The Libellule Effect Days will be composed of workshops that will serve both ethnological analysis and pedagogical awareness.
Here is a description of the workshops we are organizing:
1. Introduction/Drawing Workshop
This first workshop is conducted in class with the teacher a few days before the arrival of the volunteers of the Libellule Effect
Children reflect on what the term "Environment" means and list examples of things that are part of it in the form of a word cloud. This allows them to introduce the subject and to question the scope, limits and components of our environment.
Then we ask the children to draw their environment with instructions: "Draw a place near you, to describe what YOUR environment looks like. "
The child's drawing is an illustration of his world view. It leaves room for the imagination while taking inspiration from the representations of the environment around it. It is also a preferred means of expression for children, particularly on an emotional and affective level.
The individual and comparative analysis of the drawings will be both a valuable ethnographic material and a means of evaluating our awareness.
An exhibition of the drawings will be organized at the end of the project.
2. Brainstorming workshop to define the environment
After having made the presentations and introduced the two days of activities with the few rules to follow, the first workshop consists in making children think about the definition of the environment.
The etymology is discussed, in addition to a simple definition, and then we note on the board all the ideas of the children of the components of our environment. Once the table is completed, the words are grouped into families and students must guess the common points/differences to finally find the large families.
Finally, students are made aware of the complexity of the environment, and the links between everything and ourselves, by having to complete sentences that highlight man's dependence on his environment.
This workshop allows us to understand the extent of the environment, while differentiating between large families (living / non-living, natural / artificial, fauna / flora / minerals,...). But also to understand that all this evolves in complex and fragile dependencies (food chain, climate, ecosystems,...)
3. Quizz workshop
In the whole class, we ask questions to children about environmental issues. Four illustrated answers are provided and children must choose the correct answer using colour cards. Then, students are assigned to explain to the rest of the class the reasons for their choice, which will serve as a basis for a group discussion.
This workshop introduces concepts related to environmental protection (pollution, recycling, biodiversity,...), and explains how this has a role in our daily lives. By taking the floor, children can express themselves on their choice by formulating a reflection. It also allows us to identify points that are familiar to students and those they have never heard of.
4. Workshop on air
Brainstorming then presentation on the air. What is it, what is it made of, why can air be polluted, and how can it be measured?...
With illustrations, and simple experiments, children learn or review what matter, its states, temperature, carbon dioxide is.
This course on air will serve as a basis for the workshop to raise awareness of scientific methodology with experiments on global warming.
5. Geography / Correspondence workshop n°1
The purpose of this workshop is to create a link between the classes we will meet, and to encourage children's long-term involvement through a sense of belonging.
First, with the help of world maps, illustrations, music, writing, etc., children review continents and enrich their knowledge of the environmental differences between different regions of the world.
Then, we study in more detail the characteristics of a country that the Dragonfly Effect has previously covered. We learn about the local flora and fauna, the flag, the capital,...
Finally, the children receive a letter from the country that introduces them to their environment, asks some questions and expresses wishes for the future. Children must answer them.
6. Experimental workshop on global warming.
The scientific methodology is presented here by analogy with police investigation. Vocabulary (problems, hypotheses, analysis, etc.) related to the scientific world is introduced and the experimental approach is presented.
Then we present global warming as a subject of study, as well as two related questions:
- what is the main cause of air heating?
- which activities produce CO2?
7. Workshop Measurement kit
We install a measuring device in the classrooms that will allow environmental data to be collected using different sensors and used as indicators later on.
We explain how it works to children, and set up the data collection process. Children learn to handle and care for a technological device.
Every day, a designated child must list the values displayed and enter them in a table.
The measured data are: temperature, atmospheric pressure, CO2 concentration, humidity.
These data are finally added to the Internet platform and will allow environmental indicators to be monitored over time and space (between the different schools).
These indicators will be able to measure the impact of new classroom habits on the direct environment (e.g. daily ventilation, changing windows with double glazing, cyclonic prevention, etc.)
8. Geography / Correspondence workshop n°2
- In the first, the child must describe his environment, the animals found there, the plants, but also the landscapes, the cultural specificities,...
- In the second message, the student questions his correspondent about what he can do in his village, in his country, about what can be found there?
- The last message contains the wishes for the future that the child would like to address to a child of his or her age.
9. Brainstorming eco-gestures.
At the end of the session, it is time to summarize the learning and commit to protecting your local environment. In small groups, the children reflect on 3 ideas that they could implement themselves to improve their environment and help protect fauna, flora, air, seas, etc.
These ideas are noted on the board and then the children vote for their favourite 3. They sign a charter summarizing these 3 ideas and undertake to respect it.
