Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Educate the Future

See It Do It Teach It

Education. This is the fundamental tool used to better our world, and definitely the most crucial. Through the power of education, the hope is that younger generations will find a passion to save the world. If we can reach the younger minds of the world and each make a small impact, the results would begin to snowball into a powerful force. Small environmental projects focused on youth can result in a lifetime of respect for nature, our environment, and our planet. Our AP Environmental Science class embraced this idea and created a small project to teach young children from a nearby elementary school the importance of taking care of their fragile and precious environment.

Our target group, local students from the first and second grade class, met with our project group consisting of six students from our AP Environmental class and our instructor. We created a presentation emphasizing the importance of the environment and how to protect it. We took into consideration the age of our audience of seven to eight year olds with short attention spans, knowing it would have to be hands on and fun: field trip time.

We trekked into a wooded meadow behind the elementary school and had them observe and list items they found along the way. Their lists spanned from trees to empty pop cans. Birds was a big topic of discussion and we talked to them about how birds migrate and the importance of keeping the meadow free of trash so that the birds have a safe nesting grounds.
We then explained the project we were going to build together, homemade bird feeders made from items we would find in the meadow. Each child donned gardening gloves and we sent them off in search of pinecones. We then had them make bird feeders. This was done by rolling the pinecones in butter and then rolling them in bird feed and seeds. With help, we then used organic string to tie the pinecones to the trees. Over time the string would biodegrade along with the pinecones once all of the seeds were gone and provide food for the birds.
The students had an amazing time making these bird feeders. They felt a great sense of satisfaction and were exuberant when they returned to class and described to their teacher how they made an impact on their environment in such a short period of time. Their teachers enjoyed hearing about the experience as well and asked us to consider making this a yearly project for their classes. For me, it was impactful to see the effect we had on the students, as they wanted to make more and more bird feeders. They asked their teachers if they could return to the meadow and clean up that area as well. It has shown me that no matter how young you are you can always make a difference. Education is critical to the focus of saving our environment. If upcoming generations are not engaged and aware of how we as a species are negatively affecting our planet, then they will not feel the responsibility or satisfaction of helping in the effort to reverse the damage to our planet. Be able to help us hopefully reverse what we have done. Knowledge is power. The more we know about our world, the better job we can do to protect it for future generations.