(Mr. Lockwood talking about the links between the Geography curriculum and Ecology. Pic cred: The author.)
Representing the Biology class at the Green Flag Presentation
Recently, Eco-schools held a presentation after-school as part of their Green Flag application – this provides an opportunity for our school to be registered as an official Eco School. This would be a highly significant achievement, not just for the Eco-schools committee, but for every Gecko, as our school would be the first Eco School in Sri Lanka.
Sara and I were asked by Ms. Harrison to represent the Biology class for this presentation, we would have to discuss the prevalence of Ecology in the Biology curriculum and some of our excursions relating to the environment (such as the DP1 Science Trip and the Group 4 Project).
In order to get more insight into this presentation, I attended an Eco-schools meeting preceding the official presentation – it was quite helpful, as I gained a vast understanding of Eco-school’s endeavors and the structure of the presentation.
Sara and I decided to split our slides evenly – she would discuss the Group 4 project whilst I talk about the DP1 Science Trip. I was actually hoping I got this slide, as the trip has become one of my fondest memories (doing quadrats amongst a plethora of leeches was totally amazing).
Thus, I prepared a script – which, admittedly, I didn’t use much on the day of – and we awaited our turn to speak at the presentation. Although I was a bit nervous, I think that I emphasized quite a lot on the importance of Ecology in the Biology curriculum; I also made sure to mention the alien-like shrimp that Sara and I found during the science trip.
The presentation was a success, last week we received the Green Flag Award, congratulations to everyone in Eco-schools!
Learning outcomes:
- LO4 – Working collaboratively with others
- It was definitely a team effort to make sure that Sara and I didn’t have any overlapping areas of discussion – so we had to have clear communication when brainstorming our scripts.
- Additionally, the presentation went quite smoothly and a lot of people were bouncing along ideas etc. This was certainly quite collaborative.
- LO6 – Global engagement
- Eco-schools has conducted many events and projects to raise awareness and protect the school environment as well as that of the local community.
- Thus, when speaking I had to relate quite a bit to some ecological issues in Sri Lanka (such as the risks of building an additional dam in Kithulagala).