimed at increasing youth voice and participation for those in and aging out of foster care.

During these workshops, the youth clearly identified a number of themes when discussing the difficulties they face in their daily lives. These themes include:

• Their experience of discrimination;
• The power of support (social and financial);
• The power of connection (cultural and familial);
• Their concern for high workload of social workers; and
• Their own resilience.

While having conversations with these youth about solutions and next steps, SCY began to explore the possibilities around supporting some youth-led customer service staff awareness training. In 2017, in partnership with the Vancouver Foundation, SCY recruited and hired 4 youth in and from government care to partner with us. These young people were trained in facilitation and then consulted groups of youth to get their input. They developed staff awareness training for customer service providers with whom they interact and who benefited from awareness about the experiences of youth in care and the importance of connections between these young people and their community. They then co-facilitated these sessions for customer service staff from various banks and credit unions.