YouthCaN NYC 2006 Workshop list

Recycling: A student's Dream for a better school community
Baccalaureate School for Global Education, New York, USA
This is an explanation of our recycling project and how we instituted a plan to help our school see the need to recycle and act on that motivation. We created a simple plan that is easily to follow and works with the participation and corporation of the staff, students and custodian. You are welcome to learn about how you can institute this plan and how well this has worked for us.
Rose Center Classroom, 2nd floor
Ages: 11-17

Solar Solutions
Miami Country Day School, Florida, USA
Learn about the sun's magical powers. See how to solar cook and pasteurize water using just the sun's rays. Build your own cooker for follow up experiments and become part of this worldwide effort to save the environment and fight world hunger.
Calder Lab, 2nd floor
Ages: 8-15

Cruelty or kindness to animals? Treatment of animals in American zoos.**
Casey Middle School, Colorado, USA
Join us for an intriguing documentary film about how animals are treated in the Denver Zoo. We then invite you to participate in a Socratic Seminar. In this seminar we will discuss animal rights and their treatment particularly in zoos. You will be encouraged to form your own views on the subject. Finally you will be given tips on how to examine animal treatment in your community.
People Center Theater, 2nd floor
Ages: Any

YouthCaN Egypt - Video Conference
YouthCaN-Egypt with YouthCaN-NYC
Come share in the exploration of environmental issues that face students in Egypt! Ask them questions about their studies and share some of your experiences.
People Center Back, 2nd Floor
Ages: Any

Restoring Life to an Urban Corner
YouthCaN-Japan, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
This is a project in which children will learn the importance of Human lives and how to cope with the physical and emotional effects of natural disasters such as Earthquakes, Hurricanes, etc... Our goal is to enhance awareness of natural disasters families, schools, and communities around the world. As an action to achieve this goal, we will create 'Global Disaster Safety Map.’
People Center, Front Terrace, 2nd floor.
Ages: Any

Building Simple and More Advanced Solar Ovens
Council on the Environment of New York City, New York, USA
Students from the High School for Environmental Studies will conduct a training workshop on how to build solar ovens of varying degrees of difficulty. Participants will build ovens.
Room 319 Classroom, 3rd floor.
Ages: 14-16

Session 2

Protecting Our Botanical Backyard**
New York Botanical Garden, New York, USA
Flowing through the Botanical Garden is the Bronx River. Come experience how we have spent the past months testing the river water for possible toxins and also clearing it of debris collected along its banks. Learn a little about its dramatic history and see first hand the process of testing and evaluating a major city river.
Linder Theater, 1st floor
Ages: Any

Urban to Green: From the outside in.**
Birch Wathen Lenox, New York, USA
Join us for a discussion about our process to change into a “Green School” concentrating on recycling, energy use and litter reduction.
Kaufmann Theater, 1st floor
Ages: 12-17

US-Egypt Young Scientists Collaboration- TWO RIVERS – ONE WORLD
YouthCaN-NYC, New York, USA
Join us for a discussion between students in the U.S. and Egypt about our collaborative water project funded by the U.S. Department of State. We will then have a hands-on water testing activity where you will get a chance to test water from various sources - bring your own water from Home!
Rose Center Classroom, 2nd floor
Ages: Any

Growing Connections
Miami Country Day School, Florida, USA
Miami Country Day students fight world hunger by joining students in Senegal, Ghana, and Mexico in a collaborative effort to raise food crops in innovative Earth Boxes. Sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Miami Country Day students have been invited to test the "Growing Connections" program before the United Nations takes it world wide. Components of this project will include video conferencing with
students in Ghana, collaborative plantings with Mexico, and Senegal, and scientific investigations on plant growth. Work will be documented on the following web sites:
http://www.thegrowingconnection.com,
http://www.earthbox.com,
http://www.aces.miamicountryday.org.
Calder Lab, 2nd floor
Ages: 9-11

Saving the Coral Reefs **
Groesbeck Elementary School, Texas, USA
The dying coral reefs are presenting a dangerous situation for human life. Besides the fact they are homes for many fish, coral reefs also provide medicine for humans. If the reefs die, fish will also die, which is also a food source for humans. Why are they dying? Are humans the main reason? Are we destroying our own future?
People Center Theater, 2nd floor
Ages: 8-12

YouthCaN-Mediterranean - Video Conference
YouthCaN-Lebanon with YouthCaN-New York
Come share in the exploration of environmental issues that face students in Lebanon!! Ask them questions about their studies and share some of your experiences.
People Center Back, 2nd Floor
Ages: Any

Why Worry About Wetlands
Elementary Workshop Montessori School, Delaware, USA
Wondering who eats what in a wetland? Come play our fun card game to learn about food chains in a coastal wetland. After a short presentation about our Adopt-A-Wetland Project we will share the game we are creating to help learn more about connections to life in the wetlands.
Room 319 Classroom, 3rd floor
Ages: 7-14

Session 3

I.S.174 Ecosystem**
I.S. 174, New York, USA
Our school backyard has many trees and a river that goes to the ocean. We are trying to make a science center with an ecosystem so students can observe which animals live there and do water testing. We will compare the trees we have in our schoolyard.
Linder Theater, 1st floor
Ages: 10-18

Water Quality & Global Warming/Climate Change
Academy of Environmental Science, New York, USA
How global warming and climate change affect the water quality, water conservation and biodiversity of the watershed ecosystem.
Kaufmann Theater, 1st floor
Ages: 10-18

Mining: The Hidden Cost Behind our Use of the Earth's Buried Treasures
High School for Law and Public Service, New York, USA
Gold, diamonds, and coal are just three of the earth's underground resources which we take for granted and yet the extraction of these resources from deep within the earth cause massive environmental destruction and immense human suffering. Is our use of these resources worth this hidden cost? Participants will look at the realities of each of these industries and decide for themselves
Rose Center Classroom, 2nd floor
Ages: 12-18

Keep 'em out of the Bay...Throw your Butts in a tray
Junior Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Association, Pennsylvania, USA
JrPLEWA is a group of high school and college students who work with the stakeholders in their watershed to make sustainable change. The students will describe how they use the Earth Force Process to change policy and practice in their community. They will share lessons learned when working with civic groups, city council, businesses and the general public on the thousands of butts tossed on the ground weekly.
Calder Lab, 2nd floor
Ages: 10-Any

Saving Wetlands is Saving Lives!
Academy of Mount Saint Ursula
Do you know that a swamp is a wetland? Do you know what wetlands are and the different types? Come learn why wetlands preservation is so important. Saving Wetlands is Savings lives!
People Center Theater, 2nd floor
Ages: 12-18

Beyond Borders- Making the Case for Documentary Research

Listen Up! Youth Media Network, New York, USA

As a network for young filmmakers, Listen Up! gave the “green light” to 15 youth teams worldwide to produce short documentaries.

 One documentary, called “A Justifiable Concern” walks through the life of a young woman in Sitka, Alaska whose entire family has been touched by Cancer.  Comb through footage and transcripts with Creative Director Austin Haeberle and youth editor Edwin Clavijo to figure out how YOUR research can impact this short documentary.

Workshop will include short screening followed by small working groups, where a new version of the story is constructed and presented.  Students learn how to deconstruct media, as well as various research functions that make documentary projects credible and compelling.
People Center Back, 2nd floor
Ages: 13-18

Indoor Composting
West 181st Street Beautification Project, Inc., New York, USA
Learn how to show your appreciation of the environment by indoor composting (without worms). Demonstration, handouts and interactive events will involve participants. You will learn about different methods of composting and how composting can help reduce waste and help gardens and plants grow.
Room 319 Classroom, 3rd floor
Ages: 12-18