Adding depth and relevance to EVS

Tara Hariharan

With the ongoing devastation of the earth’s natural resources it may be that environmental science will become a major focus, introduced early in primary schools and followed through as a compulsory science all the way to high school. To add depth and relevance to the classroom work, it is necessary to add fieldtrips to nearby gardens, national parks, and maybe to internationally renowned centers where conservation and rehabilitation of forests and endangered animals is being carried out.

In the preliminary classes on ecology, students learn to quantify biodiversity by using standard methods such as random sampling, using photographs/aerial surveys, Simpson’s Diversity Index, Lincoln Index and others. These techniques to survey the range of biodiversity learnt in the confines of the classroom start to gain relevance only when the students set foot outside! The students are always surprised when they compare the values obtained (for biodiversity) in patches maintained by a gardener to values obtained where the plants have been allowed to grow wild. Small exercises like this can then be scaled up to more structured, planned outings where students can either choose to extend these studies to comparing different parks in the neighborhood or different areas of a national park like the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, KBR Park in Hyderabad, or indeed, any public park that has both wild and landscaped areas.

Different activities like an extended hike along a river, or climbing a hill, away from the beach, following a path close to huts or human settlements towards more untouched and natural surroundings lends itself to studies along a gradient. Students should prepare a plan or an outline as to the kind of data that is to be collected before the outing. They should also be given time to enjoy and learn from the environment, look at the leading causes of fragmentation, hopefully gain respect for all the work that is being done to prevent degradation and save the areas that are being destroyed to build, expand cities!

A trip to the zoo as an extension of studies on conservation is worthwhile especially if students are made aware of the new plans being developed to make the animals feel more at home by building enclosures that resemble their natural habitat. In zoos around the world, animals are engaged in activities that are mentally stimulating to keep them from pacing in their cages and being bored! It would be ideal to have a debate in class before a visit to a zoo to see if students support the idea of keeping animals contained in their cages, or if in the future the idea of having a zoo should be revisited and totally banned.

How can we save endangered animals from extinction? What are the measures being taken? A visit to Ranthambore National Park will introduce students to measures taken by the Indian government to ‘save the tiger’! The success of this program has served as a precedent to help similar programs, and also create awareness among the local people in the vicinity of the parks to not harm or kill these animals, to make sure they are not being poached or mistreated in any manner.

A visit to Borneo, Malaysia is an eye opener to the steps being taken to save the rainforests! Though such a trip requires more planning, students learn about reintroducing endangered animals to the wild (orangutans in Sandakan), and how they are being trained before being released, and how they are monitored subsequently. It is also a learning about how programs like the planting of oil palms for commercial purposes originally supported by the government can go awry and destroy the precious diversity that exists in the rainforests. All this can be taught in class but it is the actual confrontation with the situation that leaves a lasting impression, enough to push students to think and attempt to work toward solving problems that currently exist, the thought that this might be all gone one day and there is no going back! It is the humbling experience of standing small among the tall and magnificent trees of the rainforests!

Students can go for an outing to clean beaches or plant trees and feel good that they are contributing to a greener future! Even a small outing can have a huge impact, a change in thinking about how not to use plastics, to make more use of public transport and just being engaged in educating others on how they can contribute by switching off lights or turning off taps!

It is the ability to plan and link the learning that took place in class to what is happening outside that makes these trips worthwhile. Having said that, it is also the learning that takes place while on an outing that was not necessarily anticipated and planned that makes the trip even more valuable. And it need not be related to the environment! Students learn to travel without the presence of a parent, look out for themselves, and stay safe! To follow rules set for the trip, stay with a defined group of individuals, even ones that were not within the immediate circle of friends while in school. Learning to budget and manage with the amount of money that they carry also teaches them to be careful with ID cards, passports, phones, money and other valuables in their possession. The most valuable lesson learnt is to be on time for every activity!

The author was the Environment Science teacher at D.Y. Patil International School, Worli, Mumbai. She can be reached at tara_hariharan@hotmail.com.