Month: April 2023

COVID-19 has had far-reaching and long-lasting impact on sports and recreation across Canada. In 2020 the impact was immediately felt, as research showed Canadian kids lost over 277 million hours of sport participation1. While last year 19% of parents reported their children participating in more sport—up seven points from 2021—complicating factors from the long wake of the pandemic, including a new economic reality, show we are not yet back on the path to normalcy.

A New Financial World

44% of parents say they cannot afford to register their children for organized sports 
 81% of sport programmers say their operational costs have increased 
 27% of parents say that inflation and the rising cost of living made it less likely for them to enroll their kids in organized sports 
 62% of sports organizations say the current economic situation has led to reduced sign-up rates for their programming

This economic impact is felt most acutely by our kids, with 4 in 10 parents continuing to report adverse effects on their children like reduced activity, including signs of being less physically fit (42%), and feelings of loss, resentment (38%) and anxiety (41%).

Despite this, the financial roadblocks are proving insurmountable. While 70% of parents agree organized sport offers a great experience for their children, 44% say they cannot afford registration.

“We are newcomers [to the] country and for now can only afford free sport activities.”

– Parent/Caregiver Survey Respondent 

“I really want to register my children in organized sports programming especially on the weekend for their mental health and wellbeing, but I can’t due to the prices.”

– Parent/Caregiver Survey Respondent 

We Can Build Back Better, Together

Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities (Jumpstart) heard the call from parents that sport programs are expensive and that fees need to be lowered. The reasons behind this trend, and the barriers that it poses, are at the heart of the 2023 State of Sport Report.

Download the Report (PDF)

Jumpstart actively helps remove financial barriers to sport at the grassroots level, working to rebuild community sport and ensure a more inclusive, equitable environment for Canada’s youth. Since 2005, Jumpstart has helped more than 3 million kids get into sport and play.

In 2022, Jumpstart committed to building back sport better. The charity: 

Provided more than 29,000 Individual Child Grants, helping families in need pay for registration costs 
 Dispersed 1,255 Community Development Grants to support 788 community sport and recreation organizations across Canada 
 Built 24 new inclusive playgrounds and multi-sport courts across Canada – totalling 275,000 sq. ft. 
 Partnered with Classroom Champions to bring free social and emotional resources to the Jumpstart community, including inspiring lessons from well-known Canadian athletes 
 Continued to champion girls in sport with the launch of Play to Lead, while funding programming for more than 3,000 girls across the country

Where We Go From Here

The 2023 Jumpstart Return to Sport Report is the third and final report analyzing and understanding the impact of COVID-19 on youth athletics, sport, and recreation. Produced in partnership with Ipsos and Jumpstart’s academic advisory panel, it’s a deep dive into understanding what exactly the state of sport is in Canada—and what we can do to improve. Together, we can provide much-needed opportunities for kids to realize the transformational benefits of sport and play.

1 2022 Jumpstart State of Sport Report

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 13, 2023 /3BL Media/ – In celebration of Earth Day 2023, Discovery Education presents K-12 teachers and students a diverse array of cross-curricular digital resources inspiring exploration of the natural world and environmental stewardship. Available on Discovery Education’s Earth Day website and award-winning K-12 learning platform, this collection of high-quality digital content is organized by grade band and has been curated by Discovery Education’s team of curriculum experts. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.

The Earth Day resources from Discovery Education and its partners have been curated to be easily integrated into educators’ lesson plans and schools’ Earth Day observances. Included in the resources available on the Discovery Education Earth Day website are sustainability-focused materials created in partnership with Sesame Workshop, Seeker, Vooks, and Scripps News, including:

Grades K-12 
Vooks: Earth Day Activity Sheet 
Vooks is an entire library of storybooks brought to life with beautiful animation, read-aloud narration, engaging music and sound, and read-along text. Use these fun activities to highlight the importance of Earth Day including discussion questions, a coloring sheet, vocabulary cards, and more.

Sesame Workshop: Make Our Earth Better 
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. This resource is part of the Celebrations collection in the Sesame Learning channel. It inspires children to identify as stewards of our environment by exploring their connections to nature and how their positive actions can care for it.

Grades 3-5 
Scripps News: Fast Fashion’s Impact on the Environment 
Scripps News provides videos on the most important topics and issues with straightforward, opinion-free news and documentaries. In this video, students learn about the fashion industry’s impact on the environment.

Grades 9-12 
Seeker: Elements: New Tech Could Eliminate Toxic PFAS From Our Water 
Seeker highlights stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe. In this resource, students learn about a new technology that could reduce the number of harmful PFA compounds, PFOs and PFOAs.

In addition, Discovery Education is offering a curated collection of free resources created in collaboration with social impact partners, including:

Sustainability Career Exploration 
Grades 6-12 
In Celebration of Earth Day, the Discovery Education STEM Careers Coalition (SCC) has released a collection of resources spotlighting sustainability professionals in STEM. See over 200 resources designed to uncover students’ STEM skills to activate future solution seekers. The exciting content available includes resources ranging from hands-on student activities and lessons to an extensive database of career profiles and family activities designed to support students as they explore sustainability and STEM careers.

Science Challenge 
Grades 5-8 
The 3M Young Scientist Challenge with Discovery Education invites students in grades 5-8 to compete for an exclusive mentorship with a 3M scientist, a $25,000 grand prize, and the chance to earn the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.” Competition entries are accepted at YoungScientistLab.com until the April 27, 2023 deadline.

To enter, students in grades 5-8 submit a one-to-two-minute video explaining an original idea using science to help solve an everyday problem, including improving the environment. All entries are reviewed by a diverse group of judges and evaluated on their creativity, scientific knowledge, and communication skills.

Classroom Activities 
Grades 6-9 
Grow energy-water literacy and conservation efforts through classroom activities Conservation Station: Creating a More Resourceful World—an educational initiative with Itron. New activities designed for Earth Day 2023 focus on communication skills, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration in a sustainability context.

Virtual Field Trips 
Grades 2-6; 5-10 
Build the Changes’ Play to Learn Virtual Field Trip celebrates students’ ability to learn and create change through the power of play. Created in partnership between Discovery Education and the LEGO Group’s sustainability team, the Play to Learn Virtual Field Trip takes students to Billund, Denmark to meet real-life LEGO® play experts as they introduce us to some big challenges facing our planet. Educators can take learning further with an array of standards-aligned classroom resources.

Trane Technologies’ Sustainable Futures Virtual Field Trip gives students a unique, up-close look at how a global climate innovation company impacts our world. Students will meet Trane Technologies’ employees to see how their roles create comfortable, clean, and energy-efficient solutions for homes, buildings, and transportation. Discovery Education’s partnership with Trane Technologies offers interactive tools and resources to engage and inspire students to learn, think, and solve the world’s biggest sustainability challenges through sustainable innovation.

Data & the Environment Lesson Plans 
Use data to learn about environmental justice and corporate sustainability efforts in grab-and-go digital lesson bundles from Discover Data—a data literacy initiative powered by the Nielsen Foundation in collaboration with Discovery Education and the National AfterSchool Association. Available in English and Spanish, these lesson bundles have everything educators need to seamlessly incorporate data into their curriculum.

Users of Discovery Education’s K-12 platform can discover all this content and more on the Earth Day channel. In addition, Discovery Education’s users can integrate these resources directly into the real-time assessments through the platform’s Quiz feature and can integrate this content into presentations with the Studio feature. Learn more about all of the flexible features of the Discovery Education platform here.

Discovery Education plans to launch the Sustainability Education Initiative (SEI) later this year. Aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SEI aims to empower more than 10 million students to take responsible action for economic viability and environmental integrity by 2030. Subaru of America, Inc. and the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) are founding partners of this initiative. The initial content, currently in development, will focus on the unique environmental challenges of students in urban areas, based on feedback from the community in Subaru of America’s hometown of Camden, NJ.

“The planet is an endless source of wonder and inspiration for classroom instruction. This Earth Day, with Discovery Education resources in hand, educators can inspire students to discover the importance of protecting our environment,” said Kelli Campbell, President of Discovery Education.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources—which can be purchased with federal stimulus funds—and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

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About Discovery Education 
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contacts 
Grace Maliska 
Discovery Education 
Email: gmaliska@dicoveryed.com