As part of the Youth Conservation Action Network (YOUCAN) fellowship driven by Ramnath Chandrashekar, an established environmental conservation educator and filmmaker, and his team, we set out to begin a new
journey as environmental educators to establish a strong connection with our
learners at the Al Qamar Academy.
The 6-month long programme is going to help
us focus on some of the pressing challenges in the current environmental domain,
from problems arising due to increased deforestation and over use of natural
resources, depletion of forest cover for human uses, to issues with plastics
and garbage, and the way we take our environment for granted.
Since at Al Qamar, the students are already
aware of the above topics, thanks to the curricula designed by the school, we
found it easy to initiate our first nature club session with the enthusiastic
group of students from grades 4, 5 and 6, on 8 Dec’18.
The day started with a
small introduction. We asked them what they understand by the word 'nature', to
which they replied saying various meaningful words: from carbon dioxide,
oxygen, green, plants, trees, a group of poachers, food web, pollution, to
ecofriendly, and man. They also understand how we all are interdependent on
nature. It was good to see them appreciate the value of being part of the
environment surrounding us.
They were equally
enthusiastic about making the planet a better place, which, according to them,
is why they were keen on becoming part of the nature club that we’re planning
to form in the school.
The students participated in an activity, which we
named as ‘nature bingo’, where the students got to interact and know their
peers better. It also helped us know about the depth of knowledge those
students have as well as made us realise the immense potential they can have as
the leading lights in future. They are filled with ideas which one can find through
the way they ask questions.
Our objective of this programme is to make
those students think about the various simple ways through which we can reduce
our dependence on nature.
The students loved the documentary – Save our Sholas – that was screened during the latter part of the session, followed
with a brief Q&A where we got to test their extraordinary observing and
thinking abilities.
Until we meet again, for the next session,
the students will be working on finding a name for the nature club and also
writing a short description or drawing on the forests in Western Ghats. This
activity will give us insights to what the kids visualise about these forests.
Note: The nature club sessions are being conducted by educators from YouCan who are working professionals in Chennai. They are fellows of the YouCan programme. As
part of the initiative, they are currently working as co-teachers at the Al
Qamar Academy, focusing on raising awareness about eco-literacy. Their main
objective is to educate children about nature in the simplest ways possible.
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