Outdoor Learning Conference 2026

Join Director and Producer Ching Yu and Course Designer Isobel Phoebus as she shares two short films on learning and working in the outdoors. The first film, 'She Measures the Earth' is a poetic documentary featuring four women scientists from Girls On Ice Canada, a program that brings youth into the mountains to learn science through direct experience. The film explores how science can be a form of intimacy with the natural world, a way of feeling and measuring the Earth through movement, art, and observation. Participants will also receive a Lesson Plan for High School students. The second film follows diverse youth as they connect to the outdoors in different ways - Diudiu and Leo, both Mandarin-speaking immigrants’ children, navigate the slopes of the Canadian Rockies as they ski. Celeste, deeply rooted in her Indigenous horse culture, showcases the beauty of riding Indian Horse Relay in the Alberta Prairie. Anika, born into a family of Indian and Austrian climbers, climbs the rocks in her neighbourhood of Squamish, BC. Jade and Ryan, adventurous coldwater surfing girls from Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, ride the waves with enthusiasm.