Froebel College of Education, Cross Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
Development education and intercultural education are both based on respect and value for one's own culture, and promotes respect for and interaction with other cultures, both locally and globally. Both are concerned with the building of knowledge and understanding, skills and capacities, and attitudes and values necessary to enable individuals to critically examine the world, its development and its interdependencies and to act, both locally and globally, to make it a more just and equitable place.
31st January 2013
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Great Cross-curricular learning
Beginning with an audit of wood products in the classroom,and extending it to the whole school environment and to the the home as a homework assignment , children will immediately grasp the extent to which we depend on wood in everyday life. In Circle Time children could explore the question "What would happen if we ran out of wood?"
From this practical and critical engagment, the information from the Just Forest Exhibition might mean even more to the children. The exhibition itself opens up direct links to the Geography, Music, Religion and Science curricula. The panels offer statistics which can support Maths development. Exploring trees in the vacinity of the school opens up possibilites for visual arts and creative writing. Without any effort on the teacher's part the exhibition involves children in cross curricular learning.
Children could be given opportunities to frame their own questions either about wood, forests and sutainability or about their own part in environmental responsibility and these questions can be the stimulus for further research. The exhibition and the discussions that can emerge offer children not only a wealth of information but opportunities to question their own values and attitudes and awareness of their own actions. The FCS logo and the new legislation being introduced in March allows children to see that change is possible and that their decisions can make a difference.
Therese Hegarty
DICE Lecturer
Froebel College
31 January, 2013.
Hosted by DICE: Just Forests wish to thank The DICE Project for hosting the exhibition. The DICE Project is a member of the SPHE Network, a group which actively promotes and develops Social, Personal and Health Education in Ireland. Click here for more on The DICE Project
