Janet Owen The Earth Museum is an experimental not-for-profit enterprise with a vision to create a virtual learning resource which can be used in every home, classroom, museum and place, sharing and connecting the world’s cultural and natural heritage with people and places; empowering us to understand each other and look after the planet better.…
Nikki Burton Mallott The remit of a conservation educator is to connect audiences with the natural world and encourage the uptake of positive environmental behaviors. At Knowsley Safari, we are looking to achieve this more broadly in our community. Two approaches have been explored: 1. An integrated approach to nature, health and wellbeing 2. Framing conservation through…
Leesa Pratt & Jools Farrell In 1985, sixty-two False Killer Whales [a species of dolphin: Pseudorca crassidens] stranded at Crowdy Head on the north coast of New South Wales. The whales were being thrown around and bashed to death on the rocks by the surf, with rescuers struggling in the appalling conditions. Taking matters into…
Callum Woolman It’s a bright sunny day, quite warm actually; it’s playtime without coats. All of which is taken away from us the following week with temperature ten degrees cooler. I am asked why is this happening most days and it allows me to introduce the topic of climate which then leads to the conversation…
Laure Cugnière, Fiona M. Jones & Ignacio (Nacho) Juarez The polar regions are immensely special, but are rapidly changing due to direct human disturbances, like fishing activity and habitat degradation. Penguins and other seabirds are key environmental health indicators as well as the most threatened group of birds globally. Near the top of the food…
Kajal D. Patel With nearly 85% of the UK population living in urban city dwellings, it can become increasingly difficult for young people to understand the role and value of nature. When we think of wildlife, most of us think of wild animals such as tigers and leopards, but wildlife includes plants and animals that…
Sarah Garry British Society of Soil Science Soils underpin our ecosystems, our climate and human culture. Some of the biggest issues affecting our world and its inhabitants have soil at their heart. Healthy soil supports biodiversity: biodiverse soils can host millions of organisms in each teaspoon. Sustaining life in soil is essential to ensure soil…
Poppy Flint ‘This is Rubbish’ (TiR) is a community interest company focused on large scale, pre-consumer food waste. It is a crucial climate change issue and a useful subject for looking at both the environmental and social impacts of modern life. Recently, TiR’s education and outreach work has moved on from an environment and climate…
Juliette Green When the children at Kings Norton Primary School, Birmingham, returned from lockdown in March, Year 4 began a cross-curricular theme based on the book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Over a period of four weeks, we carried out a range of activities based on the characters, settings and events of…
Robin Duckett, Sightlines Initiative. “We just realised how absolutely brilliant mud is!” The educators at Walkergate Early Years Centre in Newcastle had been venturing into a woodland preschool one recent spring and mud had been a big feature. The ‘mud-ludder’ children jump and squelch in it, getting stuck, feeling it, moulding it, churning it, finding…
Esther Sayers, Head of MA Arts & Learning Programme and Senior Lecturer in Education, Goldsmiths University. How we share and invest in our public spaces says a lot about the society in which we live. A community coming together to invest time in making common land better for everyone is a powerful narrative. This is…
Dr Nicola Walshe & Zoe Moula A rapidly growing body of research shows the benefits – happiness, vitality, and life satisfaction – associated with access to nature and green spaces. Indeed, the recent survey by Natural England, which aimed to understand the perspective of children and young people relating to nature during Covid-19, demonstrated the…