|
 March
2004 - Nature for Schools
A
new online service designed to put nature back in the classroom and help
pupils explore nature on the doorstep of even the most urban school has
been developed by English Nature, the Government’s independent
wildlife and conservation advisor.
Nature
for Schools is a new website feature at www.english-nature.org.uk
and provides more than 100 lesson plans for teachers along with
activities and information to help children understand nature.
Written
and tested by teachers for teachers, the new material can be used to
support over 40 different curriculum units, mainly in science and
geography but also extending to art & design, design &
technology and citizenship. All
the material is relevant to Education for Sustainable Development.
Sharon
Gunn, Head of People and Nature at English Nature, said: “We are keen
to support the curriculum, especially the new citizenship element. It is
important that pupils debate environmental issues and work out for
themselves what really is sustainable.
We want to ensure that nature is not squeezed out of schools.
“We
are encouraging teachers to take pupils out of the classroom, and all
the activities can be used in schools whether they are in towns, cities
or rural communities. Wherever
they grow up children should have the opportunity to understand and
develop a relationship with nature.”
The
website includes lesson plans for teachers of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 and
hundreds of links to other internet sites providing resources for
environmental education.
For
primary teachers, Nature for Schools has used familiar animals such as
the hedgehog or the water vole to interpret curriculum material. ‘Our
Living Environment’ examines how the area around the school could
provide food, shelter and safety for house sparrows to lead 7-9 year
olds to an understanding of their own environmental needs. ‘Traffic,
Environment and Me’ takes a problem-solving approach to traffic from
the point of view of local wildlife, as well as the pupils and other
road users.
Secondary
school material brings in the world of work and consumer choice with
lessons relating to sustainable development in agriculture, fisheries,
leisure and tourism industries, shopping and coastal management
16
March 2004 |
Wild
Water, a partnership project in Dorset, means that eight primary schools
will get ponds to help children study wildlife. Local charity Dorset
Wildlife Trust held a competition, sponsored by Wessex Water, in which
schools from all over the county were invited to submit designs for a
new pond in their grounds. Each of the eight schools selected will
receive their new pond later in the year.
