JGI Canada has been working with JGI Uganda on environmental education since 2008. JGI Uganda works with local schools and communities in areas where prime chimpanzee habitats are found in order to increase awareness about environmental issues. Uganda faces huge environmental challenges such as deforestation, agriculture intensification and other human threats to endangered primates, such as chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.
To foster knowledge, appreciation and responsible behavior for Uganda’s forests as well as for the chimpanzees that live within them, JGI-Uganda has established a holistic environmental education (EE) program geared toward Uganda’s primary schools. The program uses the forest as a living classroom to teach children basic ecology and encourage them to take action to help the environment.
The education program uses material development, training workshops, field centers, and Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots program to get children excited about the environment. We have developed a set of Environmental Education Teachers Guides, which integrate EE into the current primary school curriculum. And to help build teaching capacity, we run EE workshops for teachers.
The material development and training components work together to support primary school teachers in an effort to help improve on the quality and quantity of EE taught within school settings. They are complemented by the field centers and the Roots & Shoots program, which gives pupils a chance to experience nature first-hand and are avenues through which they can practically implement the knowledge they've gained.
By developing educational curriculum that fits with national education regulations, students’ environmental knowledge will deepen without undermining or complicating a teacher’s classroom. The program works to build a conservation ethic and environmental pride for the unique and diverse ecosystems that Ugandans live in.
JGI Uganda, in collaboration with JGI Canada, has developed a teacher-training workshop targeting primary-school teachers. The interactive and highly-collaborative workshop focuses on developing lesson plans, games and activities about the environment that children can understand. The Ugandan teachers then go back to their schools and train other teachers on the methods they have learned.
The main objectives of the workshop are to:
- Introduce participants (25 to 30 teachers) to environmental education
- Explore a variety of effective teaching methods
- Familiarize participants with the Teachers Guide
- Supply participants with basic facilitation skills
- Equip attendees to train other teachers
- Connect participants with the forest
For 2011 there are three teams of educators traveling to Uganda to facilitate the workshops: Shannon and Viviane, Jenny and Carla, and Rakhi and Angela. Please check out the following blog pages to learn about their experiences!
