The Brightwater Science and Environmental Program is an out-of-school environmental education program that provides a residential experience for middle years students, and one day field trips for Biology 20 and Science 10 students.

Brightwater provides an opportunity to teach where environmental lessons can best be taught, and to learn where environmental lessons can best be learned - in the great outdoors! The learning that takes place out of school follows extensive pre-visit preparation in the classroom, and is the basis for many post-visit challenges.

The Program is operated at the Salvation Army's Beaver Creek Camp and on the adjacent sixty acres acquired by Saskatoon Public Schools from the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation in January 1998. Since the program began in 1990, the main objective has been to provide students with an opportunity to participate actively in ecological studies in a natural area just outside Saskatoon.

Each year approximately 1500 elementary and 500 high school students visit Brightwater. The program is highly successful because of the support received from teachers, parents, and the community as a whole. The program fundamentals are an extension of the curriculum, small group instruction, and participatory learning through hands-on experience in the context of stewardship and conservation.

The Brightwater Program:

• Provides dynamic experiences in three seasons: autumn, winter and spring;
• Offers three-day residential experiences in a close-to-home natural setting for grades 6 and 7 students;
• Extends the classroom experience through out-of-school activities, natural science studies, language arts, social studies and hands-on environmental projects; and
• Offers a day program of field research and laboratory investigations for grade 11 biology students.

Visit the Brightwater website for more information.