Providing Outreach to Local Communities

It's a brand new year for the Eco Clubs, and with it comes a brand new approach! Building off of UNESCO's Environmental Education activities, we have developed a hands-on curriculum that lets the students learn by doing. Each week the students will engage in an experiment, demonstration, or other activity focused on the environment. Our past experience has shown that the students respond more positively to this style of teaching, and we're anticipating that this approach will make our lessons more effective. So far, the students have built model greenhouses to observe the greenhouse effect in action, measured the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves, and built water wheels to harness the power of water!

Our goal for the year is to standardize a curriculum that can be improved upon each year. We have developed a measuring and evaluation system that involves direct student feedback for each lesson. We now have objective measures to evaluate how well they learn the subject each week, letting us see what works and what doesn't. This will let us improve on the curriculum, not only for this year but also in the future.

And the results? The average attendance for the first 4 lessons was 22 at Maahlamele High School, and a spectacular 51 at Rakgolokwana High School! Both of these averages are more than double last year's. 88% of students show comprehension of the subject, and 90% report having enjoyed the lesson. We're hoping that these trends continue as the year goes forward.

Take a look at the pictures for some of the fun the students are having. Without YOUR donations, we would not have the opportunity to reach as many students as we do. THANK YOU!