Saving Our Waterways Now... and in the future
SOWN has a vision of restoring and rehabilitating the habitats and waterways within the Enoggera Catchment. These include the sub-catchments of Enoggera, Fish and Ithaca Creeks. In addition to undertaking the physical work of fauna and flora monitoring, invasive species removal and bushland regeneration, SOWN also strives to facilitate community awareness and education through an active engagement process and through maintaining an effective schools program.
In achieving behavioural change, SOWN works upon the principles of developing authentic learning experiences through relating all learning to the context of the school's local catchment area. SOWN is replacing the ad-hoc experience that students often get in accessing 'experts in the field' and is encouraging a learning experience that is on-going, multi-faceted and integrated into various aspects of the curriculum.
If we think for a minute about the concept of sustainability and what it means, we can truly appreciate the value in educating youth about their role and responsibilities as far as the stewardship of natural areas is concerned. Sustainability can be defined as the ability to maintain a process indefinitely. If we are to maintain environmental health in the future, it is fundamental that we empower youth to accept the responsibility and arm them with the knowledge and skills to sustain this in the future.
The activities undertaken can contribute to curriculum outcomes in a number of subject areas. Whilst these would most obviously include science and geography, activities can also be used to achieve learning outcomes in maths, art, drama and English. The activities also align with sun safe practices, healthy lifestyle and social and emotional learning outcomes and present opportunities in inclusive education.
The activities also support Education Queensland's Tomorrow's Schools initiative, through promoting:
- an increased focus on parental and community involvement in education
- a broad range of curriculum choices, including opportunities to for integrated learning
- innovation in learning experiences
- higher levels of sustainability
- development of strong partnerships
SOWN has developed a varied approaches to catchment-based education, most often to meet the requirements of individual groups. In the future it would be great to create networking opportunities for teachers within the catchments, working on similar topics, to share their experiences.
In the primary education section you will be able to read about the educational opportunities offered through SOWN. Many of the activities developed through this process have been undertaken in conjunction with the Ithaca Intact project.
Through undertaking education activities… the seeds are SOWN!