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Description
According to the 2018 Ministry of Climate report, formal environmental education is not delivered in an effective and successful manner, which is affected by the didactic infrastructure and available means as well as by the quality of programmes and teachers’ environmental competencies. Our experience in the Śląskie province shows that most pupils know little about pro-environmental initiatives and about ecology associating them with just a point in the school curriculum and not an element of their daily lifestyle or leisure. We want to change it. We will address these problems by inviting all primary schools in the Śląskie province to take part in a contest. We will select 10 schools at which we will set up eco-labs – interactive spaces for environmental education, co-created by children and teachers. We will organise workshops for ‘Eco Ambassadors’ - pupils participating in the project – on biodiversity, pollinators, health food, or the terms of lab use. Then ambassadors will hold workshops for other pupils in their schools. As a part of our promotional and educational campaign, we will shoot a film on the concept of the eco-lab. We will also prepare the eco toolbox – a guide on how to establish an eco-lab in schools, along with workshop agenda and best practices of eco education for children and youths. Our partner in the project will be the Park Śląski foundation that has for 6 years been educating youths on ecology. The foundation will support us with their knowledge in workshop facilitation and with their network of contacts with Śląsk schools during the promotion.
Summary of project results
According to the 2018 Ministry of Climate report, formal environmental education was not delivered in an effective and successful manner, which was affected by the didactic infrastructure and available means as well as by the quality of programmes and teachers’ environmental competencies. Our experience in the Śląskie province showed that most pupils know little about pro-environmental initiatives and about ecology associating them with just a point in the school curriculum and not an element of their daily lifestyle or leisure. We wanted to change it.
We responded to these problems by inviting all primary schools in the Silesian Voivodeship to take part in a competition, in which we selected 10 schools with which we created eco-workrooms in their facilities - interactive spaces for environmental education. Both children and teachers took part in their creation. We organised workshops for "Eco-ambassadors" for - pupils and students participating in the project about biodiversity, pollinators or healthy food and about the rules for using the studios. The ambassadors then held workshops for other male and female pupils from their schools. As part of the promotional and educational campaign, we created a film about the eco-workshop concept. We also created an eco-toolbox - a guide to creating eco-workrooms in schools, with scenarios for workshops and good practices for environmental education for children and young people.
The project partner was the Silesian Park Foundation, which has been involved in educating young people about ecology for six years. The Foundation supported us with its expertise in the implementation of the workshops and its network of contacts with Silesian schools during the promotion.
From the evaluation interviews, it appears that the project activities have increased the environmental awareness of pupils. In addition, they have developed their skills related to environmental protection or conducting effective and efficient environmental education.