Insights and Commentaries
Boundary Dam CO2Degrees education awards
15th February 2015
Topic(s): Communication, Education, Public engagement
Students around the world taking part in the Institute-led CO2Degrees education program are getting ready for a special awards ceremony soon to commence on March 6th, 2015 in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Late last year, the world's first carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility on a coal-fired power plant began operating at the Boundary Dam power station in Estevan, Saskatchewan. Aside from the impressive technical feat of commissioning the low-carbon power plant, a great deal of community engagement work was undertaken. Boundary Dam's operator, SaskPower, teamed up with the Institute to provide interactive education sessions with local schools in the Province culminating in the SaskPower CCS Challenge.
About the Saskpower CCS Challenge
In September 2014, 100 Grade 7 students attended the SaskPower CCS Workshop where they learned about carbon dioxide (CO2), capturing CO2, and the storage or use of CO2. The workshop took place the same week as the grand opening of Boundary Dam's CCS plant. During the workshop, a two-tiered CCS Challenge was launched challenging students and groups to: create a video about the Boundary Dam project and its significance for Saskatchewan and the rest of the world, produce a video submission that creatively explained CCS and its role in sustainability.
Creating international education
The Regina students took inspiration from the fun and creative videos featuring international students that filmed experiment demonstrations to help teach students at the SaskPower CCS Workshop.
Showcasing the results
The Challenge was created by the Regina Catholic School Division with support from SaskPower. Each Challenge submission has been assessed for its: accuracy, creativity, originality, quality or effort and message and comprehension of ‘big ideas’.
Winners to be announced
On the 6th March 2015, awards will be delivered to the winning students and award winning videos will be showcased on CO2degrees.com as part of the CO2Degrees Education Challenge.