This post is sponsored by the Canadian Public Health Association
Contests are a great way to inspire students and enhance their understanding of a topic area. They play a role in motivating students to perform and excel, and offer a lot more reward than just the winning prize. That is why the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) developed and ran a national Grade 6 Poster Contest on infectious disease and climate change for the past four years. This contest was an opportunity for teachers and students to learn more about climate change and the impact it is having on the spread of infectious diseases like Lyme Disease and West Nile Virus in communities across Canada.  
Students were invited to create a poster, which includes a handmade drawing and a call to action that demonstrates how to prevent Lyme disease, West Nile virus, or another climate sensitive infectious disease. By participating in the contest each year, Grade 6 students were contributing to a national dialogue about climate change and shared valuable information with their local and national communities about disease awareness and prevention.
CPHA also developed a Teacher’s Toolkit to help teachers incorporate concepts of climate change and infectious disease into their lessons. The toolkit includes five lesson plans, which guide teachers in facilitating a rich, cross-curricular learning experience for students, borrowing on skills from Science, Math, Language, Geography, Physical Education, Health and Art. It also includes links to additional resources including videos, websites and other teaching materials.
This year, a panel of 6 judges carefully reviewed over 1400 submissions. Congratulations to our National Winner, National Runner-up, and Regional Winners from Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, Alberta, and British Columbia & the Territories. We would like to thank all Grade 6 students and teachers for supporting and participating in our contest over the last four years. The Teacher’s Toolkit remains available on the Canadian Public Health Association’s website for those who wish to continue incorporating climate change and infectious disease lessons into the classroom.
View all winning posters from 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, as well as the Teacher’s Toolkit at www.cpha.ca/contest.
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