EXPLORING BIODIVERSITY: A Guide for Educators Around the World

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APEPENDIX A: EXTENSION IDEAS There are many other ways you can involve your students or community in learning about biodiversity. The following are meant to spark ideas for expanding environmental education throughout your school, protected area, or community. Please contact Conservation International or World Wildlife Fund (see inside back cover) for more information on how to do these activities with your students. Eco-Clubs Start an after-school environmental club for students. Ask parents, other teachers, or conservationists to help. Ask students what they want their club to do, or use some of the ideas below to get started. Contests and forums Organize art, poetry, essay, songwriting, or knowledge contests about biodiversity. Hold a debate or school-wide forum on biodiversity. Educator training Share your knowledge and experience with other educators in your school or district by doing a workshop, demonstrating a lesson during teacher meetings, or co-teaching a class. Invite park rangers or extension agents who do education to participate. Celebrations Organize celebrations around special days or weeks, such as World Environment Day (June 5), Earth Week (third week of April), or the anniversaries of protected areas in your region. Helping Hands Don’t hesitate to ask local businesses, cooperatives, or organizations for help in implementing student conservation projects. Sometimes they can donate supplies, transportation, expertise, or even money to make a project happen. Think of creative ways to solicit their support and explain why your students want to help conserve biodiversity. Awareness campaigns Choose an important local environmental issue and design and implement a campaign to raise awareness about that issue. Students can create a logo and key messages and communicate those messages through posters, radio announcements, articles, events, and so on. Field trips Organize a visit to a protected or unique natural area. Go on a nature hike in your community. Youth environmental journalism Create a student newspaper to report on local or national biodiversity issues. Conservation projects Talk with a conservation organization or government agency about how your students can get involved with local conservation efforts. Plan your own project to improve the local environment: clean up a river, park, or beach; plant trees; collect aluminium cans for recycling and find a facility that can recycle them; create a school 78
organic garden or compost pile; improve animal habitats near your school (plant a butterfly garden, make bird houses); create a nature trail. Conservation science fair Organise a science fair at your school or in your district where students plan and present research projects in a competition. Murals Paint a biodiversity mural in a central place in the community or at the school. Solicit help from a local artist and private companies for supplies. Guest speakers Invite a scientist to speak to your class about his/her work. Hold a career workshop where conservationists talk about the variety of specialties needed to do conservation (science, communications, education, policy, economics). Invite a community leader or elder to talk about his/her views on conservation. Linking students to students Work with a secondary school teacher to have older students prepare a lesson or activity for younger students. Set up a letter-writing exchange between students in a school in another part of your country. Bring students from different schools together for an event celebrating the environment. Involving parents Hold an open house for parents and families to see what your students have been learning. Post their work around the school, have students give a presentation, or create an exhibit. Conservation camps Organize a day camp during school vacations. Do some of the activities on this list at the camp. Bookmaking Have students create a field guide to the animals and plants they have seen in their community. Keep journals about nature. Collect students’ stories or poetry about biodiversity and create a class book. Entertainment Present a play or puppet show. Hold a sports tournament to celebrate the environment. Have students write and perform radio programs for a local station. Hold a music festival with songs about biodiversity. Natural art Make traditional crafts out of natural materials. Hold a craft fair or exhibit and highlight all the local species used in traditional crafts. 79
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EXPLORING BIODIVERSITY: A Guide for
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Exploring Biodiversity is a joint p
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TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .
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Exploring Biodiversity is packed wi
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of selecting activities to do with
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p SECTION 1 WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY? 1
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p Where Is the Diversity? Some area
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Malaria once infected nine out of t
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p WHAT TO DO 1. As a group, create
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ACTIVITY 2: THE WEB OF LIFE BACKGRO
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Encourage students to think creativ
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ACTIVITY 3: BIOBLITZ OBJECTIVES: Na
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6. Set the stage. Ask your students
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SECTION 2 BIODIVERSITY CONNECTIONS
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Intensive agricultural production o
Page 31 and 32: The Nature Connection The desire of
Page 33 and 34: 3. Put up the statements and read e
Page 35 and 36: • Will photographs and films that
Page 37 and 38: ACTIVITY 5: BIODIVERSITY PERFORMS O
Page 39 and 40: Plants convert the sun’s energy i
Page 41 and 42: q SECTION 3 THE STATE OF BIODIVERSI
Page 43 and 44: q important differences, however, b
Page 45 and 46: chemical fertilisers to remain prod
Page 47 and 48: Ironically, this “greenhouse effe
Page 49 and 50: Aliens Are Among Us! Another contri
Page 51 and 52: q WHAT TO DO 1. Explain what “thr
Page 53 and 54: q teristics that might make species
Page 55 and 56: q clothing) to mark the boundaries.
Page 57 and 58: q Ask the students why animals need
Page 59 and 60: 7. Discuss protected area design: M
Page 61 and 62: SECTION 4 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Page 63 and 64: a creating conservation corridors,
Page 65 and 66: a often boosts local economies by c
Page 67 and 68: ACTIVITY 8: THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW
Page 69 and 70: a WHAT TO DO 1. Create student grou
Page 71 and 72: a next round, but this time introdu
Page 73 and 74: ACTIVITY 9: COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS O
Page 75 and 76: a Tips for Interviewing • Careful
Page 77 and 78: a WHAT TO DO 1. Explore project top
Page 79 and 80: a decision-making process as possib
Page 81: SECTION 5 APPENDICES Appendix A: Ex
Page 85 and 86: extinct: refers to a species that n
Page 87 and 88: pollination: the process by which p
Page 89: For more information about the Expl
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EXPLORING BIODIVERSITY: A Guide for Educators Around the World

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