Marshquest is a five day festival in which students visit the Herb Kebbel Marsh at the Yarmouth Natural Heritage Area just East of Sparta, Ontario. Typically 4 or 5 classes attend the festival each day and students take part in 10 stations of interactive learning. They come away from the festival with a better understanding of what a marsh is, why wetlands are important to us, how many different living things interact together in these spaces and how we can help protect them and nature in general!

The stations are run by students in the Environmental Leadership Program at East Elgin Secondary School with the assistance of their teacher Duncan Sinclair, Emily Febrey and the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority, local expert Ron Casier and TVDSB Environmental Educators from the Jaffa School.

This year we knew it would not be the same... and the ELP students have gone above and beyond in finding ways to make their stations virtual yet personal and adding ways in which students can take the learning further back at school or at home.

Please use the video below to introduce you to the festival then use the drop down, "Activity Stations" menu to watch one segment at a time. In these sub pages you will find useful student worksheets that may also be used to prompt discussion following each video. For each there is also an additional idea for taking the learning out into your school yard or community.

We really hope you find this resource enjoyable and educational and would appreciate you sharing any feedback and evidence of student learning that comes out of your participation. Ideas on how to share can be found below or on the "Come Back Soon!" subpage.