Remember that kid during school field
trips who was always collecting leaves, sea shells, drawing in their diary, and
passionately exploring the outdoors with not a thought in the world to apply
sun screen? That was me growing up! I’m still the same person at 33, except I
prefer to call my diary a Journal –
and I’m more concerned with the harmful effects of the sun! I’ve
always learned best in out-of-classroom
capacities; in
fact, those school
field trips into nature remain the most memorable of my academic days. I took
Walter McKenzie’s (1999) Multiple Intelligences Inventory exam
recently, and I was not surprised to discover I scored high under the Naturalist
category. So when I was asked by San Jose de Buenavista’s
Local Government Unit (LGU) to help develop a small children’s marine museum by
the sea and facilitate school field trips, I entered into an intense state of
presence: I was simply OVERWHELMED!
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| Our marine education learning center by the ocean! |
This project was previously begun by a
husband-wife Peace Corps couple in coordination with San Jose’s
LGU. The team worked to transform an old
building by the sea into what appeared to be a small learning center. The
building had been painted with a beautiful mural depicting the three Marine
Ecosystems: Mangrove, Sea Grass, and Coral Reef. A large preserved sea turtle was also on
display. My primary project in the Peace
Corps has been to further develop the building into a full-fledged
Environmental Learning Center that focuses on Marine Conservation Education. It
has been an absolute delight working with San Jose’s LGU on a project I feel so
connected with.
An Environmental Learning Center can be
replicated by any Peace Corps Volunteer regardless of his or her sector, and
such a project would be an amazing asset to any community in the Philippines –
or any other country where Environmental Outreach is a necessity. As I wrote in
my last blog, one of the most severe of environmental struggles around the
planet is happening in the Philippines, and
an Environmental Learning Center would bring awareness to both global and local
problems,
such
as Solid Waste Management (SWM) and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
The community will be inspired by your
Environmental Learning Center! And once other people start to see the vision materialize
the
community will help assist you! Our project has had nearly 300 sea shells
donated to it, and the names of the shells have been put into Kinaraya -
the local
dialect – with
assistance from the
fisher-folk. Books
were donated to our Center to begin an Environmental library, and a local
carpenter even helped me reconstruct a turtle skeleton to put on display!
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| Local residents help ID our new shell collection and put the names into the local dialect: Kinaray-A |
Once you have created your safe learning space
you can then bring people together. During the second half of 2014 our team
arranged to have every grade 5 class in San Jose visit our Environmental
Learning Center. Over 1,200 students from 23 of 24 elementary schools engaged
in what is now affectionately called SEA DAY (Students for Environmental
Awareness). The Marine Conservation based field trips were a hot success and we
are currently in our second year of administration. This can be a sustainable
project! Create a school package and a small registration fee,
which will
allow educators
at the very
least to replace
needed
supplies and materials. Short on help at your Center? Work with the community and the
LGU to create a volunteer
or internship program to
assist your lead teacher.
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| MENRO staff gave Environmental outreach and education to approximately 3,000 children during our first year |
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| Children listen attentively as our Environmental Education Specialist talks about turtle conservation |
Some Creative Ideas for
YOUR
Center
* Create an Environmental Library:
Write to Books for Peace, Books Across the Seas, and Books for Asia and request
Environmental books.
Ask
your Filipino friends and co-workers to translate the books into the local
dialect. Make “Sit-A-Pons”
from braided pieces of old cloth or newspaper and create a child friendly
reading area.
* Discovered some old bones
on the beach? Glue them together! Use marine epoxy (~135 pesos) and aluminum
wire to re-assemble. If
this seems too difficult paint
them
with clear
gloss lacquer and
leave them mixed-up in a box as a “puzzle” skeleton instead. The
lacquer basically turns the
bones into
plastic. Be
sure to wash and scrub the bones and allow them to dry before applying lacquer.
Several coats is best!
*Start a sea shell collection: Purchase
magnifying glasses and rulers from the National Book Store to inspire deeper connections
to nature.
*Create a sea glass mural: The children
will love picking beach glass up along the beach during your beach clean-ups.
Often, Filipino children don’t know what this is until you point it out to
them! They simply love beach glass after that!
*Create a garden at your Center – or
better yet – a “Food Fence”. This is great for introducing topics about Climate
Change and also talking about eating locally. Getting into the gardening? Don’t
stop! Start a Vermi-compost,
a container garden, or sack garden! Harvest your veggies and cook them with
the kids or local residents.
* Offer life jackets and snorkeling
equipment for a small fee. This generates income and helps sustain your project.
* Create a trash segregation station
* Create an Eco-Bench or other
infrastructure from bottle bricks. This is great to begin discussions about
Solid Waste Management or when
beginning a beach clean-up.
* Show environmental films if you have
access to a projector. We are blessed to have a small flat screen TV
hooked up in our center. Media-technology
is great for showing power points, movie clips, and academic videos (or for
movie nights
with pop corn!). Those
Sit-A-Pons come in handy again here!
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| Connecting to nature! |
Reference: McKenzie, Walter L. (1999). Multiple Intelligences Inventory. http://surfaquarium.com/MI/inventory.htm
