|
|
Set of activities # 1:
|
Main manager:
|
Main scientific adviser:
|
|
Environmental/ecological education and enlightenment of Siberian children between the ages of 9 and 13
|
Dr. Natasha Smirnova
|
Dr. Vasilya Barsukova
|
|
Thanks to the profits earned from our ecotourism and scientific excursion activities, we are able to undertake environmental/ecological education programs targeted toward the local children in Siberia.
As an example of some of our activities initiated by the program, here is a brief description of a recent educational event which took place in June 2005. Two schools from the villages of Chebula and Balta (Novosibirsk region) participated in this program. At the beginning of the day, our team presented a seminar about ecology and pollution to the children. Following the seminar, they were divided into groups for games and activities to strengthen their understanding of the material and to get to know some of the students from the other school. During the aftern oon, we went with the children to a nearby lake where we organized games and outdoor recreation and then cleaned up all the trash around the lake shore together. At the end of the day, we prepared a tasty after-school snack and had a debriefing with the children about what they remembered from the lessons that day and how they could go home and practically apply these ideas and messages of environmental stewardship. For pictures, please visit the photo gallery.
One of the primary goals of our Institute is to enhance ecological education programs among many Siberian schools, specifically targeting local children from 9 to 13 years old. Therefore, S.I.E.I. has decided to re-double its efforts to develop many more activities in ecological education, and has settled on undertaking the following projects in 2006:
ECOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM: 2006 PROJECTS
|
|
Five 2-day events- For 2006 we are organizing not only a 1 day seminar, but five whole week-ends with local children. Classes from schools throughout the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo regions will be invited to participate in our ecological courses during several week-end programs in the months of June through September 2006. These programs are mainly directed towards the local poor villages located far from the city, who would not otherwise be able to take advantage of this kind of program. A further benefit of our initiative is that it offers recreation to these children who are often not able to go on holidays. Our financial support for this activity comes from the annual participants of our ecotours and excursions. .
If you are interested in sponsoring the ecological education program by visiting Siberia and participating in one of next summer’s ecotours, please visit our ecotourism’s webpage.
|
|
|
Another project undertaken by our NGO is the publication of an ecological book for local children. Two members of S.I.E.I., N. Smirnova and V. Barsukova, chair of Natural-Science Education in Novosibirsk’s Institute, launch the creation of an educational manual about biodiversity of Siberian Ecosystems and their protection. They are receiving many contributions from different Russian scientific papers and teachers’ publications. Children are also contributing to the realization of the book by preparing text pieces and pictures for competitions organized in their schools. The book will be published in February 2006.
Our main sponsor for this program is the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), die Umweltbundesamt, which is ready to support cost of publication and of distribution.
As soon as the book will be published, we want to organize speeches and presentations at local government events and take the opportunity to offer grants or awards to children who successfully participated in the previous competitions.
|
|
|
Our last project for this year is to organize a summer school for children from different local regions of West Siberia such as the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Altai regions as well as the Autonomic Republic of Altai (maps)
These regions contain a variety of different ecological and cultural sites that local children may not yet have had the opportunity to appreciate. We would like to offer the children the possibility of meeting each other, as well as show them the different ecosystems in their region and teach them about the diversity of Siberian nature and how to protect and rationally use it.
We have a lot of experience in leading ecological summer schools for foreign scientists and students during international ecological scientific excursions, and we are interested in adapting such environmental education for Siberian children. Our S.I.E.I. members are actively building and planning this excursion. We hope to find financial support before next summer.
|
|
|
IF YOU ARE TEACHER OF A SECONDARY SCHOOL, OR IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION,
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DEVELOP A PARTNERSHIP WITH US, OR IF YOU JUST WANT TO SUPPORT OUR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, WE WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO DISCUSS IT WITH YOU:
siei-ngo@mail.ru
The S.I.E.I. representative responsible for the environmental education program is Dr. Natasha Smirnova from the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry in Novosibirsk: nat-smirnova@ngs.ru.
|
|
