The School Malaise Trap Program is a FREE environmental education program offered by the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at the University of Guelph to schools from across Canada.

The Program:

The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics offers two versions of the School Malaise Trap Program throughout the year – one in the spring and one in the fall (usually April and September). Interested applicants are encouraged to sign up for our mailing list (found here) in order to receive information regarding registration dates, deadlines and important details. Program updates and details will also be posted on our website.

Sign up for our Mailing List  Here!

You will receive program information such as application forms, registration deadlines, and important details.

Become a Guest Blogger:

We encourage students and teachers from around the world to use the School Malaise Trap Program website as a forum to discuss their experiences with biodiversity in their schoolyard, community and beyond. If you wish to contribute a post to our blog, please contact info@malaiseprogram.ca and we will happily set up a guest blogger account for you. You may also email us your blog entry and we will post it on your behalf.

Participant Selection:

Due to the overwhelming response that we receive each year from schools wishing to participate in the program, we are unable to include all who apply as spots are limited. In order to ensure that the participant selection process is fair, we do our best to consider and review the following criteria when selecting each participant for the program:

• Has your class or school participated in the School Malaise Trap Program before? If yes, this does not necessarily mean that you will not be selected for the current or future programs as there are many other factors that are considered during the selection process. We have selected repeat participants in the past and strongly encourage teachers and schools to reapply every season so that we may track program interest.

• Where is your school located? We wish to sample as many corners of Canada as possible!

• How many schools have applied from your area? As you can imagine, during each program we receive a higher response from some geographical areas over others. We do our best to spread out the program to as many areas as possible; thus, a higher concentration of applicants from one area does not necessarily mean a higher number of participants will be selected from that area.

• How much funding do we have? Currently we are proud to be able to offer the School Malaise Trap Program free of charge to participating schools due to support from our generous funders. However, this funding is not limitless and may change from program to program. As such, the number of participants accepted into each program may vary from year to year.

• Are you interested in sharing your program experiences with other program participants, your school, and community? Part of the reason why the School Malaise Trap Program has been so successful is that our participants have been excited to be able to engage with each other throughout the program and beyond. We provide a guest blogging account to each selected classroom in the hopes that they will share their predictions, discoveries and compare their findings with students from across Canada. The School Malaise Trap Program team also actively engages with participating classrooms through the blog medium by providing program updates, answering questions, and stimulating discussion. Check out our blog here!