African Wildlife and Environment Issue 65

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

prevents utilisation (GSA 2016). There are numerous opportunities within and around schools to use the local trees, birds, insects and soil as free resources to enliven the curriculum. Some examples from the Eco Schools Handbook include (WESSA 2017): • Natural Science, Grade 5, Term 1: Interdependence of plants, animals and natural resources. Importance of preserving habitat to maintain biodiversity which can be monitored and evaluated at a local river through miniSASS. • Social Science, Grade 7, Term 4: Trees are a natural resource used for fuel in rural areas. Consider that for each 1 kg of wood burned, 1.9 kg CO2 is emitted to the atmosphere. Suggest a more sustainable solution such as designing alternative fuel sources such as paper bricks or a fuelwood saving stove. • Life Sciences, Grade 10 Term 3: Biosphere to ecosystems. Identify plants and animals of the savanna ecosystem and drivers of change such as fire and urbanisation (Nelson et al. 2006) through a site visit with a local expert. The CD also provides guidelines for putting together a file or poster of Eco-School activities for an annual assessment and an environmental calendar for planning purposes. Each year, lesson plans, posters, PowerPoint presentations and other useful resources are provided under each theme on the CD. Supportive resources are developed by WESSA and teachers to share with schools wishing to inspire an eco-consciousness

Learners from Southern Cross Schools in Hoedspruit, Limpopo Province have been an active Eco-School members since 2008 and ecological practicals bring to life the Eco-Code of a ‘school for the planet’.

In South Africa schools work through five Eco-School themes which can be adopted and maintained in any order so that after five years all the themes have been done (see Table 1). Schools are evaluated annually by submitting evidence of work to WESSA at the end of October, and successful schools are awarded progressive awards to motivate them and recognize their work more widely. As a democratic and participatory programme, learners and staff experience active citizenship in school, which encourages them to implement improvements in both their school and home environments. Improvements range from saving electricity or water to starting a food garden or vermicomposting kitchen scraps. At the same time, teachers draw on these practical action projects to strengthen environmental learning at the school and

Figure 1: Eco-Schools seven steps

delivering quality education. The Eco-Schools programme involves seven steps that any school can follow (WESSA 2017) and starts with establishing an Eco-Committee to manage, plan and report on actions. Environmental aspects of the curriculum are reinforced through hands-on opportunities for learners to practice what they are required to learn. The process involves the school governing body, teachers, administrative and grounds staff as well as parents, but it is the learners who should be empowered to take positive action. For example, at Mountain Cambridge School, in the North West Province the children came up with ideas to fund-raise to protect rhinos from poaching. Almost R7 000 was raised for notching of rhinos’ ears. Notching facilitates rapid identification and monitoring through specific cuts on the ears which are equivalent to a permanent, unique national identity number. Moreover, a group of learners undertook a field-trip to the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve, where five white rhinos were immobilised and notched. DNA samples were also taken which will help identify the rhino horn should it Worldwide, Eco-Schools follow seven steps in order to achieve a progressive environmental accreditation. These are summarised in Table 1. Details on each step can be found in the Eco-Schools Handbook (WESSA 2017) which is made available to schools upon registration on a compact disk (CD). The Handbook also provides links between the national curriculum, the Eco Schools themes and action projects to guide teachers on best practice and whole school involvement. For example, many schools are near an underutilised natural ecosystem which offers an opportunity for fieldwork and Citizen Science. Research suggests that exposure to nature improves learner performance (Berman et al. 2008; Atchley et al. 2012) but fear of nature, or not knowing how to use the outdoor classroom, be stolen, and aid in prosecution. How does an Eco-School function?

Table 1: Examples of possible topics under the five themes are provided but are not exhaustive of possibilities

References •

bring the text book to life. Additionally, the schools are given the opportunity to create links with other schools, nationally and internationally, creating a means for cultural exchange, language improvement and the sharing of environmental learning and change. Conclusion Since its implementation in South Africa in 2003, the WESSA Eco-Schools Programme has been successfully changing lives in South Africa for over a decade. It is a nation-wide programme currently reaching almost 1 000 schools, therefore impacting on thousands of learners and community members annually. WESSA has a proud history of 90 years of ground-breaking environmental education work throughout South Africa. Annually over 1 500 teachers across the country receive in-service training through numerous capacity building and knowledge sharing workshops or projects, directly strengthening their teaching practice and grasp of the CAPS curriculum.

Atchley, R.A., Strayer, D.L. & Atchley, P. 2012. Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings. PLoS ONE 7(12): e51474. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0051474 (accessed 15 December 2016). • Berman, M. G., J. Jonides & Kaplan, S. 2008. The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature. Psychological Science 19(12): 1207-1212. • Green SchoolYards America (GSA). 2016. International School Grounds Month Activity Guide. International School Grounds Alliance. http://www.greenschoolyards.org/2015-living schoolyard-month-activity-guide.html (accessed 1 December 2016). • Nelson, G. C., Bennett, WE., Berhe, A.A., Cassman, K., Defries, R., Dietz, T., Dobermann, A., Dobson, A., Janetos, A., Levy, M., Marco, D., nakicenovic, N., O’Neill, B., Norgaard, R., Petschel Held, G., Ojima, D., Pingali, P., watson, R. & Zurek, M. 2006. Anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem change: An overview. Ecology and Society 11(2): 29. www.ecologyandsociety.org/ vol11/iss2/art29/ (accessed 1 December 2016).

Mountain Cambridge learners with a white rhino whose ears have just been notched for identification purposes

Dr Cathy Dzerefos Project Manager: WESSA Schools Programme www.wessa.org.za

58 |

59 | African Wildlife & Environment | 65 (2017)