What an amazing day to learn, connect to nature and be with family. It was so clear what an amazing impact a passionate expert has on learning. We ran into a tour guide in hopewell rocks park and at first Grace was sure she did not want to follow him, Finley however was hooked as soon as he said he loved Peregrine Falcons. As they listened to his story about French sailors in the 1600s returning to a big surprise as the tide dropped over 40 feet it was clear they wanted more…

Finley wants to do his first inquiry into Falcons and running into an expert was sensational. Kevin offered to Skype or email with him at any time as he regaled us with stories of nesting, almost extinction and the beauty of the fastest bird on earth, almost 400 km per hour in a dive. Finley can’t wait to learn more, a testament to the passion of this lifelong conservationist. Did you know that these falcons only eat other birds? That they were on the endangered species list and in the eastern provinces almost didn’t survive because their egg shells were thinned by the use of pesticides…

He also shared great facts about why the tide is so amazingly deep in the Bay of Fundy. The shape of the bay, the length of the bay and river causing a double wave to collide. Over 160 billion tones of water go in and out of the bay per day. To give perspective, if you collected all the water from Niagara Falls each day in a bucket it would take 1 year and 9 months to collect that amount of water…

What mentor experts ignited learning in you? For me it was a grade 8 science teacher who showed me the wonders of what it means to be a scientist. A university geography teacher who showed me how to understand landforms, and a doctoral professor who opened my eyes to the world of systems.

Learning, nature, and connection, amazing forces at work around us everyday.