Knowing about the environment in order to better preserve it is the goal of the program launched by Gran Man Difou Middle School in Maripa-Soula and the
Amazonian Park of Guiana. Designated “Educational Land Area”, the project allows 6th grade students to explore the Daouda cove trail to better protect and value it.
It all started with a “Student Council for the Earth” in early October, during which the 6th E grade middle school students chose the site they wanted to study this year. They voted for the natural site of Maripa-Soula, in particular for its accessibility compared to other sites such as the Saut des Pères. During one year, this path would be the center of attention: discovering its environment, carefully studying plants or animal species, scientists’ interventions, theoretical courses in class … At the end of the year the students should have all the tools to suggest management practices.
TERRESTRIAL EDUCATIONAL AREA ~ “During the fire at the Maripa-Soula landfill last year, I said to myself that a project had to be set up for students to become aware of the environment’s rich diversity, but also its fragility”, explains Ludovic Moncy, their Life and Earth Sciences teacher. The Educational Land Area program offered by the Amazonian Park was fully in line with this approach. Unlike usual ”educational projects”, the Educational Land Area places children at the heart of the pedagogical project: they are the ones who chose the site to be studied and they are also the ones who will choose the direction they wish to give this program, especially the themes that will be studied.
To support them in this process, classroom interventions and trips to the site are scheduled throughout the year. “The goal is to offer students the opportunity to become real managers through an adapted educational approach and environmental educational methods,” says Eléa Rebibo, EEDD (Education to Sustainable Environment and Development) manager at the Amazonian Park of Guiana.
YOUNG AMBASSADORS ~ The first on-site trip took place on the occasion of the Science Celebration on Thursday, November 12, guided by two activity leaders of the Kwata association. During the morning and afternoon, they offered students the opportunity to awaken their senses with many activities along the path. “The daily goal was for the students to discover and feel this place, its atmosphere. The students were responsive, they all participated, ”explains Mathilde Armand, of the Kwata association. Among
the twenty or so students present,
Deborah particularly liked the touching activity: “We had to look around us for something hard, soft, rough … It was not always easy to find “, she explains. Fernando, for his part, preferred the hearing part. Sitting on a tree stump, he spotted the different
sounds he heard and where they came from: insects, frogs, birds, but also planes, cars…
A break in the heart of nature, an inspiration in the middle school’s life that children greatly appreciated; All are waiting for one thing … the next trip to “their” natural space, of which they may soon become the proudest ambassadors.
A NATIONAL DESIGNATION
The “Educational Land Area” designation recognizes the quality of the projects carried out and rewards the schools involved in the process. The three pillars that structure this designation are:
Learning: acquiring knowledge about the natural and cultural heritage;
Experiencing: discovering the territory and its actors;
Transmitting: transmitting knowledge and management of a preserved common heritage
CONTACT
http://parc-amazonien-guyane.fr/
Tél : +594 594 29 12 52
