Friday September 2, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
BC Hydro has had a schools program for about 20 years. In 2017 the program shifted to an online platform as a way to make it more accessible to classrooms across BC.
“We value education that benefits youth and promotes safety and critical thinking,” says BC Hydro.
The BC Hydro Power Smart for Schools Program helps teach youth about the utility’s hydroelectric system and how to stay safe around power.
Materials free online:
Materials on the online Power Smart for Schools Program platform are free and available for all teachers and visitors.
The Power Smart for Schools program targets school districts, schools and individual teachers and is available to all BC school districts. Through the website, approximately 88 per cent of schools in BC have signed up and/or have used materials on the site, says BC Hydro this week.
Content aligns with BC Curriculum:
Content for the program was developed by accredited educational curriculum developers and reviewed and vetted by the Power Smart for Schools team, says BC Hydro’s media rep.
BC Hydro says that all material for the program aligns with the BC K-12 curriculum and its prescribed learning outcomes.
Content is set for various grade levels across a wide range of topics and exploratory discussions. Most of the 24 new activities introduced this fall have to do with problem solving and critical thinking, offered by grade level.
Paid content:
Educational vendors develop the curriculum. BC Hydro says it is currently working with include the Vancouver-based Critical Thinking Consortium and also in the lower mainland Skye Consulting.
The material this year includes 24 new curriculum-aligned Kâ12 activities.
Most BC residents may not realize that when paying their electricity bills they are supporting the production of these educational materials.
Survey:
Earlier this year, BC Hydro surveyed BC teachers, About 95 per cent of respondents said they are likely to recommend the Power Smart for Schools program to a colleague.
In addition, more than two-thirds of teachers strongly agreed that the program encourages students to practice good environmental stewardship.
Back to school:
As the 2022-2023 school year ramps up with public schools opening again on Tuesday September 6, there has been a promotion in social media for teachers to take a look at the BC Hydro Power Smart for Schools Program offerings.
A back to school contest has been running August 23 to September 2. As teachers review the 24 new activities they will have found contest clues. The contest has offered a chance to win a gift card from Staples and STEM prizes for their classrooms.
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke is the editor and founder of a series of publications that have focussed on news of the west shore of south Vancouver Island since 2008. That journalism contributed has produced an archive of great value to the local and regional communities, including a deep archive of SD62 news since 2014.
MapleLine Magazine was a quarterly colour glossy (2008-2010), followed by the weekly grayscale print newspaper Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and then the colour weekly print/PDF newspaper West Shore Voice News (2014-2020). The Island Social Trends news portal emerged mid-2020, fully online for open access to all readers.
Ms Brooke holds a B.Sc. in health science and community education, with a second major in Sociology, as well as her Certificate in Public Relations. She holds a major journalism award from the University of Saskatchewan, and fully composed the inaugural curriculum in Writing for Business and Journalism for the Western Academy of Photography which graduated several successful communications professionals through the 1990s. Island Social Trends has offered a journalism scholarship to SD62 grads in recent years.
Mary P Brooke is running for a seat on the SD62 school district board of education in the October 15, 2022 election.