The LIFE + U-SAVEREDS is also working on a specific educational project () to raise awareness among students and teachers, as well as the local public institution of Perugia and Corciano and the Centers for Environmental Education. Education, awareness and communication are an essential part of our project: it is important to make sure that citizens (especially the younger ones) are well informed about the value of biodiversity and what needs to and can be done to preserve it. Information and knowledge are the keys for a conscious and pro-active society. Environmental education is about communication, information and on-field action; it makes people aware of the surrounding natural world, of its complexity, of the relationship between humans and nature. This is the first step to figure out how to protect and strenghten the natural resources.

The objectives of the are:

-to provide information regarding biodiversity conservation and related issues;

-to improve the citizens’ independent and critical thinking skills in the matter of biodiversity and wilderness;

-to promote a pro-active and responsible behaviour towards nature and biodiversity;

-to enhance children’ involvement and contribution to spread awareness among the families.

ACTIVITIES ORGANIZED BY

1) Training and educational meetings for school professors and teachers from the Centers for Environmental Education. The training course has been legally recognized as a refresher course by the Ministry for Education (DM 177/2000, Direttiva n.90/2003); it has been planned in collaboration with CRIDEA (Regional Center for Environmental Information, Research and Education) and it consisted of a total amount of 20 hours divided in 4 meetings. Of those 20 hours, 14 were devoted to on-field activities to get to know the red squirrel and its habitat; teachers were encouraged to propose the same activities to their students. 3 hours were devoted to acquiring methodological and operative skills to design and lead workshops and activities. The last 3 hours were devoted to examining in dept specific aspects of the Life U-Savereds Project.

2) Educational activities in kindergartens and elementary and secondary schools. The activities took place in the 2015/16 academic year and involved all the schools in the Perugia district that joined the project.

The project was structured in three meetings of 2 hours; the workshops were adjusted to the children’s age. Before the beginning of the project, teachers were asked to help define the activities according to the class’ needs.

The general goals are:

-to promote respect and care for biodiversity as a key element for a healthy and living planet;

-to spread awareness on humans’ role and anthropic impact on the environment;

-to promote new forms of sustainable development;

-to promote an “ecological conscience”.

The specific learning objectives are:

-to learn how to identify the red squirrel and its habitat;

-to understand the concept of biodiversity, its importance and possible threats;

-to understand the meaning of autochthonous and allochthonous;

-to understand how an ecosystem works and how its single elements are connected;

-to learn to work in groups;

-to express one’s own creativity;

-to promote the “learning by doing” pedagogy: this pedagogy is moved by the idea that students can learn throught direct experience.

 

3)Educational activies in high schools. Activities for older students were carried out during the 2016/17 academic year. They have been involved in the actual monitoring of the red squirrel, which has started in January 2017 (action D.1)