LSF's Build-Your-Own Virtual Youth Forum
Welcome to LSF’s Build-Your-Own Youth Forum! This page is your home base for all the events, materials & links that are part of this Forum.
Our Youth Forums are designed to engage students in sustainability issues, equip them with skills and knowledge, and empower them to take action. Use our teacher resources, student workshops, Action Project grant, and more to kickstart a Climate Action Project with your students and make a real difference in your community!
Learn more about how the Youth Forum works:
Please reach out to genevieve@LSF-LST.ca if you have any questions or feedback!
How do I build my own Youth Forum?
Complete your Youth Forum in 6 easy steps:
- Have your students each complete the short pre-Forum survey
- Take advantage of the Climate Change 101 course and our selection of teacher PD workshop recordings (both optional)
- Complete a minimum of 3 student workshop recordings with your students
- Complete LSF’s Action Project Planning workshop recording with your students
- Make your Action Project plan & submit your Action Project grant request by April 2025
- Take action in your school or community and complete your Final Report by May 30, 2025
1. Before You Begin
We need your help! Before you start any Youth Forum activities with your students, please have each student fill out our short survey. We need this information for our funders. We can’t continue the Youth Forums without it!
Please forward this link to your students and ask them each to complete it ASAP: www.LSF-LST.ca/forms/cc-student-survey
2. Getting Started
Climate Change 101: This course designed by our partners at Let’s Talk Science will bring your students up to speed on climate change knowledge before starting the Forum workshops!
The climate change 101 course is optional, but recommended. It’s a great place to start before digging into the other workshops!
3. Student Workshops
Explore our climate action topics with your students!
To be eligible for a student Action Project grant, you’ll need to watch at least 3 of the student workshop recordings below.
Workshop Description: In this session students will explore how we capture and use the wind to generate electrical energy, how wind energy is being used across the country, and how students can support the transition to renewable energies.
Materials/Prep:
- Educator Guide
- Handout (use fillable PDF or print)
- Exit Ticket (use fillable PDF or print)
Learn more about GreenLearning
Workshop Description: In this session, students will explore a circular economic model in relation to the problem of plastic waste in the environment. Through examination of the Plastic Problem and technological solutions to plastic waste, students will feel empowered to address this complex issue and close the loop on plastic.
Materials/Prep:
- Educator Guide
- Handout (use fillable PDF or print)
Learn more about GreenLearning
Workshop Description:
This interactive workshop will explore climate change impacts and solutions through the Climate Atlas of Canada, an engaging online tool for students, researchers, decision-makers, and communities. As an example, we will look at the health impacts of climate change and students will have the opportunity to participate in a “treasure hunt” to find the answers on the site themselves.
Materials/Prep:
- Writing utensil & paper
- Internet-enabled device – 1 per student or shared
Learn more about the Prairie Climate Centre and the Climate Atlas of Canada
Workshop Description:
Students will learn to code a short program in Scratch that will allow them to create a “Choose your own climate adventure” game. They will code questions and answers, animate, and interactions with the program that will help them better understand how the littlest changes in their actions can have an impact. The learning is accessible to all ages and skill levels. This workshop is broken down into two 30-minute recordings.
Materials/Prep:
- Computer/Tablet
- Create a free Scratch account at scratch.mit.edu/join
Learn more about Brilliant Labs
Workshop Description:
This workshop explores food through the lens of technologies used across agriculture, harvest, transportation, access points (ex. grocery stores), and finally to your plate. This workshop also shares information about [1] spotting local produce in grocery stores and other commercial spaces; [2] natural fertilizers through compost, and mulches and their use in community gardens; and [3] hydroponics and how we can use this technology to grow foods without soil, when outdoor garden space is unavailable, and across seasons.
Learn more about Let’s Talk Science
Workshop Description:
We’ll use CoSpaces to build our own 3D creations, animate them with code, and explore them in Virtual or Augmented Reality. Learners will practice testing and debugging, and create a virtual space that they can share with family and friends! Projects will also be learner-driven, giving learners the space to leverage VR as a tool for positive change, to tackle an issue that is important to them.
Learn more about Canada Learning Code
Workshop Description: In this sessions, students will explore the role that policy plays in climate action, and how misinformation can impact our perspectives on policy. Students will be challenged to think critically about policy, and consider how policies may have unintended consequences.
Materials/Prep:
- Students should have paper and writing utensils ready for their brainstorming.
This workshop was delivered as part of our 2022 “Climate Action” Youth Forum for Ontario gr 7-12, but is relevant to any location
Extra Resources:
- GreenLearning’s Decoding Carbon: A Climate Policy Quest – take the Decoding Carbon Challenge!
- Skeptical Science site
- GreenLearning’s Climate Policy Worksheet
Learn more about GreenLearning
Workshop Description:
This workshop provides an overview of the environmental and economic benefits of switching from a gas car to an electric car, including the trends in Canada and around the world. It also gives ideas for how students can get involved in sustainable transportation initiatives!
Learn more about Plug’n Drive
Description:
Through stories of her experiences in the Western Arctic of Canada, Kathleen Matari explores two important knowledge sets, Indigenous knowledge and Western science knowledge, and how the gap between the two must be bridged in order to take action on climate change.
4. Action Project Planning
It’s time to start thinking about the climate-related Action Project your students wish to undertake!
To be eligible for a student Action Project grant, you’ll need to watch this Action Project planning workshop recording below.
Workshop Description: So you’ve participated in the workshops and learned about all kinds of climate issues… Now what? Our Action Project Planning workshop will show you what an Action Project looks like and help you consider your interests and skills, your sphere of influence, and the root causes of the issue so you can take on the best Action Project ever!
Materials/Prep:
- Please print this worksheet (double-sided) – 1 copy per student
- Internet-enabled devices for Kahoot
Next Steps:
5. Request Your Grant
Have you:
- watched at least 3 student workshop recordings?
- watched LSF’s Action Project Planning workshop?
- prepared your Action Project plan with your students?
If yes, you’re ready to request your $500 Youth Forum grant!
Remember, you have to report back on your Action Project by May 30, 2025. So we recommend requesting your grant before April 2025!
6. Complete your Final Report
Done your Action Project? Tell us about it!
Final Reports are due May 30, 2025 and will ask for:
- copies of receipts for all purchases up to $500
- photos of your students in action!
- description of project activities
- project reach (# of students, teachers, community members reached) and impacts (e.g. # of trees planted, # of kg’s of waste diverted from landfill, area of land planted, etc. etc.)
- your post on www.OurCanadaProject.ca
You can preview the report questions here.
Teacher Resources
PD Workshop Library
These PD recordings are intended to help guide you through the process of integrating climate learning & outdoor learning into your classroom, connecting your curriculum to the SDGs and taking on a student-led Action Project.
- Basic Climate Change Science: video | slides
- Climate Change Education Strategies: video | slides
- Resources for Climate Change Education: video | slides
- Tools and Resources for Sustainable Outdoor Learning with the Outdoor Learning School & Store (K-12)
- Learning Through Action: Tools and Resources for Student Led Sustainability Projects with the Outdoor Learning School & Store (K-12)
- Sustainability: The Educator’s Playbook (K-8)
- Connecting to the UN’s SDGs: Resources from R4R and Ingenium (K-12)
Additional Resources
- Check out our database of over 1,900 curriculum-connected classroom resources on R4R
- Empowering Learners in a Warming World climate change inquiry guide
- Engaging Students in Sustainable Action Projects guide
- Action Project inspiration on Our Canada Project
- Green Jobs: Adapting to our Changing Climate video series
Action Project Final Report
Done your Action Project? Tell us about it!
Final Reports are due May 24, 2023 and will ask for:
- copies of receipts for all purchases up to $500
- photos of your students in action!
- description of project activities
- project reach (# of students, teachers, community members reached) and impacts (e.g. # of trees planted, # of kg’s of waste diverted from landfill, area of land planted, etc. etc.)
- your post on www.OurCanadaProject.ca
Feedback Form
We encourage students & teachers to offer feedback on each workshop using our form!
Our Canada Project
Our Canada Project (OCP) inspires youth to be responsible citizens and gives youth a platform to share their voice. Check out some of the great projects we funded last year!
Fresh Falls Market is a school-run produce market, to bring healthy, affordable food to their school and community.
James Morden Public School, Niagara Falls, ON – Grade 6/7
Tall Grass Prairie Pollinators Corridor is a project to help restore a 2′ x 180′ corridor on the school property to establish a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. This project enabled students to apply their knowledge of biodiversity and ecosystems outside the classroom.
Linden Meadows School, Winnipeg, MB – Grade 5-8
Food for Thought – Sustainable Urban Farming project used hydroponic technology to grow food and create HOME (Healthy Options Made Easy) buckets, affordable bi-weekly food parcels, to reduce the carbon footprint created by importing produce into their northern Ontario community.
Kapuskasing District High School, Kapuskasing, ON – Grade 9 -12
This project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada
