Academic performance is a challenge confronting many postsecondary students in Northern Manitoba. As such, this study explores the role of situated (field-based) learning and participatory video in facilitating scholastic achievement relating to local freshwater availability and mindfulness. First-year students (n = 97) enrolled at the University College of the North in The Pas were randomly assigned to four adult education approaches containing identical subject matter. Student performance was assessed using outcomes of quantitative testing that focused on either foundational concepts or applied skills. Empirical data were examined using ordered multinomial logistic regression and explored cursorily in relation to unsolicited qualitative statements arising from in-stream participatory video and digitally-captured post-test interviews for each enrollee. Non-conventional lesson interaction inclusive of a modified participatory video approach significantly (p = 0.003) increased quantitative test score means by 26%, raised applied skill scores by one grade level (12%) and significantly (p = 0.07) improved concept understanding between five and 20%. Despite benefits, northern self-declared Aboriginal students still had lower (−11%) test scores on average. Importantly, there was less of a difference academically between non-and self-declared Aboriginal student test scores when situated learning and participatory video use were compared to didactic delivery alone. By identifying non-conventional strategies for improvement in environmental education, tertiary level institutions are presented another option for increasing academic performance ideally mitigating high attrition rates that continue to plague postsecondary education in Northern Manitoba; and for that matter, Canada.

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Effective non-traditional approaches to environmental lesson delivery and enrollee evaluation remain ephemeral in northern Manitoba as indicated by negative local attitudes towards imported and metropolitanized instruction (Martin, 2014; Mercredi, 2009). Current pandemic aside, and as increased attrition and abysmal failure rates have not changed in decades, there is relevance in exploring the experiential context and local implications of an inductive student model intended to improve remote environmental understanding and scholastic performance. To help prevent perpetuating a dis-order in which Indigenous expressions are neither recognized nor developed, learning experiences of University College of the North (UCN) students concerning regional freshwater availability and the calculation of stream flow were documented. Using componential analysis and participatory video as a mediating technology, allied empirical test scores and codified normative elements of self and environmental ‘awareness’ in traditional classrooms versus boreal settings were examined. Three exploratory factor axes explained more than 50% of the variance from an integrated but diverse set of 27 chosen variables. Titled axes declining in order of importance were Environmental Engagement, Scholastic Scoring and Non-Conventional Lesson Delivery. Seventy percent of unsolicited adult student responses suggest moralization and unique meta-ethical quale were undeniably and academically important. Empirical-‘ized’ findings advocate UCN must now ask which aspects of curriculum design, lesson delivery and enrollee assessment might result in greater scholastic success when nurturing personalized transformations in the milieu of ongoing threats to both freshwater sustainability and Cree safeguarding paradigms in northern Manitoba.