Tuesday, 13 December 2011 23:56
In the Eastern Cape, South Africa, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) has used the ‘The Mission’ as a pedagogic tool in three different settings.
The SWEDESD ESSA Perceiving and Visualising Eco-System Services (PVES) Methodology Pilot – Langalitshoni J.S.S., Port St Johns
‘The Mission’ was used both during the discussion of the PVES methodology with the implementing teachers as well as during the implementation with the learners. The idea for this methodology is for students of Langalitshoni Junior Secondary School (in this case – Grade 8s), through understanding their current behaviour and the impact these have on our life support systems, to work towards more sustainable practices. In both instances the Mission was used as an introductory activity to access the level of awareness with regards to sustainability and living in a system with limited resources. In both instances, the activity was approached in groups without time being provided for individual analysis.
The initial inventory was not commented on with comments only given after participants were given an opportunity to revise their spaceships. For the teachers this revision was after a 90 minute session on ecosystem services, values and threats. For the learners, time to revise their initial spaceship came after a series of lessons (from Natural Science, Economic and Management Sciences and Arts & Culture) as well as experiential learning. In both instances the spaceships were transformed from giant warehouses to one which enabled the Earth’s natural cycles.
Wild Coast Project Environmental Awareness and Teacher Training (WCP EATT) Programme - Wild Coast
‘The Mission’ was used during the initial teacher training workshop of the WCP EATT Programme - a collaborative partnership between the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), the Wild Coast Project (WCP) and the Eco-Schools Programme in the Eastern Cape. The workshop – the first of three spread throughout the year - focused on Environmental Education, as well as environmental action projects and lesson planning. The Mission was once again used as an introductory activity to an information session on ‘Ecosystems services, Earth Services, Sustainability and Global Change’. As with the PVES Methodology Pilot, the teachers started off working in groups and comments were only given after they were given time to revise their spaceships after the information session. The groups moved from spaceships with comments such as ‘we are all going to die’ to one with natural resource use making life more sustainable.
The Eastern Cape Forum for Environmental Education and Sustainability (ECFEES) Youth Summit 2011, Chintsa East
‘The Mission’ was used as introduction activity to the weekends field trips and sessions of this provincial Environmental Education Youth Summit and Teacher Conference. The activities were directed to giving the learners insight into the Earth’s cycles and sustainable lifestyles and resource use. Activities included Permaculture, Renewable Energy, E-Waste and Forests. Unfortunately due to a busy schedule, the Mission activity was unable to receive the amount of time necessary to give it justice. However during the close of the Summit the discussion centred around life on the spaceship which involved a whole range of sustainable practices from using the suns energy to cook food, reusing our resources and going back to our roots by wearing animal skins as clothes.
