An idea focused on salmon has the potential to educate students and raise funds for the school district.
At the May 14 meeting of the North Okanagan-Shuswap School Board, business person Louise Wallace described her idea for a made-in-the-Shuswap, play-based interactive, web-based application on the life cycle of the Adams River Sockeye Salmon.
“I have a dream,” said Wallace as she described to trustees her idea for a custom community-designed curriculum tool for local teachers, students and families, which would use play and game technology to help students understand the habitat conditions under which a salmon egg thrives to become a spawning male or female salmon.
Basically, the app would allow you to “adopt” a salmon and set the conditions to allow the salmon to live through its life span, avoiding obstacles such as seals, killer whales, bears and fishing trawlers.
Students would be able to use this in schools on SmartBoards and computers, as well as at home on their smartphone, computer or tablet.
“It would be an opportunity to showcase the digital and educational opportunities of SmartBoard technology,” she said.
Wallace told the board the Adams River Nature Society, which was raising funds to purchase Cottonwood Campground, restore it and make it part of Roderick Haig-Brown Park, has $11,000 which could be available to develop the app. (Cottonwood was sold to a developer so the project is no longer feasible at this time.) She said the project would probably require about $20,000 to proceed, and she has ideas for grants and funds to get to that amount.
Wallace asked the board to consider being the “customer” of the project while she would be in charge of development. She also asked that perhaps a few teachers and students could be part of pilot project to test the app. Her goal is to have it finished and available before the next “big” year of the four-year salmon run cycle in 2014, adding there could be a market for selling the app to other school districts.
“Who better? It is a story that is uniquely ours to tell,” she said.
