 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Environment for the older students... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
Environment for the older students – nature for the younger ones
Karen Vestager has visited Nacka Nature School and discussed teaching the older students with Annika Wiberg:
At Nacka nature school, lots of work is done on teaching the older children; 7th grade to the upper secondary school. About 25 % of their trips are for this target group. I am on a visit one day, when two 9th grades are here. The classes work separately ,each with a nature guide, and the subject is sustainable development.
The day is built up as follows:
1. The students are gathered outside around a parachute, which everyone holds on to. They can lift it up and down together. Nature guide Annika makes statements like ”We sort our garbage at home”, and all those that do, have to run under the parachute while it is in the air, and catch it on the other side before it hits the ground. The exercise makes the students more conscious of the agenda for the day and their own approach to it.
2. The students are given three post-it notes and have to write an answer on each note to the question: “What can I do today to have a good life when I grow up?"
3. The students are split into groups, each of which are given a white poster. On the poster, they will sort/explain their statements on the post-it notes. Typically, they are
grouped into something about health, friendship, environment and school/education.
4. The students are informed that there will be a review after lunch, and then it is time for lunch.
5. Annika reads the Brundtland commission’s definition of sustainable development to the class and in that way, reviews the posters which, as she says, are their definitions of sustainable development and much easier to understand.
6. The students work in groups in workshops about composting at the compost mound, solar cells in the outdoors solar cell workshop, ecological balance in the green and henhouse, the plate model of energy consumption in food production at the laptops, sorting garbage at the sorting model, water purification at the biological water purification plant and the model of the waters route from the tap to nature.
7. The students present their work to each other and a discussion is started.
After the trip, Annika and I discuss how they go about teaching both big and small. And the essence of the conversation is:”We teach environment to the older ones and nature to the younger ones in Nacka". As a matter of fact, we have heard the same thing visiting other places. Most clearly in Sollentuna, this is also near Stockholm. But we have also seen environment have a high priority with the older students in Tartu and material on nature have an environmental slant in Finland. Annika answered the question about the difference with content.
We have a different approach in Denmark. We are very focused on methods, when teaching the older students. We let them work independently, work with their own bodies, use advanced computer equipment and form and exchange views on relevant questions on nature and the environment.
This is obviously a simplistic view – because we do see the older students work independently and have opinions at the places, we visit abroad – and back home, we do, to some extent, chose the subject according to the target group and include environmental elements when teaching the older students.
But basically, we work with two different things, when working with the target group: Content versus method.
And perhaps we could learn from one another. We could, in Denmark, focus more on the content; we are not good enough at teaching environment. We also believe that we have an important message about the possibility to focus even more on methods, which appeal to the older students in the countries, we have visited. Not least in the formation of the young, which we all want to contribute to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
